Sarmatian and Dacian catalogue lists

 

One thing I don't spend as much time on as I should is putting together 'catalogues' for my use that include pictures of individual figures plus mould lists. The Sarmatian/Dacian Classical Range is an easy one to do though as it is pretty small!

Just 8 figures plus one conversion I'm working on!

SAC1 Cavalryman, leather armour firing forward. As far as I know never issued except by me. I found the original in the masters box as a separate rider and put it on a horse as an easier-to-cast one piece figure. 

SAC2 Cavalryman, leather armour firing forward, armoured horse. In this case I've simply painted it as wearing metallic armour - another 'conversion' from the SAC1 figure.

SAC3 Cavalry standard bearer - conversion from SAC4.

SAC4, 'Cataphract with lance (Kontos) full mail armoured horse'. The only Sarmatian cavalry figure that I know was originally sold. Painted here with horn armour.

Unlisted conversion to potentially produce as an early Rhoxolani cavalry figure - still not sure where to go with this one - could just use all SAC1 and possibly glue a shield on instead! Still, it wold give me a useful variation.

SA1 Infantryman with spear and shield, unarmoured. As far as I am aware this was the only infantry figure originally issued. I assume Sarmatian though I'm using it as Dacian!

SA2 Officer. Actually Dacian and probably coded DA1 - found an unlisted mould and a couple of masters of this figure... doubt it was ever issued other than by me (as DA1) either as SA2 or DA1!

SA3 Standard bearer. A standard bearer was listed in the 1972 catalogue but I don't have any masters or moulds with it on - this figure is simply a converted SA2.

SA4 Infantryman with falx and shield. Again, mould plus master figure but no other documentation - may have originally been intended as DA2? - I produced it in small numbers as DA2.

A list of issued and projected Garrison figures appeared as an insert in the 1972  Greenwood and Ball Journal. Wish all this had come out then...  :(  - anyway, I'm trying to fill the gaps... though 'my' SAC1 and 2 are a bit different to the 1972 catalogue version! Note the figures NOT listed here that I found masters of and have been able to produce! Apart from figures listed above, SAC3 with the bowcase carved off and replaced with a mace makes a good generic SHC cataphract, plus the generic horse archer I made works as a Parthian horse archer... so I could do a Parthian army... must try fitting SAC3 on a camel sometime...

My paint pens have been getting quite ragged recently so I bought some more (had the originals for nearly 2 years... couldn't believe it!). New pens are much better and this is shown by the increased complexity of the patterns I'm putting on cloaks and tunics...

As a side note, start expecting people to put up wargames figure prices... just ordered a new batch of metal... 28th January 2025 I paid £724-20, this time round it was £890.30! 23% increase in a year. Worse, 5th March 2024 it was £604-20!  So the metal I use has gone up by 47% in two years! 

Sarmatian EHC

 

Two units of 12 figures plus a three figure general's element

The command elements - I've identified the general by by giving his element two standards. They're also a bit more ornate. 

The other ranks. I haven't bothered putting these together as distinct units - a unit will just be a command element plus three or five random other elements. 

Still not fully convinced that these are a good way of of painting horn armour. This lot gives me 4 12 figure EHC units in total plus a general's element. I've still got another 24 on unarmoured horses to do and that should just about finish this part of the army. After that, lots of medium cavalry...

Currently on the painting table plus the near future...

 

Had a casting session or two to set myself up for a few weeks. This lot have been undercoated - two units of armoured lancers, I'll be using these with mostly horn armoured horses.This will give me four units of lancers on armoured horses and should be enough for now!

Unarmoured medium cavalry in leather armour - again, two units. Will need quite a few more of these!

Finally, a large unit of the Sarmatian infantry with Dacian officer and converted standard bearers.About 50 figures so will need a few more of these units.

So that's the next 3 or 4 weeks sorted... still leaves loads of Spanish/Carthaginians and Gauls of course. Plus I'm factoring in Kushite/Blemye. And possibly Elamite. Could be a busy year.

Sarmatian and Fantasy Arabs test paintings

In between my 'mass' painting sessions I've done a few test pieces...

 

Firstly, Sarmatian cavalry on armoured horse. They are supposed to mostly have horn armour so I thought I'd try doing one with it... Iraqi sand base, cavalry brown wash then lightly drybrushed with ivory. Seems to have worked OK. Takes longer though.

Cast a few of the fantasy Arabs... crude figures but look fine at a distance.

It will be a while before I really get round to doing anything with them though.  I still need infantry, officers and standard bearers.

Finished Roman legionaries

Probably shouldn't have done the Roman Review until I'd finished these but...

Two cohorts brings it up to four when I had originally planned on three - but I had the figures so...

Left the shields plain. Might detail them a bit more in the future (no I won't).

So as far as the Romans are concerned I'll certainly do two or three Praetorian units which I could  then pretend to be late Republican. Other than that, one cavalry and two auxilia units ad, as far as I am concerned, the legions are complete.

Sarmatian and Dacian Review

Still a long way to go before either of these armies are complete.

Sarmatian light cavalry unit using SAC1 for the rank and file, SAC2 for the officer and SAC3 as the standard bearer. This unit goes back to 2015... 

As do these... so 11 years before I got back to them...

The recent two heavy cavalry units. The army probably needs to double in size as far as HC/EHC are concerned, but a lot more of SAC1  figures to provide MC! 

The Dacians. Light cavalry are GAC2, the Gallic light cavalry, again with  SAC3 as the standard bearer. Need at least a couple of hundred more infantry for this army! Infantry are technically SA1 Sarmatians, but are much more convincing as Dacians! 

So a lot to go here - and the Sarmatian mould is back and will be ready for casting in a few days...

Reached 1,000,000 views...

 Though probably 900,000 of them are bots. Or me.