Tomek917's Romans and their enemies (updated 13/8, p.4)

[Fremitus Borealis]

Beautiful as always!

[Hu Rhu]

Lovely painting on those cavalry.   

[Captain Blood]

Very nice painting, and great diorama style pictures 

[has.been]

The Romans used two kinds of dice, tesserae were like ordinary D6’s today and tali which were four sided (but not like our D4 ”pyramids” but more like a D6 with two of the ends rounded).

The British Museum have examples of Roman Polyhedral dice, &
I thought they only came about with Dungeon & Dragons in the 1970s.
They also have a pair (male & female) nude figures carved from cubes.
My friends & I postulated that they might have been used in a Roman
game that would have been a cross between 'Pass the Pigs' & the
Karma Sutra.

They also made frequent use of animal knuckle-bones as dice.

[sgzleada71]

superb, as ever

[tomek917]

Beautiful as always!

superb, as ever

Very nice painting, and great diorama style pictures 

Lovely painting on those cavalry.   

Thank you!

The British Museum have examples of Roman Polyhedral dice, &
I thought they only came about with Dungeon & Dragons in the 1970s.
They also have a pair (male & female) nude figures carved from cubes.
My friends & I postulated that they might have been used in a Roman
game that would have been a cross between 'Pass the Pigs' & the
Karma Sutra.

They also made frequent use of animal knuckle-bones as dice.

Very interesting!

[tomek917]

Achillas, guardian of Ptolemy XIII and commander of the kings troops, orders his forces to advance on Alexandria, 47 BC.

Achillas is one of the two men (the other being a roman named Septimius) who assasinates Pompey. He is later awarded command of the Ptolemaic forces sent to Alexandria to battle Caesar. He seems to have done a fairly good job but is himself later assasinated by Ptolemy XIII and Cleopatras sister Arsinoe(or rather on her orders by a eunuch named Ganymedes).

The armoured unit behind Achillas are imitation legionaries, or rather my take on them. The miniatures are actually Carthaginian veterans wearing roman lorica hamata chainmail but I think the attic helmets and greaves make them look very hellenistic, perfect for imitation legionaries.

28mm miniatures by Aventine, Gripping Beast (and Foundry in the back).

[Hu Rhu]

Superb painting and great composition of the photo makes this an absolute winner. 

[archiduque]

Excellent work!!!

[tomek917]

Thanks! 

[tomek917]

Nubian hunters scare off an ostrich somewhere along the Nile, 52 BC.
This photo was inspired by a part of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina. The huge floor mosaic depicts scenes from the Nile during the late Hellenistic period and was found in Palestrina southeast of Rome.
I recommend you visit Wikimedia Commons and have a look at some photos of it. It’s fascinating, if nothing else for some of the weird creatures depicted.
The Nubians are Macedonian javelinmen from Wargames Foundry with a suitable paint job and the ostrich is from North Star.

[Fremitus Borealis]

Nubian hunters scare off an ostrich somewhere along the Nile, 52 BC.
This photo was inspired by a part of the Nile mosaic of Palestrina. The huge floor mosaic depicts scenes from the Nile during the late Hellenistic period and was found in Palestrina southeast of Rome.
I recommend you visit Wikimedia Commons and have a look at some photos of it. It’s fascinating, if nothing else for some of the weird creatures depicted.
The Nubians are Macedonian javelinmen from Wargames Foundry with a suitable paint job and the ostrich is from North Star.

What a wonderful vignette 

[tomek917]

What a wonderful vignette 

Thanks!

I took some shots of the completed forces so far (There’s actually a few more units, some that are not based yet and some I’ve decided to sell because I didn’t like the minis).

The Romans


The Ptolemies


I've been painting these forces for about a year now. The armoured legionnaires on the right with the white shield symbols were finished by the end of june 2020 and they were the first finished unit. Still a few things to do, mainly tufts on bases and I'm not really sure how to base the germanic cavalry, desert bases on those just seem...wrong.

I have a third unit of legionnaires to add to the romans and I'm going to bulk up the ptolemaic thureophoroi to 32 each and add a second unit of kleruch cavalry. Next stage is to extend the usage of these armies backwards in time by adding pike blocks to the ptolemies and somehow make the romans work as a republican force too.

[Unlucky General]

I just love your work - both the painting and the portrayals. Inspiring stuff. Makes me want to get back to my Romans.

[tomek917]

I just love your work - both the painting and the portrayals. Inspiring stuff. Makes me want to get back to my Romans.

Thank you very much!