Sunday 16 June 2019

15mm Spanish Unarmoured Cavalry and Generals

Rather a long post as I have managed to finish the remaining ancient Spanish cavalry sooner than I had expected. Even though May was a relatively slow month on the painting front I finished the bulk of the cavalry horses so only had the riders to complete, and pleasantly surprised myself how quickly I was able to get through them.

First off, a group shot including some of the earlier-completed armoured cavalry:
The latest batch includes six elements of generals and some armoured nobles to augment the armoured cavalry:


















The figures are all Xyston, and I mixed the generals in with some figures from the musician and standard-bearer packs:




















Next up, twelve elements of unarmoured Spanish light cavalry:






















































That should have been more than enough for my requirements, but Xyston released a new pack of Spanish light horse with caetrati pillion riders, in line with DBMM v2.1 where the light horse gain a bonus if supported by caetrati.

Although the actual caetrati elements are mounted on separate bases and more than adequately covered by what I have already completed, I couldn't resist these models and am glad I didn't as they are among my favourite Xyston purchases to date:






















































The figures are supplied with a separate sprue containing additional javelins, which I thinks is a nice touch and round out some of the figures perfectly:






















































Two more group pictures, showing all thirty elements of cavalry assembled:




That's seventy-two horses and eight-four riders in total, and the completion of the army is now in sight. I have another twenty elements of slingers on the painting table at the moment, (another over-purchase, this time due to miscalculation) which I hope to complete in the next couple of weeks, clearing the way for the final batch of sixteen elements of Celtiberian allies.

Sunday 9 June 2019

More 15mm Ancient Terrain

I recently managed to complete a few more 15mm terrain pieces from Forged in Battle, including a Roman market store:


















Roman temple:




































And another temple built of stone:


















My plan is to put these together alongside another dozen or so Forged in Battle pieces to form two more DBMM built-up areas.

I have managed to do that with the FIB middle-eastern village set, but am not sure I am entirely happy with the result:


















The buildings are a little too angular-looking for my taste. A couple were damaged in transit, and I was actually quite happy with that as it lends some variation to the models. I was also pleased to have found a home for the ruined temple piece I completed earlier.

I'm ploughing ahead with the last of the cavalry for my ancient Spanish project, and hope to have more on that within the next week or so.

Thursday 6 June 2019

15mm Spanish Armoured Cavalry

I knew that May would potentially be the least productive month this year in terms of painting output (the reasons for which I have outlined at the end of this post), but I managed to progress my ancient Spanish project in the form of some armoured cavalry:


















These are again Xyston figures but appear a little different to some of the others in their range, not least because they have cast-on spears:


















This reminded me a little of the old Miniature Figurines sculpts, and how I could never completely remove the waviness:


















And usually ended up snapping one or two along the way:




































They are however great figures, and the four different poses in each pack provides sufficient variety:


















May turned out to be a busy month with my daughter's wedding, which was wonderful; my father's eightieth birthday, which was great and was thoroughly enjoyed by all; a trip to New Zealand, where I got to spend a very pleasant hour catching up on the last thirty years with Mark Strachan; and the end of the university semester leading into exams.

I wonder on occasion why I am persevering with a law degree at my age, but it is something I have always wanted to do and I find it keeps my mind active. Besides which I am now just slightly over two thirds of the way through, so will keep plugging on.

I have also already made a good start to June, and hope to have a few more posts up before the month is out.