15mm Macedonian Pike Phalanx

With the interest in Hail Caesar continuing to increase and at least one opponent looking to switch their 15mm over to the rule system I have been galvanised into painting up some of those long standing members of the lead pile. These are a mix of Essex and er someone else?

Whilst not historically accurate I do like to have my blocks of pike to be of different colours and shades, though this is the first green unit. Hail Caesar allows for larger games and it's fairly obvious that whilst I can manage with five blocks I can also get away with plenty more. 

I still have enough figures for two and a half more blocks so it's very likely that these will be taking a turn on the painting table though I still have their 6mm versions on the go as well. 

A block in 15mm costs about £13-15 in lead which kind of adds up when you stop to count (of course we don't like doing that). Is was fun talking to Matt about his Macedonian army and his comment that he had maxed out under WRG 6th only to realise that this would equal I think five blocks. Funny how the rules went from Matt's pike heavy numbers to a few stands under DBA (never looked right) to Field of Glory that overall increased the numbers above 6th and now Hail Caesar certanly allows that figure to be topped. I though I had finished growing my 15mm Ancient armies and now I have a urge for lots more Persian cavalry.

Of course the Macedonian army is a great army for the collector as so many other options become available for the period and at the core of them is a nice steady pike block or three.

Of course you can get too carried away, here is all my blocks together, with two more I might have to stand on the neighbours garden to get them all in shot. Whilst the pike seem to be a manageable price and hoplites are really cheap (not points wise though) coming in ant a little over £6 a unit if you buy enough in one go. Cavalry really seem expensive. Our typical unit is twelve figures, that's £10 a unit, have I become accustomed to the low price of 6mm or am I right that 15mm seems to have increased in price out of whack with 6 and 28mm?

As I mentioned I do plan to increase my cavalry, especially for the Macedonian's as they really do suffer for a lack of cavalry, whilst the Persian's have a lot already I just fancy more.

Dominate Roman Army Finished!

The final pieces of this army has fallen into place with a bit of a flurry as I managed to finish the units started when I burnt my hand and lost the opportunity to finish them within the Challenge.

Finally have some commanders, three bases of them with each base distinct from the others so you can show who is the CinC.

I have given the three riders on each base the same colour cloaks as the main tie but other smaller details are the same as well where possible without making them look identical.

The figures were finished inside of March but the basing was only finished on Thursday morning.

One unit of cavalry with bow and are also swordsmen, this will mean they are better in close combat that firing though they can certainly soften up a target before putting them to the sword.

Whilst the riders just have the one pose the horses come with two poses to add a bit of difference to them. As always I have a mix of horse colours that help break up the mass a little more.

Yes more bow, I now have enough to supply most of the Legions and Auxiliary units with the a third rank of bow option. I don't know how good an option this is though it certainly makes it more difficult for them to lose cohesion through casualties.

I have used the same base colours though the bow and quivers are different colours to break them up just a little.

For a bit of colour these Axillary bow are a bit more colourful and as such can be used for other armies and not tied to this period of Roman's.

Nothing really special about these as they were a quick paint but as you will have gathered this army is a bit heavy on the bow side. Indeed unlike most Roman armies it's also heavy on mounted troops. In total it has 190 infantry against 71 mounted, who would have thought it?

No Field of Glory army is complete without a camp and I do like the opportunity to make it into something more than just a camp, indeed I have yet to add a tent to any of my camps,

I really like the donkey pulled cart, I have added three sacks of grain to act as load for the door devils to drag along.

Here it is moving away from the battle, must have been the dice that was at fault! I enjoyed the work on the pack horses as they had quite a mix of items and each is painted up different.

Can you spot the piggy? the base also got a lot more tufts than a typical base and it helps to break up the base a little and also give the appearance of travelling along a less cultivated location.

The whole army set out and basking in the Spring Sun. Had these figures for over three years but all but one unit has been painted over the last three months and a couple of weeks, not bad to say I have been painting up a load of other figures in the same time period.

Total cost of the figures at todays prices would be a little over £145, amazing how much it costs to put together a 15mm army these days. I now have to decide if I am to sell it complete or single units and what price. Whatever I get for it the money will be spent on our next holiday so quite fitting the sun was out for the photo's

Best Laid Plans and Roman's.

The end of the challenge always is a bit difficult for me. Last year I lost 4 days to Heroes ASL tournament and then my Birthday. This year I swapped the four days for just one (Mothers Day) but looks like that one day will spin out beyond as I have burnt my hand bad enough that I can't use it, at least for a few days but possibly longer de[pendant on how the blistering works out. So please read this post slowly as I can't type fast with one hand    ;-)

To go with the light horse I have also painted up a couple of  their heavier brethren. First up more Equites. These are really nice looking figures and again I wanted them to stand out quite a lot so went with a light blue cloak and a deeper blue shield.

These are armed with Light Spear and are Swordsmen so should be able to stand up to most of what they have to face.

Some of the few troops in the army that you can see any armour so needed a shot of it to show it off. I can add two more bases to make it a six base unit if desired.

The heavy hitters, Equities Catafractari, Lancers and Swordsmen what more could you wish for? Well the figures are armed with bow as well!

Again these can have an extra two bases which would make them expensive but so much more dangerous. The horses are a little bit chunky which obviously works with cataphracts. 

I was hoping to finish the Roman's off this week but that's looking unlikely at best, still I have enough figures painted to cross the 2K mark though getting them flagged is also looking a long shot but as I have loads of flags I may give it a whirl. 

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.

Essex Miniatures Roman Infantry

The Painting Challenge this year for me has been mostly about my Dominate Roman army. I did start it with one unit in last years challenge but then I dropped it to finish Project Waterloo, but with the troops for that finished I have been able to give this army far more attention.

I really like the sculpts for these figures. Unfortunately I can only have the four bases and if I do I can't use the bow or slingers. Still they can be used in different armies so all is not lost.

I really like that they don't just have the one javelin so more look the part. These will be most useful for chasing away or fighting the opponents light infantry as their limited range and small number would make them next to useless against other heavier formations.

Fairly distinctive uniforms and I must say the availability of images on the net is rather slim so much of the painting has to be based around a fairly unhelpful Osprey as few of the images are all that clear on the uniforms making me think little is actually known of the uniforms of this period.

Keeping to the same base uniform as I like the idea that both units are somehow linked, here we have a unit of Auxiliaries I went for medium rather than heavy infantry as much to have a 6 base unit as 4 base units are very fragile.

Fairly basic shields, OK very basic, these are actually brighter in colour than I at first had in mind but they are growing on me. 

Ready for battle, here they are in the role of protecting the Auxiliaries as they close with one of Rome's numerous enemies, 

A second unit of slingers, to the ones I painted near the start of the challenge. Nothing much to say about these guys as they are fairly pedestrian.

Again went with some fairly bold colours, bright shields and deep red pattern to the tunics. One of the other Roman armies from this period allows eight bases of slingers so they can be of use.

My favourite unit of the bunch, and again on the bright side. The shields as the others are taken from the Osprey I mentioned before from a set of B&W drawings with colour codes.

This almost brings to the end the infantry I have for this army, just a few more bow troops. I plan to paint these up at the same time I finish off the cavalry and camp. That will bring to a close the whole army and I hope to get this done either as the Challenge comes to a close or soon after.

Dominate Roman Archers and Analogue Painting Challenge Update

The latest finished figures finished for the Dominate Roman Army is the bow armed infantry. I painted them up in a flourish but I actually need one more base of light infantry and the rest of the castings I have primed are in black so I may have a bit more work on my hands than I thought, but those are a little further down the line.

The only way I will need so may light infantry with bow will be when I add them to the Legions. Though they can also be added to the auxiliary infantry so I guess I will be painting more than one more stand as I have the figures.

All the figures are 15mm Essex and all have the same pose but by putting them at slightly different angles they look a little different. I went with a pale blue I had found in an illustration.

Despite the uniform being fairly basic it still took a lump of time to paint up all the detail that is blue as it was sculptured into the figure which is a nice touch but did make it a slower paint.

I am also allowed a more useful eight bases of Medium Bow which I think could be a lot more useful at taking bases off my opponents so will be keen to see how that pans out.

So this gives me fourteen more bases for the Dominate Army which will soon have all the infantry finished and I will be moving onto the cavalry in a few weeks time.

Showing the lights as part of the legions. The third unit is short by one base so did not parade. That's 86 figures painted for this army since the challenge began, far better than the 24 I mustered during last years challenge.

Talking of which I have twenty four bases of Thracian's almost finished and will be getting these in for submission this week. Twelve of the figures were painted way before the challenge so won't count for points but I can now max out on one of my armies with the Thracian option. 

I will also have passed my points total for last year and by the half way point too. This is without going for more than two of the bonus rounds this time round where last year I went for every round. I will also have painted up more figures in every scale/type I painted last year except 15mm vehicles but having painted up the same number in 20mm I can rest easy.

Lastly, songs played so far whilst painting/prepping Challenge figures 1977, so looks like I will just get to the end of the challenge before running out of songs on the pod.  :-)

Essex Miniatures 15mm Roman Slingers

Just a small unit for a few points and a bit f help for my Roman fledgling army. I actually have another four bases worth but I am fairly sure I can't use them in the Field of Glory army lists but will see.

Not terrible castings but the swords seem too be way to big, almost broadswords rather than the small ones I would expect for such troops and period.

I also have a bunch of bow armed troops for this army that I have started and hope to get done within the next two weeks but I have a small matter of a few hundred Zulu's in front of them in the queue. 

I had three submissions into the challenge this week with a fourth finished but terrible photo's so held them over for next week. As they could be the only figures finished it's probably just as well. I still have a fair chance of getting the Zulu's finished though so you never know your luck.