Showing posts with label Celts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Celts. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 2, 2021

Terrain Tuesday Gallic Village and buildings Part 1


Gallic buildings

My next terrain project is to get back to building some ancient terrain, first thing to complete is some Gallic buildings that can be stand alone or part of my hill fort build.


Inspiration will be taken from our local museum and the archeological report from Moulay Gallic fortress, the oppidum / hill fort is about 5klm from our house.


When wargamers build typical Gallic building they predominantly build round ones, looking at the archeological report on the 60HA site at Moulay only 10% were round and mostly animal shelters, workshops or storage. The majority are rectangular and some are quite big and include a theatre /council amphitheatre in Greek style, and a shrine.

I plan to build a number of buildings for residential, central buildings theatre and shrine and maybe a workshops area and some farms on the exterior of the Gallic Oppidum fortress. 


typical Gallic buildings


artist impression of the workshops



Gaulois building typical at Moulay 53BC



Gaulois building typical at Moulay 53BC


Theatre

one of the buildings was a theatre or perhaps a parliament council, or sale yard, I want to add this model to my village.





Gallic Farms

Gallic Farm steas with it own boundary ditch and walls, these are all along the roads leading into the village along the route of the modern motorway


Gallic farm model


Gallic Head Hunter Shrine

Moualy does have a shrine but no evidence of a head hunter shrine as the current church is built over the site, the Diablintes and Cenomani may of taken heads so I will add one I think.



Gallic head hunter shrine near Tours




Stone pillars the heads were placed in the hollowed out pieces

Excited to get cracking on these!

cheers
Matt


Sunday, March 21, 2021

Gaulois Aulerci Cénomani VI

 

Gaulois Aulerci Cénomani Tribesmen 

Some more Gallic tribesmen for my second gallic tribe I am building, really happy with them although I have noticed I am getting lazy on the plaid so I may need a rest and switch to some ww2 or something to get my spirits back.

Again Victrix figures, with LBM transfers based for Impetus


"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two


cheers
Matt

Monday, March 1, 2021

Aulerci Cénomani V Gaulois tribesmen

 Aulerci Cénomani V Gaulois tribesmen


More tribesmen, again I have tried to make them look a little different from their neighbouring tribe of the Diablintes. With this unit I am just short by two miniatures of the 300 figure mark for Aulerci federation army. Still need to add the remaining 80 odd figures to finish it off. Again all Victrix figures, I also started painting up a Warlord general who will be off the desk this week also. Thinking about getting some chariots for the northern part of the Federation for the Aulerci Éburovices (modern Normandy). I think the Nobles rode chariots into battle as a taxi rather than some wild charging beast that we all think of as wargamers. 



"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two


cheers
Matt

Aulerci Cénomani IIII

 Aulerci Cénomani IIII

More completed Gaulois, another Skirmisher base of four Victrix miniatures. Getting closer to the armies completion, almost clocked the three hundred mark with these figures, hoping to have the army completely painted by April. 


"walk the battlefield in the morning, wargame in the afternoon"™ 

From Caesar to World War Two



Cheers
Matt 

Tuesday, November 17, 2020

Aulerci Cénomani II


Aulerci Cénomani II

 More Skirmishers for my second Gallic tribe, I can see them now with another 50 mounted on bottle tops and prepared for painting. I think I may finish those and take a break whole I crack on with more medievals, then to focus on my ww2 collection before Christmas.  

Again miniatures from the 28mm Victrix plastics, and LBm transfers.



Cheers

Matt


Saturday, November 14, 2020

Aulerci Cénomani I

 Aulerci Cénomani (Auerques Cénomans)


The next Gallic tribe I am beginning is the Aulerci Cénomani, the largest of the Aulerque tribal confederation, the Oppidum and the capital of the Aulerci federation was known as Vindinon, or Vindunum as mentioned by Ptolemy, today we know it today Le Mans. 

Vindunum is a Gallic word 'Vindo" white and dunum citadel fortified mount, or the White Citadel, it is thought from the latest archeology that the site may of been in the location of the current cathedral and Plantagenet city, south of the current city is Allones which had a sanctuary sites to the Gallic god March Mullo.


I plan to paint 80 miniatures for the tribe and will make them a little different. Miniatures as usual are from the Victrix plastics range







cheers
Matt






Sunday, November 8, 2020

Gaulois Aulerci Diablintes XIV

200 Aulerci Diablintes painted

This weekend I passed the 200 figures mark of my Victrix Aulerci Diablintes tribe painted, I will continue to post the completed bases over the remainder of the week to catch up with the painted figures awaiting photographs and blog posts. 

I will as continue to paint more tribesmen but start my next allied tribe the the Aulerci Cenomani, the Cenomani capital was modern Le Mans. 

The Aulerci confederation of the Cenomani, Éburovices Diablintes, and the Parisii fought under the Aulerci chieftain Camulogene against Caesars lieutenant Labienus at the battle of Lutetia. 
cheers
Matt

Tuesday, November 3, 2020

Gallic Auxillia

Gallic Auxillia

I have really concentrating on the completion of projects in my project drawers that sit in my work area, these chaps have been awaiting completion before I move to France and were the beginnings of my gallic project before Victrix came along with the huge bags of plastics. Originally I planned to build my Gaulois tribes from metal ranges from various manufacturers to get the variants I wanted in the tribe. These are 32 of the 80 odd figures I commenced with which are a mix of Old Glory, Crusader, Warlord metals, and Gripping beast. They basically have had the base coats completed for three years, but were never finished as the shiney new Victrix figures came along to change my focus. Last week when I was restocking my 6 project drawers that sit on my workspace these guys came from the back to the front of the project table and were basically  completed in three days, the hand painted shields were another two days and basing a further one. I have added some victrix bits including plumes, weapons and a carnax.

These three units will join my other three completed Gallic Auxillia bases (which, possibly also need a review now I have completed these) as Gallic Allies for my Republican, Caesarian and Imperial Roman armies. I tried to paint them a little differently so they looked more southern or eastern Gallic in appearance with horizontal striped germanic type tunics. I really enjoyed completing these and will try to resist buying some ore as this takes my Gallic totals to over three hundred figures........





Cheers

Matt 

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Aulerci Diablintes XII

Another unit completed over the weekend, the third of my clothed tribesmen. A few new combinations of plaid, pretty happy with my results on these Victrix miniatures. 46 figures to paint and I will of passed the 200 mark for the year of Gauls.

They will join my Aulerci Diablintes tribe and will be on the table in two weeks when we have a wargaming guest  one of our "walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tours, visiting the Oppidum at Moulay, and the museum at Jublians, then wargaming in the completed "salon de Guerre ".

For details about our unique battlefield tour and wargame for Caesars Gallic wars go to our website at L'Hotel de Hercé




cheers
Matt

Saturday, July 11, 2020

Aulerci Diablintes XI

A unit of skirmishers completed for my Aulerci Diablintes, I still have approximately 8 bases to go before I switch to another tribe which has 8 bases to complete the army. Trying to slot them in amount my medievals to mix it up a bit.

Figures are 28mm Victrix and LBM transfers.



Cheers
Matt

Monday, July 6, 2020

Aulerci Diablintes Tribesmen X

Aulerci Diablintes Tribesmen 


Completed another unit for my Aulerci Diablintes tribe. Figures are 28mm Victrix miniatures with LBM transfers. A few individual shots





Monday, February 17, 2020

Gaullic Oppidum Moulay

Very close to our Maison is one of the ten largest Oppida, walled Gallic cities in France and the largest so far located. I thought I would share a few photographs of the site thst we share on our "Caesars Gallic Wars" tour and French Wargame Holidays  Wargame weekend. 

In the 1970s, the first archaeological investigations revealed the Gallic origin of the Oppidum and of the defensive works, it was long considered a Roman military fortification and was called  "Caesar's camp". The inner defensive wall is was over 500m long only 350m of the 10 meter high rampart survives,
 Along with traces of the Pincer gates. A secondary rampart in dry stone has also been recognized on the rest of the perimeter of the site at the top of the cliffs facing the Aaron and Mayenne Rivers. 


Map of western Gaul


Artists impression of a Pincer gate


The surviving ramparts are 6-8m high and 350m of the walls are walkable, a remarkable piece of military engineering work.

The road cuts through the outer ramparts in two locations on the entry to the village of Moulay 

From the top of lookout Rock on the junction and the ford of the Mayenne and L'Aaron rivers. 

Lookout Rock, on the junction of the Mayenne and the L'Aaron River
Looking back up from the river Mayenne to the Gallic city 

The archeology corresponds to a Gallic domestic occupation from the 2nd century BC until the 1st AD: pottery, grain millstones, wine amphorae imported from Italy, ornaments, and the practice of metallurgical activities: bronze mold and slag. 

In 2004, as part of the motorway bypass of the municipalities of Moulay and Mayenne, Inrap carried out an archaeological diagnosis over almost 9 kilometers. The road project passes less than 300 meters east of the known Gallic fortification, following the rocky promontory. Outside the enclosure, the diagnosis revealed numerous indications of the period of the final Tene (II e and I st century BC), a new rampart of about 1 200 meters long in 1000 meters upstream from the first. It joins the Mayenne and Aron valleys in a straight line. This new defensive line considerably changes the morphology of the site: the area defined by the two concentric enclosures then borders on 135 hectares. 



The inner fortification and the outer fortifications marked in red. 

Full expanse of the city, the grey section is the excavations by the  archeological team before the motorway construction. 


Territory of the Aulerci Diablintes 



It is the largest site known today on the Armorican Massif, the fortified agglomeration corresponds to the capital of the Gallic city of Diablintes. During the Roman period, the center of power moved a few kilometers from there to Jublains (Noviodunum), where the city remained until the early 5th century, before returning to Mayenne under the Carolingians, when the chateau was built. 

Monday, February 3, 2020

Aulerci Diablintes tribesmen VI

another unit completed over the weekend, the second of my clothed tribesmen. A few new combinations of plaid, pretty happy with my results on these Victrix miniatures.

They will join my Aulerci Diablintes tribe and will be on the table next week when we have a guest  one of our "walk the battlefield in the morning, Wargame in the afternoon" tours, visiting the Oppidum at Moulay, and the museum at Jublians.







Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Gaulois Aulerci Diablintes Noble Cavalry 28mm Victrix

Off the table this week more additions to the Aulerci Diablintes, this time Noble heavy cavalry, I have four more bases to complete to finish the cavalry. The Victrix cavalry are quite nice with lots of movement, my only complaint are the ears of the horse which are facing sideways, not forward or back. I used LBM transfers for the shields which are a little difficult but worth the effort. The checked fabric worked out quite well, a lot more to go, based for Impetus, I do need to add some tufts when they arrive.

The desk is very busy at the moment with multiple periods underway to meet the demand of upcoming Wargame events at L'Hotel de Hercé in the next few weeks.

Enjoy the pics




Cheers
Matt

Monday, July 8, 2019

28mm Aulerci Diablintes tribesmen II

Also off the table this week finallly after my tufts arrived some more Victrix Gauls, I have another 5 units of naked medium Infantry to complete this month, before I start the slog of tartan heavy foot, 90 odd figures to complete the army. Happy how these guys came out



Cheers
Matt

Friday, November 19, 2010

Roman Auxilia

Roman Auxilia Infantry and Cavalry


I finished a lot of these guys last year for Craigs 40th birthday bash, I have started to revisit my early and late republican and imperial roman armies and some of their enemies and allies and finish off a number of half completed units. Some items that need to be done are all of my republicans shields need transfers, I am short shields for my celts and germans plus transfers, and I need finish my republican roman cavalry two Alae.

In the coming weeks I intend to start my mixed Warlord and (perry bros) foundry Roman Augustan 1st cent AD army, then move onto my third cent army over the Christmas period.

A good mix of figures below, Warlord metals and plastics, some Foundry, Blacktree and First corps.

First corps Germanic 
cavalry









Warlord Wardogs and Handler, some first corps dogs too!


Warlord Gallic Druid


Warlord Gallic Witch


Warlord Gallic Druid/ General


Black Tree Elephant with Numidian crew


Warlord metal and Plastic Imperial auxilia
Cohors II Britannorum


Warlord Belaric Slingers


First corps and Warlord Archers


First Corps Germanic 
Archers


First Corps and Warlord Eastern Archers
Cohors Augusta Nervia Pacensis


cheers
matt