15mm Numidian Army

Following the completion of the Numidan project I got all the figures together for a group shot. I actually completed this two weeks ago, but seem to have had a busy start to the year so have not had a chance to sort through these until now:

The army actually only took me six weeks in total to complete, including a dozen elements of light horse I finished in October, although the extra time at home over Christmas and New Year certainly helped.

I am quite glad however it didn't take me any longer than that because my motivation on this one seriously waned toward the end. Nothing to do with the quality of the figures as the Xyston sculpt are up to their usual high standard, but more as a result of the lack of diversity in troop type and the rather mundane attire:

I suppose the other thing is the realisation that they are unlikely to take the field that often as they are an army lacking any real strength, composed as they are mainly of light cavalry and infantry. They will however make a useful allied contingent for other armies and, who knows, if I can convince the others in the group to put up a similar army in opposition they may yet get a run or two.

The actual army is comprised of the following:

3 General/command elements
34 Light horse elements
35 Javelin-armed elements
23 Auxiliary infantry elements
8 Sling-armed elements
8 Bow-armed elements
3 Elephants

This gives a total of 250 foot and cavalry figures, 76 horses and 3 elephants.

Next, on to some 15mm Ancient/Renaissance Tibetans, and some Republican Romans. I plan to do both at the same time, so hopefully there will be enough variety in these two projects to keep me motivated for the next few months at least.

Last of the Numidians

I managed to complete the balance of my 15mm Numidian project over the Christmas/New Year break, and based them the following week. This was comprised of twenty-three bases of Numidian auxiliary infantry, and three elephants:

The auxiliary infantry can be rated either as inferior, or upgraded to ordinary if representing Roman-trained auxiliaries:

There was the usual mix of four poses among the infantry packs:

And the same number in the command packs:

I purchased three elephants, the maximum allowed in the DBMM army list, but just the basic Xyston model with a mahout on board thinking this was possibly more likely to have been utilised in battle by the Numidians:

Unfortunately the elephants look a bit shinier and darker here than they do in the flesh in spite of the usual Testor's Dullcote, but these are the first photos taken with a new iPhone, the one with three cameras on it (which still seems like overkill in spite of having the supposed benefits explained to me), so it will no doubt take me a while to adjust to the different resolution and lighting requirements.

That's this army completed. I'll hopefully have another post up with the final group shot within the next few 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 Baggage

I have had a number of Museum Miniatures lying around for the past eight years and am in need of some 15mm baggage for the gaming table, so I decided to move five wagons along with three Forged in Battle ox-drawn carts to the front of the queue:

The first of the Museum Miniatures models is an engineers' wagon:

Along with two large hay carts:

And a smaller single-horse version:

My favourite however is the beer wagon, complete with three barrels for a thirsty army. It puts me in mind of one of my locals which is the last pub in Queensland to still serve beer on tap from a wooden barrel although, to be honest, I can't really tell the difference and suspect it is brewed in the same steel vats as the rest of the beer they serve:

The Museum Miniature models fit together very nicely and are provided with two horses. I ordered four additional horses but found, after painting them, I preferred to stick with the original teams of two. The models are also available with a choice of solid or spoked wheels. The spoked wheels give them more of a middle ages/renaissance appearance, as opposed to the three Forged in Battle ox-carts which have solid wheels and a much earlier look about them:

These will do double-duty as combatants for the DBMM Ancient Spanish army list which also allows the use of flaming ox-carts as an expendable troop type.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself after having completed them, until I went back to the email confirmation of the original order and realised I have another four of the Museum Miniature carts packed away somewhere. I now have a small side-project for the second week of my Christmas break in hunting through a few dozen storage boxes to try to find them, although I am hopeful this will also allow me to locate a mislaid Peter Pig Parthian army and some 28mm Renegade Carthaginians.

15mm Numidian Skirmishers

I have managed to make a fair bit of progress with the Numidian project over the last few weeks, including the completion of thirty-five elements of Numidian javelin-armed light infantry:

These are the usual mix of four different poses available in the Xyston packs of eight figures each:

As with the Numidian cavalry, I kept the colours fairly simple and gave them a mix of animal-hide shields:

I also managed to complete eight elements of bow-armed light infantry, and another eight of slingers:

I found these a little more interesting to paint, mainly because they were at least carrying some equipment in the form of a quiver for the bowmen and a bag of projectiles for the sling-armed figures:

I have also managed to complete a few elements of baggage train which I am just finalising at the moment, and hope to have up in a few days' time.

15mm Numidian Light Horse and Generals, and Roman Bath House

With the recent finalisation of my Carthaginian army I wanted to return to complete my remaining Numidian cavalry, having painted twelve elements in October. That left me with another twenty-two elements and three generals, or twenty-five elements in total:

The figures are again Xyston, with the usual mix of four rider poses among the light horses and another four poses in the general packs:

As with the earlier batch, I have tried to keep the tunic colours fairly tame, and kept to a few basic shield designs:

Apart from the generals where I incorporated a bit of colour:

That's thirty-seven elements now completed, with some Numidian skirmishers next in the queue:

I also managed to complete another Roman building in the form of a 15mm Forged in Battle Roman bath-house:

This is a solid resin building so no interior, but it is nicely proportioned:

I have one Roman villa left to complete, my intention being to then combine them all into two large terrain pieces for use in DBMM.

15mm Carthaginian Army

The completion of the eight Carthaginian heavy chariots means that I have now finished the ancient Carthaginian project, so I thought I'd haul them all out for a few group photographs.

The project gives me enough options for the DBMM early and late Carthaginian lists, spanning just over four hundred years of history, so there are figures here that will never actually be deployed on the table together. The term "army" is therefore probably a bit of a misnomer, but nevertheless I thought I'd assemble them for the sake of posterity.

Here are some early citizen militia based as auxilia, with the Poeni cavalry and Libyan heavy chariots immediately behind:

A close-up of the Sacred Band on the opposite flank:

With Carthaginian generals and chariots behind them:

A closer view of some of the elephants, which I thoroughly enjoyed putting together:

Some Libyan skirmishers:

With early Libyan spearmen behind them, followed by the veteran Libyan spearmen and city militia:

An overview of the entire assemblage:

The project took around three and a half months, and was comprised of the following:

         12 Libyan javelinmen skirmish stands

         18 Libyan spearmen elements

         18 veteran Libyan spearmen elements

         7 cavalry elements (including 3 generals)

         8 Sacred Band elements

         12 city militia spearmen elements

         8 city militia auxilia elements

         5 command personality stands

         10 elephants

         8 heavy chariots

         2 bolt-shooter artillery pieces

All up that is 363 foot and cavalry figures, 53 horses, 10 elephants, 8 chariots and 2 artillery pieces.

Next up I have a few 15mm wagons to complete, and then I'm hoping to get stuck into some more 15mm Numidians I have prepared and which are next in line in the queue.