Dominate Roman Light Cavalry by Essex

I have been working on getting the Roman Army finished within the challenge. Originally the aim was to get a good number painted during the challenge but as I got more and more completed I started to hope I may get it all done and if not get close to being finished. That hope may become reality if I can get some good time at the desk.

Four bases of Alan or Hun light horse with bow. Whilst I did not go for patterned clothing I went with a different base colour on all the figures so as to make the unit look as irregular as possible. Given the uniforms of all most all the other units will be the same these should stand out quite a lot anyway.

Being armed with bow and also classed as swordsmen these could be a bit of a surprise when they charge home into other skirmish units. My only quibble with these as I have with most Essex cavalry is just how slim the base is. Having to glue them to basing sticks is not something I am fond of having to do but neither is having them fall off the sticks as the mass of bluetac fails to hold the figure in place!

Equites Light Horse are armed with Javelin and Light Spear so again can have an advantage against most light troops. With these I wanted them to be a bit more punchy than the majority of the infantry and have painted up the shoulder pattern in a red colour and shields in a blue that pops. 

Indeed having looked at Kev's collection of ECW (and other fine collections) I am planning on doing a number of future projects in far bolder colours than I have used to date. The first will be the Gallic infantry awaiting in the wings for the primer arriving. Of course I have already started with a brighter pallet with the 6mm Ancients but this will be something different.

Another light cavalry unit the Illyricanti are the same as the Equites light horse but allows me two different looking units for variety. 

No matter the scale I always like to have varied colours of horses, never really like to see a full unit of cavalry with the same coloured horses. Even the Scots Greys would have different shades amongst them. Given that I painted the horse of all units at the same time I still was able to paint up batches in the same colour. The last ones I need to do is a cavalry unit, three command bases and a few baggage horses for the camp, these will be  being started tonight so maybe just maybe I will get this army finished before the end.