Companion Cavalry by Essex

The last of the almost finished figures of Martin's. Well in fact I have two figures that will be used at a much later date on a command base. These two bases will just allow options for my Macedonian armies or the Bactrian Greek if I decide to also expand to include that list as well.

I can't really take any credit here as all I needed to do was repaint the lance and tips, a little touch up on the horses and give them a ink wash. Martin as he often did had changed the positions of some of the horses heads and made one horse rear up.

I then just rebased to FoG in my usual way though I incorporated the three horses that clearly went together. All told less than an hour of work if you ignore the down periods for drying.

 

Whilst doing this though I decided to cut my fingers repeatedly whilst cleaning up the 20mm Numidian Light Cavalry. All thirty two are now prepped and undercoated ready for the kick off of the Challenge. I now have a box file full of 20mm Ancients and 28mm WWII all prepped and ready. I still have fifteen 28mm Partisan figures to prep and have another twenty eight plus on order that I am waiting for. A mix of desert and early war WWII. I also have six Japanese 28mm to make up and prepare which I will do this week coming I guess.

 

Fear not, I have other work sitting on the table right now. A Galatian cavalry base in 15mm to see if I like them enough to paint up a unit. I have started a 54mm Philistine for my son which I am about half way through. A pair of giraffes, yes giraffes for my daughter which are at the moment just undercoated. Not only that but a bunch of 6mm buildings have been primed between all those 20mm figures. So plenty to work on between now and the twentieth.

1990 Christmas Dwarf

Remember when I got all those Games Workshop figures a month or so back? Well as I mentioned I have started cleaning some of these up including this little fellow. Now I can't be 100% sure but I think this was released as a Christmas figure, he certainly looks the part to me. Anyway I could not resist painting him up as such.

 

I went back twenty years in my style of painting. The only part of the figure to get a wash was the leather armour. The rest is done with shading which always looks better on single figures, though incorporating washers often improves the figures further. Just in this figures case there was not enough opportunity to do much with a wash.

 

In honesty I wish my free hand was better. Sure I aimed for cartoon style Christmas Pub but then again I knew that was the only option. Still it's a bit shy of how I wanted it to com out but given I only spent two hours on the figure and about 15 minutes on the shield what do I expect?

 

I have in fact a load of dwarfs and a fair sprinkling of other adventurers and will paint up a number of these next year selling the surplus. These will be inserted between other projects. I had forgot the fun you can have painting up such figures and they will be a light relief between painting up full units.

 

At the moment I have a few rather different projects on the go with the intent of finishing before the Painting Challenge begins. On top of tat I need to get a fair bit of prep done. Hopefully I will have enough material to maintain a varied mix of posts here. Both in the next two weeks and the three months that follow. Today will be the day of the undercoats.

Skythian Options.

Martin had eight Skythian Light Cavalry figures all close to being finished but with them being loose in the metal tool bow all the figures had areas of wear and tear. Given that I already had plenty of light cavalry with bows I did not rush to get these out of the box and finished off. This has lead them to be left for just over a year but at long last I have pulled them out as I was planning the painting challenge. Knowing I will get zero points for these I thought it would be good to get them finished. I really want four bases of cavalry with bow to try out how effective these can be. At this point all the rest are based two figures per base to represent Light Horse. These will be more like medium horse, based three figures to a base. However eight does not split well. So I have based two as light horse and the other six as cavalry. The idea being in the short term I an just add a LC base and the mix of bases will show it to be cavalry. Long term two packs will supply enough figures to make up the two extra cavalry I need and the spare two will just be added to the other light cavalry I already have.

 

Th usual mix of different patterned and bright colours that make the Skythian and Saka horse archers fun to paint and field. Some of the figures just needed a little touch up whilst all the horses needed a little fresh work.

 

This is one of two views most enemies will see of them. Moving forward to attack then the rear as they evade to safety. It was only whilst editing the pics I noticed no socks or blazes on any of the horses. I will probably add these before putting the figures away. I think I added about two to three hours work to what Martin had already done so not a massive time investment. Plus the time it took to base on top but that would have needed doing anyway.

 

Like other units that I have finished of Martin's I am looking forward to using figures that he had worked on as well as me as it's a great reminder of his generous gift in these figures. Sorry only able to supply indoor pics today.

I just had to share.

I'm fairly sure this will be a photoshop job but it still made me laugh. However it does bring around the thoughts of that special day. Hopefully by now all the Secret Santa's are all sorted. I have mine all planned out and will arrive in plenty of time and looking forward to see what the recipient thinks about it. In fact it's been a blast getting all this together and will probably be the most fun time for buying I have had for this years presents.

 

I have also been working on one of the figures I got off the block, you know the old Citadel stuff. I have been busy this last few days stripping paint off figures using some of the time tested methods available and it's horrific what some of the stuff can do. I AM washing MY hands before using the toilet I can tell you. However got nothing done today as I no sooner got back from hospital than I had to turn round, pick up my Mum from the local town centre and spend the afternoon in casualty. One broken wrist later. I have to admit we wee not their as long as expected, about 4 hours and that included two x-rays, one pre-cast and one post as it's the worst kind of break (of course). Back tomorrow at the fracture clinic so don't expect much progress reported. On the bright side this is before the start of the painting challenge or my Mum may well still be waiting for me to pick her up!

 

I just may get round to starting some of the buildings I have been holding on to towards the weekend and I have cast the pavement and walls for the special sniper reminder base, yet to place them on the base to check how they sit but I have started.

 

Well That's it, not quite the post I was expecting as I had planned to finish the figure. Maybe I will finish it tonight.

Curt is at it again.

Curt over at Analogue Hobbies is running the Third Annual Painting Challenge. We have a good number of new contestants and a really wide range of topics. Even for those who are not joining in it's good fun to watch. Last year every day saw multiple posts of painted units and figures. Curt somehow manages to keep the finished work posted and get still paint to his own excellent standard.

 

 

My personal aim is to beat last years total which was a fairly hefty sum but I have a better more dedicated painting area that should help, though I have not lifted a brush in the last few days. Funny thing is that I still have some of the same subjects on the go as last year but I also have a couple of new ones.

 

It's a good time to look at what I have lined up figure wise and set some targets (just for fun).

 

20mm Numidian Impetus Army. I have eight light cavalry units, a medium Roman Cavalry unit and a unit of elephants to paint. I aim to get all these done and plan to prep the light cavalry before the challenge begins.

 

15mm Seleucid army. I still need to paint up 48 medium bow figures, the Galatian Cavalry, about 50 Thracian foot, 25 hoplites and some light cavalry. These all I hope to get finished if possible.

 

15mm odds and ends. Two Persian Cavalry units to finish off my Persian army, a bunch of cataphracts that are really crap castings just to get them done. Over 100 more pike which will be towards the back of the line and I don't expect to get these finished.

 

15mm Principate Roman army. I don't expect to get deep into this army but with the help of the challenge I hope to get a good start on it.

 

15mm ECW camp and foot regiment. I want to get these done for my FoG:R army and hope to get them on the table at some point to try out the rules.

 

6mm French Naps. I still have about 15 regiments of foot to paint up and about 10 of cavalry. The foot will be various allies whilst the horses is a number of light cavalry and a couple of heavies that I have yet to get round to. I hope to get most if not all of these painted up before the end of the challenge.

 

6mm ECW, I have just under two armies worth of these to paint so will make some inroads to them but for the most part these will play second fiddle to the Naps, that is unless Lee suddenly gets into high gear with his at which point I will push these forward.

 

28mm WWII, got plenty of these to be getting on with. Some will be hitting the table before the challenge starts but most will wait on the 20th. I will get all I have on board painted before the end of the challenge and hope to get some more in the meantime and paint them as well.

 

So rather a ambitious goal but I think it's possible. I just need to get my head down and go for it. I also have loads of buildings to paint and whilst they are not part of the challenge I don't plan on waiting till the end of March to get them done so expect these being inserted every now and again for a change of pace.

Phalanx For The Memories

I had the minimum Pike for most of the armies I could cover based on my Macedonian army but still way off the max, though I don't expect to field the max at any time. I did however buy a fourth small block to add options. However going through Martin's box  found enough Chariot/Magister to upgrade it to a 48 figure block. The only issue was than the pikes had all snapped off at some point (I think Martin planned to replace them so was probably intentional. I have recently bought a vice drill so my first use of it was to drill holes for replacements. This went rather well and quicker than expected.

Meanwhile I bought some movement trays as moving so many bases with big pointy sticks is a real pain So armed and ready to go all I needed to do was paint the little devils.

 

Purple People Eaters

OK I know the colour purple was in short supply and very expensive but I tried undercoating in Maelstrom Purple which ironically I bought really cheap and have shed loads of. The shields and a cloak are the only purple left from the priming so they are not terribly purple. Again the figures painted up really quickly but I expected the shields to take a few days to do as I expected much frustration and angst from this as I have had a bit of a job with this very task each and every time I painted up a block. Well this time it was a fairly fast operation and I found it pleasing (mostly done when no one else was in the house).

 

The movement trays are a little tight but work well enough, they don't loose casualties often enough for it to be an issue really. The Macedonian Star is as always not uniform across the whole block but I am happy enough with the finished unit so that's enough for me.

 

I really am proud of the commanders shield, it took just the one attempt and even blown up to this size from 15mm still looks the business. I am not sure how often I will use four blocks but I have them and I suspect if I ever get round to another campaign and use this army I will be looking to add as much pike as I can get away with. In fact looking through the rest of Martin's figures I also have another 114 pike figures and 24 hoplites so I will get these painted up at some point but not until I either need them or I have a good amount of the Romans painted up.  Having looked through what I have left to paint in 15mm that could be started before the end of March.

 

Here we have the four block all out at the same time and all snug in their movement trays. Hard to accept that these have all been painted up in the last year and a half. That's a lot of points standing on parade.

 

 

Not the way you would use in a game as you only count up to 4 ranks but impressive for a photo opportunity. The two blocks are the ones with command figures, the rear two are just pike men and I feel adding command makes the blocks look better.

 



 



I like this shot as it gives a nice slid block feel to them. Imagine coming against such a beast! Obviously I will rotate the blocks used in games. I can field all as they are or even four blocks but only 8 bases each instead of having 12 base blocks or a mix. I know one thing though, this block will be held out till I get chance to play with this army, it's one unit I at least will get on the table first.

 



 

A more traditional formation for these guys. I expect to have a commander attached and giving them double moves for all he is worth, just so the can get into the fight. Mathew I know is looking at his favourite army to rebase, this being Parathion I may have some time yet before they get to grips with an enemy.

 

On the table now are some more of Martin's figures but these are part painted but have suffered from moving around in the tool box and need a lot of touch up and repaints. I also want to get as much rebasing done as I can in the next two weeks.  really don't have a mass to do but they have hung round for ages. One lot are Kardrakes and these are surplus to my Persian army and will be sold on e-bay. I will use the proceeds for more bases as I will be needing plenty more before I am finished.

A-Z Terribly Obscure Battles J. Justinian's First Persian War A.D. 524-32

Justinian I was a Byzantine Emperor who like previous eastern emperors before him had to deal with Persian invasions. I about 524 the Persians again making in roads into Mesopotamia. Justinian was at this time waning to expand his empire to the west but was forced to send troops to force the Persians back. Belisarius was to lead the army and his being Justinian's best general you can be fairly sure his best troops were also sent. This lead to a fairly long campaign and in 530 he won a great victory at the battle of Dara defeating a combined army of Persians and Arabs of about 40,000 troops. This he did by using the infantry in defencive positions whilst aggressive use of his cavalry.

 

Around this time the Persians also suffered a second defeat in the Caucasus by Sittas at Satala. This left the Byzantines in a strong position at the start of the campaigning season of 531 after failed negotiations to end the war but this was turned on it's head when Belisarius was defeated by superior numbers at Callinicum though he was able to withdraw the remains of his campaign weary army to the city of Sura astride the River Euphrates. Here he withstood repeated attacks but was unable to take offencive actions himself.

 

Things improved wen King Kavadh I died in 531 and his son concluded the eternal peace which lasted all of eight years. The peace required both sides to give captured territories back though Persia was to keep Iberia with the displaced people given the choice of returning home or staying within Roman controlled provinces. Justinian was also to pay a tribute of 110 Centenara (11,000 lb of gold).

 

OK not quite as obscure as many but have you seen J, it's not exactly packed with options LOL.

 

Wargaming the period is really quite easy as figures are readily available in most scales you would like. By this point the Persians had taken note of Roman methods of siege and both sides conducted successful and failed sieges and more battles than the two mentioned happened though not all were with full armies. The Persian aim all along was to gain tribute from the Romans and this could be worked into a campaign were with each success the Persians will gain x tribute at the end of the campaign and set levels equate to levels of victory. Besides what wargamer could resist playing for imaginary wealth? The main advantage for the Persians was that they were safe from invasion from their other boarders as the terrain made this almost impossible whilst the Byzantine were already involved in other wars and incursions. This was not the all conquering Roman armies of days gone past. The Persians made good use of bow armed light cavalry and heavily armoured lance cavalry which worked well against the Byzantine armies until they adopted some of the same troop types and started to get the edge on the Persians.

 

Also in the first few years both sides used smaller armies of vasel states to do the fighting. This only came to the end with the death of Kavadh when better troops and commanders were sent by Justinian forcing the Persians to do the same. Up to this point the Persians tended to do better in the battles. About this time the Iberian revolt (originally supported by the Byzantines) had been put down releasing more Persian troops.