WiP 15mm Assyrians

A Museum Miniatures January sale order finally makes it onto the painting table... after the somewhat disappointing outings so far for the Mycenaeans, these are the first bases of Assyrians to be fully finished as I test out colour schemes for this army.

The uniform scheme I’m going with is rather dour, with dark blues and reds. This seems to suit the ruthless efficiency of the Assyrian war machine. 

No doubt the final army will also end up having the old classic wargamers trope of different coloured shields for the Elite and Regular quality troops!

 

I an still undecided about patterned horse blankets. Could easily look too gaudy. 

My original army list to use the figures I bought doesn’t bear much resemblance to any of the Assyrian lists I’ve been beaten by this year, so an extra order may be required. Luckily there should be another sale along soon!

 

Yummy-yads in Spain - Food, Castles and ADLG!

The Umayyad Caliphate in a few short years managed to build a mighty empire stretching from Asia to the shores of the Atlantic ... but now they faced their greatest mission, The Conquest of Spain (reached via Bilbao airport, travelling in a small metal tin).

Yes, after somewhat of a hiatus here are 5 match reports of yet another fairly randomly selected ADLG army fighting at a competition held in Northern Spain at Estella.

In these reports the Umayyads take on the Armenians, Alexandrian Macedonians, Maurikian Byzantines, Arab Indians and finally the Medieval Polish, whilst Team Central London take on a variety of three course meal options, tapas plates, obscure Basque spirits and rather nice Rioja, all of which get featured heavily in the writeups.

Finally, in a totally new departure, Siege Warfare comes to Madaxeman.com as the intrepid CLWC crack castle-wall-storming brigade meanders through the hinterland of Castile visiting an array of Moslem, Visigothic and Reconquista fortresses, all of which are photographed and presented for your delight and delectation.

Be extra careful if you are squeamish about roast pork products, otherwise just be careful of the poor quality jokes and captions and the sub-standard gameplay (as usual).

Egypt Arise! (well, "rebase" actually..)

After a rather salutary outing with the Myceneans last weekend, and rather than focusing on painting new stuff I took it upon myself this week to rebase a 15mm New Kingdom Egyptian army that I've not used all that much in recent years.

The rebasing now puts them onto ADLG 40x40 bases in the main, using MDF from Warbases. Most of the figures are Gladiator Miniatures, a range which has just been bought by Ian from Fighting 15's  with a few Essex and even Irregular Miniatures thrown in for added variety.

The basing is done with sand, glue, Rustins Wood Stain and some drybrushing - the technique is show in this YouTube video I made a few years ago with the same technique for Saga miniatures.

They may not fight any better, but at least they are now consistently based to match my other "Biblical" armies like the Myceneans

28mm Assyrian Generals for ADLG

Whilst an Assyrian ADLG army still sits in it's original shipping box almost a year after buying it in the Museum Miniatures January sale, I have been occasionally browsing eBay and other sites for some 28mm Assyrian Generals to use as commanders with the 15mm army.

And now I've found some - and even better, they are Foundry figures!

ASS005 - "Heavy Infantry Command 1" on their website, picked up off eBay for a snip and now all set to lead the Assyrians to victory (I hope...).

My painting doesn't sadly match that of Foundry's professionals, but I did attempt to use the same sort of colour scheme, which will no doubt become a reference for the rest of the army once it's done.

I also normally only put one figure on a base for these commanders, but with a blister pack with musicians and standard bearers who otherwise won't get used, and also realising that 15mm Chariots will never fit on a 40mm round base I just went for it and added all the figures to 3 Commander bases.

This link will take you to a listing of 28mm Assyrians on your local eBay

In places their eyes are a little "fried egg" - egg-specially when viewed close up - and I might go back and touch them up if I have the inclination, even though at gaming distances they are perfectly OK

This link will take you to a listing of 28mm Assyrians on your local eBay

15mm Teutons for sale on eBay

On eBay this week is another "downsizing of a DBM/FoG army" ADLG army sale, this time a nicely presented 200+ point 15mm Teutonic army including a wide range of options to form several different variations of this legendarily punchy force.

All the figures have been based and magnabased for storage and transit, and have been double-varnished (Army Painter + Testors Dullcote) for tabletop handling.

Here's the link to the auction which ends on Sunday 14th October, around 5pm UK time

They are based with a snow effect, which on a bigger DBx army can seem a bit limiting by making it harder to do possible morphs into other forces - but with ADLG armies being smaller it's entirely feasible to have a dedicated Teutonic winter-war themed army like this as a stand-alone force.

These guys were originally part of a much bigger DBM/FoG army now being downsized to ADLG, and the sharp-eyed amongst you may have even spotted some of them appearing on the Madaxeman website in several battle reports as part of the legendary DBM Lithuanians a few years back  ...

There's a total of 60-odd foot + 50-odd mounted (so almost 170 "things" in total, if you're working out a fair price).

The army comprises:

• 18 Teutonic Brother Knight figures (Mirliton & Toullier)
• 6 Vassal Knight figures (Mixed - some Museum?)
• 4 LH Crossbow figures (Mirliton)
• 4 Hungarian LH figures (Mirliton)
• 4 Balts with javelin figures (Essex)
• 6 Prussian Medium Cavalry figures (Mirliton)
• 4 LF Bow Balt skirmisher figures (Essex)
• 2 LF Handgunner figures (Essex)
• 16 Teutonic Brother Spearmen (Gladiator) 
• 16 German Militia Spearmen (Essex)
• 8 English Mercenary Longbow (Essex)
• 3 Commanders bases (Mirliton and others)
• 15 Levy figures (mixed)

If you want to expand the army I am happy to either point you at the exact figure codes or have a dig around in the rest of my collection as well to see if I can help out.  I can also add some of the "snow" in the parcel too if you'd like to base up a few more extra figures yourself.

I can also arrange for collection at Warfare, or on a clubnight at CLWC in London so if you are a UK-based player those may be options to save on postage. If you're in Spain or Southern France, I'll also be at the Estella event in late October. 

Part of all bids will go to support SSAFA, the UK armed forces charity.

Here's the link to the auction

It ends on Sunday 14th October, around 5pm UK time - happy bidding!