Tuesday, 15 April 2025

Some New Arrivals

 Fresh from Adam at Adrahlabs in Australia, a small addition to the 10mm EIR collection - possibly my last Romans? I have not quite decided. I may also consider other ancient armies from the Cromarty Forge range - they have Greeks, Carthagians, Republican Romans, Gauls and Germans, to name a few - and all look just as nice as the figures below.


The small package of excitement

Two units of legionaries in Testudo formation



Two additional units of auxiliary infantry. Annoyingly, the one on the right has a broken off standard - but it's in the plastic bag the figures were all packed in, so shouldn't be too hard to super glue back into place.



Six "Scorpion" bolt throwers



Two Onagers


Finally, we had a night away this past Saturday, staying in a very nice hotel, the Sebel, in central Auckland


Location of the hotel


Arrow indicates approximate position of our suite


Our "balcony"!


View of Viaduct Harbour from said balcony


The expansive balcony from our room


A very relaxing weekend - headed into Auckland around 3pm on the Saturday, checked in, had a drink, met friends at "White and Wongs" Asian fusion restaurant about a three-minute walk away for dinner, returned to the room around 930pm, I had a bath (!) - not something we do often nowadays, as showers are the common means of washing - retired to bed around 1030 and woke up in pitch darkness (thanks to very efficient curtains) at around 845am Sunday! Popped next door to "Giraffe" cafe for a leisurely breakfast then headed home around 11am. I probably could have bought a small army for what the one night away cost, but man cannot live by war alone, can he?!

28 comments:

  1. Plenty of little chaps to paint Keith 👍

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    1. There certainly are, Matt. One of the many advantages of 10mm is, they don't take very long to paint up!

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  2. A night away and toys in the mail: in these stupid times (at the macro level), it's good to remember the "little" pleasures that make us happy.

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    1. Thanks Ed! I am more or less ignoring the macro level at the moment...no point in worrying about things I can't influence and in any case, the "things" change every 6 hours!

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  3. Time off and new toys. Best of both.

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  4. Looks like a nice haul and an even better night away!

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    1. Thanks Bill....it was quite possibly the "flashest" hotel in terms of location that I have stayed at!

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  5. Nice looking additions to your Romans, they really look lovely little figure and will paint up very nicely, look forward to seeing them. Nice to get a night away from it all and recharge the batteries.

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    1. Thanks a lot Donnie. The Cromarty Forge figures continue to impress....hence the reason I may move on to other armies, although I do find ancient warfare a bit one dimensional.....

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  6. Those look lovely, so many of the little fella's to get on the paint table.

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    1. Cheers Stu...hopefully won't be too long till the first batch are painted 👌

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  7. Carthaginians might be a nice addition. Your British could easily double as Gallic allies.

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    1. Thanks Lawrence, and I am so fast and loose with history pre 1400, I would have no real issue using EIR Romans instead of Republicans!

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  8. By doing the smaller scale figures one can afford a night away. 😁😜

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  9. New toys to be painted is always a bonus

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    1. It sure us Scotty.....and you should know, if anyone does! 😉

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  10. The Testudo figures are fantastic! Not something I have seen before.

    Good to get away for the weekend. I love the restaurant's name "White and Wong" - very funny.

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    1. Thanks a lot Ben - they are great little figures, aren't they?
      To be honest, given the times we live in, I am a bit surprised no one has been "offended" by the (potentially) "racist" name of this Asian restaurant!

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    2. Yeah - I thought it was dancing very close to the PC line 😂 glad that they have got away with it.

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    3. The restaurant has been an Auckland icon for a good few year's Ben - so guess Kiwis are not as thin skinned as some others when it comes to this sort of thing!

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  11. I'm looking forward to seeing your excellent paint work on those lovely looking figures.

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    1. That's very kind of you Richard! Hopefully you won't have too long to wait, with Easter coming up and pretty bad weather here, I should have plenty of opportunity to hit the painting desk!

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  12. Nice to get some new toys and lovely looking hotel, you had an enormous balcony!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks a lot Iain - it was, indeed, a huge balcony!

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