Monday 17 February 2020

15mm Tibetan Armoured Cavalry

My gaming group is planning a game for four weeks' time in which I aim to field as much of my Tibetan project as I am able to muster, giving me the motivation to get stuck into some armoured cavalry which form the backbone of the Tibetan army list. To this end I managed to complete eighteen elements over the past couple of weeks, including a general and sub-general:


















The figures are again from Khurasan Miniatures and I was very pleased with the way they painted up. They were also a welcome change from having to glue on spears and shields:


















The King is the mounted figure to the left forefront, with the sword-armed sub-general on the element to the right:


















Tibetan cataphracts were recorded by the Chinese historian Du You as being completely armoured "leaving openings only for the two eyes", and that "strong bows and sharp swords cannot injure them", which I think is depicted well by these figures:


















In DBMM they are rated as Knights(X) for eXception, which means they fight some troop types as Superior and others as Inferior, which presumably is intended to reflect the relative agility of the opponent:


















DBMM also calls for three to four figures per base, with four being the traditional convention. Even though they are closer to a true 15mm figure however, there was no way I felt I could comfortably squeeze four of them on to a 40mm x 30mm base:


















Besides which I intend to use the same army for renaissance gaming, and most rule sets there call for only three figures per base anyway:


















While the bulk of the figure has been done using GW Ironbreaker for the armour, I tried to make use of a bit of colour on the non-armoured parts to make them interesting without (hopefully) turning them into a riot of gaudy colours:


















I have another fifteen elements of these to complete but need to get some Tibetan garrison archers and spearmen finished first, which I hope to have completed within the next couple of weeks.

14 comments:

  1. Your armored cavalry look terrific. The Tibetan army is one I know absolutely nothing about so look forward to following the progress of this army and seeing it on the field of battle.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I really only picked them out of the army list book as something interesting so it is not an army I knew much about either Jonathan, but I am having fun picking up information as I go along. I just hope they perform as well under my command as their forebears did.

      Delete
    2. I will be learning of this army, too, as you go along your journey!

      Delete
    3. Hopefully only a short journey Jonathan, as I'm also keen to get stuck back into some Republican Romans!

      Delete
  2. Good grief Lawrence ...these would be impressive if they were 28mm...given they are the diminutive 15mm variety, they are truly amazing...great work and keep up the output...it will all count on game day!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Keith. Like any new figure it took me a bit of time to work out what was what, but once I had done that I managed to get on a roll.

      Delete
  3. Heavy and beautiful looking cavalry, impressive work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, they do look very heavy with all that armour.

      Delete
  4. Those boys look serious. Impressive array of cavalry.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Codsticker. I am a little concerned how impressive they will be when they come up against some bladed opponents in a few weeks' time, as I won't be able to afford to lose too many in a 400 point battle.

      Delete
  5. Impressive looking heavy cavalry! Lovely painting!
    Best Iain

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Iain. I have another forty-five or so of them to complete and will be keen to see how they look as a group.

      Delete
  6. That is an impressive bunch of cavalry, Lawrence.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Mark. I'm about halfway through with the armoured cavalry, so still a few of them to go.

      Delete