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.

The Kushites are coming Part 3

And the main battle is about to start...

The battle lines are drawn...

In this battle, both sides just want to attack.

I allow archers a 6" firing range, so cavalry need to close quickly.

This is true of the Kushite cavalry as well.

Things aren't going well for the defenders in the fort.

The cavalry attacks didn't go well - the Egyptians ran away and the Kushites were stopped dead in their tracks.

The end is in sight here...

As the main battle develops, the Kushite centre is looking fragile.

The Kushites continue their attacks and some Egyptian right flank infantry turn to block an outflanking move.

Having cleared the fort the Kushite attackers stream out to  join the main battle.

When the Egyptian chariots broke the cavalry they were facing, the surviving element eventually took a Kushite chariot with it - and another one died in combat. The hard battle for the fort obviously left a mark on the Kushite warband from the fort - they broke on contact with the spears.

Feeling a bit lonely, the Kushite general calls it a day... time to regroup and come back later...

A very enjoyable battle. As to rules... a bit of a mish mash of DBA, WRG 4th Edition and RY 'that's seems about right'. I speeded combat up a bit treating them as units if everything the same but separate elements at other times - for example, spears v warband 1 dice roll for the whole unit, chariots separate rolls as the general was present and he gets the plus 1, the others don't - so 3 separate combats instead of 1.

The Kushites are coming - Part 2

So the cavalry are off to get help while the fort gets to see some action.

The fort is under siege whilst the main Kuskite army bypasses it and starts to form up a battle line.

One problem with the fort is that you can't put the bases on the ramparts - they fall off.

This could take a while as the action swings back and forth. Here, some Blemye have broken into the fort but the Kushite warband has been pushed back. Under DBA the garrison should have a plus 4 but I've ony given them a plus 2. My game, my rules.

The Amun Division has (mostly) arrived - some still on garrison duty elsewhere.

The Blemyes are inside and fighting the garrison. Meanwhile some warband are still at the walls, the rest sit out this move having been pushed back (unlike 'standard' DBA where they would be straight back in - I feel that that wouldn't represent the siege nature as well as having a delay). For all, enemy scoring double on dice means a kill, but I've also said 2 pushbacks running will kill a defender.

The defenders win the battle inside the fort and the attackers are pushed back outside.

Meanwhile, in the main battle both sides are advancing towards each other.

The Kushites are coming Part 1

Seemed like a good idea - Egyptian haven't had an outing in ages, likewise Kushites...

So, this one is basically a Kushite incursion into Egypt, possibly the incursion that led to the overthrow of the ruling Dynasty and founding of the Kushite 25th Dynasty. The defenders are the Amun Division.

The scenario also lets me use my ancient Airfix Foreign Legion fort. It's rather old, having bought it when they first came out, and seems to have lost it's gate, but, can't have everything.

First sign of trouble is when a cavalry patrol rides back to the fort screaming things like 'The Kushites are coming! The Kushites are coming!

Now, the fort is there more as a customs house rather than somewhere designed to stop actual armies...

I've set this one up length ways giving me a battlefield 6' long and 4' wide. The Nile forms a boundary quite simply A4 and A5 MDF sheets sprayed blue. As the battle proceeds I'll move the terrain/action up and down the table as required!

The original idea was to use my Ptah Division as the Kushites, but then thought - well, got a perfectly good dedicated PB Kushite army so...

The Kushite figures cover quite a range of 90s era Minifigs Egyptian/Blemye figures. The chariots are a reasonable paint job, infantry are mostly black undercoat and drybrushing - not sure, think the warband are actually supposed to be Old Kingdom Egyptians!

A few Kushite archers

Actually PB Range Blemye. Ex-Harry, took part in some of his battles, and rebased now because they were lying around when I did the Syrians. They don't fit in with my own Kushite army but will do nicely in my Achaemenid Persian army.

Zulu

When I was building my Minifigs Kushite/Blemmye armies I needed a load of cheap spearmen to act as Nobades/subject Kushite spears. The problem was solved when I picked up a couple of hundred Zulus at the bring and buy at a convention. Most of the figures are Minifigs Zulus, not convinced that  a couple aren't by other manufacturers though.

These were always going to be quick dry brush jobs. The first hundred were quickly finished and pressed into service, the rest are still being used in various ways. Might even cast up some Colonial Brits sometime.

 There's nothing else to really say about these - the time spent on each figure was minimal and I didn't use any fancy colours. Mainly lots of white.

For bright colours I waited until I did some figures for my Hyborian Black Nations army - but even these weren't exactly a major effort time-wise.

Vile Kush

My philosophy has always been to start with a base army then expand it to cover other possible armies or times. The Kushites started as Egyptian Kushites then aquired figures to take it into the Blemye/Nobades areas. The Kushite army as an entity is all Minifigs, both later IR and EA Ranges, and dates (mainly) from the 90s to early 00s. However, quite a few of the archers were earlier IR Range figures.

I did get about 100-150 assorted Zulu figures at a convention bring-and-buy. About 50 of these were roughly painted up as a start towards the levies needed for later armies - don't know where they are now though. The best way I could describe the paintwork on them is 'very minimum wargames standard.'

Possibly because these were the figures he grew up around this army seems to be my son's favourite in my collection. I admit the bases at least are better than anything I do now!

  Still an army with a bit of growing to do...

  Early cavalry, I use these mainly as Kushite Egyptians

One of the few times when I appreciated separate shields on later Minifigs - though I still added them to one unit.

These are the cavalry that extend the Range into the 4th/5th Centry AD. Still quite happy to use them with the earlier ones though

 I think these are mostly EA figures. The close fighting infantry component is a bit short on numbers

Mostly early IR and later EA figures?

I think most of these are early PB Blemyes that have been recycled.