Minifigs Indian Army Review June 2026

 

Having added those extra elephants recently - plus a small number of cavalry - it seemed like a good idea to do another Review - the last Indian Army Review was in 2019.

Back then I had 9 painted elephants, today it's 16.

4 horse chariots still the same.

Likewise 2 horse chariots.

The current right flank, cavalry and javelins. The cavalry force is a bit bigger than last time, but not by much.

And left flank cavalry and light archer unit.

Sizewise, the army includes 126 Bw, 80 Sp, 24 Ps,  81 cavalry, 16 elephants and 11 chariots. Barring a sudden urge to paint a load of chariots I don't see this army getting any bigger.

Roman army Review

Although I've started lots of Roman armies in the past I can't pretend I've always been enthusiastic about them. This one is just about my most successful attempt to date.

The cavalry. Back row heavies with a unit of each of the three Garrison heavy cavalry figures. There is another cavalry figure I've got and will probably do a unit of those - the other unit either replaced or was replaced by the ones with plumed helmets. Front rank African light cavalry is a very useful figure - Moors, Numidian, Egyptian ... As far as 'needs' go the cavalry are complete but will almost certainly be expanded in future!

The right flank infantry are the most interesting troops a far as I am concerned. Front ranks velites with wolfskins - what's not to like, need more. Middle rank auxilia are cavalry conversions and are my favourite Roman LMI auxilia with pointy sticks.  Need more. Rear figures are Praetorians but I'm thinking that they might be useful as Late Republicans - not quite right but I can live with that. Need more. 

Centre and left flank. Garrison artillery not exactly the best engines but... Slingers next to them have been painted as Spanish, white tunics and black cloaks. I'll be putting them in the Carthaginian army eventually and paint up another unit for the Romans. Middle archers, very Airfix in style, and the rather stiff 'ordinary' Auxilia - won't be increasing either of these units, archers because I've got enough, others because I don't like the figure! At the back, marching legionary - my favourite legionary figure. Need at least one more unit (probably more than one) which has been cast (several years ago!)

Gallic armies Review

 I've been working on several armies recently and building up numbers withour really thinking about where I am... So intend to do a number of what are really interim Reviews over the next few days - should settle what I still need to do.  Starting with the Gauls. Worth remembering this isn't just one army - it includes Gauls, Ancient Brits, Galations, Fantasy and assorted Celts fighting for Carthage...

The basic army as it stands. In general terms, there's the fantasy element on the right, Ancient Brits on the left, Galations back centre, and 'standard' LMI Warband figures all over.

A few more chariots would be nice, so I thought I'd include a picture with my Minifigs chariot force... not sure how many more chariots I'll add, at least six more planned.Looking at this picture, could aim for for another 14-15 though...  As for cavalry - generic army could do with at least one  unit of HC, ie standard bare chested figure with bronze cuirass  painted on...

This is the 'fantasy' flank - infantry and cavalry wearing bison headdresses. No idea how this lot will develop.

Galations at the back. Probably need another 100+ infantry.

Ancient Brits, light cavalry, slingers and LMI infantry. I need at least one more LC unit plus chariots... and got 24 slingers in an army that can take up to 150... Probably settle for another 24?

Quick look at the army from a different viewpoint. Chariots in front, second row cavalry, then light infantry and finally the bulk 'line' infantry units. The only reason I can justify saying it's about half finished is by saying it represents at least four different armies plus mercenaries for a couple of others! Think I still need more light infantry... perhaps a unit each of archers and javelinmen as well as whatever I do with the Ancient Brits.

Quick update on Sarmatians - gather from Pete the latest mould has been made and will soon be with me...

Latest Persian light cavalry plus a Review

 

Originally this was  going to be a post on the unit I just finished... then sort of extended things a bit. With the exception of the officers and standard bearers they are all PEC2, Cavalryman with spear and bow in case, unarmoured or conversions of PEC2.

The first lot are ones loosely based on the style of dress shown in 'The Persian Army 560-330BC' by Nick Sekunda and Simon Chew. For convenience I think of them as 'Persian National Army'.

The rest include some of the original figures plus others just representing generic Persians and Bactrians.

So this is the unit I've just painted. Sometimes, I just have to paint Persians. For some reason I didn't do standard bearers for this unit (or the unit of horse archers I'm currently painting).

The strange thing is neither this figure or the horse archer were ever intended to 'production' figures... and it shows with these. The right hand is about as crude as I've ever done... definitely for my use only!

20mm British Napoleonic army Review

Another army that is a battalion light... note I don't have the 'official' codes for some of these - they don't appear in any of my catalogues - I simply found the originals lying around mixed in with other figures and masters!

Life Guards

BN3 Grenadiers marching

British artillery with a Rose gun.

BN8 Line infantry marching with BN4 officer

Dragoons

20mm French Napoleonic army Review

I think it's worth pointing out that this lot weren't described as 20mm originally - I just call them 20mm because they are a bit smaller than the later ones that were described as 25mm. 

FNC11 Carabinier.

FN3 Old Guard Grenadiers marching

I gave the Grenadiers 2 flags!

Generals and/or senior officers. I've got it down as BNC1 Horse Guard...

French artillery - crews are originals, not conversions... Gun is the Rose Napoleonic French cannon.

FN8 Fusilier marching

They only get 1 flag.

FNC8 Light Horse Lancer

FNC7 Chasseur a Cheval

Still need a load more of these. I can see myself abandoning the 7 Years War armies and getting back to these!

Amazon Army Review

The army is now officially complete. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be adding units to it - got enough figures for another archery unit and spear armed cavalry unit lying around staring at me...

Another thing I really should do is snip the fans off a few fan bearers to make that light infantry unit up to six elements - they were a test unit anyway.

The Queen passing behind the Nobles in their chariots.

Guard heavy cavalry in front of a medium cavalry unit. I was sorely tempted to add a third spear/shield unit but haven't.

The 'line' infantry - two archer units in front, three spear armed units in the rear.

The spear armed units include two medium spear units flanking a Guard heavy infantry unit.

Two units of horse archers. The extreme left flank unit with the tiger riding officer is an actual conversion - archer top on cavalry legs and a new bowcase. The other unit is the original - an ordinary archer with the base removed and sanded between the legs until it fit on a horse. The horses have been angled so that the archers aren't shooting their neighbours!

The non-human component! Tigers and Pegasi with an enchantress riding a tiger.

That's probably it for units before Christmas - got some individual figures I can get on with before the tree goes, covering my painting station and ending painting until the tree comes down in January!

My current Assyrian armies...

 

Back in 2017 I posted an Assyrian Review of my then Assyrian army. It has increased since then but the main change from then is my start on a 25mm Garrison army. The ones here are 20mm Garrison, Minifigs 'S' Range and Lamming.

This lot are the Minifigs 'S' Range, though some chariots are a Minifigs/Lamming mix.

These are the Garrison figures. Chariot with card bodies, heavy infantry with HaT shields. At this time I experimented with a wash over the paint - didn't work very well so that an army I like was, in my view, ruined :(

My Lamming force is slightly smaller but nice...

Then their are things like these chariots - tin plate chariots I got from Harry  repainted and given Minifigs crews and horses and Garrison chariot wheels. Archers are 'S' Range Carthagians that I feel are a lot more at home with the Assyrians!

And then there's my 25mm Garrison army... still growing, long way to go, only 5 painted chariots so far, but lots in the pipeline. 

Thoughts on the current project? That Minifigs force includes 24 chariots. Some of these also appear in the Lamming army which also has 3 pure Lamming chariots.. Meanwhile, the 20mm Garrison army has 13 chariots. So these combined armies have 40 chariots. It's a target...