Cataplana standard bearer.

Much as I like the standard bearer I used for the Cataplanan army it can be a pain, both to cast and to keep in one piece. So, a quick repair sort of.

You just have to ignore the fact the original shaft of the standard is still visible.

I'm not sure about just below the standard either.

Cataplana army Review(ish) 2019

Both Cataplana and Vanha have been neglected recently. However, the current sorting/cataloguing process has again brought them to the fore...

This is the current army including a load of figures  that needs basing.

The basic human element needs beefing up a bit still. There are some unpainted infantry lying around somewhere as well as some Teutonic knight types that could act as a religious order.

Must be about 3 years or so since I bought these. They should have been based by now but soon after bringing them home they were misplaced... and I've just found them again.

I originally thought that the Galo de Barcelos was Gallo de Barcelona - pity, if it was it would have opened the door to Faulty Towers jokes.

Originally I was going to use Garrison griffins but....

These ones work and come ready painted.

On a cruise last year and picked up these somewhere in Spain. The Spanish Inquisition seemed like another useful type - wizards rather than clerics?

So, lots of work to do but admit I really like this army. As a sort of Atlantean type army it predates Christianity by a few thousand years - but then, the Vanha figures aren't exactly in the right time line for Muslims - so really need to find a believable back story for military orders and the Inquisition. Can't see that as a major problem though.

Amun's new general

I've been working on quite a few things recently, just not getting round to post anything. So will be shooting off a few in quick succession...

Firstly, got round to painting up the Egyptian chariot to give Amun it's own general.

So Amun now looks like this.

The unpainted general was part of my recent purchase from Harry. All the individual Divisions now have their own general.

Meanwhile, continuing with all the other 'orphan' units - this lot were acquired painted but never incorporated because of the size of the unit. However, they have now joined Pre which didn't originally have a light infantry component.

Some non-Garrison Vanha

Saw these Minifigs on E-Bay and thought 'they would make a good Vanha elite/fanatic/whatever unit. They are down as being from the collection of Stuart Asquith. Actually, years ago I sold a load of my figures to Stuart Asquith, just it was a different Stuart Asquith.

Like the red and black colour scheme - simple but effective. Couple of figures have broken swords, easily hidden.

I'm thinking of basing these as 3Wb - I can then start thinking of religious fanatic 'militias' to counter religious orders on the Cataplan side. I already have a unit of 'Teutonic knights' that can be used for those. When I get things set up I'll have to set them all on the table.

Two different figures - they were bought as two separate lots.

Thought while typing this - would look good used with one of my Genie figures...

Quickly reaches up to shelves above PC, plucks Genie from a shelf, snaps it and inserts in blog - which means, of course, it probably won't be part of the clickable sequence above.

Early Greenwood and Ball

As in, Greenwood and Ball themselves.

Greenwood and Ball were a partnership between John Greenwood (designer) and Katherine Ball (painter). In the days before the company was sold to Bill Pearce they produced figures in various scales, mostly painted by Katherine and a team of painters. The ranges included (from 1959 to - I assume - 1971) 20mm figures characterised by strips of lead soldered to the feet of cavalry so they could be used as infantry. Some of these were also produced by Scruby in the US.

I've only 'spotted' one lot of these for sale anywhere - course I grabbed them... several years ago and don't know why I haven't posted them yet.

Know nothing about these figures. Obviously Indian army/British colonial, mainly cavalry. So mostly I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

My total collection - bit smaller than most of my collections!

Figures include one who could be a General.

Sadly, I only have a few actual infantry. Pretty much every figure is different.

Cavalry can be used on foot as well as mounted.

They would make good ski troops.

A few more examples.

Cataphract

One thing about 'new' projects is that current projects tend to get put to one side. In this case, a build up of my Garrison Macedonian/Seleucids was halted when I got Harry's stuff. I had already made a cataphract conversion by simply removing the bowcase from the Sarmation cataphract and adding various sidearms, even painted up a few prototypes and, last August, the first unit - though basically listed as Parthian rather than Seleucid.

Finally got round to producing the second full unit.

Personal view on these figures? crude compared to 'modern' figures but I still like them.

Hail Amun

1st Division of Egypt, Destroyer of Vile Kush and Victorious Defender of the Frontier.

In celebration of the Victory over the Vile Kush Pharaoh honours his own Division.

Pharaoh approaches the border fort with his guard as the Amun Division acts as a Guard of Honour

The defence of the fort by 4 companies of light archers is credited with a major part of the victory. The Regiment, brought back to strength, awaits Pharaoh.

Pharaoh  honours the Commander of the Regiment. As the 1st Division is often under the direct command of Pharaoh it has not got a 'dedicated' General itself - the Leader of Hariots usually does this job - however, this will soon be corrected as Pharaoh's bodyguard increases in size.

Pre Division approaches the fort. Amun takes a well-deserved leave, job done.

Pre is given responsibility for the border from Pharaoh.

Due to the greatly increased perceived threat from Kush the garrison has been substantially increased.

The Kushites are coming Part 3

And the main battle is about to start...

The battle lines are drawn...

In this battle, both sides just want to attack.

I allow archers a 6" firing range, so cavalry need to close quickly.

This is true of the Kushite cavalry as well.

Things aren't going well for the defenders in the fort.

The cavalry attacks didn't go well - the Egyptians ran away and the Kushites were stopped dead in their tracks.

The end is in sight here...

As the main battle develops, the Kushite centre is looking fragile.

The Kushites continue their attacks and some Egyptian right flank infantry turn to block an outflanking move.

Having cleared the fort the Kushite attackers stream out to  join the main battle.

When the Egyptian chariots broke the cavalry they were facing, the surviving element eventually took a Kushite chariot with it - and another one died in combat. The hard battle for the fort obviously left a mark on the Kushite warband from the fort - they broke on contact with the spears.

Feeling a bit lonely, the Kushite general calls it a day... time to regroup and come back later...

A very enjoyable battle. As to rules... a bit of a mish mash of DBA, WRG 4th Edition and RY 'that's seems about right'. I speeded combat up a bit treating them as units if everything the same but separate elements at other times - for example, spears v warband 1 dice roll for the whole unit, chariots separate rolls as the general was present and he gets the plus 1, the others don't - so 3 separate combats instead of 1.

The Kushites are coming - Part 2

So the cavalry are off to get help while the fort gets to see some action.

The fort is under siege whilst the main Kuskite army bypasses it and starts to form up a battle line.

One problem with the fort is that you can't put the bases on the ramparts - they fall off.

This could take a while as the action swings back and forth. Here, some Blemye have broken into the fort but the Kushite warband has been pushed back. Under DBA the garrison should have a plus 4 but I've ony given them a plus 2. My game, my rules.

The Amun Division has (mostly) arrived - some still on garrison duty elsewhere.

The Blemyes are inside and fighting the garrison. Meanwhile some warband are still at the walls, the rest sit out this move having been pushed back (unlike 'standard' DBA where they would be straight back in - I feel that that wouldn't represent the siege nature as well as having a delay). For all, enemy scoring double on dice means a kill, but I've also said 2 pushbacks running will kill a defender.

The defenders win the battle inside the fort and the attackers are pushed back outside.

Meanwhile, in the main battle both sides are advancing towards each other.