Serbian Gusars and Three Kingdoms Chinese Light Horse

Serbian Gusars

The Serbian Empire created an entirely new class of light cavalry, they termed them Gusars which has become to be known as Hussars. These castings come from Alternative Armies and come from the Medus range. They are casting code https://www.alternative-armies.com/collections/15mm-medieval-medus-range/products/huc1-serbian-hussar and come in two parts, the horses are all the same pose but the riders come in two slightly different poses which allows for a small amount of variety. I obtained 24 of them in a random EBay bulk purchase and was not sure of the range or description until this week. The figures are now quite old sculpt wise and are quite slightly built compared to some of the more chunkier ranges out there. 

They do paint up quite well given their age.

Last up are four elements of very old Mikes Models Chinese Light Horse. They were originally armed with Halberds but most of them were broken so I repaired them so they are now armed with plain spears. Putting them on new bases has made them quite serviceable given their age.

All the bases are finished off in my now standard basing style.

This now brings the 15mm painting tally from 1st January to 30th August 2021 to:

523 foot, 13 artillery & 4 war drums [150 elements]

212 cavalry [73 elements]

12 Bamboo & Paper Lions [8 elements]

3 elephants [3 elements]

Plus I have rebased

32 elements of Pikes

28 elements of Archers

10 elements of Psiloi

8 elements of Horde

3 elements of misc foot

54 mounted elements

Serbian Empire Artillery

Serbian Empire Artillery

The Serbians only get the option for three artillery bases, one is a bombard rated as Superior & the other two are Organ Guns rated as Inferior. Artillery is a double edged weapon in DBx, it takes lots of pips to move, only fires in your own turn if it hasnt moved & lots of troops are immune to it other than fleeing away.

The bombard is from Corvus Belli, the organ guns are from Museum Miniatures & the crew are a mix of makes selected to give a reasonable good match size wise to the CB gunners.

The bases are finished in my usual style. I am very pleased how they turned out and I have a few more artillery pieces in my spares box in case I need them for another army. I have more artillery than I normally use but it means I can deploy two armies and not worry about not having enough guns. I painted the crews in a uniform style to reflect the Serbian Empire buying & equipping the batteries.

I have 24 Serbian Gusars still to paint &d some other mounted elements to complete this army but I can use troops from my Hungarian collection in the mean time.

This now brings the painting tally from 1st January to 15th August 2021 to:

523 foot, 13 artillery & 4 war drums [150 elements]

188 cavalry [61 elements]

12 Bamboo & Paper Lions [8 elements]

3 elephants [3 elements]

Plus I have rebased

32 elements of Pikes

28 elements of Archers

10 elements of Psiloi

8 elements of Horde

3 elements of misc foot

50 mounted elements

Serbian Empire Voynuk Heavy Infantry With Halberd

Serbian Empire Voynuk Heavy Infantry With Halberd

The later part of the Serbian Empire has the option to deploy heavy armoured infantry termed as Voynuk. They were armed with a mix of pole arms, axes & halberds. They appear to originate from the south eastern part of the Balkans from what was known as Wallachia. They were used in large numbers by the forces of Vlad the Impaler & the Ottoman Empire. They are all classed as Irr Bd O in DBx rules.

I have already created Voynuks for my Wallachians using shielded Essex Miniature figures so wanted something totally different for my Serbians so I can deploy both armies against each other. I settled on Old Glory 15's Wallachian Voynuk Heavy Infantry With Halberd casting code ROT12.

The Old Glory castings are quite old but had minimal flash and painted up really easily despite first appearances. The figures are based in my usual style of Vallejo Earth Brown Paste, gravel, tufts and Burnt Umber paint edging & finished off with Matt Sealer spray. I completed the 32 castings in two days which I am very pleased about.

I have 32 castings left over because they only sold them in packs of 50 and I had 14 others already.

Old Glory 15's ROT12 Wallachian Voynuks with halberd

This now brings the painting tally from 1st January to 12th August 2021 to:

523 foot, 10 artillery & 4 war drums [150 elements]

188 cavalry [61 elements]

12 Bamboo & Paper Lions [8 elements]

3 elephants [3 elements]

Plus I have rebased

32 elements of Pikes

28 elements of Archers

10 elements of Psiloi

8 elements of Horde

3 elements of misc foot

50 mounted elements

Serbian Empire Krayishnici Light Infantry

Serbian Empire Krayishnici Auxilia

The later Serbian Empire gained access to a large number of different client state nationalities as it expanded. The DBx list gives them the option to have 12 elements of Irr Ax O described as Serbian, Bosnian, Moravian or Croat Krayishnici after 1300 AD.

Having done some research I decided that the Essex Miniatures XMED7 Generic Eastern European Almughavar, shieldless javelinmen would fit the bill. The pack comes with three poses and I was lucky enough to order enough packs to ensure I had 12 of each post for this project. I still have leftover castings to paint but I might just sell them on.

Essex XMED7 Generic Eastern European Almughavar

This now brings the painting tally from 1st January to 10th August 2021 to:

491 foot, 10 artillery & 4 war drums [142 elements]

188 cavalry [61 elements]

12 Bamboo & Paper Lions [8 elements]

3 elephants [3 elements]

Plus I have rebased

32 elements of Pikes

28 elements of Archers

10 elements of Psiloi

8 elements of Horde

3 elements of misc foot

50 mounted elements

Serbian Greek Skirmisher Infantry

Serbian Empire Skirmishers

The Serbian Empire gets the option to take lots of archers from many different national origins including Bosnians, Moravians, Serbians and Greeks. I wanted to add a little bit of variety to the army so decided to create the minimum number of Irr Ps O Archers the list requires using the Essex XMED8 Generic Eastern European Greek Archers. The castings come in two poses and are in the usual Essex style and had minimal flash. I could not find a painting reference so used the Essex website image as a guide. 

The bases are in my usual style on magnetic based MDF with Vallejo Earth Brown Sandy Paste, loose gravel and tufts and edged in Burnt Umber. I took me longer than anticipated to complete these 24 figures because I am painting another 36 castings to model the 12 bases of Krayishnici auxilia at the same time.

Essex XMED Generic Eastern European Greek Archers

This now brings the painting tally from 1st January to 5th August 2021 to:

455 foot, 10 artillery & 4 war drums [130 elements]

188 cavalry [61 elements]

12 Bamboo & Paper Lions [8 elements]

3 elephants [3 elements]

Plus I have rebased

32 elements of Pikes

28 elements of Archers

10 elements of Psiloi

8 elements of Horde

3 elements of misc foot

50 mounted elements