Eastern Levies

Another post of another straight up rebase from last year. These are Eastern Slingers and Archers for Magnesia using Newline Designs 20mm Persian and East Iranian codes. I think I have some more slingers to complete and the 4 spare from the original 16 were based individually as skirmish markers. I enjoyed playing a few games of Strength and Honour last year and I've been meaning to get back to it, while I liked the look of using multiple bases for 1 unit its far more practical for 1 base units. For skirmishers to work I needed to think of a way to represent them in game terms hence the individual figures to show they have supporting skirmishers which can be moved to and from the back or removed as the rules describe. Currently on the bench are some Velites skirmish markers. 

Scythed Chariots and A Great King

I am pleased to have completed these 20mm Newline Designs Scythed Chariots, this is a nice advancement to the Lost Battle Magnesia project which has taken a back seat of late to rebasing older miniatures. I had two chariots and the Darius personality code, which is basically the same set but with an additional Darius sculpt pictured separately below. 

So the first decision was to not glue in Darius giving me another generic scythed chariot for battles. Then I took this one step further with the riders going down the same route, the idea being I can paint some Carthaginian riders and have makeshift Punic chariots, which as I understand were not scythed but were four horsed. The trouble is I kept forgetting they weren't secured and the riders kept dropping out with rough handling!

The horses were for the most part painted with contrast paint and once finished were glued to the base which was then filled and painted ready for the vehicle. The vehicles were kept simple basecoats and drybrushes with minimal detailing then haphazardly attached to the horses and bases.

Currently there is a large chunk of rebasing occurring! Roman Velites and other light infantry from the Carthaginian side along with Gallic warbands. Some straight swaps and some new figures required which are underway. The Velites are the last of the Roman rebases and I think after the Gauls, the Iberians are the last of the Punic contingents (so I will have to revisit the Punic wars soon with Lost Battles and Strength & Honour). There are a few other bits that require rebasing, such as Iranian light infantry who will support Antiochus III at Magnisia, as well as his phalangites which require a bit of thought and a lot of work to update.

Finally I have also recently taken the plunge and jumped on the 28mm plastic multipart historics bandwagon! A Dark age deal was spotted on Victrix and so I grabbed some Normans after being inspired by kit-bashing videos on Youtube. The idea is that converted historicals will man the companies of Middle-earth, which companies I am not sure yet, but I need some more kits to mesh with them still, I'm anticipating the Late Roman sets will be ideal for this too.     

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Persian Slingers part 2

Finally got these 20mm Persian Slingers from Newline Designs photographed and uploaded here! 8 more done to go along with the original Persian Slingers (included in the picture below). These were a small step towards the Magnesia project before I started painting odd ancient figures. The current state of play for the Magnesia project is 2 cavalry units basecoat started and I have undercoated a few figures for a unit of foot, Armoured Thracians as Galations. In the mean time I am going to paint a few Kappadoccian cavalry command figures before cracking on with the main project.  

I have also received notification that the gaming mat has been dispatched! I have been trying to get one all year so I will be chuffed when it arrives and hope it will spur me onto having more games. 

Elymian Archers

 

Along with the Persian slingers these 20mm Elymian Archers from Newline Designs will form some of Antiochus' light infantry levies for Magnesia. These are from the Achaemenid Persian range and feature one pose. To introduce some variety  they were given a few differing colourful outfits. Other than that they were straight forward to paint up.  

As I mentioned in my last post, because I am only a few units away from having 'enough' units for Zama, I am going to have a focus on those. Also if I re-fight Cannae with larger units, I need more light infantry for the Romans at least. The planned Leves types using Newline Etruscans will do for that. Next up will be a refurbished unit of Carthaginian heavy cavalry, which will clear my desk allowing me to start cracking through my next list of targets.

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Persian Slingers

I just had 8 of these Persian Slingers in my stockpile from Newline Designs 20mm Ancient Persia range, which I intend to use as Cyrtians for Antiochus' army at Magnesia 190BC. I am not sure what they looked like but I believe they were from roughly the same region as Persians and Medes... so I am using Persian slingers in Median dress. I could do with a few more to make a fuller unit, but in the Lost Battles scenario the Cyrtians are combined with Elymaean to make a levy light infantry unit. I am working on 24 of those at the time of writing so they can work to make the unit to 32 men for levy infantry, but still I like these figures so any excuse to get a few more!

I have attempted some patterns and keep them bright, colourful and varied in appearance. These did not take too long to paint.  They were finished before the bundle of joy/mayhem arrived but based  afterwards so I have been able to get a couple of tasks done despite having our hands full.

I am hoping to get the Elymaeans, which are now underway, finished ASAP and paint up some samples of new Austrian Grenzers from Newline. Also some Etruscan unarmoured infantry which I am planning on using some as Roman Leves and they have new sculpts as well as being very versatile miniatures. These are my current plans which I aim to chip away with bit by bit. 

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