Persian Diversion!

My little Ancient diversion continues with the completion of the first two ready made armies from Essex, A few quick comments on each, references to DBA2.2:

Later Achaemenid Persians 420BC- 329BC Book II/7. 1xLC (General), 2x3 Cav. 2x2LH, 1xSCh, 2x2Ps. 4x3Ax. Just squeezed this army from the Essex set after ditching all the useless early 'Violin' shield 'Immortal' style figures, about 16 useless figures but still! I confess I still have not yet got a grip on painting those Persian colours and designs so what we see is just an impression but I'm looking into shield designs. It's been great fun though and something very different for me. Of course most DBN armies contain options so I'll be adding 4 bases of 4x'Sp' (spears) by way of mercenary Hoplites to replace the 4 x3 Auxilia and give the Persians a bit more oomph! I'm also painting the 'Cav/General' 3 cavalry as an option to the light chariot General simply because the mounted General figure is just packed with character.

Alexandrian Macedonian 355BC - 320BC. Book II/12. I can call these done! 1x3Kn (General), 1x3 Cav, 1x2LH, 1x4Ax, 6x4 Pk. 1x2 Ps. 1xArt. Plus options. Phalangite shield transfers by LittleBigMan studios, might try to add an outer bronze ring but otherwise ready to play.

Macedonian Early Successor 320-260BC  Book II/18.  By swapping out the artillery element for the elephant I can field several of these armies from what I have. I rather fancy myself as Ptolemy Keraunos (280-279BC) as I get to command the army from the elephant! 

All great fun with so much potential going forward. I know that I will be adding an Hoplite army next but before that I want to play around with the 'camp' element for the above.

A big thanks to Geoff for his help in sorting out the Persians especially!

Have I got those Dolphins upside down?

Seasons Greetings, dodgy Achaemenid Persians and that elephant!

Firstly I want to send Seasons Greetings to those who follow my little blog and especially to those who have supported my painting service over recent years (or decade in Old John and Tony's case). 

I do hope to get a little actual wargaming content on here soon now that I am close to finishing my first couple of DBA armies, our youngest son in law has expressed an interest in historical gaming (he's a Warhammer player), so plan is to suggest a learning game together over the festive break. 

I think any future DBA armies will be possibly Xyston Miniatures as I have to say I have not been overwhelmed by by the Essex figures sadly. The late Persian ready made army contained quite a number of figures that were not at all suitable for the period so had to be consigned to the spares drawer. but at least I managed to get a basic 12 element force from what was there. I will need to add more spears as options. So, sufficient to get started with at least! I quite like the Essex elephant though and thoroughly enjoyed painting it although it's not useful for fighting the Achaemenid Persians. Next up I need to paint some Hoplites, possibly Spartans and Athenians using those fine LittleBigMan studios full colour transfers.

Cheers for now, have a good one and see you in the New Year.

Commission photos and DBA.

As promised here are the completed five regiments and horse battery that comprise the Epic Guard cavalry commission for Tony2 that I finished off basing yesterday, a most stirring sight. These along with the Prussians so far will be heading off in the New Year.

I have finished off the Confederate Brigade box for Noel. Noel agreed that the Rebs look more historically accurate with just the single classic battle flag so one standard pole was cut down to a rifle which works quite well. Another Union Brigade box will be heading my way next. I must say that I really enjoy painting the Epic ACW's, the figures are very animated and give a real sense of movement. I would imagine that if Warlord were designing these now they would have fixed bayonets like the Napoleonics but no matter, they look good to me.

As time seems to be flying past I'll be starting on the December batch of 300 Rebs for Chris next but painting them alongside the Peter Pig EWC's for Graham which should see me comfortably through to Christmas.

Meantime I have continued to paint some Ancients for myself with the Macedonian army completed except for the Elephant.  DBA v2 has  certainly helped clarify the composition of the armies and a big thanks to Geoff who has been helping me out with his knowledge of DBA and ancient armies. I have to say that the Essex Miniatures ready made Late Persians has caused me a few issues as the first eight figures I painted were early Immortals and have no place in this army! I have consigned the 16 figures with the older 'violin' shields to the spares draw and can just about still make up 12 elements from what's left although I plan to add a couple of bases of mercenary hoplites as options. I could not resist painting the Generals light 2 horse chariot. Once the new shield transfers arrive from Littlebigman studios I will replace all of the Phalangite transfers with better quality ones.

 have also now tracked down the correct threads for rigging my two Napoleonic Langton ships thanks to my wife. I hope to get started on this in the week. Graham C very kindly sent me a copy of the hardback rule book 'Blood, Bilge and iron Balls. which I have been reading through alongside researching the subject of Napoleonic Naval warfare in general.

Epic Dutch lancers & Prussian artillery, more ACW's and a chariot!

Painting production was a little slower this week due to a sprained right wrist that was quite painful for a couple of days, however I soldiered on with it strapped up and managed to knock out a reasonable amount of painting, the Dutch Lancers and 2 batteries of Prussian artillery for Tony2 and 100 Epic Rebs for Noel. I'm really pleased with the Lancers and these will be joining the Polish Lancers, Empress Dragoons, Horse Grenadiers and Chasseurs that are already painted. I will get a few group photos as soon as I finish the basing on them all, no doubt the 100 strong Imperial Guard cavalry will look a most imposing group together.

A note to the Eagle eyed among you, yes I missed the trouser stripe and this has been corrected :)

Below: and onto to more Epic Rebs! To be honest I LOVE painting Epic Rebs and now have a reliable method for painting the strips at speed which produces really pleasing results. These are for Noel, aWarlord brigade box of 3 x 100 figure regiments, a battery of 3 guns and 3 mounted officers.

I  also painted my first scythed chariot, a most vicious instrument of War pulled by four greys. Possibly I should have saved the Greys for the generals light two horse chariot but it's done now! Looking at it I must admit it's a little bright overall but I did copy it from Googled reference images so think it's OK. I also managed the first 8 spearmen so 3 elements towards the Later Achaemenid army (#33). I have the elephant and another pack of Companion cavalry of order from Essex along with some more shield transfers from Veni Vidi Veci and LittleBigMan studios, the latter being in glorious full colour. Plan is to replace the current Phalangite shields as they look a bit flat. Meantime I'm watching a lot of good DBA videos as recommended by Geoff and it's really inspiring stuff. I think the combination of a small playing area (my trusty old folding card table), simple rules, the ability to paint and collect many different armies and battles that average 45 minutes will sit very nicely with my current situation. I may have to invest in DBA Version 3 at some point but have V2 on order, picked up secondhand. 

The run up to Christmas will see the completion of Noel's Reb brigade box this week followed by more lovely Peter Pig ECW's for Graham (the war has now moved North of the Border) and the December batch of 300 more Epic Rebs for Chris in NZ so fairly busy. New Year will start with a return to Epic Prussians and I have a box in hand for good Old John which I think contains more Winged Hussars, I dread to think how many of these John has in his vast collection.