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

15mm Serbian Empire & Later Hungarians

Finally Completing Some Serbians & Hungarians

After purchasing two Hungarian armies back in 2018 & 2019 I decided that that they were better utilised as Serbian Empire so ended up splitting them up disposing of a few bits & adding the rest into my collection. I of course decided that since I had some missing elements preventing me using them as Serbians that I would have to buy more metal to paint which ended up sitting in the Lead Mountain until this week.

The Serbian Empire had a fearsome reputation when fighting against the Turkish Empire & it has always been a fairly popular choice in themed tournaments.

First up to complete some of the missing elements are their Serbian Spearmen classed as Irr Sp O. I found it very difficult to find suitable decoration for their shields so ended up creating paper Serbian Empire heraldic shields to affix to their shields. I rationalised this by saying that the state issued them with their spears and shields after calling them out to serve.

"Serbia Surrenders Only To God!"

The castings are Essex EMED71 Serbian Empire Spearmen.

Essex EMED71 Serbian Empire Spearmen

The list also allows the Serbians to have a large number of low quality levies. I purchased a large mix of codes from Essex, XMED3 Generic Eastern European Peasants, EMED18 Polish 1350-1480 Foot Axemen, REN117 Renaissance Spearmen in Fur Cap [Haduks] & RUS20 Streltsi or Solider Two Handed Axemen then mixed & matched them up to get the desired figure variety to clearly distinguish between the two types of Hordes. 

The Zamanitchka Voyska Levies are classed as Irr Hd F & I decided that I wanted them to be armed with mostly bladed weapons.

The Serbian Vlach Baggage Guards are classed as Irr Hd O & I used a mix of spearmen, swordsmen & clubmen to create that low quality peasant levy look. 

Last up for this blog post are eight elements of Hungarian Levy Spearmen classed as Irr Sp I & used in the Later Hungarian list before the Black Army turned into a more regular trained army. The castings are marketed as EMED58 Byzantine 1300-1480 Albanian Javelinmen but the shield style & clothing are also suitable for other Eastern European heavy infantry.

Essex EMED58

This now brings the painting tally for 1st January to 15th July 2021 to:

431 foot, 10 artillery & 4 war drums [118 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

Museum Z Range Indian Crossbolts

Museum Miniatures Z Range Indians

I had mistakenly thought I had finally finished my Indian army when I realised that I still had two wheeled giant crossbows and crew left to paint up. They are marketed as Indian Rathamasaula which is technically incorrect as these are supposed to be the horse driven scythed chariots. The Museum code is SKU:15/WG41. The models are well sculpted and the crew very well animated.  https://www.museumminiatures.co.uk/indian-rathamasaula.html

They needed minimal cleaning up as the masters are created using 3D design which is quite a newish technique used in the miniatures wargames ranges business. They will make a good addition to any Indian/Muslim army equipped with giant crossbows.

Essex Warriors Update

Essex Warriors Update

Essex Warriors Reopening

http://www.essexwarriors.org/?p=1102

To say I am angry would be an understatement I am incandescent.

After being attacked by the Essex Warriors Committee over my questions to them they are now doing exactly what I said they were able to do last year.

They have split the club meeting into two Groups of 6 in separate halls. This is despite their deciding last year that the back hall could only hold 4 people and the front hall 14 people.

This means more than 6 people can attend as long as there was no mixing or mingling between groups.

Which meant that they could have allowed multi-player games to take place at any time subject to the Rule of 6 and of course social distancing between different groups.

The meeting restrictions from July 2021 are no different from those that existed back in September 2020 (Tier levels excepted)

Currently the advice is to follow your common sense when meeting up with friends you don't normally live with meaning Social Distancing is still advice but is again optional.

Face coverings remain mandatory unless legally exempt within the hall.

So they have confirmed that they were liars back in January when they claimed I was advocating actions that put them at risk of great expense.

My original blog from 1st February 2021 is here for anyone who wants to read the whole sorry story.

https://drewjarman.blogspot.com/2021/02/essex-warriors-wargames-club-kangaroo.html

Last of the Missing Delhi Sultanate Options

Delhi Sultanate Option Completed

Back in 2016 I completed my Later Muslim Indian Army - The Delhi Sultanate Army. It has the option of fielding 20 elements of Indian Cavalry Irr Cv I which are in game terms are dirt cheap poor quality cavalry. I originally purchased a load of Tin Soldier 15mm Indian Cavalry Code HB27 from their Hellenistic Range in July 2014. I completed ten elements worth back in 2016 and I have now finally finished off the remaining 34 castings. Ten elements of Irr Cv I and two elements of Irr LH O. With this I have almost emptied another box of figures from Project Lead Mountain. I have two of the Z Range Museum Miniatures Bolt shooters and crew still to paint up. The castings are quite old sculpts and of the chunkier variety but once painted they really look impressive en masse.

Tin Soldier 15mm Code HB27 Indian cavalry

This now brings the painting tally for 1st January to 12th June 2021 to:

273 foot, 8 artillery & 4 war drums [82 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