Medieval Pisa Tourist Souvenir

Medieval Pisa Tourist Souvenir

Once in a while EBay throws up something oddly useful for wargaming purposes. This is an old resin tourist souvenir from Pisa. Three buildings from the city centre piazza that once cut up into three items will be perfect to represent BUA. It's quite nice so seems a shame to destroy it but all three are 24cm x 8cm in area. The Campanile [Leaning Tower] was completed in 1372 AD, the Cathedral by 1180 AD and the Baptistry in 1363 AD.

It was covered in a mixture of dirt, grease, dust and nicotine. After talking to a few people I was recommended to buy Rubbing Alcohol. This is actually a proper chemical compound used for deep cleaning as it evaporates very quickly. I ordered a litre of it on line as I was unsure how much I would end up using. 

The bottle came with lots of health warnings so never use it indoors or when smoking and keep out of the hands of children. 

After 30 minutes in the garden with an old toothbrush and lots of brushing I was really surprised just how clean it turned out afterwards.

Now I have to decide if I will leave it as a single piece or cut it into three separate buildings. 

I decided to cut it into three. I can now work on getting them into the right sized bases.

Penultimate Installment For The Sargonid Army

Some of the last of the Missing Sargonid Infantry

The Sargonid Army is a bit of a Heinz with lots of different types of compulsory troops and these coming in strictly tiered units according to their status within the army.

The DBMM army list changes the troops that were formerly called Line Infantry in the DBM army list into Long Shield Spearmen and their supporting Reg Ps O become Reg Bw O instead.

This means I needed to create six elements of Reg Bw O to ensure that I had sufficient troops made up to use this list option. I used Museum Miniatures AS19 castings from their Assyrian range. The figures were very cleanly cast with minimal flash. They were quite easy to paint up as there was minimal hidden areas that were otherwise difficult to get to with a paintbrush.

I was very pleased with the end result for these 24 castings rated as Reg Bw O.

The Reserves of the Battle Array are classed as Spearmen, Auxilia or Psiloi depending on which army list version you decide to use. I was missing the Auxilia elements to make up this contingent so I had a look through the unpainted metal to see what I had. I ended up using Lancashire Games AB27 Auxiliary Spearmen from their Neo-Assyrian range. Whilst labelled as Spearmen the pose is more suited for use as Light Infantry due to the minimal armour they were wearing and the round wicker shield they are carrying. 

With these two contingents done I am now left with the final twenty-four archers still to paint up with will make the final contingent of 12 elements of Reg Ps O. I am using Museum Miniatures AS04 castings for these which have a different pose to the AS19 casting. They are currently on my painting table and I am hoping they might be finished by the weekend and on my blog. I still have a lot of left over figures in the box because I ended up buying too many in my keenness to finish the army quickly. This may allow me to morph the army into another Assyrian list in due course but that idea is way down the line. Of course they might just end up on EBay?

Generic 9th - 10th Century Feudal Auxilia

Reimagining Some Old Minifigs Byzantine Javelinmen

I had 24 15mm scale Minifigs Z206 Byzantine Javelinmen in Project Lead Mountain. After some research I finally worked out that the castings were specifically made with the intention of using them as part of the Nikephorian and Konstantinian Byzantine Armies from 963 AD to 1071 AD. I painted them up as a mix of Reg Ax O and Reg Ps S as this is what is they are shown as being classed as in the DBMM army lists and put them on EBay. I made up two different units for them which means I can easily identify which commands they belong to on the tabletop. After listing them for over three months on EBay they had not sold so I decided to rebase them as Irr Ax O and use them as Generic Early Feudal Auxilia.

The castings are still quite well sculpted despite being at least 20 years old. They will do for any Southern European army from around 900 AD through to at least 1100 AD because there are no distinctive markings or uniform style that marks them out as being specifically Byzantine. For players that are not too fussy they will easily fit into other armies within Europe equipped in a similar way.

I might end up trying to sell them on EBay but for now they will sit in my Feudal infantry storage case along with lots of other foot from the same era.  

Wallachia - Under Vlad the Impaler 8

Wallachian Army Part 8 - The Last of the Light Cavalry

I had completed most of the Wallachian Army with my previous blog on them and I had sufficient figures painted to to take the army to Iceni DBM Doubles Tournament. I had only completed 18 Irr LH S elements out of the 24 required for the army list and had put them to one side whilst I worked on the Assyrians because there was no hurry to get them completed.

I had a large selection of mounted castings in the army already and I purchased twelve Donningtons MOLC05 Lesser Boyar/Viteji Cavalry on a mix of OH02 and OH03 horses. They are part of their Roumanians Range and of course fit in perfectly with most of the rest of the Wallachian army I have already painted. The figures are well sculpted and were fairly clear of flash apart from underneath their feet and the bases of the horses which are the main flow points for casting. With these last six elements of Irr LH S I can honestly say that this army is now finished.

Here are some pictures of the six elements.

I have recently found a couple of models of Bran Castle online which I am tempted to buy to represent as a BUA in my games. The nicest model costs €40 so would be an expensive purchase. So I am currently thinking about it. As mentioned in my first blog entry on the Wallachians I had paid £58 for the original EBay purchase which included the Warhammer Ancients Battles book on Vlad the Impaler. I finally sold the book this month for £25 which in effect has reduced my original outlay to £33 so I am quite pleased.

Last Four Sargonid Baggage Elements

Because Every Army Needs Some Baggage

I have already blogged about the previous four baggage elements. After some careful thought and a helpful suggestion on Facebook I managed to come up with the last four baggage elements I need for my Sargonid army. Theres two generic catering type elements using bits from the spares box along with special purchases. A loaded baggage train of military supplies bought off EBay unpainted for next to nothing and finally the Shrine of Ashur. Its a portable shrine consisting of two bronze coloured oxen supporting a bronze statue of Ashur on a plinth on their backs. With this blog entry I now have only another 80 infantry left to paint and the army is complete.

Last of the Sargonid Mounted Arm Completed.

Final instalment for the Sargonid Mounted Contingent

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry on the Sargonid army I still had a few elements left to finish to ensure that I had all of the potential options.

First up are the Arab Levies - camel mounted troops. There's only two elements of these but they come in two options, Irr Cm O or Irr LH I. The annoying thing is they are cut from the DBMM version of the army list. All of the elements are Magister Militum Arab Camels castings code ASS21 from their Assyrian Sargonid range.

I painted the camels without the crews on them, painted the riders separately and then glued them together. I found this much quicker than trying to paint into areas I could see but not fit a brush into.

Next up is the Gimmiryra, Cimmerian Regiment of two Irr LH F elements. I had purchased a dirt cheap batch of six Irr LH F Scythian elements off EBay earlier this year, only twelve castings which would need retouching and rebasing. I then realised I had another twelve unpainted castings to match. Before anyone comments these are in fact very old Minifigs ZC107 Sakae Cavalry Horse Archer castings on their first generation horses. I would not normally use them but I hate waste and to be honest they don't look too bad once retouched on their new bases. I also had four elements of Scythian cavalry which I had been given along with the big batch of Assyrian infantry so my mind went into research mode and I worked out I had enough castings to make a ten element Scythian allied command. So after cleaning up the old castings, making sure they were retouched and placed on new bases I match painted were possible to create some more useful elements. The Sargonid list elements were given blue coloured horse head crests to ensure I didn't mix them up on the table during a game. The allied contingent all have purple horse head tufts.

As part of my figure review I saw that I had six painted Scythian cavalrymen as part of the original donation from my friend. I had left them to one side as I didn't need them but upon reflection if I ever used these as an allied contingent there are some options where the General and their Noble escorts require me to take them as either Irr Cv O, Irr Cv S or Irr Kn F. Whilst the painted figures were very old and needed retouching once this was done and they were put on new bases to match the rest of the Scythians they look just fine. So this is an additional change to my original post for the 29th December 2017. I have no idea of the maker and I had to repair two of the figures with new lances.

Generals element on the right

Lastly I was missing two more Assyrian cavalry elements from the sixteen that the list is allowed and since I had sufficient spare castings left over I just needed to paint these up to complete the mounted arm for the Sargonid army. I am unsure of the make of the castings.

Just three batches of infantry left to do now totalling 80 figures plus the last three baggage elements.