Xyston 15mm Late Spartan Greek army WIP06 - Spartan cavalry

The final batch of cavalry for the army, and my mounted commanders/generals.

As before, here are some close ups, but they're not really painted for such close scrutiny...

You may have noticed that the commanders are on sabots. These were made for me by the helpful chaps at Warbases.

Xyston 15mm Late Spartan Greek army WIP05 - Mercenary cavalry

Some more progress on this army, as they've been 'nearly finished' for a few months now.

The base is done with GOLDEN texture gel and crackle paste, plus small slate chips from a council rockery and tufts. Lots of tufts. I need more.

I'm a little loathe to put up these next shots as they show some fairly flaky speed painting techniques which are for effect when seen at distance. I could have done eyes on them too, but how long can you take when an army (and all the other stuff) needs doing? Here they are anyway.

Xyston 15mm later Spartan Greek army WIP04 - Finished Cretan Archers

The first finished unit of my army, Cretan Archers

More soon

Xyston 15mm later Spartan Greek army WIP03 - Basing

For basing, I have pre-cut MDF sized for Impetus from Warbases.co.uk. I use GOLDEN texture gels for easy, ready-mixed goodness. For this project, I'll be using their 'clear granules' which has worked well on my 15mm Laserburn miniatures.

This shot shows the just-applied gel. Very white at the moment.

These are custom made sabots that I'll be using for my command group. The size is standard for a cavalry unit, but has six slots for oval sabots. As I'm only filling three of the slots at the moment, I've made three blank sabots too.

Also from Warbases, a nice 15mm bridge. I've applied some gel to cover the joins from the construction process.

Here you can see how the gel dries - mainly clear, but some of the denser areas remain white. No worries though, it will all get covered up with the paint and suchlike.

Finally for this instalment, I've given them an all-over wash of Vallejo Smokey Ink (also called 'Smoke' in other incarnations. This is a lovely pigment-rich chocolate brown. I've also added some slate chips for rocky outcrops, salvaged from a planter in town >:)

In the next update, I'll show the drybrush layers and their cumulative effects. Those riders might get on their horses too...

Xyston 15mm later Spartan Greek army WIP02

Some more on this project.

Today I drilled all the hands on the cavalry, and made a start on their weapons. I also started on the basing.

Cretan Mercenary Archers, two units

Horses from one of the cavalry units

The spears are Xyston's 50mm leaf-tipped ones. Looking at the length of the Dory, they would seem to be way too long, as they're supposed to be 7-9'. For 15mm (though more like 18mm with scale creep), that makes them pikes. I'm going to cut them all in half, which on reflection I should have done before I painted a load of them.

Painting spears.

For painting, I found some expanded polystyrene, and stuck the points in for painting, which made the job a lot easier.

Xyston 15mm later Spartan Greek army WIP01

Oh dear. I appear to have started yet another project.

I've just been on holiday, and there's nothing more relaxing than painting by the pool. 

These are Xyston 15mm Peloppenesian war era miniatures. I was given the box set as a gift waaay back, and they all fit, along with paints, glue, knife and brushes into a modest 25cm x 25cm x 15cm box. At Sheffield triples I supplemented them with some support units, so they went in too. The other 28mm Greeks are the aforementioned (in 28mm WIP02) Jason and the Argonauts miniatures from Foundry.

Production line.

 The four standing hoplites and the over-the-shoulder lad were done on my 6mm Greek project when I was last on holiday in 2011. The advancing miniature is from chariot, I think.

The four riders at the front are heavy cavalry in boiotian helmets and cuirass. I've painted them as mercenaries as I don't think the Spartans relied too much on cavalry at the time I've aimed for (418BC).

Just started on the 28mm figures I brought along for 'thematic light relief', much the same reason as I took the 15mm stuff I worked on when doing the 6mm project for. Painting multiples can be very tedious at times and I find a scale break can revitalise things.

I am back from my Internet-free holiday now, and I can report that although I completed a fair bit, I still have much to do. These may well progress alongside counterpart 28mm units in the other project. 

I have completed, bar varnishing;

8 Cretan archers

3 Spartan light cavalry

4 Spartan cavalry

4 Spartan mounted commanders

4 Mercenary heavy cavalry

A lot of cavalry there for an infantry-heavy army, but I wanted to cover options.

Undercoated, we have;

40 hoplites

4 psilioi

2 slingers

And in various stages of production;

4 hoplites

4 commanders and musicians

8 mercenary hoplites.

Still a lot to do, but it's going well.