Having ordered a shed load of figures from Magister in 15mm, it was time to compile a force for Sword and Spear Fantasy.
Quite a few people at the club are assembling forces for Sword and Spear Fantasy, so that supplied some motivation for this project, which is always a good thing.
With Sword and Spear, your force is element based along the same lines as DBA. The rules allow for small games ( 1 element represents a unit ) or larger games where 4 elements represent a unit.
Elements are 40mm wide and typically 20mm deep although Cavalry and Chariots (big stuff) can have 30 or 40mm deep bases. This is for 15mm figures, by the way.
You can depict your army as you wish, as long as both sides have the same frontage. We could for example, have a unit as 2 elements wide, but we have gone for a unit being 2 wide by 2 deep which gives a more pleasing appearance. Large units will be represented as 2 wide by 3 deep.
Anyway, after the rather heavy box of metal arrived...did i really buy that much?....I started to "organise" which units I would have...lots of each by the looks of it.
For Heavy Infantry, I will have 4 figures per base some of which may be Command / Standard Bearers....for Medium Infantry there will be 3 per base and Skirmishers, 2 per base.
Cavalry will be 2 per base for Heavy and Light purely because of the physical size of the figures.
I am afraid that although you only need between 8 - 12 units, I have bought enough stuff to probably have about twice that amount. Not as daft as it sounds really, because I have covered every eventuality for army composition.....what I mean is, that I have Chariots, Onagers, Light and Heavy Cavalry, Medium and Heavy Foot, Skirmishers, Wizards and Heroes etc etc
The figures from Magister are absolutely great with so much detail. I have decide that because I am having 4 figures per base max, I would paint these whilst they were attached to lollipop sticks, not something I have tried before.
I then manually undercoated with black as I was only doing a small number at a time. I knew that if I had prepped and sprayed about 100 figures, that would actually seem a very daunting painting task, so I would only have on the table enough figures to do a unit....between 12 and 16...thereby making the task appear smaller and easier.
I decided that my Lizard Army would be quite colourful and why not...the good thing about fantasy armies....I will have units in differing shades of Green mainly with some Blue ones, Orange ones and maybe Yellow....Wizards and Heroes will need to stand out also...Purple robes maybe.
 |
| Heavy Cavalry |
 |
| Heavy Cavalry |
 |
| Crossbows |
 |
| Crossbows |
 |
| Tridents |
 |
| Tridents |
 |
| Heavy Infantry |
 |
| Heavy Infantry |
 |
| Heavy Infantry |
 |
| Medium Infantry in progress |
 |
| Medium Infantry |
 |
| Medium Infantry |
 |
| Monster / Large Beast |
 |
| Light Cavalry |
 |
| Wizard |
 |
| Wizard |
 |
| Heavy Inf again |
 |
| Chariot |
After the black undercoat, the various body colours were applied using dry-brushing techniques. After that a coat of appropriate ink was applied and when that was dry....about an hour...I applied a suitable colour Glaze (from GW)...this does actually might quite a difference probably not visible from the pics, but trust me its worth using.
Then the armour was done using a mix of silver and bronze and then any ancillary cloth, typically a loincloth of sorts.
Now some units are near completion, I will continue with some command figures for the ranks, more of which next time
