Latest Batch of 15mm Spanish Scutarii

Another twenty-four elements of seventy-two scutarii figures completed, making fifty elements completed so far with only a dozen or so left to go:

The figures are, as usual, Xyston and the shield transfers are by Little Big Men Studios:

These are mainly javelin-armed with four different poses per pack, alongside the four blade-armed figures:

I have maintained the theme of mainly using browns, cream and white linen for the tunics, with black or red for the helmet crests, which I think makes for a pleasing combination:

The shield designs are now starting to repeat themselves, but there are around forty-eight different patterns so hopefully it shouldn't be noticeable en masse:

With a bit of a push I should have the scutarii completely finished by the middle of April:

Given that this troop type represents the bulk of a Spanish ancients army, that should be about the halfway point of the project. We are playing a Carthaginian versus Spanish DBMM game this Saturday, so it will be nice to get them on the table so soon after completion.

More 15mm Spanish Scutarii

Having just completed a 15mm Gallic army I was very keen to get stuck back into the 15mm Ancient Spanish project I had started and managed to complete another eighteen elements of scutarii, including most of the command elements and standard bearers I'll need for all these units:

All the figures are again Xyston, with the shield transfers by Little Big Men Studios:

When I first looked at the LBMS shield transfers I was a little wary as they involved, in most cases, cutting out the middle of the shield boss. This involved catering for a few unusual shapes on some of the shields, but I soon got into a rhythm and found that if I could do this accurately enough they were actually far easier to position than the Gallic shield transfers:

The Xyston Spanish figures are a delight to paint as usual, and they are more like a large 18mm than a true 15mm figure:

There are two options for the standard bearers, with a choice of a pennant:

or a bull-like standard:

The figure below on the right is possibly my favourite Xyston figure thus far. Unfortunately it is not the best picture, but I very much like the dynamic pose and the way he is leaning back prior to letting loose with his javelin:

That's twenty-eight elements of scutarii now completed, with around another forty to go. These are in the queue at the moment so, when finished, will see the backbone of this Spanish army completed.

15mm Gallic Army Completed

Having completed the last six elements of this army earlier this week, I wanted to gather the army for a group shot. Given that most of the DBMM games we are currently playing are set at 400 points it is unlikely that they will be assembled together again for any one single game, although if I can convince the group I game with to give To the Strongest a go at some point I may need most of what I have managed to complete:

The figures are Xyston, and all shield transfers are from Steve Hales of Little Big Men Studios:

A quick thank you to Steve as it had been a good six or seven years since my original purchase of the transfers and some of them refused to part from their backing paper. I checked in with him to confirm that I was indeed attempting to apply them correctly, and he offered to replace them all free of charge. Given that the fault was mine I could not in good conscience accept the offer, but he insisted on a generous discount for the replacement which I thought went way beyond great customer service.

More cavalry and chariots:

A few more warband pictures:

Lastly, the gaesatae:

And an overall picture of the entire army as assembled:

All up, the army is comprised of the following:

79 warband elements

33 gaesatae elements

12 chariots

5 soldurii elements

8 skirmish elements

8 sling-armed elements

8 bow-armed elements

16 unarmoured cavalry elements

13 armoured cavalry elements (including 3 generals)

This constitutes 598 foot and cavalry figures with 111 horses, or 709 figures in total.

I had originally hoped to get all this done within four months, but I suppose just under six months is not a bad effort and this is the largest ancient army I had in the lead pile.

Now it's back to some ancient Spanish, which I am hoping I should be able to complete before the middle of the year.

Last of the 15mm Gauls

While I had initially intended the project to be finalised with the completion of the Gallic chariots, I had four soldurii figures left over and also decided to place one final order for five more elements of Gallic armoured cavalry. Here they are completed:

I wanted to paint two of these with white horses, to represent a couple of additional mounted generals:

While the other three elements, with one shown here, bring the total number of armoured Gallic cavalry elements up to ten:

The soldurii are four figures left over from the two packs I ordered as chariot riders. The figures are so nice it seemed a shame not to paint them, and they have now joined their already completed compatriots:

Only a few odds and ends but this now finally represents the end of the project which, after six months, I am very happy about. Having completed the same army in 28mm ten or so years ago, I have been telling myself that these are the last Gauls I will ever paint. That is until I remembered I have thirty or forty 28mm Asterix figures somewhere in the lead pile.

I'll try to haul the completed army together for a group shot over the coming days, and then it's back to some more 15mm Ancient Spanish.