Spanish long shield cavalry

Unit of the Spanish long shield cavalry finished - Greek cavalry officer and conversions from Gallic GAC1 'Cavalryman withspear, shield and cloak, unarmoured'. I've gone with the same  'Lowland' red cloak with these, still need another unit or so and will probably give them black Highland cloaks.

Command group... I did think of rounding the edges of the shields to make them oval, decided against considering a google search suggested most people use them with round shieds! Might use this figure with a rounded off shield for Spanish infantry. The apparent yellow paint on the tunic of the standard bearer isn't visible on the figure! It's actually at the back of the shield and the shield outline is nowhere near as obvious as it is here. Which is why I didn't notice where the shield edge was!

Proof of concept - Kushite and Spanish cavalry

Looking at the Roman and Gallic cavalry, naturally my first thought is 'what else can I use them for'.

Firstly, the Gallic cavalry figure wears trouser and is bare above the waist. Spanish long shield cavalry aren't like that at all.

Using paint to show tunic and boots instead of trousers seems to work OK.

The only physical change I made to the figure was to grind down the helmet crest to give a plain helmet.

The head on this figure looks very Egyptian so I'm looking at using him for Egyptian/Kushite/ Blemye cavalry.

The only modification I made to it was to grind down the raised shield pattern.

For the armour I did alternate copper and iron scales. The colour scheme is quite... well, colourful.

Conclusion - both 'conversions' worked quite well and will be very useful in the future.

Spain v the Celts - double DBA-ish

That very uneven and hilly terrain setup just seemed to shout 'Spain'... so gives me a chance to use the Spanish component of my Minifigs PB Carthaginian army - though 3Ax are being fielded a 4Ax. As an opponent, thought a Celtic invasion would work - gives me a chance to use the Garrison Celtic infantry though they have yet to be rebased. Which is fine - treat them as if they are single based and they look better with the added depth anyway. The rules themselves, again doing things solo allows me to use and alter them as I like.

At the start of the battle the Spanish plan is to try and hold the high ground and river banks.

However the Celts easily crossed the river on their left flank... I'm doing my usual thing of using trees as move markers.

On the right, the Spanish lights reach the line of the other river before the Celts reach. In the centre, the Spanish are perched on two hills - with the disadvantage that there is a gap between the hills.

The fight on the Spanish left has started and the Spanish cavalry are facing the ends of the Celtic right centre. I used 15mm trees for this battle as they fit in with the terrain better size-wise.

The forward Spanish hill is about to get attacked to the front.

Those Spaniards holding level ground between the hill and the river don't fare well.

A view of the Spanish right flank show it under pressure - the Celts on the other bank are approaching the river as well.

Meanwhile on the Spanish extreme left the Celts are making headway.

The Spanish left and left-centre. The cavalry are doing well, the light infantry less so.

Right centre is a similar story - Spaniards on the hill killing off an assault while the Spaniards on the plain die bravely.

Spanish right flank the Celts are quickly approaching the river line as the Spanish try to cover any possible crossing.

Meanwhile the second Spanish line awaits the onslaught.

Spanish extreme left looking increasingly fragile.

A view of the battle at the end of Move 4 taken from the Spanish left flank.

And a similar view from the Spanish right.

Carthage - the Spanish

Apart from basing and a new coat of gloss varnish very few of the Spaniards needed any extra work - really, it was just a case of giving the round shield cavalry new spears.

I'm a great believer in the thought that, for wargames figures, the most important visual aspect are decent shields. The Spanish figures have excellent shields.

The scutari have been put into 24 figure units though I  actually have 30 of each - the 'spares' may find a use later.

This unit is a later PB version than the other two. I think the officer is a Byzantine.

The cavalry have been posted in the earlier 'Sorting Carthage' blog but are here to make it complete. Also, I like the figures.

Nothing to say about the caetrati - they're well painted light infantry.

Never sure whether I should include Balearic slingers with the Spanish, but there isn't anywhere else to sensibly put them so...

I'll admit I really like this contingent.

Sorting Carthage

So, with only a couple of units to go before I complete the Assyrians I'm suddenly distracted by the Carthaginians. May not make sense but sums me up perfectly!

The Carthaginians are an army I've never owned before, so acquiring Harry's was a completely novel idea.The intention is to limit my own input on these as much as possible - they're nicely painted to start with. There are also a few other figures I've picked up to incorporate into the army, so still quite a bit of work to do.

Usually I've tended to wait until I've finished units/armies before posting but recently new posts have started to become a rarity so I thought I'd put in an 'interim' report.

I've started with the cavalry. The Celtic component have their army including cavalry so I'll leave them for now. Other components are loosely Carthaginian, Spanish and Numidian.

Thought I'd include separate pictures of the generals before they got lost inside their elements. The Numidian prince is one of  Harry's conversions

The unit of Carthaginian noble cavalry - some spears have lost a bit of paint but I'm leaving well alone.

The Liby-Phoenicean component were a separate internet purchase. Although I originally intended to do very little with them, eventually I repainted everything apart from the horses and helmet crests.

I can't remember where I got the figure that will officer this unit! could be ex-Harry, could be 'other internet purchase' He's actually Greek 'S' Range, and I like the figure as is so I'm leaving him - who says officers have to have the same shield or crest pattern as the rest?

The Spanish medium cavalry have simply been rebased, no other work needed.

The Spanish and Numidian light cavalry all had thin wire javelins half of which dropped off. I prefer something more substantial anyway so they've all been redone. Might leave a clumsy join, but again going for minimum needed on these.

So that will be the cavalry component once finished. Or should that be if finished?