More 15mm Gauls

When I completed my Gallic army at the beginning of 2019 comprising just under 600 figures, I swore I'd never paint any more 15mm Gauls, so here they are:

Fifty-two figures in all, including 48 warband. I essentially did this because I had based all my previous Gauls on 20mm deep bases which was the mandated size for earlier revisions of DBMM, only to subsequently find this had been reduced to 15mm in DBMM 2.1 which is the later version our group plays. Rather than re-base the whole lot at this stage, I decided to do a small batch who can now form the first rank of future encounters:

I found the chariot down the back of my painting desk three or four weeks ago, just in time for it to join the queue. That means I now have a baker's dozen, although the chariot rider on this model is from the Xyston Gaesatae range whereas all my other chariot riders are clothed Gauls. If I was that chariot driver I'd probably be doing what he's doing, keeping my eyes fixed firmly ahead and not turning around suddenly in case I got a faceful of bare arse:

That's definitely it for the Gauls now, and just about it for ancients for the time being apart from a few DBMM camps which I should have completed within the next couple of 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.

15mm Celtic Village

While finishing the last of the Xyston Spanish scutarii I thought I'd allow myself a small diversion in painting and assembling the Hovels Celtic village:

I have always been a fan of Hovels models and have normally ordered them fully painted, so this was the first time I have attempted painting the raw resin myself:


They are lovely models to work with, and the set comes with seven buildings and a couple of pigs for the pig sty:


It was also my first attempt using modelling plaster for the mud. I gave it a couple of goes and still couldn't get the consistency completely as I would like it, but as long as it stays in place I think it looks reasonable enough. The fruit baskets are an addition from Baueda, who also make a very nice range of 15mm models and accessories:


I particularly like the cracked daubing on some of the models which exposes the wattle underneath:





















Overall I am quite pleased with the result, and it has encouraged me to get stuck into a few other terrain pieces I have stockpiled and which I now plan on attempting over the coming months.

15mm Gallic Army Completed

Having completed the last six elements of this army earlier this week, I wanted to gather the army for a group shot. Given that most of the DBMM games we are currently playing are set at 400 points it is unlikely that they will be assembled together again for any one single game, although if I can convince the group I game with to give To the Strongest a go at some point I may need most of what I have managed to complete:

The figures are Xyston, and all shield transfers are from Steve Hales of Little Big Men Studios:

A quick thank you to Steve as it had been a good six or seven years since my original purchase of the transfers and some of them refused to part from their backing paper. I checked in with him to confirm that I was indeed attempting to apply them correctly, and he offered to replace them all free of charge. Given that the fault was mine I could not in good conscience accept the offer, but he insisted on a generous discount for the replacement which I thought went way beyond great customer service.

More cavalry and chariots:

A few more warband pictures:

Lastly, the gaesatae:

And an overall picture of the entire army as assembled:

All up, the army is comprised of the following:

79 warband elements

33 gaesatae elements

12 chariots

5 soldurii elements

8 skirmish elements

8 sling-armed elements

8 bow-armed elements

16 unarmoured cavalry elements

13 armoured cavalry elements (including 3 generals)

This constitutes 598 foot and cavalry figures with 111 horses, or 709 figures in total.

I had originally hoped to get all this done within four months, but I suppose just under six months is not a bad effort and this is the largest ancient army I had in the lead pile.

Now it's back to some ancient Spanish, which I am hoping I should be able to complete before the middle of the year.

Last of the 15mm Gauls

While I had initially intended the project to be finalised with the completion of the Gallic chariots, I had four soldurii figures left over and also decided to place one final order for five more elements of Gallic armoured cavalry. Here they are completed:

I wanted to paint two of these with white horses, to represent a couple of additional mounted generals:

While the other three elements, with one shown here, bring the total number of armoured Gallic cavalry elements up to ten:

The soldurii are four figures left over from the two packs I ordered as chariot riders. The figures are so nice it seemed a shame not to paint them, and they have now joined their already completed compatriots:

Only a few odds and ends but this now finally represents the end of the project which, after six months, I am very happy about. Having completed the same army in 28mm ten or so years ago, I have been telling myself that these are the last Gauls I will ever paint. That is until I remembered I have thirty or forty 28mm Asterix figures somewhere in the lead pile.

I'll try to haul the completed army together for a group shot over the coming days, and then it's back to some more 15mm Ancient Spanish.

15mm Gallic Chariots

The DBMM army lists allow for up to eighteen chariots, but I thought a dozen would be sufficient for my needs. I was however not entirely happy with the chariot riders as initially supplied as they were all gaesatae figures, whereas I thought the Xyston soldurii would be more appropriate and especially because I wanted to base a few as generals:

I ordered two packs of soldurii and ended up with seventeen figures, using a dozen as chariot riders and putting four aside for an additional solurii element, while the spare figure and a gaesatae warrior found their way on to the chieftain's base as an additional bodyguard:

The sub-generals are likewise differentiated with one additional chariot runner each, while the remaining gaesatae were put to use in the recently completed gaesatae contingent:

The chariot models themselves came in seven parts which needed to be glued together. Not overly difficult, but they probably won't stand up to much rough handling:

The fiddliest bit was sticking some fuse wire on the models for reigns. I nearly gave up, but am glad I persevered as I think the models look better with the drivers holding something other than thin air. I did have a chuckle to myself when, just I had used up my last piece of fuse wire, the pool filter circuit board tripped about three hours later. I am sure some water got in there with rain we have had overnight, and I don't believe that modern circuits require fuse wire anyway, but I enjoyed the irony of the moment nonetheless:

The only other thing I wrestled with was cutting the riders and standing driver figures from their bases, but thought I'd end up making too much of a mess of the figures themselves. Besides which, it is really only noticeable if viewed from the rear:

That's all the units for this project completed. I still have the one element of soldurii and four more cavalry elements to finish, all recent additions, and I am hopeful I'll be able to finalise everything within the next couple of weeks.

Gaesatae

The penultimate block of troops for this project, the Gaesatae were apparently not a tribe as I originally believed but more a group of warriors who lived in the Southern Alps and probably hired themselves out as mercenaries. The term 'gaesatae' appears therefore to refer to many of them being armed with a spear, rather than any tribal nomenclature:

I have completed 101 figures in all, with 99 of them based here across 33 elements of three figures each, and two left over for basing with the dozen chariots I have left to complete:

They are depicted, as Gaesatae usually are, without clothing. This is following the battle of Telamon in 225 BC where they collectively decided to throw off their clothes and charge naked at the Romans:

This was apparently to throw fear into the Romans, and Polybius states there may have also been a practical reason in that they didn't want to get their clothes caught in the brambles that were growing on the slopes of the hill atop which the Romans were positioned.

Either way, it probably seemed like a good idea at the time and appears to have been pretty much a one-off. It did make painting them a lot easier than the rest of the Gallic army, although they still required four layers including a wash for the flesh-tone:

With the command and standard-bearer figures there are a dozen different poses, including a handful holding severed heads, and they all look suitably fierce. The Gauls were apparently quite fond of collecting the heads of their enemies which they used as trophies to decorate their dwellings, probably far more interesting than some of the things I have seen people bring back from their holidays and put on display in their living rooms:

Only a dozen chariots and a few late additions in the form of  a dozen armoured cavalry left to go now. The chariots are almost completed apart from a slight hold-up with the chariot riders in that they are supplied with a random assortment of warriors, but when I unpacked them I discovered they had all been supplied with Gaesati warriors. After some deliberation I incorporated the chariot riders into the Gaesati warbands to keep them all together as a single contingent, and ordered a couple more packs of soldurii which I am hoping will better look the part.

Last of the Gallic Warband

The last of the figures off the production line 2018, with the basing completed over the Christmas/New Year holidays. These represent another eighty-four 15mm Gallic warband figures in twenty-one elements of four figures each:

I did however combine these elements into bases of eight figures each, which should make them less fiddly to manoeuvre around the table:

The shield designs are again by Little Big Men Studios, and I believe I have finally mastered their application to a level I am satisfied with. This essentially involves not letting the water remain on the back of the decals too long as I find that this can wash out the colours, and completing them in batches of fifteen shields at a time would appear to be around the right length of time to ensure that the decal sets without the colours bleeding:

All of this is more than adequately covered in the instructions provided by Steve of Little Big Men Studios I hasten to add, but there is nothing like a bit of trial and error until one refines a technique that works:

I'm glad to have completed this component of the army as it represents over three hundred figures across seventy-five elements. The DBMM army lists allow an additional fifteen elements, but I really don't think I had it in me to trot out another sixty of these:

Which brings me to the grand total of figures completed during 2018; exactly 880 figures comprised  of 601 foot and cavalry riders alongside 179 horses. I really only keep broad numbers, but have calculated this to have been 449 Gauls with 69 horses, all 15mm, and 152 Ottoman Turks with 110 horses in 28mm.

Probably not a bad effort all things considered, especially as it has seen the completion of the Ottoman Turkish Army and the near-completion of the Gauls, with only the Gaesatae and a dozen chariots to go.

Gallic Soldurii and Skirmishers

As most will probably know the soldurii were the Gallic chieftains' bodyguards, with soldurii being the Latin for retainer and the name Julius Caesar gave to this body of troops. I was initially a little annoyed when I discovered that in DBMM v2.1 they have moved from being part of the core army and are now only available as part of the Aquitanian sub-list. However, since this option includes the ability to field Iberian allies and I have an army of these ahead of me in the lead pile, on reflection it may actually work out quite well.

The figures are again 15mm Xyston Miniatures and I believe they are amongst the most detailed 15mm figures I have painted to date:

There are four different figures randomly assigned to each pack, so a bit of shuffling around on the bases and varying the hair colour creates some variety:

The shield designs are from Little Big Men studios and, when I manage to seat them correctly, look quite effective:

Given that there is only one element to be attached to each general when on foot, four elements should be plenty. This meant I was able to complete them reasonably quickly:

And was therefore able to manage eight elements of javelin-armed skirmishers:

There are only six elements allowed in the DBMM v2.1 lists but, since they are sold in packs of eight it seemed wasteful not to use them all:

I can see the finishing line in sight for this project now, and remain hopeful I'll be able to get there over the Christmas/New Year break.

Since this will no doubt be my last post before Christmas, I hope everyone who reads this (with the exception of the Russian spambots) has a very happy and safe Christmas. OK, even the Russian spambots, although I hope they too take a break. All the best everyone.