What we did in 2025 and what is planned for 2026

One thing that I do with Baccus every year is look back at what we did over the previous twelve months and attempt to put some sort of projected framework of what we would like to achieve in the coming year.   I thought it would be interesting to see how a similar review would turn out for Tenth Legion.   So, let’s give it a go.

Although we collected the moulds from Richard and Zoe at Magister Militum in late 2024, we only went live with sales and the new Tenth Legion website in April of this year.   At the time, we were faced with the problem of getting a massive range listed on the site, getting the appropriate images in place, identifying and testing moulds and ensuring that all was in place for sales to customers.

The result was the new Tenth Legion site.   We were very happy with it and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive.   However, we were faced with the problem that it takes time and resources to get a range to the point that we are happy to get it on sale, but there was a demand for castings across the range, tested or not.   As a result, we spit the catalogue into two parts; the Tenth Legion range and the Magister Militum Legacy range.   Ordering from the former is very easy and straightforward, from the latter less so.   As you will see, a major part of our planning is going to be taken up with moving ranges from one catalogue to another.

One policy decision we did make early on was that we were not just going to simply replicate what MM had done.   As we took ranges across, we were going to review them, identify any gaps and where required introduce new sculpts to fill them.   We opted to use the Crusades range as the first example of this process in action.  

As ever with this range, the existing sculpts were lovely, but from our point of view, both the Crusaders and their opponents were missing key troop types.  For the Crusaders, Spearmen and Crossbowmen.  

For the Saracens, Turcoman horse archers.

Arab spearmen and archers

Both sides also desperately needed Leaders and commanders.

We also took the opportunity to reformat the figures themselves.   Both infantry and cavalry in this range now come on strips.   We know that it’s not a universally accepted move, but as they say, ‘don’t knock it till you’ve tried it’.   Strips make painting and basing much easier, especially for formed units.   For skirmishers and cavalry, a pair of snips makes light work of making them suitable to individual basing.   For example, all of the figures above come on strips.

Our next job was to make a start on the massive task of the Napoleonic ranges.  Given the size of this job, we have taken the option of concentrating on the infantry codes, and the first to get the treatment was the French army.   Most of their infantry have now been converted to strips setting the pattern for the rest of the range.

Alongside this we have started introducing a range of 10mm flagsheets for the Napoleonic nations.

Although we cannot take anything like a full presence to UK wargames shows, we did manage to get a small display of the Crusades range out and about for the latter part of the year.  This was really well received.

So, there you have it.   It may not seem a lot when written down like this, but it does represent a major input of commitment and resources from our team and has enable us to establish a template for moving forward.

So, that is what we did.   What are going to do in the next twelve months?

Well, it’s more of the same really.  Much, much more of the same!   The first major push will be with the infantry from the Napoleonic range.   We will aim to get all of these for the ‘Big Five’ countries remoulded and reformatted onto strips by the end of the year if not sooner.   This will then enable us to transfer the bulk of the Napoleonics from the legacy to the main Tenth Legion catalogue.   However, we won’t finish there as we will be remoulding, and if needs be, adding to the artillery pieces.   The process of adding new flagsheets for these nations will continue alongside the rest of the work.

We will also start work on the Ancients ranges.   We have already converted the Macedonian phalangutes to the new format, and believe me, that makes a MASSIVE different when basing your units!   You can expect to see the both Greeks and Macedonians getting new figures.

We will also try and improve our offer at wargames shows.   We can’t actually fit much more in our company van, but we hope to take stock of at least the latest figures/ranges to selected shows in 2026.

Once again, it doesn’t seem like a massive amount of work, but if we are able to fulfil these plans, it will make a big improvement in how we present the lovely sculpts.

The idea is that in a year’s time, I will review how well we got on with the objectives outlined above and see if we managed to keep up the pace,

I will finish the with a big ‘Thanks’ to the Baccus/Tenth Legion team who have worked especially hard this year in getting us to where we are now.   It’s been a big learning curve for all of us.   I must also thank any of you placed orders – without customers, businesses cannot exist.

All the very best to you from us, and feel free to pass comment on the above twaddle on the Tenth Legion forum or social media.