I/38 Libyan Egyptian

Another of Stephen Cumming's armies; I/30 Lybian Egyptian. Here is what he has to say about them:

There are 3 Light Chariot elements (including the General), and 1 of cavalry. The colour scheme for the Pharaoh's chariot is based on a fresco in the British Museum - colourful, but anachronistic. These are Essex Miniatures figures, except the chariot horses have been replaced by Magister Militum horses as they fit the base so much better.

The remainder of the army. The Bd represents the Royal Guard, so should more properly be the Shardana Royal Guard figures that I have yet to paint, rather than the New Kingdom close fighters here. Once I paint more Libyans for my DBMM100 army, I might use some of them rather than the Nubian psiloi, but both are in the DBMM army list, so they are OK. The 4Bd are Museum Miniatures, the remainder being Essex Miniatures.

The Wb elements represent Libyan warriors of the Meshwesh and Libu tribes. They are depicted in Egyptian art as having quite light skins, and tattoos. These are Magister Militum figures.

III/64 Nikephorian Byzantine

One more from Marco, Nikephorian Byzantine made up from Khurasan and Donnington miniatures. There are more pictures of this army on the DBA Italia site: http://www.dba-italia.org/modellismo/boetti/3-64-nikeforian.php

Here is the complete army

A closer look at the Kataphractoi (6Kn) element, a deep wedge of lance and mace armed knights, closely supported by bow armed cavalry.

The army's mounted troops, including 6Kn, 3Cv and 2Lh.

Two views of the Skoutatoi and archers (8Bw). Deep formations of bowmen, supported by spear. In this case, Marco has depicted them defending the walls of Byzantium, however, with an aggression of 4, I can't see many occasions when these chaps will be defending!

Finally, the front and back of the army's one blade element (4Bd). These are Menavlatoi, whose members were described as "brave and indomitable in strength. The menavlion was a weapon 6' in length with an 18" head, and a shaft "as thick as a man could grasp".

II/79b Chinese Northern and Southern Dynasties

The latest addition is another army from Marco Boetti, a Chinese Southern Dynasties army. The figures are from Outpost, and are painted with Marco's trademark panache.

The army in all its glory

The mounted units, a 3Kn general, 3Cv, 2LH and Elephant respendent in his colourful glory.


Four elements of 4Sp

The missile troops, with an element of 3Bw, three elements of 4Cb and one of 4Bw

...and finally one element of Artillery and two more of foot. The 4Bd representing the army's regular swordsmen, with the other element (complete with a clump of bamboo!) which would work for raw swordsmen or "dare to die" volunteers, in which case they would be 3Bd, or a 3Wb representing tribal fighters.

III/48 Rus

Next up is a Rus army I painted a few years ago and sold on Ebay. I have in the past painted and sold several armies that I wish I had kept - this is one of them! All figures are by Two Dragon Miniatures.

The army arrayed - not all options, but v.2.2 legal.

Here we have the General's 4Bd element and two further 3Bd elements. A mixture of Two Dragon's excellent Viking and Rus figures with the addition of a Sxon or two.


Seven elements of 4Sp, a mix of Rus, Viking, and Saxon presenting a nice chaotic shield wall!

Finally two elements of skirmishing bowmen (2Ps) with a couple of baggage elements which I scratch built from spare weapons and miliput to depict piles of loot.

III/23 Khmer and Cham

I thought I would post one of the armies I have painted (Fanaticus name Minimus Maximus). This is a Khmer and Cham army I painted a couple of years ago for a competition that I ended up not playing in.

The army arrayed for battle

Here is a close-up of the camp, which is a resin figurine I picked up at a New Age type stall at the local market. I sprayed it matt black, then dry brushed progressively lighter shades of grey in the hope of making it look like a carved granite statue. The groundwork is static grass and dyed horse hair, with some clumps of model railway scenery bushes.

The panzer division! Here we have the General's elephant, a supporting elephant, and an elephant mounted bolt shooter, which in the lists is an artillery element. All figures are by Outpost, apart from the maiden guard escorts on the general's element which I believe are Irregular miniatures. A bit of conversion has gone on with the addition of a wire spear on the non-general elephant's rider, and the replacement of a parasol for the spear on the general's Maiden Guard.

The main bulk of the foot - all Outpost. Here we have 4 elements of spearmen (4Ax) and 2 elements of bow - should be 4Bw, but due to breakages I only had enough figures to base them as 3Bw!!

The rest of the foot (2x2Ps and 1x3Bd), and the lone cavalry element (3Cv). All figures except the blades are Outpost. The blades are armed with the fabled Phak'ak, a strangely shaped axe type weapon. These are from Irregular. You will notice that the Javelinmen are significantly bigger than the blades. They are actually significantly bigger than all the foot, despite being from the same manufacturer and range as most of them. This was a bit annoying, scale-creep betwen manufacturers or ranges is something I have come to expect - but within the same range? Slightly disappointing.

I/29b Philistine

Another contribution from Stephen Cumming, this time the Philistines:

The spears: I have chosen to represent them wearing leather armour, but it may have been bronze. Most of these are Essex miniatures – I can’t remember where I got the few taller figures from

The light troops: 2 elements of auxilia and 2 of psiloi round off the army. I’m a bit dubious about the Syro Canaanite figures I used for the psiloi, but they’ll do for now! Most figures are from Essex miniatures, the Syro Canaanites being from Magister Militum

The general and chariotry: The Light Chariot General is supported by a single element of chariotry. These figures are from Essex miniatures, apart from the strange archer who is from Hall of Ancient Warriors. The General will be swapped into a more brightly painted chariot once I paint the additional figures to make a DBMM100 army

I/6c Early Bedouin

Here we have an Early Bedouin army submitted by Stephen Cumming (Fanaticus name Lydia). His description of the army accompanies the photos:

This is the first wargames army I painted, four years ago. I wouldn’t mind repainting the command element, to make it a little brighter. Also some camels should be painted a much lighter colour. Once I have enough figures painted for a DBMM100 army that should also mean I can field the a and b variants of the army, although without the light chariot option for the General.

The Ax and Ps: The Bedouin foot are all from Essex Miniatures

There are 3 elements of camelry including the General, and one of Light Camelry. The camelry is a mixture of Essex and Magister Militum