Some for the future

Apart from figures bought for a specific purpose I'm also collecting some for future use. These are a couple of units bought off ebay that are not completely assigned to an army.

This lot are Palmyran cataphracts. I'm looking for Successor cataphracts but these do at a push. They will probably appear as Parthians, Late Romans and Byzantines in the future. I doubt that they will be repainted - they look OK as they stand.

Talking about Byzantines...  these will need repainting. In fact, another unit from the same source is in the Dettol already. A generic Byzantine/Late Roman force is on my 'to do ' list but will need more figures.

Mede General

Starting to sort out the mass of 'S' Range Persians it seems churlish not to use the Mede component as a Mede army in it's own right. And armies need generals so...

Running short on Minifigs chariots I decided to use a Garrison Successor scythed chariot (sans scythes) as the basis. Garrison Persian chariot wheels, Minifigs generic 'S' Range chariot horses and a couple of converted Medes as General and charioteer.

Please don't laugh at the rather strange face on the winged lion, I did my best :)

The Ahura Mazda doesn't look too bad though.

I like the enclosed back of the chariot cab. Wish I'd used this chariot cab more often.

Pages update

Says it all really - I've had a blitz and added a load of old catalogue pages to the Pages section of the blog.

Philistine DBA (Plus a few extras)

I've spent the last week or so painting up some of my stripped Philistine infantry to form a DBA army. As I prefer to make complete units it means I also have a few 'extra' figures completed.

Using DBA 2.2 lists, I/29(b), the army reads as 1 x LCh (Gen), 1 x LCh, 6 x 4Sp, 2 x 3Ax, 2 x 2Ps.

My chariots and ox cart have already appeared on the blog.

Spears are A.Ph. 1s Philistine spearmen with shields painted plain bronze. I used the same figure for the 3Ax but simply gave them mainly hide shields.

The archers are A.Ph 2s Philistine Archer. No A.Ph.3s Philistine Officer - not aware of it being produced though I have a couple of Spearmen  conversions still in the Dettol.

This is my current complete army with the exception of a 4 element unit of Cv I painted back in the 70s - army list Philistines and Sea Peoples don't have cavalry so they are currently being neglected.

I've still got a load of figures in Dettol - these will mostly be painted and based as 3Bd for armies I/28 Sea Peoples and I/29(a) earlier Philistines. For the Sea Peoples armies I'll need some Sherden as 4Bd. There isn't an 'S' Range figure though I have a few later EA Range ones. However, what I intend doing is use it as an excuse to paint up some of my Rose Sherden.

Philistine ox cart

Working on my usual practice of several projects at the same time, my Philistine army has a new addition.

At the moment I only have this one, though I do have another cart sans oxen. Could do with a couple more though.

Some Indian Elephants

A couple of years ago I blogged about an Indian force I had acquired.

Since then, I've painted up a few chariots (the ones that had the slight accident with the wrong spray can) and sprayed lots of infantry brown. Also found a couple of extra horses so the new chariots are up to 3 now.

So, the Indians I had included a few more elephants. Four of these are now painted and based.

Nothing fancy - the elephants themselves are mainly just sprayed grey.

A comparison between the 'original' elephants and the new batch shows both elephants and base are much lighter on the new figures  than the  old. Not a major concern - it's not being looked on as a 'showcase' army.

Thought I'd also include a couple of pictures of the general in his howdah.

And a Happy New Year

All the best in 2017.