I'm Going on a Journey

Things will be very quiet around The Inevitable Spark for the next couple of weeks - I am taking an extended vacation to beautiful Scotland to explore, learn, discover, wonder and breathe. We are traveling most of the countryside during our adventure, with plans to visit at least a couple of historic battle sites.

I'm packing along Tom Holland's Rubicon, The Last Years of the Roman Republic for some reading during the long flights and down-times. While reading the prologue a few days ago this powerful quote from Machiavelli really caught my attention, and I thought I would share it here before I depart:

Prudent men are wont to say -- and this is not rashly or without good ground -- that he that would foresee what has to be should reflect on what has been, for everything that happens in the world at any time has a genuine resemblance to what happened in ancient times.

I'll see you when I get back!

Slàinte mhath,

Jonathan

Ezekiel Blume

This is the first painted figure for The Society for Advanced Meta-Exploration. The Society is an independent adventuring company that I will be playing for the upcoming In Her Majesty's Name Victorian science-fiction and steampunk skirmish rules. The figure is by Ratnik and is beautifully detailed.

Ezekiel Blume, for as long as he could remember, feared the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and had spent eight mighty years as an Evangelical lay preacher until he was asked rather forcefully by his Yorkshire congregation to vacate his premises under cover of darkness due to some unfortunate circumstances. Perceiving that he cannot reform his sinful ways, it is not uncommon to find him roaring and trembling in fear of divine judgement over bitters and ales at the local pub. He will still preach to any that will listen and, when moved by the spirit, he will retrieve his small and worn bible from within his waistcoat, stand on a chair and deliver a sermon on morality and rigidity.

Ezekiel Blume was recruited into The Society for Advanced Meta-Exploration on a forgettable and wet evening on a street corner of London. He now rather vigorously passes righteous judgement against any that oppose the ambitions of The Society.

Roman Velites Complete!

A busy week saw me complete the Aventine Velites this morning for the Republican Roman army. These are fantastic models to paint and I am very happy with they way they turned out. I thought long and hard on how I wanted to create the bases, knowing only that I wanted to do them differently than the Carthaginians. I ended up using ground cover (fine and medium ballast) that I purchased some time ago from the local Railway hobby store to give the ground some contrast in colors and textures which breaks it up nicely.

This is two small units of Velites for Hail Caesar, which represents half of the number for a full Republican legion in my scheme of things. I am painting half of the legion at a time so I can play some small battles with these Romans sooner rather than later. They are based on two 100mm x 30mm bases.

Thanks for looking. Next up, the Hastati!
 

Roman Velites: WIP No.2

One of the things I want to do differently with my Republican Romans is to paint them in such a way that the viewer say "wow, those guys have had a really hard time of it!". They should look as if they have been in a battle wearing dirty and worn tunics and carrying smashed and hacked shields.

Now, as with most things, painting the figures to look battle-worn is easier said than done. This is a work in progress of some Roman Velites from Aventine. I have replaced the supplied javelins with the NorthStar spears because I like the proportions of them better.

The Birth of an Adventuring Company

Meet the first eight members of the Society for Advanced Meta-Exploration. The Society is a savvy and well-dressed independent adventuring company that will be operating by secret commission for the upcoming In Her Majesty's Name rules. These are all Ratnik figures in 28mm and I absolutely love the details, the Steampunk equipment and the dynamic poses of the models.

I will be painting each of these individually over the next month and each character will be given an extensive back-story and personality that can be used during Victorian dust-ups and global campaigns to really bring the games to life.