Rhoxalani cavalry

 

First 6 base unit of Rhoxalani cavalry. 

There are four different figures in this unit - standard bearer, 'officer' is the horse archer figure on the fully armoured horse, horse archer figure on the unarmoured horse and standard cataphract conversion with the kontos cut down to javelin size and Sarmatian infantry shield added. 

My hope is to complete a further three of these units over the next few weeks/months/decades to give a good basis for an early Rhoxalani army. 

Sarmation HC Horse Archers

Rhoxolani MC - at some stage I intend to do an Alan/Rhoxolani conversion of the cataphract by cutting the kontos down, at which time I'll be able to do mixed LC/MC units with JLS/B/Sh. I painted the armour using Vallejo leather brown - can't say I like that choice, red leather would be better and use the leather brown for belts, etc.

It's a nice figure - found the masters but no record of the figure, made it as a one piece casting because the original separate rider didn't cast easily. Must admit I  like painting up the standards, just don't think of them as being in any way realistic!

The current crop

 

Continuing with the Dacian/Sarmatian infantry...

For the numbers I'll be doing I've stopped worrying about actual 'units' and just building up elements to be used as and where wanted.

I'm going a bit overboard on the use of paint pens though - lots of checks, tartans and shield patterns!

Currently on the painting desk are another load of Dacian'Sarmatian infantry plus a unit of Numidian cavalry.

Meanwhile I'n still working on other conversions. The front one is the early Rhoxolani Sarmatian figure painted up. At the time I thought I would need to cut away the kontos and replace it - thought the lance would be too thick.Tried it anyway and actually looks OK - cut the kontos down, hammered the head into a spear point, and works. Shield is from one of the Sarmatian infantry as per the WRG book. Last figure is from the cataphract with the bowcase removed and large shield added... probably needs a smaller shield, but as a first attempt at a Goth heavy cavalry doesn't look too bad.

Need to do something with the leather armour on the Rhoxolani - not sure if it does as hide armour. Time to work on that. Might just use the same method as for the horn armour on the horse armour.

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...

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...

Sarmatian heavy cavalry

 

Two units of Sarmations on unarmoured horses. Probably got about half the Sarmation cavalry I'm currently looking at.

Seems like Sarmations liked bright colours like red, yellow and gold. No tartans.

So one unit based on yellow, one on red and bright block colours throughout.

New mould -Sarmations and Dacians RY157

 

Got mould RY157 back from Pete. I've leave it a few days to post cure before I check it out. 

The mould covers all the Sarmation and Dacian infantry plus Sarmation cavalry riders, Both standard bearers are conversions. As far as I know none of the DA figures were ever issued in the past.

This is the nominal mix for the next mould. The Gauls basically cover the ones that weren't too successful before - one thing I'm not sure about is whether to add a load more Gallic figures to this mould. On the other hand, I think I have spent more on the Gallic moulds than I really wanted to. The Sarmation figures are two different one piece mouldings, three on unarmoured horses, one on an armoured horse. How well RY157 works will probably determine whether or not I add another armoured horse archer and fill out the mould with more Sarmations. The one piece casting is a medium cavalry figure so the half armoured horse is not a 'correct' figure - paint conversion! - but I can see me doing an army with lots of the other figure...

SA1 Sarmation infantry with spear and shield.

 

When sorting the ex-Harry Gauls I found a number of Sarmations filling out the ranks. I've now rescued these and put them together as Sarmations.

Normally, a figure such as this would be LMI rather than LI, but the DBA list I'm using has them as LI so...

At some time in the future I will, however, do a lot more and use them as 'Greek Black Sea infantry' on LMI bases, as well as using them in any Dacian army I may or may not do! 

Sarmatia

Or, my Christmas project.

Already had the horse archers painted and thought it might be an idea to add a few lancers. They still need some work, including basing and varnishing, but I'm getting there.

This will never be a big army; possibly a couple more units of cavalry and a few infantry, so it should be completed by the end of this year. Of course, I've said similar things before... Possibly I'll use it as  an 'Arthurian' force in a future battle with some of my Irregular Romans facing hordes of Celts (rather than Saxons)?

 Lancers covered by horse archers. Perhaps another unit of each as a basic army, with one of the horse archer units being in a 'close' formation?

 The horse archers were not originally issued by Garrison.  I found the master and made two different one-piece castings of the figure - one on an armoured horse, one unarmoured.

  The lancer is the original Garrison figure. I will probably do a third unit on unarmoured horses. Never been able to work out how to paint horn armour so I always do them with metal armour!

The standard bearer was originally just the lancer with a standard instead of the lance.