Tarantines (and other things too)

Hi,

As promised, the entry for the recently completed Tarantine cavalry.



Impetus Unit Type: CL
Base Size: 8cm x 6cm
Manufacturer: Old Glory 15mm

While in the Antigonid list, it's unlikely that these guys would actually be from Tarantum, they could be from one of a range of greek colonies, including those on the Ionian coast. They do just fine as generic Greek light cavalry in the Diadochi period.



On the subject of lists, I've been puttering away with Extra Impetus 4, and chewing over ideas for other armies. While Spartans will be my next Impetus project (I have the figs, and like painting the shields), I'm already thinking about what will come after.



There are maybe half a dozen different armies I'm thinking about, all of which qualify as bucket list entries, at least of the geek variety. The list includes:

1. Some kind of celtic / gallic / galatian force, mainly for the painting (plus I tend to like horde armies).

2. Marian Romans (Caesar / Pompey / Marc Antony vs. Augustus etc), because sooner or later everyone does a Roman army and that's probably my favourite period of Roman history.

3. Indo-greeks, because I think they're one of the coolest ancient armies. They have a wild mix of forces (elephants and indians and pike, oh my!) and their history is intriguing. We don't know much about them, but what we do is fascinating. For eg., they probably inventing the Buddha statue, having supported local Buddhists as a counterpoint to pre-exiting Hindu authorities, and incorporating the Hellenistic aesthetic into the religion. Cool huh?

4. Nevsky Russians (painting, plus some family history.

5. Andalusians (anyone ever read Guy Gavriel Kay's "The Lions of Al-Rassan"?).

6. Samurai. I used to own a copy of the Shogun boardgame, and still regret not painting the figures. Also, when I was around 11 or 12, I thought the Clavell Shogun mini-series was pretty much the coolest thing to exist, ever.



Among other things, this had lead me to post more new entries on TMP than is probably good for me.

Whatever the post-Spartan army turns out to be, another thing I've been chewing over is whether to do it in 15mm or 1/72. I'm finding I really like the 15mm, as they paint up relatively quick, but still have enough detail on them to make taking my time worth while. It's an enjoyable sort of tension. 1/72 on the other hand, would go nicely on the table against some of the opposing armies available via the THMG, and there are some really nice plastics out there now for Russians, Andalusians, and Samurai by Zvezda and HaT.

A final complicating factor is that the same trade that brought me the nucleus of my Antigonid and Spartan armies brought a DBA army's worth of Mongols (again, old glory). I have a soft spot for Mongols, primarily on the basis of these books and this movie, All I'd need to finish off a 300-400 point list would be 2 or 3 OG packs of allied steppe types.



I mean, really, what's not to love? This whole discussion is further complicated by the fact that I've still got a whack of SYW 6mm to complete, and, you know, a life. Out of curiosity, does anyone else indulge in this sort of geek-istential crisis? I sometimes get the impression that other people have a clear sense of planning and priorities; in contrast, I'm coming to terms with the idea that at least in terms of my hobby, I'm a creature of impulse.

The fact that Impetus has me so excited and enthusiastic about gaming and painting speaks well of it. I don't think I've been this juiced about a game since I first discovered Warmachine about 7 or 8 years ago. A big thanks to JET over at Geektactica, who first turned me on to the game.

FMB