I enjoyed painting my four Forged in Battle 15mm Arab armies so much I wanted an excuse to paint one more FiB army before moving on, and so purchased some Early Medieval Welsh on a bit of a whim.
While the base DBMM army list calls for lots of warband there is an option in a South Welsh army to replace some or all of these with irregular longbow. These are classified in the rules as the rather deadly superior bow, so I decided to tackle these first:
There are sixty-two elements in total with ten based as light troops (psiloi) and the remaining fifty-two elements as superior bow, comprising one hundred and eighty-two figures in total:
The psiloi are two to a base:
With the irregular bow based in threes (if they were regulars they would be four to a base):
There are six different figures in the Forged in Battle bow packs, although these are based upon three distinct body types with different heads:
I tried to keep the colours relatively subdued with predominantly different shades of browns, greens and greys, and will stick to this for the remainder of the Welsh and their small contingent of Irish allies:
Next up will be the warband which will be almost exactly the same number of figures again. I have a fair bit on over the coming weeks but hope to have the bulk of these done by the end of June.
Very nice Lawrence, that is an awful lot of bowmen !
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt. It does seem to be one of the strengths of the DBMM Welsh army so I figure I need a few.
DeleteWow! That's a lot of bowmen!!!!
ReplyDeleteIt will be an interesting game if and when they all make the table together together.
DeleteGreat job and you never tackle anything half measure, do you? That is a lot of bowmen!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan, and I think that is a character trait we both share. I like to have all options in an army covered if possible although it means that some figures haven't made the table yet.
DeleteThat's looking great sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal, there are a lot more Welsh yet to come.
DeleteAn impressive array of Taffies, Lawrence and puts me in mind of "Men of Harlech" - plus the scenes from Braveheart!
ReplyDeleteA lot of the figures have sideburns and moustaches and reminded of Tom Jones and Windsor Davies.
DeleteMy God...182 archers...
ReplyDeleteThe army lists allow for potentially more than that, but I can't see myself realistically wanting to field any more than I have painted.
DeleteOutstanding work, Lawrence. Their arrows will darken the skies in your DBMM games.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, I'm keen to get this lot on the table and see how they perform.
DeleteSplendid looking archers,lovely colour palett, they look great!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
thanks Iain, I took the subdued approach with this lot.
DeleteAn impressive - and gorgeous - collection of archers, cracking job Lawrence!
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil, I was pleased with the way they all turned out.
DeleteAwesome looking and painted Army Lawrence! Welsh bowmen always look fantastic on the table—lots of character, varied poses and colourful clothing. From a painting perspective they're often more interesting than ranks of heavily armoured troops. On the or during a DBMM tabletop game, massed bowmen can struggle against Blades and Knights....Fight in rough or difficult terrain...fight on Welsh terms! :oP
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil. Yes, the quick kill and loss of both ranks can be nasty, but I have still been surprised how resilient superior bow can be with the +2 and especially if they can break the ranks of the attacker in the advance. You're right though, in that Welsh will probably be happiest in hilly and rough terrain.
DeleteI agree. If we're talking about Welsh longbowmen in a rank-based ancients/medieval ruleset, the superior bow factor can make them far less fragile than they first appear. The Welsh (S) Bowmen real strength is forcing awkward advances, exploiting terrain, and creating situations where enemy Blade elements can't bring their full weight to contact for bloodbath hand to hand melee's.......
DeleteI'm really looking forward to getting this lot on the table, although I'm probably still two months away. No doubt it will have to be against a Knight or Blade heavy opponent to even things up.
DeleteThey liok great Lawrence, your painting skills are top notch!
ReplyDeleteThanks Vol. Irregulars are never easy but I managed to get into a rhythm with this lot.
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