Gaesatae

The penultimate block of troops for this project, the Gaesatae were apparently not a tribe as I originally believed but more a group of warriors who lived in the Southern Alps and probably hired themselves out as mercenaries. The term 'gaesatae' appears therefore to refer to many of them being armed with a spear, rather than any tribal nomenclature:

I have completed 101 figures in all, with 99 of them based here across 33 elements of three figures each, and two left over for basing with the dozen chariots I have left to complete:

They are depicted, as Gaesatae usually are, without clothing. This is following the battle of Telamon in 225 BC where they collectively decided to throw off their clothes and charge naked at the Romans:

This was apparently to throw fear into the Romans, and Polybius states there may have also been a practical reason in that they didn't want to get their clothes caught in the brambles that were growing on the slopes of the hill atop which the Romans were positioned.

Either way, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time and appears to have been pretty much a one-off. It did make painting them a lot easier than the rest of the Gallic army, although they still required four layers including a wash for the flesh-tone:

With the command and standard-bearer figures there are a dozen different poses, including a handful holding severed heads, and they all look suitably fierce. The Gauls were apparently quite fond of collecting the heads of their enemies which they used as trophies to decorate their dwellings, probably far more interesting than some of the things I have seen people bring back from their holidays and put on display in their living rooms:

Only a dozen chariots and a few late additions in the form of  a dozen armoured cavalry left to go now. The chariots are almost completed apart from a slight hold-up with the chariot riders in that they are supplied with a random assortment of warriors, but when I unpacked them I discovered they had all been supplied with Gaesati warriors. After some deliberation I incorporated the chariot riders into the Gaesati warbands to keep them all together as a single contingent, and ordered a couple more packs of soldurii which I am hoping will better look the part.

Last of the Gallic Warband

The last of the figures off the production line 2018, with the basing completed over the Christmas/New Year holidays. These represent another eighty-four 15mm Gallic warband figures in twenty-one elements of four figures each:

I did however combine these elements into bases of eight figures each, which should make them less fiddly to manoeuvre around the table:

The shield designs are again by Little Big Men Studios, and I believe I have finally mastered their application to a level I am satisfied with. This essentially involves not letting the water remain on the back of the decals too long as I find that this can wash out the colours, and completing them in batches of fifteen shields at a time would appear to be around the right length of time to ensure that the decal sets without the colours bleeding:

All of this is more than adequately covered in the instructions provided by Steve of Little Big Men Studios I hasten to add, but there is nothing like a bit of trial and error until one refines a technique that works:

I'm glad to have completed this component of the army as it represents over three hundred figures across seventy-five elements. The DBMM army lists allow an additional fifteen elements, but I really don't think I had it in me to trot out another sixty of these:

Which brings me to the grand total of figures completed during 2018; exactly 880 figures comprised  of 601 foot and cavalry riders alongside 179 horses. I really only keep broad numbers, but have calculated this to have been 449 Gauls with 69 horses, all 15mm, and 152 Ottoman Turks with 110 horses in 28mm.

Probably not a bad effort all things considered, especially as it has seen the completion of the Ottoman Turkish Army and the near-completion of the Gauls, with only the Gaesatae and a dozen chariots to go.