A quick Celtic update

I've had unfortunately little time to paint anything recently, and subsequently have also been a bit quiet on the blog-front. However, I found some time this Bank Holiday Weekend to finish off some more Celtic reinforcements in the form of some light infantry javelin troops. I think these are Heroics and Ros figures - there's a slight scale difference with the more heroic-scale Baccus figures, and so I don't think I could get away with mixing them on the same base, but they work absolutely fine in their own units.

And with these bases finished, this brings me to the end of a full division! Hopefully I'll find time to take some shots of the full complement of bases this week.

Until next time!

Celtic chariots

I managed to find some time recently, to clear another unit for my rapidly growing Celts off of the painting table. This time, it's the dreaded light chariots! Once again, these are the beautiful Baccus sculpts, perhaps the finest Celtic models out there. 

Regular readers may know that I had initially intended for all of these Celts to be an allied division for a planned Carthaginian project. Unfortunately, in-game, chariots can only be used as part of a dedicated Celtic or British army list. However, this isn't a problem for me (if nothing else, at this rate, the Celts will soon be numerous enough to be an army of their own...) For the myriad armies where Celts appear as allies, I will instead use the chariots as 'counts as' light cavalry.  

As there are only four models to a unit, I thought I'd dedicate a little more time on each individual chariott. I'm really enjoying the bright vibrancy of these Celts, but this time I was also able to play with different horse colours and markings. I think my favourite is the brown and white pinto, as I really didn't think that it would translate well to a 6mm model, but the chestnut horses are also quite nice. Note also that each chariot has its own 'markings' on the frame - probably not accurate by any means, but I'm enjoying any opportunity to splash more bright colours on these models!

That leaves me with almost a full division - just some light units with javelins to go, as a screen for the heavier infantry units, and we're there! At this point I could stop, but something tells me I won't...

Anyway, until next time!

Some Celtic reinforcements

The newest additions to the Celtic division / army are two units of warriors. The Baccus sculpts are absolutely beautiful figures (this goes without saying) and always a joy to paint, and I'm really enjoying the riot of colour that is a Celtic army in comparison to the Sumerians I've been painting. Again, as with the horsemen a few weeks ago, I've stuck to a colour trio of red, blue and green to try and tie the troops together a little bit:

I love that archetypal image of a mass of Celtic warriors charging towards the Roman lines. In order to recreate that, the units are a mixture of ranked warriors on the rear half of each base (in three rows to give a real sense of depth and numbers), and then a scattered number of the individual charging figures in front of these, to represent the front files breaking free and beginning to charge head-long towards the enemy. I think it works quite well!

This image is just to give a close-up of the shields. I think the slightly schematic dot-and-line approach I've gone for gives a quite good approximation of Celtic shield designs, whilst actually being paintable at 6mm scale!

As always, I hope you enjoy - until next time!

The first finished division

 I thought I'd end the month with another quick update - a shot of the first completed Sumerian city-state division. Five units - two pikemen blocks, two small archer units and one of chariots - with an accompanying commander. Next will be to finish the tribal reinforcements, and then add a whole host of elamites, and then some more pikemen, and then-...

Until next time!

Sumerian reinforcements

 Another quick update today - the start of a second, tribal division for the Sumerian army. The first block is a small unit of Amorites, and a commander. I managed to rattle all of these out pretty quickly in one painting session - one of the many joys of 6mm miniatures!

I went for a bit of colour on these figures, more for visual interest than historical accuracy, as otherwise a early Sumerian army has a risk of being a bit 'fifty shades of beige'. I added strips of red and blue along the edges of garments. The commander stand echoes this, with striped cloth, representing their comparative wealth. I'm really proud of these figures; they pushed the limits of my abilities with 6mm, but they couldn't have come out better.

There actually aren't any companies providing 6mm Amorites, so I had to improvise somewhat. The figures are actually Irregular immortals from their Achaemenid range. Unfortunately they come with a quiver on their back, but other than that I think they're pretty good stand-ins. Plus, if I ever decide to start a Persian army, I'm already one unit down...

The rest of this division should be quite quick to finish up, with some stands of Gutian tribal warriors and some skirmishers; hopefully I'll be able to showcase these soon. Until next time"

The pitter patter of tiny hooves

 Just a brief update today, and the start of a second 6mm project. I've amasssed a lot of Baccus and Heroics and Ros Celts, which I intended to use a part of a larger Punic Wars project I've been toying with. The joy of Celtic units is their versatility; they might be allied divisions for either a Carthaginian or Republican Roman army, or alternatively (as is inevitably the case) the core of an army in their own right...

To test the scheme, I decided to quickly paint up a Command stand and unit of cavalry. I'm really happy with how these turned out; I think the shield designs I tried scale quite nicely to 6mm size, and are still 'legible' without making the shields too cluttered. 

And here are some close ups of the commander. I'm really enjoying these figures; a core colour scheme of red, blue and green alternated across figures hits a nice balance between individuality, and the riot of colour that would have been such an army, but also some sense of cohesiveness. 

As always, let me know what you think. Until next time!

Let slip the oxen of war!

 

A unit of Sumerian chariots, ready to trample the enemy...

Today’s post is chariot-centric. Perhaps the most distinctive part of a Sumerian army, these ox-drawn ‘war wagons’ represented the pinnacle of 4^th Millennium military equipment, and one of the first attempts at shock-and-awe tactics in warfare. No self-respecting commander could possibly be seen without one. The best representation of Sumerian chariots comes from the Royal Standard of Ur:

Chariots on the Royal Standard of Ur. Like in Egyptian art, the artist has attempted to represent the complete object and so the chariot is shown in a mixture of profile and front-on view; what seems like a double-curved side panel would actually have been the front of the chariot. The rein rings are likewise shown sideways to demonstrate their shape.

(c) British Museum

Other chariot depictions show a two-wheeled version. It is sometimes said that these were used for reconnaissance, but there is no primary evidence to support that:

There is some disagreement that chariots were actually used in battle, rather being used to convey commanders and nobles onto the battlefield, where they would fight on foot. However, the Standard of Ur refutes this somewhat, as do contemporary accounts – one text tells of Ur-Luma of Umma having to abandon 60 chariots during his retreat following a loss to the army of Lagash, and so they were clearly used in quite some numbers.

So, what better way to round off my first Sumerian division than a big block of chariots?

As with many aspects of Sumerian military equipment, the exact materials used to make chariots are unclear, as none have survived - itself an indicator of the materials used. Interpretations vary between a wooden frame and leather panels to a more lightweight reed and wicker construction, these being far more plentiful than trees in the marshes of Southern Mesopotamia. I’ve plumped for a contrasting dark and light brown scheme, more for the visuals than anything else, but I guess it could be interpreted as either set of materials (thus staving off potential controversy!). 

Accompanying this final unit to round off the division is a commander, perhaps Ur-Luma, Entemena or one of the other Sumerian kings. Although the same figure as for the chariot troops, I went for a slightly more elaborate scheme here, with red and blue barding rather than the red-and-white of the main unit, a simple way to show off the additional wealth that having textiles dyed in two colours would require.

The irregular chariots are an absolute joy to paint, and are packed full of detail. There will definitely be more of these to come...

Until next time!