Polybian Romans

This is one of my newest armies. I painted the entire army during a week in March while my family was out of town. I already have several of their historical opponents so they fill a hole in my collection.
Most of the figures are Old Glory. Two of the hastati stands and one of princeps are Essex, while the camp is by Baeuda. I have 3 more stands worth of unpainted OG triarii I will paint someday so that I can also use this as a Camillan Roman army.

The Roman consul and his cavalry escort (1x3Cv Gen & 1x3Cv):

The velites (2x2Ps):

The hastati (3x4Bd):

The princeps (3x4Bd):

The triarii (2x4Sp):

The camp consists of 2 pigs being set alight and aimed at the enemy. There is a story from Megara in Greece about flaming pigs being used to frighten enemy elephants, while the Romans used squealing pigs against Pyrhhus' elephants.

Last is a picture of the entire army:

Vikings

I am back after a long break between posts. I have been working on several projects recently, including Vikings. My Vikings have a long history. I first painted them circa 1991-3 for use with the DBM rules as an allied contingent for a West Frankish army. I had 13 stands of heavy infantry and 4 of bowmen). Recently while looking at the DBA army lists I realized that by painting 18 foot and 3 mounted and doing some rebasing, I would have enough stands for all 4 of the DBA Viking sub-lists, which cover Vikings and Leidang from 790-1280 AD. At Cold Wars in March I purchased 1 pack of Essex huscarls, 1 of bondi and 1 of mounted huscarls from Wargames. As a bonus, Essex has redesigned their figures since the 90s and the poses are all different now. I also dug out 2 archers and a mounted general from my stock and set to. It was fun to try and match my painting style from back then; some things I do the same and some differently. I also took the opportunity to fix a few broken spears, chips, etc.

Now I am the proud owner of a Viking horde: 11x4Bd (including general), 9x3Bd (1 stand of berserkers doubles as a 3Wb), 3x3Bw, 1x2Ps and 1x3Kn (general). They are all Essex figures except for 2 of the archers which are Feudal Castings. The 1x7Hd and 1x4Sp in the Leidang lists can be borrowed from one of my other armies. They should make good opponents for my Pre-feudal Scots who will be featured in an upcoming post. To top it all off I bought a lovely Viking longship from Neldoreth to use as a camp.

Shieldwall (11x4Bd - the stand with a flag is the general):

Raiders (9x3Bd):

Archers (3x3Bw & 1x2Ps):

General (1x3Kn):

Viking longship camp:

Entire army:

Almughavar Sneak Preview

My friend Mike keeps asking me to post a picture of the almughavars that I have been painting. Below are some shots of 4 of them fully painted, but not based yet. They are from the new 15mm Eureka line of almughavars; there are 16 different poses of line troops, plus an officer. standardbearer and hornblower. I am using them to build a Catalan Company army for DBA. A full army pictorial will follow when the rest of the army is done.

Early Hungarians

Today's post features my newest army, Early Hungarians. The army list is: III/67bb (1103-1245), 1x3Kn Gen, 1x3Kn, 1x3Cv, 3x2Lh, 3x4Sp, 2x3Ax or 3Bw, 1x2Ps. I painted them on and off during 2008, finishing the knights and basing the army in Spring 2009. They had their debut at Cold Wars 2009 in the Midnight madness tournament, going 1-1.

I built the army to depict the reign of King Andrew II (1205-1235). I wanted it to be contemporary with my Medieval German and Teutonic Order armies. Andrew II actually invited the Teutonic Order to Hungary during his reign, only to forcefully expel them in 1225. The army could also be used for the reign of Andrew's successor, Bela IV, who fought the Mongols.

I used a mix of figures from different manufacturers and will comment on them in the notes to each picture.

First is the usual shot of the whole army. The camp is a scratchbuilt piece made by my friend Mike Demana, campbuilder extraordinare, and given to me in 1995. Check out his excellent website at:http://home.earthlink.net/~mikedemanagames/index.html


Below is King Andrew II of Hungary and his escort. The king bears the royal arms of Hungary. The goat's head on the left-hand knight was taken from a list of medieval hungarian emblems. Hungarian heraldry used a lot of stripes, and I used them throughout the army. The king and knight on the right are Gladiator/Black Hat, the other knight is Tabletop.

Next is a side view of the general's element so you can see the flag.
Next up are more shock mounted. The element on the left is Hungarian knights (1x3Kn). Their shields bear a crescent, more stripes and a bull's head. The left figure is Tabletop, the other two are Black Hat/Gladiator. The element on the right is Croatian heavy cavalry (1x3Cv); the right cavalryman is Essex, the other two are Old Glory. A side-shot of of the mounted.
The light horse make this army different from most medieval European armies. The center and right-hand elements are Magyar horse archers. The element on the left is Cuman light horse. The Cumans were used as mercenaries by the Hungarian monarchs. All of these figures are from Gladiator/Black Hat.

Next are the Hungarian spearmen (3x4Sp). These are a mix of Gladiator/Black Hat, Essex and tabletop figures. The shields are painted with typical Hungarian designs, including lots of stripes.
Here is a close-up of the spearmen from the side.

Next are the Croatian foot (2x3Ax). These are Thistle & Rose figures, sadly no longer available. They are part of a huge Croatian army I painted in the early 1990s. King Coloman I of Hungary became ruler of Croatia in 1103 and many Croatians served in the Hungarian army. I am particularly fond of these troops as my family is Croatian.

The rest of the Croatian foot in the army are archers (2x3Bw and 1x2Ps). These are also

Thistle & Rose figures, except for one Old Glory figure (middle figure on left element) and one Gladiator/Black Hat figure (right figure on middle element).

Thanks for reading!

Jason

Italian Condotta

This post features an Italian Condotta DBA army. The DBA list is: IV/61 (1320-1495), 1x3Kn (Gen), 4x3Kn, 1x2Lh, 2x8Cb or 2Ps, 2x4SP or 4Pk, 1x4Cb or 4Ax or 4Bd or 2Lh, 1x2Ps or Art. The majority of the figures are from Mirliton with a few exceptions: One stand of Psiloi are Essex, the Light Horse are from Museum and some of the Knights are from Essex. I enjoyed painting the Mirliton figures, they have excellent detail and I look forward to painting more someday.

I painted this army in 2005 or 2006. It is painted as a Florentine army of the early to middle 15th century. I chose Florence because my wife had a great time in Florence on our honeymoon. Despite liking the army, somehow I have never used them in a game; I hope to change that soon.
First up is the full army shot.

Next is a close-up of the general (1x4Kn Gen). The red fleur-de-lys on a white field was the Florentine coat-of-arms.
Here is a side-shot to show the Florentine coat-of-arms.

Next are the Knights (4x4Kn). It is fast to paint knights without shields or heraldry!
The Light Horse (1x2Lh) are mounted crossbowmen.

Below are the pikemen, I really like these figures (2x4Pk or 2x4Sp).

Next are the Crossbow elements (2x8Bw). These are my favorite elements in the army. I normally don't care for 8Bw, but the visual of the crossbowmen behind a line of spearmen with pavises is fantastic. I often take a lot of time to paint heraldry, but this army was a pleasant surprise. I painted all of the shields in one pass, one after another, with no mistakes. This is the only time that has ever happened to me!

Below is a side shot so you can see how the spears project out from the pavises.

Here are an element of regular crossbwmen (1x4Bw) and a bombard (1xArt).

These are the optional infantry (1x4Ax and 1x3Bd).

Next are the handgunners (2x2Ps). The front element are Mirliton figures and the back element are Essex.

Last but not least is the camp, a section of Florence's city wall. It is a JR miniatures piece mounted on plastic.

Thanks for reading!

Jason

Late Imperial Romans - West

This DBA Late Imperial Roman (West) DBA II/78a army depicts the forces of Julian (aka Flavius Claudius Iulianus) at the battle of Strasbourg in 357 vs. the Alamanii. I worked in France one summer and was in Alsace near the battle-site. At this time Julian was Caesar of the West; he did not become Roman Emperor until 361. Also known as Julian the Apostate, he was the last pagan emperor of Rome. I was inspired to paint this army after reading the historical novel "Gods and Legions" by Michael Curtis Ford, which covers the life of Julian. The primary source used to identify the units present was Ammianus Marcellinus; a number of secondary sources were also consulted. Shield patterns are taken from the Notitia Dignatum. Most or all of these units would have followed Julian to the East for his campaign against the Sassanids in 363, so with the addition of another 4Kn element it could be used as a LIR East army as well. Figures are 15mm Old Glory. It was painted in 2007. All shields are hand-painted.

On the left are the Scola scutariorum secunda (1x3Cv); on the right are Julian and the Scola gentilium seniorum (1x3Cv General).

A close-up of Julian and the Scola gentilium seniorum.

The Equites catafractarii (1x4Kn)

The Legiones Palatina: (l-r) Pannoniciani seniores, Primani, Moesiaci seniores (3x4Bd).

The Auxilia Palatina: (l-r) Batavi seniores,Cornuti seniores, Brachiati seniores (3x4Ax).

The Equites primo sagitarii on the left and the Equites Dalmatae Passerentiaci on the right (2x2Lh).

Skirmishers: the Fortenses on the left and the Celtae seniores on the right (2x2Ps).

Balistarii (1xArt)

The Roman camp. I modeled it as a Roman watchtower on the Rhine frontier to go with the army theme of Julian's campaign of 357 in Gaul which culminated in the battle of Strasbourg.

Palmyrans

This is my first blog post. I hope to use this blog to share pictures of my wargaming armies. I have many painted armies already so there will be a mixture of new projects and old armies which have never been photographed before. The bulk of my collection is ancient or medieval, though there is some fantasy, 19th Century and 20th Century as well. My miniatures are primarily 15mm. I do have an ongoing 28mm project for a Doctor Who game, but I will save that for a future post.

First off are my Palmyrans. The ruins of the city of Palmyra are in the Syrian desert. During Roman times it was a powerful city that made a failed bid for empire in the Middle East under Queen Zenobia in the 3rd century AD. Below is a group shot of my Palmyran DBA army, II/74b: 1x4Kn Gen, 3x4Kn, 2x2Lh, 4x4Bw, 2x3Bw or 2Ps. I belive they were painted in 2006. The 15mm figures are all Old Glory, purchased from Rudy Scott Nelson at Time Portal Hobbies, except for the camp, which is a Donnington Zenobia with an Essex tent and palm tree.

Below are the 4 cataphract elements (4x4Kn), the backbone of the army. Each element has a uniform color used on the horse barding and helmet tails. The general is the front right element.
Here is a closeup of the general. The standardbearer is carrying a red draco.
Next are the Palmyran light horse (2x2Lh).
The foot part of the army consists entirely of archers. The 4x4Bw elements are regular Palmyran city bowmen. The maroon and turquoise uniforms are inspired by frescoes showing Palmyran troops.
Next are the irregular archers, either 2x3Bw or 2x2Ps. I used a bit of maroon or turquoise on these but they are mostly in white.

Last but not least is the camp. It features the famous Queen Zenobia on a camel, along with a tent and palm tree. Her fate was to be paraded through the streets of Rome in chains after being defeated by the Emperor Aurelian.