15mm Himalayan Tribesmen

I have been wanting to sample Khurasan Miniature's figures for some time and decided to take the plunge with a DBMM Tibetan army, mainly because it is something a little different but also because they are quite a decent army to field under those rules.

I thought I'd start off with some Himalayan tribesmen, bow-armed for skirmishing:

There are a choice of two poses, which is fine by me as there are two figures on each base:

Khurasan appear to contract to a number of different sculptors so I can't attest to the consistency between ranges but the Tibetans appear to be consistent within themselves and are true 15mm, therefore much smaller in stature than the Xyston Ancients I spent most of last year working on:

The figures are quite detailed, but I found that I had to work harder than what I was used to in order to pick out some of it, only realising that it was there when I had completed a few of the figures as opposed to Xyston sculpts where some of the detail is almost exaggerated in size and relief, and therefore much easier to paint. I would probably describe the detail on these figures as subtle, but comprehensive:

That's the first unit of this army completed, with some Tibetan cataphracts to hopefully join them before too long:

Next up however will be some Republican Roman legionaries for another army I am hoping to complete concurrently with the Tibetans.

15mm Numidian Army

Following the completion of the Numidan project I got all the figures together for a group shot. I actually completed this two weeks ago, but seem to have had a busy start to the year so have not had a chance to sort through these until now:

The army actually only took me six weeks in total to complete, including a dozen elements of light horse I finished in October, although the extra time at home over Christmas and New Year certainly helped.

I am quite glad however it didn't take me any longer than that because my motivation on this one seriously waned toward the end. Nothing to do with the quality of the figures as the Xyston sculpt are up to their usual high standard, but more as a result of the lack of diversity in troop type and the rather mundane attire:

I suppose the other thing is the realisation that they are unlikely to take the field that often as they are an army lacking any real strength, composed as they are mainly of light cavalry and infantry. They will however make a useful allied contingent for other armies and, who knows, if I can convince the others in the group to put up a similar army in opposition they may yet get a run or two.

The actual army is comprised of the following:

3 General/command elements
34 Light horse elements
35 Javelin-armed elements
23 Auxiliary infantry elements
8 Sling-armed elements
8 Bow-armed elements
3 Elephants

This gives a total of 250 foot and cavalry figures, 76 horses and 3 elephants.

Next, on to some 15mm Ancient/Renaissance Tibetans, and some Republican Romans. I plan to do both at the same time, so hopefully there will be enough variety in these two projects to keep me motivated for the next few months at least.

Last of the Numidians

I managed to complete the balance of my 15mm Numidian project over the Christmas/New Year break, and based them the following week. This was comprised of twenty-three bases of Numidian auxiliary infantry, and three elephants:

The auxiliary infantry can be rated either as inferior, or upgraded to ordinary if representing Roman-trained auxiliaries:

There was the usual mix of four poses among the infantry packs:

And the same number in the command packs:

I purchased three elephants, the maximum allowed in the DBMM army list, but just the basic Xyston model with a mahout on board thinking this was possibly more likely to have been utilised in battle by the Numidians:

Unfortunately the elephants look a bit shinier and darker here than they do in the flesh in spite of the usual Testor's Dullcote, but these are the first photos taken with a new iPhone, the one with three cameras on it (which still seems like overkill in spite of having the supposed benefits explained to me), so it will no doubt take me a while to adjust to the different resolution and lighting requirements.

That's this army completed. I'll hopefully have another post up with the final group shot within the next few days.

2019 Final Tally

I only record broad figures, but 2019 was my most productive year so far with the completion of three armies in 15mm, and getting to within seventeen figures of a fourth. The three completed were Gauls, Spanish and Carthaginians, although the Gallic project also consumed the last four months of 2018, and the fourth is a Numidian contingent of around three hundred figures with the last handful being based at the moment.

The final tally was as follows:

Foot and mounted figures               1191
Horses (including 13 elephants)     278
Wagons and chariots                       28
15mm buildings                              29

Buildings and wagons aside, this represents a grand total of 1469 15mm figures completed, which exceeded my original goal of 1200.

Looking back, I was happiest with my efforts on the 15mm Gallic and Carthaginian chariots:

The Carthaginian elephants:

Xyston Spanish light cavalry:

The Hovels Gallic village buildings:

And the 15mm Baueda bridge model:

The most satisfying aspect of 2019 was that most of the painted figures saw at least one game, with around a dozen or so DBMM battles throughout the year as well as two Napoleonic 15mm games, one of which went for several months over a series of successive Monday evenings.

I also managed to restrain expenditure to a reasonable amount (at least when compared to other years), although 2019 did include the addition of 28mm Renaissance TAG Polish and Muscovite armies and a 15mm Khurasan Tibetan army to the pile as well as approximately 50 of the Cruel Seas German and British boats.

As for 2020, I have targeted a 15mm Xyston Republican Romans and Tibetans for completion as they should get some game time, as well as working on some 28mm Foundry French and Front Rank Russians. While 2019 was very productive I found my interest levels flagging a little in completing the Numidians, so I am also hoping to dip into some stockpiled Ancient, Napoleonic and WWII naval projects along the way, to mix things up a little and hopefully provide a little more variety to the painting side of the hobby.