15mm Spanish Medieval Army Completed

I had originally hoped to have this army completed by the end of August, but effectively finished three weeks into September, so just over three and a half months. I enjoyed painting this army and they have ventured on to the field for a glorious win against some 100 Years War English, so I thought it time to organise a quick parade of the finished project:

The figures are all Khurasan, with the exception of the artillery which is from Essex Miniatures and the camp items which were purchased from Baueda:

I used a mixture of Little Big Men Studio and Pete's Flags designs for the knights pennants and some of the shield designs. Pete gave me his blessing to shrink them down a couple of sizes and even offered to do them for me which was extremely nice of him, but I took them to the local Officeworks and for a couple of dollars gained access to one of their high quality copiers:

I found this to be quite a manageable project, mainly because there were not masses of any one particular troop type, so the variety kept my interest levels up:

In total there are 498 figures, comprised of 105 horses and 393 foot and mounted figures:

Next up will be the last of the English longbowmen which will form the nucleus of that army, and then I'll stick with Medievals until Christmas and try to complete a Teutonic army which I have dragged out of the pile and started assembling, and am quite looking forward to getting stuck into.

15mm Swiss Halberdiers and Baggage

This last group of sixteen figures means the medieval Spanish army is now complete. Rated as superior pike, these Swiss halberdiers will make the occasional appearance in future games:

Relatively simple figures, they were great to paint. Probably because they were straightforward to do, and there were only sixteen of them:

I did briefly entertain the thought of fielding an entire Swiss army, but when I found the army is made up almost entirely of halberdiers I realised that the novelty would soon wear off, plus it would probably be rather boring to play:

I also completed some Bauda medieval tents, with a large command tent I painted in Spanish-style colours:

A couple of smaller tents:

Plus some field huts:

Nice little models, as Baueda products invariably are:

That's the Spanish army completed then. I will quickly do some more English longbowmen to form the nucleus of that army, and then will probably stick with medievals for a little while longer and have a go at a Teutonic army which I uncovered while assembling the Spanish.

15mm DBMM Camps

 The holiday period has been quite productive to date, and to round out 2020 I managed to complete some camps for use in DBMM ancient games. 

For anyone not acquainted with DBMM, camps add a morale bonus when included in army lists but must be kept out of harm's way as they can have the opposite effect when sacked by an opponent. 

This provided me with an opportunity to use left-over figures and to employ them alongside some Baueda terrain pieces, which I particularly enjoyed painting. First up are a couple of Roman legionary tents accompanied by two Xyston Roman civilian figures (well, three if you count the infant clutching his mother's left leg):

Next up a Praetorian tent. Looking at it now, the woman holding the baby could be asking "Have you seen Regulus? I have something I need to tell him" while the other woman with her hands on her hips could be saying "Yes, he's my husband, and I think you need to tell me":

The Praetorian tent is an example of why I am so fond of Baueda models as the detail is just right, making them fun to paint (although the Dullcote appears to be a little reflective in this photo):

Here are the remaining civilians from the Xyston Roman pack who have formed a circle and grabbed the nearest clubs and spears to protect the family pig and chickens:

I also had a spare Julius Caesar, Brutus and Cicero figure left over from the Julius Caesar Xyston personality pack, so decided to place them on a stand together. 

This put me in mind of a school trip to see an amateur performance of Julius Caesar when one of my schoolmates shouted out "Look out, he's behind you" at the pivotal moment. It was a little unfair to the actors and he got the cane when we got back to school for his troubles, but it was funny at the time:

Next up are a couple of Forged in Battle stands, with a shepherd and a fellow tending some cattle and a goat:

Finally, a Baueda field kitchen with figures as supplied:

And two versions of the Bauda 'Camp Cooking' set:

The thing I like about these last few elements is they can be used for ancients right through to medieval, when I finally get around to completing a few of those armies I have ahead of me in the pile.

Well, that's about it from me for 2020 as it's New Year's Eve here in Australia. Thanks to all who have viewed and commented throughout the year, and I wish everyone a happy, healthy and productive 2021.

A Handful of Numidians and a 15mm Tibetan Camp

The recently-completed Roman command packs also included a figure of the Numidian King Massinisa and, as luck would have it, I found a spare pack of Numidian horse that had become lost in the Roman pile. This was perfect in terms of providing a couple of extra figures for another Numidian command element, with the others making up an additional element of light horse:

King Massinisa was the founder of the Numidian Kingdom and was initially allied with Carthage, marrying a Carthaginian noblewoman, although he later became a trusted ally of Rome (which is obviously why he was in one of the Xytson Roman personality packs).

While on the theme of utilising surplus figures, I also completed a couple of Tibetan camps using some left-over Tibetan figures, Forged in Battle livestock and a couple of Tibetan command tents I purchased from Baueda:

According to the Baeuda website, white tents were a sign of status and they were generally reinforced along the seams with strips of black cloth. I'll take their word for this as I am no expert in Medieval Tibetan military tent design, although I'm sure there is a PhD, or at the very least an Osprey, in there somewhere:

I have a fair bit more Baueda stuff to complete and really must do more of it as it is a very enjoyable diversion.

Now back to the Romans and the last unit in the form of some Itallian allied cavalry, which I should have posted by the end of the week.

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.

More 15mm Ancient Terrain

I recently managed to complete a few more 15mm terrain pieces from Forged in Battle, including a Roman market store:

Roman temple:

And another temple built of stone:

My plan is to put these together alongside another dozen or so Forged in Battle pieces to form two more DBMM built-up areas.

I have managed to do that with the FIB middle-eastern village set, but am not sure I am entirely happy with the result:

The buildings are a little too angular-looking for my taste. A couple were damaged in transit, and I was actually quite happy with that as it lends some variation to the models. I was also pleased to have found a home for the ruined temple piece I completed earlier.

I'm ploughing ahead with the last of the cavalry for my ancient Spanish project, and hope to have more on that within the next week or so.