Gallic Soldurii and Skirmishers

As most will probably know the soldurii were the Gallic chieftains' bodyguards, with soldurii being the Latin for retainer and the name Julius Caesar gave to this body of troops. I was initially a little annoyed when I discovered that in DBMM v2.1 they have moved from being part of the core army and are now only available as part of the Aquitanian sub-list. However, since this option includes the ability to field Iberian allies and I have an army of these ahead of me in the lead pile, on reflection it may actually work out quite well.

The figures are again 15mm Xyston Miniatures and I believe they are amongst the most detailed 15mm figures I have painted to date:

There are four different figures randomly assigned to each pack, so a bit of shuffling around on the bases and varying the hair colour creates some variety:

The shield designs are from Little Big Men studios and, when I manage to seat them correctly, look quite effective:

Given that there is only one element to be attached to each general when on foot, four elements should be plenty. This meant I was able to complete them reasonably quickly:

And was therefore able to manage eight elements of javelin-armed skirmishers:

There are only six elements allowed in the DBMM v2.1 lists but, since they are sold in packs of eight it seemed wasteful not to use them all:

I can see the finishing line in sight for this project now, and remain hopeful I'll be able to get there over the Christmas/New Year break.

Since this will no doubt be my last post before Christmas, I hope everyone who reads this (with the exception of the Russian spambots) has a very happy and safe Christmas. OK, even the Russian spambots, although I hope they too take a break. All the best everyone.

Slings and Arrows

Unlike Hamlet, I thoroughly enjoyed working through these slings and arrows, although I appeared to have purchased far more than I require in that the DBMM army lists which I am using as a guide allow for six elements of either, and I appear to have purchased the equivalent of twenty-four.

It wasn't a big task though, and they may come in handy at some point in the future. First up are thirty-two slingers:

There is a choice of four figures in the Xyston range, so a variety of possible combinations when arranged on bases of two figures each:

A few of the bases have pebbles scattered on them, which is ready ammunition for sling-armed troops:

I often wondered how much of an injury a slinger would do to a heavily-armoured opponent. I had no doubt that a skilled slinger could seriously injure the enemy with a well-directed missile which would undoubtedly be travelling at a substantial velocity, but when I saw these ancient Greek lead pellets fashioned as bullets in the New York Met it gave me a whole new appreciation as to how deadly a weapon it could be, in the right hands.

I can also vaguely recall having read somewhere that it generally wasn't just a case of picking up the nearest pebble, and that there was a much greater level of discernment in the choice of missile:

The Gallic archers were also fun to paint, with a choice of four quite dynamic-looking poses:

There is quite bit of detail on these for 15mm figures, including the fletching on the arrows:

There is some nice definition on the faces and torsos of the figures, and I was happy with the way it was possible to build up some depth to the skin tones:

I was hoping to get this project completed by Christmas but realise I still have close to a couple of hundred figures and a few long lunches to get through before then, so it will be more likely January before it is finalised. My gaming group normally takes a break until mid to late January anyway, so it will give me a bit of time to finish ploughing my way through DBMM version 2.1 in preparation for a few ancients games we have planned for the New Year.