First six Late Roman Equites Scholae Palatinae

A while ago I came to a decision regarding army painting where I planned Ito speed paint two armies for every one that I took my time over. Some may think me sprightly at 58 but I'm beginning to "feel it" in terms of how much can I paint in my life what can actually be used useful on the wargames table? The trick being able to paint fast enough as to get units ship shape and battle ready on the table at pace, but not to lose too much by way of quality.

Basically my methodology for painting horses as fast as possible has come to this.

1/ A black undercoat over a black primer. Then a medium grey drybrush, then contrast paint, Goregrunta Fur (lol) and for variation, Wyldwood (lol). Both gave a (sort of) oil wiped look to the horses but were perhaps more subtle. I should add, the contrast paint was painted on, but unlike like a wash, rather as an even covering all over the horses. The first time I tried the method was on some plastic Elven Steeds, which gave a very good even subtle finish after just one coat (see below).

The Black Undercoat, Neutral Grey Drybrush, Contrast Paint Method: Plastic Elven Steed

The next step was to try the same technique on a metal horse. unfortunately, the results were not the same as metal castings always have some "pitting" due to the manufacturing process and this showed on the horses. 

For contrast, the Black Undercoat, Neutral Grey Drybrush, Contrast Paint Method:

2/ I was essentially back to square one (I did keep the horses for the second rank of the Equites Scholae Palatinae very much in keeping with painting up the army as fast as possible). I then, quite by accident, heard via a chap on a Facebook forum about the makeup sponge technique for horses. I was (very) unfamiliar with this concept so did a little digging and with the help (and support!) of one of my Facebook friends, Nigel Higgins, I gave it a go with quite astonishing results! 

I will put together a tutorial at some stage as if you are willing to cope with the drop in quality, this is going to save a lot of wargamers a lot of time! They are far from perfect but do look like they have been layered up; good enough for me!

Makeup Sponge Method

So, after waffling on for a good while, without further ado, the unit of Equites Scholae Palatinae for my Late Roman army.

Equites Scholae Palatinae:

Cheers

Sassanian - Completed Version

Sassanian - Completed Version is a mini movie on YouTube. I find it quite evocative and worth linking up here.

Clubbing it! Middle Imperial Romans vs Early Sassanids

After the last Middle Imperial roman vs Late Sassanid game, which left me very unsatisfied about the Late Sassanid Warhammer Ancient Battles AoA v.2 Army List (I'll get to why in a minute) we decided to try the Early List out against a similar middle imperial Roman force. I think both lists came to approximately 4444pts- so not too large and not too small for the game to be satisfying. 

The problem with the Late Sassanid WAB AoA v.2 Army List lies in the lack of bite from the Sassanian archers, especially from the Clibenarii. By the fifth CE the Sassanian army fought in a very particular manner, loosing clouds of arrows as they closed and fighting fiercely in hand to hand with their superior heavy cavalry. This is not reflected in then lists as they are played. In fact, the Sassanian Clibenarii, if  they are to have any effect whatsoever they had to stand still and loose arrows at close range from a position of weakness. this is not from all accounts I have read, how the Late Sassanids fought. 

It was with this in mind, and a view tom possibly changing the Early Sassanid Clibenarii stats/abilities that we decided to play a game using the older Early Sassanid "Cataphract" and Huns style list.

Due to real life issues I do not have the time to go describe in words how the game went. It was though, one of the very best wargames I have played in many years, the final combats leaning on a knifes edge with the Romans taking the laurels at the end of the game. If you follow the vast number of images through the game, via the lightbox on Blogger, you will be able to follow the action all the way through. 

Roman Legionaries in Marching Column with support from torsion engines and Light Lanciarii

Sassanid Deployment

Roman Legeionaries and Light Lanciarii supported by Equites Alares