Tuesday, 4 February 2025

Some Long (ish) Awaited New Arrivals

 Whilst still on Christmas and New Year leave, back on 4 Jan, I put in a small order of 5 packs of 10mm EIR metal figures from Gripping Beast, to augment my Cromarty Forge collection. These took quite some time to be dispatched, and then they took a while to get here. The actual air trip from one side of the world to the other took about three days, but from payment to arrival in house took a month!




And were they worth the wait? Well, on balance, yes, I think they probably were. I have enough figures in hand - 90 legionaries plus 10 lots of 3 figure command groups - to make around 8 x 14 figure elements, plus some leftovers. 




The downside is that, like most metal ranges in this scale, poses are pretty limited, but I have considered mixing them in with the 3D prints - having the former in the front line, with the second line made up of the metal figures.....although then again I don't want to end up with far too many Romans in comparison to their "barbarian" enemies - first world problems, and no mistake! 

Meanwhile, the last of the Cromarty Forge figures are finished, so they will appear in my next post, and possibly the first examples of painted Gripping Beast figures will join them, too. Until then, thanks for your continued interest and support!

24 comments:

  1. Nice figures which seem to match pretty well…the answer Keith may be get more Barbarians ?

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    1. Yes, more Barbarians is the only reasonable answer to your dilemma.

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    2. No, no, no - you are both giving me entirely the wrong advice - thank you!

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    3. MOAR. MOAR BARBARIANS!!
      (They’re only 10mm anyways).

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  2. Ah, the joys of the postal system, whether local or international! I like your idea of having the metal figures in the rear, with any spares being useful for vignettes, command bases additions etc. Of course you can order more Barbarians, or have some of the Romans having gone over to the enemy, or even have the Barbarians using the Roman armour and weapons...

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    1. Thanks Steve, the four comments I have received overnight all seem to have drawn similar conclusions..... buy more!

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  3. The joys of overseas post. They look nice mate and should fit in with your Cromarty lads okay. What you actually need is another army like the Dacians to pit them against… lol.

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    1. Oh don't worry, JBM, an Ancient German army has already been considered....

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  4. Nice looking figures, you're all wrong, you need more Romans for the end of the Augustian/Claudian dynasty, the year of four Emperors,Galba, Otho,Vitellius and Vespasian, the mighty conquerer of the Isle of Wight! Well that's my plan, the barbarians are just additional buisiness!
    Best Iain

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    1. Iain, you are a very bad man! Thanks to my reading of the Simon Scarrow books, I am well aware of Vespasian and Vitellius....no doubt the other two will appear in future stories....

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  5. Keith, face the inevitable, you need more of everything. More is better than less.

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    1. Is it inevitable Joe....I fear you are probably right....

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  6. They look a decent match sizewise with the Cromarty figures. Easy enough to mix together

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  7. A good match for the CF ones and should mix well, looking forward to seeing them painted up.

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    1. Thanks Donnie...I have a four day weekend coming up so hopefully get some painting time in!

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  8. I purchased some Front Rank stuff from Gripping Beast last year and it too took a while to get here. They do have some lovely stuff though.

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    1. Yeah, I was a bit surprised it seemed to take about a fortnight to actually pick and pack the order, Lawrence, given GB don't give the impression of being a small scale operator!
      Front Rank....mmmm...I do need to get 2 or 3 more 12 man unit's of Cacadores for the Portuguese collection one day....

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  9. Glad you finally got your order Keith. As has been said already... just get more barbarians. Perhaps a Germanic horde to spring those ambushes in a forest somewhere over the Rhine?

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    1. Thanks Richard....Germanic hordes are a definite possibility, albeit at the time of the Teutobugerwald disaster, the Roman's should be late Republicans I think....checking Google though, it depends who you believe ...and I am not that picky about the uniforms and equipment anyway....the Roman's certainly fought the Germans during the EIR period!

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    1. Thanks Michal - they look good, don't they?

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  11. Those Gripping Beast 10mm look impressive.

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    1. Thanks OB, I know have the first few painted, and they don't look half bad!

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