"Romanes eunt domus"

"Romanes eunt domus" as the Monty Python boys daubed on the city walls in The Life of Brian, all those years ago, being subsequently corrected by a passing Centurion, promptly giving us a lesson in Latin declension.

Thanks to all who commented on the previous post, and as promised, here are some better pictures of my Roman contingent.

I had long admired the 3rd Century, Middle Imperial Romans produced by A and A Miniatures, particularly when Phil Hendry produced such inspiring results with them a number of years ago, in his beautiful painting style.

And so, when Andy M and JK introduced Hail Caesar rules into our little group, I decided to take the opportunity of producing a Roman/Palmyran force for that rather neat little window of time in the mid-late 3rd century.

I ordered the figures, service was good, and the castings arrived.

That's when the problems started. So poor was the casting quality of these figures that cleaning them up was a forever task, and much of the flash and metal 'crud' on the figures was simply impossible to remove. I sighed, and simply turned the project into one of speed painting, just to get them onto the table.

The process was onerous, to say the least, and I just had to battle through doing what I could. The LBMS transfers do a lot of 'heavy lifting' in terms of the overall look of the units.

Above: the command figure is from a Gripping Beast Late Roman command pack, on a Wargames Atlantic plastic horse.

Not sure what will be next for this project. I am supplementing with a few Late Roman figures from other manufacturers, for things like the Scorpions and probably some cavalry as I couldn't face having to spend half my painting time cleaning up poor castings.

It's so sad, as the figures were a very attractive offering in years gone by, and whether it's the moulds that have been let go, the quality of the metal, or what, I don't really know.

I do know that the sculptor for the range is now bringing out a fresh and updated range to be marketed by a different company, so worth having a look at I guess, although from what I have seen they are quite different in appearance.

And before people start to pile on about how difficult it is for small manufacturers to keep head above water in making a living from a hobby such as ours, I know, and I don't mean anything personal. This is not an attack on A and A Miniatures. i am just reporting my experience with this particular range of figures.

I noticed Darryl H on his "Just Add Water" blog had a similar experience a few weeks back as well. So it's not just me...