Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Romans are Coming!

After a couple months of planning and continued work on getting the Carthaginians to a respectable place, I have finally placed the order for the beginning of a Republican Roman army. My goal, after wrapping up the Libyan infantry this week, is to jump right into the Romans and build them up to a roughly equal force as my current Carthaginian army. Once I have done that, I will incrementally build both sides with the ultimate goal of fighting a campaign with the two armies as well as some of the larger battles of the Second Punic War.

The figures I ordered yesterday are entirely from Aventine Miniatures and they will essentially comprise half the infantry of a single Legion. Initially, I was not enamored with the sculpts from Aventine as I thought them to be a little cartoonish in their proportion and facial expressions. However, every time I have seen them painted and based they look absolutely fantastic and that was enough to convince me to place the order.

I ordered the following figures:
 1X  RR001   Velites with wolf fur
 1X  RR002   Velites in helmets
 2X  RR31   Hastati in pectoral armor advancing
 2X  RR32   Hastati with swords advancing
 1X  RR34   Advancing Command 1 (Hastati)
 1X  RR35   Advancing Command 2 (Hastati)
 1X  RR25   Advancing Principes with swords (walking)
 2X  RR271   Advancing Principes with swords (weight on front foot)
 2X  RR272   Advancing Principes with swords (weight on back foot)
 2X  RR24a   Principe command set
 2X  RR10   Triarii standing wearing muscled cuirass
 1X  RR17   Triarii in Roman chainmail 2
 1X  RR14   Triarii command in bronze armours
 1X  RR51   Senior command and cavlaryman with dead horse

I chose to go primarily with figures for the Hastati and Principes that are armed with swords with just a few armed with pila mixed in for variation and some flavor.

Customer service thus far from Aventine has been top-notch and speedy. I placed this order yesterday afternoon at 1:32 PM and I received an email this morning at 6:25 AM letting me know that my order has already shipped and should arrive in five days. Based on my experience with some other companies, I was expecting it to take much longer than that.

I am really looking forward to getting started!

Advancing Principes (Aventine Miniatures)

















Senior Command (Aventine Miniatures)


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10 comments:

  1. CalibanApril 16, 2013 at 11:57 AM

    Great stuff - do keep us up to date as you paint them!

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    1. JonathanApril 16, 2013 at 9:40 PM

      I certainly will! Thanks for stopping by. :)

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  2. Neves1789April 16, 2013 at 12:08 PM

    Good to read that Aventine has such a great service!

    I've been following your blog for a little while now(since I also just started my Carth army and plan to include Rep Romans, I've got basicly the same plans as you do).

    Are there some companies that you could recommend for Carth models? I've recently bought my first batch from Crusader miniatures and though I really like the mini's (almost no mould lines and timid poses) it took North Star Figures a month to get them deliverd after payment.

    I know of Relic and Gripping Beast, but perhaps there are others that I haven't found yet?

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    Replies
    1. JonathanApril 16, 2013 at 9:52 PM

      Hello and thanks for the visit and comment! I have really enjoyed both Gripping Beast and Relic for my Carthaginians up to this point - but you already know about them. I know of a few others: Crusader Miniatures, Renegade Miniatures and Old Glory all make some pretty nice looking Carthaginian models. Aventine even sells some veteran spearmen look look fantastic.

      Best of luck with your project and keep us informed on how it goes.

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  3. MontyApril 16, 2013 at 3:22 PM

    I've heard great things about Aventine. I'm looking forward to phase II, The Romans!

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    1. JonathanApril 16, 2013 at 9:41 PM

      Thanks Monty. I'm pretty excited for the next phase of this ancient project - starting to think about colors already. :)

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    2. MontyApril 17, 2013 at 4:19 PM

      I can't wait to hear what you think of the figures as a painter. People have very strong feelings about whether certain styles or lines inspire their best or maybe even hinder them.

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  4. LittleNickyApril 16, 2013 at 6:35 PM

    Sounds exciting. Always nice to have the two sides of a war built and painted. Looking forward to seeing your Romans.

    One question though, is there a reason you chose Aventine over the new Warlord Games plastic Republican Romans? I know some people just love metal minis.

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    Replies
    1. JonathanApril 16, 2013 at 9:46 PM

      Hi Nick, thanks for stopping by. Warlord puts out some nice miniatures for sure but I have had my eye on the Aventine line even before Warlord released their late Republican Romans. I've seen lots of beautiful armies of Aventine figures painted - so that was certainly a factor as well.

      Delete
  5. fireymonkeyboyApril 17, 2013 at 6:13 AM

    Yeah, I've yet to see pics of an Aventine fig that didn't paint up well. Should look great!

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