Tuesday 4 December 2018

Slings and Arrows

Unlike Hamlet, I thoroughly enjoyed working through these slings and arrows, although I appeared to have purchased far more than I require in that the DBMM army lists which I am using as a guide allow for six elements of either, and I appear to have purchased the equivalent of twenty-four.

It wasn't a big task though, and they may come in handy at some point in the future. First up are thirty-two slingers:


















There is a choice of four figures in the Xyston range, so a variety of possible combinations when arranged on bases of two figures each:




































A few of the bases have pebbles scattered on them, which is ready ammunition for sling-armed troops:


















I often wondered how much of an injury a slinger would do to a heavily-armoured opponent. I had no doubt that a skilled slinger could seriously injure the enemy with a well-directed missile which would undoubtedly be travelling at a substantial velocity, but when I saw these ancient Greek lead pellets fashioned as bullets in the New York Met it gave me a whole new appreciation as to how deadly a weapon it could be, in the right hands.

I can also vaguely recall having read somewhere that it generally wasn't just a case of picking up the nearest pebble, and that there was a much greater level of discernment in the choice of missile:


















The Gallic archers were also fun to paint, with a choice of four quite dynamic-looking poses:


















There is quite bit of detail on these for 15mm figures, including the fletching on the arrows:




































There is some nice definition on the faces and torsos of the figures, and I was happy with the way it was possible to build up some depth to the skin tones:




































I was hoping to get this project completed by Christmas but realise I still have close to a couple of hundred figures and a few long lunches to get through before then, so it will be more likely January before it is finalised. My gaming group normally takes a break until mid to late January anyway, so it will give me a bit of time to finish ploughing my way through DBMM version 2.1 in preparation for a few ancients games we have planned for the New Year.

14 comments:

  1. Many beautiful slingers and archers here, well done!

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    1. Thanks Phil, I was pleased with the way they turned out.

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  2. Great looking figures and excellent paint job - I thought they were a larger scale until I read the reference to 15mm near the end of your post!

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    1. Thanks RRoss. It certainly helps when the figures are so detailed and you don't have to work hard to bring it out.

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  3. Excellent work on these archers and slingers, Lawrence! I never knew sling missiles were bullet shaped.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. That was a real revelation to me as well, and they looked quite vicious. They were actually Cypriot and undated, but amongst all the 5th Century BC Greek armour so from around that era.

      I'm glad I got to see it as the family were already texting me at that point saying they had had enough and wanted to go and look at the Black Friday sales down 5th Avenue. Still, we had been there for three hours, so I really can't complain.

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  4. That is a fine collection Lawrence. Like Jonathan I am quite amazed that the sling bullets were pre-cast. Isn't it amazing how the silly season interferes with our painting. I have two such functions coming up in the next week that will intrude on the schedule!

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    1. A couple of mine a lunches with the lads, one group I only see every six months or so. It is not just the four or five hours of actual catch-up, it is also the half-pace the next day that slows down the rate of output.

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  5. They came out very well. I was well aware that cast sling "bullets" were preferred as time went on. The concussive force was an advantage over arrows against armored opponents in particular. On the other hand, I believe it took considerably longer to train a slinger than an archer, and the range of both appears to have been similar.

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    1. BTW, in the last picture, guy on the left of the picture reminds me of Freddie Mercury! :-)

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    2. It was a revelation to me, especially as I had always considered archery to be the more skilful of the two disciplines. I hadn't noticed until you pointed it out, but that figure definitely does look like Freddie Mercury. I know I'm not going to be able to get 'Another One Bites the Dust' out of my head whenever I use him now.

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    3. That would be a suitable soundtrack, Lawrence. Also, if not using lead bullets, "We will rock you!" would fit the bill pretty well also. :-)

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  6. Lovely looking missile troops,I know that British Celts favoured rounded river bed stones they have found some"amunition" dumps at some of the hill forts, also during the conquistadors wars in central and soth America they feared slingers the most because of the concusive effects.
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. I have to say I have a new-found appreciation for the art of the slinger. I had pretty much viewed them as the poor relation when it came to ancient armies' missile combatants, but am starting to understand there was a fair amount of skill involved.

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