15mm Medieval German Army Completed

This army took a little longer to complete than I had originally planned, mainly because of my segue into ECW Royalist foot, but now that the dismounted knights and command stands have been finished I can finally call this project complete:

The figures are all Khurasan, with the flags, pennons and some shield transfers from Little Big Men studios:

The German army offers a lot of variety, and the DBMM army list for them is one of the most bewilderingly complicated of them all with various troop types only available if you choose certain compulsory types, which then rules out other types etc.

The only option I haven't completed for this project are some landwehr pike but, given that Khurasan don't make them and because I have a lot of pike already completed for other projects, I will borrow from other armies if I decide to field them:

The other good thing about this army as it stands is that it fits almost perfectly into one of my standard A3 storage boxes:

That's it for medieval armies for a while. Next up, the last of the Royalist ECW foot regiments and then another segue into some more WWII naval.

15mm Dismounted Knights and Command

A quick post to highlight a few stands of dismounted knights and two mounted command stands. This represents the last of the Medieval Germans, so another army completed. First off the dismounted knights:

Two of these elements are actually English dismounted knights, but will be used interchangeably should I ever wish to dismount knights in a game. This is an expensive thing to do as the mounted knight elements cost a lot more than the foot, but dismounting allows them to fight as superior blade which can be useful:

The three pole armed elements are all German dismounted knights:

The shield transfers and banners are from Little Big Men Studios:

I also completed two command elements:

Easter was a bit of a disappointment in that after having caught COVID on Christmas Day, putting paid to any serious hobby time in the following two week break, I was really looking forward to a four-day break over the Easter holidays only for a bout of the flu to take hold late on Thursday and clear up just in time for work on Tuesday morning. At least it left my 285 days' accumulated sick leave untouched again.

That said, I did manage to make some progress with the last three regiments of Royalist ECW foot, over 150 figures completed. I'll post a few pictures of them soon, but might muster the completed German army for a quick parade first.

15mm Medieval German Crossbow, Bow and Foot

While I have been enjoying significant progress on my ECW project, the arrival of a recently placed order with Khurasan meant I had to return to the Medieval Germans to complete that project. I knew that if I didn't, then it would be left hanging indefinitely and I do want to be able to field the Germans at some point over the coming months. 

Strictly speaking, I didn't really need the additional troops as I had already completed the core and most options for the DBMM army list, but more detailed reading meant I had to have these particular options, just in case. All part of the obsessive nature which I am sure many wargamers identify with, and my storage boxes are full of "options" which have never again seen the light of day.

First off, twelve elements of mercenary crossbowmen:

Lovely figures and I really hadn't intended to paint any more crossbowmen after having painted so many for the Spanish and French, but thought the Germans deserved their own contingent:

There are four different poses which is, as usual from Khurasan, perfect for four figure bases:

There is an option in the DBMM army list for some light bowmen. The nice thing about these is that they can stand behind certain other troops and add a +1 to dice rolls. Given that they only cost 2 points an element, in a typical 400 point army list they should provide a useful option:

Not the nicest figures in the Khurasan range I have to say, and perhaps some of their earlier sculpts as there was a fair but of flash, but they are functional enough:

Next, on to the foot. These are more of the same figures which I completed at the end of January, although the latter were based as 'knight-killers' whereas these troops will unfortunately be rated as 'Inferior' if and when they make the table:

I painted the shield designs the same as the earlier knight-killers as most troops were raised from the same cantons:

 

While I was in the clearing-up frame of mind, I also managed to complete two medieval organ guns from Essex miniatures:

I had actually completed the crew a few months earlier and they had been languishing in my 'completed, but yet-to-find-a-home' pile, so it was nice to at last complete the artillery piece they deserve:

Last, but not least, I recently found myself short three early Carthaginian chariots in our 'Biblical' games. I placed an order for three more to bring the total complement to eleven, and completed them last week as a C-in-C, sub-general and ordinary chariot:

 

This little segue reminded me how much I enjoy painting Xyston figures. And how bad I am with lighting when taking pictures:

That's about it for now. The above notwithstanding (a word not used enough, in my opinion), I have a few more German medieval figures to do, before returning to the Royalist ECW regiments.

15mm Medieval German Infantry

It is nearly the end of January and I am just getting around to my first post for the year, which is much later than I intended. I essentially lost a week due to my brush with COVID, and then we have been battling with a sick dog for the past two weeks which has necessitated one visit to the vet followed by six trips to the specialist hospital. Close to ten thousand dollars in veterinary bills later (with 80% thankfully covered by insurance) and I am hopeful we may finally have turned a corner with him, but know we have a few more visits to go yet.

In spite of this I have managed to disappear downstairs on a few occasions and to my surprise managed to get a bit done, with the first off the rank being twelve elements Khurasan Miniatures German infantry armed with axes, halberds, swords and falchions:

These are quite deadly against knights in DBMM, rated as Blade(X) for 'Exception' in that if they win in melee they automatically kill knight elements. Given that they start on the same melee factor as the knights they should prove quite useful:

There are four poses in each pack of eight, one with each type of armament:

Along with three elements of crossbow and the figures already completed, this was originally all I had intended for this army:

However I found I had glossed over a couple of troop types in the list which might also come in useful at some stage, so placed an additional order with Khurasan. Another sixty figures or so should see this army completed which will be the third Medieval army in just over six months. I still have the bulk of the Hundred Years War French and English plus an Italian army in the pile to be done, but will put them on hold for while.

To mix things up a little then, and while I was awaiting the arrival of the additional figures from Khurasan, I made a start on some Eureka Miniatures 15mm (actually more like 18mm) English Civil War figures. I am completing the basing on these now and hope to have the first of these up before the end of the week.

15mm Medieval German Knights and Spearmen

After having completed the Teutonic army, the next project in line is a 15mm German army. There is some crossover here in that the German knights can act as allies for Teutonic forces and vice versa, so it made sense to me to complete these next. First up, 20 elements of German knights:

The figures are again from Khurasan, with some shield designs, lance pennons and barding transfers from Little Big Men studios:

I find it difficult to come up with fresh livery ideas especially where sixty figures are involved, but the LBMS decals certainly helped and thankfully I have managed to make each figure look somewhat individual. I much prefer painting unformed troops however:

I also managed to compete sixteen elements of German spearmen. Given that these were raised as militia and fielded as a single force by particular cities I allowed myself the luxury of giving them all the same simple shield design:

These two completed units should now go a long way toward the completion of the German army:

I am still quite annoyed that I lost four what would have been completely uninterrupted days, which I had carefully engineered and which would have allowed me to make even more progress than this. It is nice however to return to the brushes and actually want to paint again, as I now hopefully overcome the last of COVID.

The final figure count for 2022 is 1099 foot and mounted figures with 243 horses, to give a total of 1342 figures in all. Probably not a bad result particularly as the year started with the completion of  a hundred and fifty or so 28mm French Napoleonic cavalry which were quite fiddly. I have still got just over a week of holidays left as well, in which I am hoping I'll be able to make up more ground.

All the best to everyone for a happy, safe and productive 2023.