Sunday 16 June 2019

15mm Spanish Unarmoured Cavalry and Generals

Rather a long post as I have managed to finish the remaining ancient Spanish cavalry sooner than I had expected. Even though May was a relatively slow month on the painting front I finished the bulk of the cavalry horses so only had the riders to complete, and pleasantly surprised myself how quickly I was able to get through them.

First off, a group shot including some of the earlier-completed armoured cavalry:
The latest batch includes six elements of generals and some armoured nobles to augment the armoured cavalry:


















The figures are all Xyston, and I mixed the generals in with some figures from the musician and standard-bearer packs:




















Next up, twelve elements of unarmoured Spanish light cavalry:






















































That should have been more than enough for my requirements, but Xyston released a new pack of Spanish light horse with caetrati pillion riders, in line with DBMM v2.1 where the light horse gain a bonus if supported by caetrati.

Although the actual caetrati elements are mounted on separate bases and more than adequately covered by what I have already completed, I couldn't resist these models and am glad I didn't as they are among my favourite Xyston purchases to date:






















































The figures are supplied with a separate sprue containing additional javelins, which I thinks is a nice touch and round out some of the figures perfectly:






















































Two more group pictures, showing all thirty elements of cavalry assembled:




That's seventy-two horses and eight-four riders in total, and the completion of the army is now in sight. I have another twenty elements of slingers on the painting table at the moment, (another over-purchase, this time due to miscalculation) which I hope to complete in the next couple of weeks, clearing the way for the final batch of sixteen elements of Celtiberian allies.

18 comments:

  1. Amazing brushwork in 15mm, Lawrence! The facial detailing and color is superb. Well done!

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    1. Thanks Jonathan. The crisp Xyston castings certainly helps a lot in being able to pick out the detail.

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  2. Awesome! love your painting style/details on the miniatures and your Spanish Unarmoured Cavalry and Generals look historical!...marvelous work!...

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    1. Cheers Phil. I tried to keep the colour palette fairly muted and used mainly browns and creams colours which fits in with my perception of what ancient Spanish may have appeared.

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  3. Awesome, great looking units with beautiful details!

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    1. Thanks Phil, the models themselves certainly help in this regard and are great to paint.

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  4. Fantastic work, and swiftly done as well!

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    1. Thanks Peter. Doing the horses in one big batch was probably a good decision as it allowed me move quickly through the riders.

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  5. These are quite stunning Lawrence. Beautiful work on the cavalry. A favourite looking army for this period thats for sure.

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    1. Thanks Carlo. Some lovely pictures and games over on your blogs as well.

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  6. Very nice indeed Lawrence - the pillion riding cavalry are my favourites for sure, so I can understand why you "needed" to get them!

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    1. Thanks Keith. They really are unique and with four different models in each pack there is some variety there too.

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  7. Wonderful looking cavalry! Fantastically precise but also full of character!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain. Xyston make some lovely models and some of the faces really are well done considering they are 15mm (well 18mm really, I suppose).

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  8. Excellent, I love Xyston's 15mm and your painting is great.

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    1. Thanks Painted Soldier. Yes, I think Xyston really are among the best currently available on the market.

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  9. That is an impressive looking horde Lawrence.

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    1. Thanks Mark. There turned out to be quite a lot of them in the end but there should be enough now to cover most scenarios including Spanish v Carthaginians, which we played a few months ago using stand-ins.

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