Two weeks lost in the desert

On location in Sabratha.

I have been away on business for nearly two weeks so haven't done any painting at all. Fortunately we have the Easter holiday and so I have had a good go today, getting some Ruga-ruga and a Pulp figure finished. I need to paint 24 figures this month to keep to my schedule so that is going to be a challenge!

Quite often when I travel I get inspired to paint some figures from where I have visited and this trip was no exception. I started off in Tripoli and actually manged to get four hours off. Just enough time to visit the Roman city of Sabratha. It is in a beautiful setting by the Mediterranean and is one of four extant Roman cities you can visit in Libya. The problem for tourists is that there is only one western hotel in Tripoli and it costs €400 a night. In addition, I had to get a visa, which cost about £400 and took five weeks to arrive. Good job I have another passport.

Mosaics in the museum at Sabratha.

Sabratha is a lovely site with some great mosaics (many still in their original settings which are now outside, of course) about 40 miles from Tripoli. There were about ten other people there when I visited.

The theatre by the sea.

The most impressive remains are those of the theatre. What remains now is mostly 3rd Century AD but there are some earlier buildings too.

Sabratha.

Next I went to Cairo again. I didn't have time to see anything on this trip but I did the pyramids and the Cairo Museum last time.

Finally, I went to Jordan, a country I had not visited before, and went to Aqaba and Amman. I found Jordan impressive in many ways: good food, attractive women, nice hotels and a switched- on government. I didn't get a chance to go to Petra but it looks like I may go back in May so will try to do that then. I did get a chance to walk around the Roman ruins in the centre of Amman, though.

Roman ruins in Amman

On the Wargaming front I felt inspired to do more late Romans. I also want to get some Egyptians done for the Sudan. Oddly, visiting Egypt doesn't make me want to do Ancient Egyptians. I am more interested in nineteenth and early twentieth century Egypt, fortunately, and this craving is satisfied by the Sudan War and, possibly, some 1920s Pulp adventures. The trip to Libya got me thinking about WW2 North Africa again so maybe I will pick up some figures (Artizan ones) at Salute.

Italian buildings in Tripoli.

Tripoli still has many Italian style buildings so maybe I should do an Italian army instead of the usual Afrika Korps.

The mountains behind Aqaba

The last period I got thinking about was WW1 Palestine. Arriving in Aqaba airport at dusk and seeing the rose red mountains that lead down to the port city got me thinking about the attack on Aqaba scene from Lawrence of Arabia. That sequence was actually shot in Spain but having just watched it again they managed to find a location that mirrored the real one very well (albeit on a smaller scale).

The Hejaz railway. As regularly blown up by Lawrence of Arabia.

I bought Michael Asher's book on Lawrence when I got back as I enjoyed his one on the Sudan Wars so much. Oddly, no-one seems to make a proper range of Arab revolt figures in 28mm. Brigade Games have a few, including Arabs on foot, but you really need Arabs on horses and camels. Never mind, as it looks like the new Gripping Beast project, The Woodbine Design Company will be doing Palestine at some point.

Painted Figures for February

Another good month, with 36 figures painted, much better than last year's 14. I have painted 69 figures in nine weeks which is 7.6 figures a week so I am 15 figures up on my target.

Sudan British 5
Gladiators 3
Pulp 1
English Civil War 7
Early Saxons 5
Darkest Africa 15

I didn't manage any Great Northern War figures this month but I guess the ECW ones count towards my Pike and Shot allowance. I was also pleased to finish my first unit of Early Saxons. The darkest Africa figures are a bit of a diversion but I am enjoying painting them even though they are quite time consuming.

This month is going to be difficult as I am in Libya, Egypt and Jordan from next week for ten days and then Poland at the end of the month. I am hopeful I will be able to finish five more Ruga-ruga before I fly to Tripoli on Saturday. When I get back I want to get on with some more GNW and progress my first four Sudan Highlanders.

Blog Hit Parade: February 2008

In February Cavegirls in Fur Bikinis continued to pull in over 250 hits a day on average but the biggest climber this month was Pulp Warriors up from 10th to 2nd with nearly 5,000 hits. I'm not quite sure why there was this big jump but I'd better get some more content on this month!

1 (1) Cavegirls in Fur Bikinis 7,868 Down 2,629 (22,724)
2 (10) Pulp Warriors 4,826 Up 4,669 (5,387)
3 (2) 19th Century Sudan Armies 2,367 Down 119 (9,660)
4 (3) Legatus' Wargames Armies 1,536 Up 50 (5,532)
5 (4) Spartan WAB 1,100 Up 273 (3,798)
6 (6) Return to Darkest Africa 448 Up 160 (1,124)
7 (9) Punic War WAB 377 Up 75 (1,284)
8 (5) Great Northern War 354 Down 17 (896)
9 (7) Dark Ages WAB 217 Up 81 (1,225)
10 (8) Byzantine WAB 204 Down 15 (1,224)
11 (11) 3rd Century Roman WAB 149 Up 80 (360)
12 (12) Lord of the Rings 69 Up 10 (129)
13 (13) Swashbucklers 15 Down 5 (87) (102)

Workbench 23rd February

The workbench at present is mostly Darkest Africa Ruga-ruga and Ngoni, plus four ECW musketeers I am not going to get done for Monday's game. Behind we have another half dozen Great North War figures then a couple of Gladiators, some Sudan, a few Spartans, some Lord of the Rings and some cavegirls (and cavemen).

Still enjoying painting the Ngoni but might push the GNW figures forward a bit. I have three days in Geneva this week, though, so that will eat into the painting time. I'm back a week and then I have to go to Libya, Egypt and Jordan for ten days so things will slow down a lot.

I have just received my pre-order of Crusader's new Late Romans which are, much to my delight, compatible with my Black tree Design ones. I won't start them until Steve at Little Big Men has some shield transfers done.

Recent Blog Updates

Keeping so many blogs up to date is a job in itself and occasionally I scan the list of posts to see if one of them is particularly unloved and try to finish a few figures for the relevant period. Over the last two weeks I have got some figures finished for these three blogs:

Return to Darkest Africa

http://returntodarkestafrica.blogspot.com/2008/02/ruga-ruga.html

http://returntodarkestafrica.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-ngoni.html

Dark Ages Warhammer Ancient Battles

http://darkageswab.blogspot.com/2008/02/first-early-saxon-unit.html

Pulp Warriors

http://pulpwarriors.blogspot.com/2008/02/agent-lake.html

Although I have updated Cavegirls in Fur Bikinis they aren't wargaming entries so I haven't included them.

Gladiator: Female Samnite

This is a Foundry female Samnite. The first recorded account of female gladiators was under Nero who arranged a games that featured many types of fighters, who were all Africans, including women.

There is certainly evidence that women fought as animal fighters (venatores) and one compelling piece of archaelogical evidence that they fought each other fully equipped: a memorial stone for two women named Amazonia and Achillea (stage names, of course) from Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum in Turkey) now in the British Museum.

Although women gladiators did fight bare breasted on occasion it is more likely that they wore a piece of material across their busts. My African girl doesn't care for this, however! Of course they would have done best to fight with as little clothes as possible as many sword injuries went septic due to strips of, none too clean, cloth being pushed into the wounds. This was the reason that Baroness Lubinska advised Princess Pauline Metternich and the Countess Kielmannsegg to fight topless in their 1892 duel in Vaduz, Lichtenstein. The cause of this extreme behaviour? The floral arrangements for a forthcoming musical production. Women, honestly!

Aristo babes in armed topless catfight shock! I quite fancy the one on the left!

I've just read a very rude novel called Africanus: Arena of Torment about a gladiator girl who seems to spend much more time being tied up and flogged than she does fighting in the arena! It's amazing what fine literature you buy when faced with another long business trip! Nevertheless, this makes me call this gladiatrix Africanus. Or perhaps it should be Africana? I'd better ask my daughter who is far better at Latin than I am!

More on girlie gladiators next time I paint one!

Gladiator: Secutor

The secutor was the traditional opponent of the retiarus. Normal armament was a gladius and he (or she) was protected by an oblong or square shield, an armoured manicus arm guard on his sword arm and one greave on his shield-side leg.


The most distinctive characteristic of the secutor was the heavy helmet with the small (35mm) eyeholes. This was so that the retiarus could not thrust his trident at the face.



Wargames Foundry figure.