IV/35 Mongol Conquest DBA Army

Just for the sake of completeness, here is the Mongol army I painted a few years ago as part of a set with the Nevsky Russians and Teutonics. The armies are so different, but were historical opponents, so they make for an interesting campaign.

Figures are from Italeri and Zvezda. Haven't Zvezda come a long way since they produced these lumpen little men!




It has otherwise been an unproductive hobby week at Dux Homunculorum Towers, with mountains of marking, reports and the Duchess organising an uncharacteristically busy social schedule. However, the Vikings are progressing, and I received a box of Gripping Beast Saxon Thegns. Very, very nice.

Thank you to everyone who visits this humble blog. I'm chuffed to see that my followers have now hit 50! Your interest and feedback adds a lot to my enjoyment of this great hobby.

IV/30 Teutonic Order DBA Army

Here's another old DBA army. The wonderful Teutonics over on Paul's Bods blog have made me think I should redo these at some stage. These chaps are from a big project about four years ago where I was painting sets of historical opponents for DBA, so these were opponents for Mongols, Russians and C13th Germans.

German Crusader Knights. They couldn't afford the big pilgrimage package to the Holy Land, so have decided to spend their summer holidays in the Baltic instead.

The camp was done in a rush with modelling clay for the tent and monks from Strelets 'Medieval Britain' set. The tent does sort of look like something Smurfs would live in. If someone knows a good way to make bell tents, I'd love to know it.

III/78 Early Russian DBA Army

Click on images to identify dodgy painting.

Well. School has started back and life is busy, so not much progress in the Dux's workshops. So I thought I'd take the opportunity of just photographing some old DBA armies. First up are the 13th century Russians I finished about four years back, consisting mainly of Strelets figures with a few Zvezda and Caesar as well. I love the look of this army (not that I've done it justice), combining the appearance of Vikings and Steppe peoples. Unfortunately, I've had no success with it at all, either in DBA or Basic Impetus. The cavalry aren't tough enough to tackle western knights, and they can't skirmish properly against Mongols. What I really need is a big lake of ice to fight on that all my enemies can fall through when it cracks. Now there's a thought.

Hmm. I'm not sure why his horse is blue either. Might have used Payne's Grey, thinking it was - yes - grey.

13th Century German Knights

Well, I haven't finished any projects in a while, but here are some figures I painted for a double-sized Medieval German DBA army about 5 years ago. Figures are a mix of Italeri, Zvezda, Caesar and Strelets. If I was doing this again now I would be using a lot of wonderful Valdemar figures. I hope you enjoy them.

III/65 Fatimid Egyptian DBA Army

OK, so I'm feeling a bit pleased with myself. I've finished my DBA Fatimid Army, that has been on the go since July. They aren't the best painted figures ever, but they are the first project I've finished since the twins were born in August, so hence the feeling of satisfaction.

The army contains 4 Elements of Cavalry, one of which is the General's element. That's him on the left with a mace. These figures are all from one box of Strelets Arab Cavalry.

The mobile part of the army is completed with an element of Light Horse. These figures are from Italeri, and one of them is a conversion, being made with the torso of a kneeling foot archer.

The main foot component is made up of 3 Elements of 8Bw. These are annoying elements to paint, being double-based elements of spearmen and archers, but behaving no differently in DBA than any other Bows. All the infantry are from HaT. Mainly their Almoravid infantry set, but with some Andalusians as well.

The army is completed with 2 Elements of 3 Bw, an element of Auxilia and one of Psiloi. All the foot apart from the 3 Bw are painted as Sudanese mercenaries, whereas the cavalry and 3 Bw are North African (and thus have lighter skin).

These Fatimids are the second in a series of 11th Century armies I want to paint (after my Normans). Next up may be Andalusians, but I think I'll be doing some work on my English Civil War armies first.