15mm Republican Roman Cavalry

 The Republican Romans did not have much cavalry, and six elements' worth are enough to cover most variants of the army lists over this period:

While keeping the shields the same to give them that regular appearance, I gave them a variety of cloak colours to mix things up a little:

As with the rest of the army, the figures are all Xyston and are a mix of sword-armed and javelin-armed poses:

I have another four or five command stands to complete along with half a dozen Italian allied cavalry, which will give me all the required variations:

Next in line however are some anti-elephant wagons, for something a little different. I'm hoping to have the Romans completely finished over the next few weeks, and am already looking forward to getting stuck into a fresh project as the Romans have become a bit of slog. I have around forty or so armies in the pile, and am leaning toward a 28mm Renaissance Cossack army to oppose the Turks I completed the year before last, or a 15mm Teutonic medieval army which I am confident will get some table time next year. Either way, it will be nice to start something new.

15mm Republican Roman Italian Allies

Thankfully nearing the end of this project, it was time to get stuck into sixteen elements of Italian allies:

These guys are Oscan javelinmen, which probably acted more as skirmishers but are based here as auxiliaries. Either way, they are Italian allies and look the part, with their distinctive helmet regalia:

There weren't any Little Big Men Studio decals to fit these shields, so I applied a fairly simple red colour with some basic weathering for the shield designs. Given that these were regular troops, I think it ties them in together well enough:

The paint was barely dry on them when they took the field for their first game, as part of a Camillan army against a Phyrric army in a game which ground on for five hours before we had to call a halt (in pretty much the same manner as Phyrrus's historical conflicts). The Camillan's had the slight upper hand with the Italian allies performing very well, always gratifying when fielding a new army for the first time.

Next up, some Roman cavalry, and then hopefully a few anti-elephant wagons.

15mm Republican Roman Incendiary Pigs

'Incendiary pigs' is not something I have cause to type often, and I would guess that they will only be making very occasional appearances on the gaming table. That said, I thought I'd add four elements to the Republican Roman project, if only to round out the Camillan army list:

While dousing pigs in combustible pitch, setting them alight and then driving them toward the enemy is no doubt an inhumane thing to do, I wouldn't have thought that it was particularly effective either. At least not as effective as driving stampeding cattle or flaming ox carts toward the formed ranks of the enemy. 

In DBMM they are treated as one-shot artillery, albeit they are the last to be deployed and so can be lined up against a target of choice. However, at seven points an element plus an additional ten points to use an 'unusual troops strategem', they do seem rather expensive when normal artillery, which can be fired multiple times, is only eight points. 

At least they are something a little different, and the Xyston figures are as usual very nice. I must have used eight different shades on the flames, from yellow through to smoky grey, as I was concerned (as I have mentioned elsewhere) they might otherwise just end up looking like pigs running around with German flags on their backs:

University has now ended for the year which means study is over until March 2021. Hopefully that means I'll be able to increase my painting output, although 2020 seems to have been quite productive on that front anyway.

Next up, Italian allies in the form of some Oscan auxiliary infantry.