Monday 25 May 2009

Spanish Acquisition

Yesterday, I went to the Partizan war-games show at Kelham Hall in Newark and picked up these little beauties:



Some more Spanish cavalry! The horses are beautifully painted but riders are lacking some detail so I may give them a little touch up here and there. I'm starting to think my first few battles will include my Romans and the Spanish, but it could be a good start to the campaign I've been working on.

I've also started painting my Spanish Skirmishers (Scutari) and i've even done some research into historically accurate shields (although the one below needs a little more detail in the white areas of the shields). They also need spraying with matt varnish to make them look more like the cavalry i've purchased.


3 comments:

BigRedBat said...

Spanish shields are looking good!

You've got scuta there, which are the oval shields. I tend to think of skirmishers having caetra, or small round shields.

My scutarii tend to fight in loose formations, whilst my caetrati skirmish (or at least they will when I get around to painting them!).

Having said that, the scuta isn't a really heavy shield and I don't think it would stop someone who wanted to skirmish, from skirmishing. But I think you could use them in formed units too. The figures you have, are armed with heavy throwing weapons like pila, which would suit close combat.

Consul said...

Thanks! I realised that to make them stand out from my Romans which have very similar shields I would need to do some research into accurate shield designs and I came across a huge variety!

As money is a bit of an obstacle for me, I've tried to buy some troops that can be flexible rather than having lots of different types so like you say, I could use them in a looser formation or form them up.

Thank you for the comment by the way. It's really helpful to talk to other gamers and to share this sort of knowledge!

Monty said...

Nice work, mate and one of my favourite periods too - check out my blog if you get a minute.
Best wishes,

Monty

http://montysarmypainter.blogspot.com/