Powered by WebRing.

Monday, August 27

Sea People DBA Army

This is a Sea People army - or more precisely a Peleset army. The Peleset can be identified by their distinctive head gear, which are shown on Egyptian reliefs from the period (circa 1176BC).


Generals can either be in a chariot or on foot with the elite fighters.



Here's a close up of the main man. The model has a very nice box cab and the crew fit easily.


These are the Elite fighters resplendent in their bronze armour and weilding bronze swords or spears.


Here is a group of lesser warrior, they have no shields and are only armed with javelins and occasionally a light axe.


The skirmish force of light archers. Not even so much as a scrap of textile armour for these boys.


The ordinary warriors make up the bulk of the army. These fighters can afford a shield and the occasional bronze sword but they can't afford the shiny armour of their elite bretheren. They have to make do with toughened textile strips or go without.

These are historical foes for the Egyptians, and over a 50 year period were a significant threat to Pharoah and his people.

Saturday, August 18

I have just put up a New Kingdom Egyptian DBA army on Ebay. I've had these figures for some time and there are more partially finished.

It is one of those projects that didn't quite make it to completion. Here are some pictures.


Egyptian Bowmen


Libyan warband and Egyptian skirmishers


And again from the rear.



Pharoah leading by example - If you believe the propaganda he didn't need the rest of the army.

Part of the chariot force.

The full chariot force

And finally, the Egyptian heavy infantry.

The figures paint up well and all together give a very nice impression.

Tuesday, August 7



Foundry Egyptians


I got to thinking about my other 28mm armies and decided to take a picture of my Foundry Pharoah in his chariot. This is a very nice miniature.

The general is using his bow while his charioteer concentrates on keeping the team under control. I think the set came with a chariot runner complete with pharonic slippers and a lion on a lead! I will get round to painting these sometime but as ever the number of projects exceeds the available time. My current focus is getting a couple more armies ready for selling on ebay - so look out for an Alexandrian Macedonian and then a Sea Peoples and a New Kingdom Egyptian. But for now here is a picture of Pharoah.

Again I will give this 8.5 out of 10 (deducting 1 because of the cost!)

Sunday, August 5

Pictures of my Assyrian DBA army


Full Army
Assyrian Auxilliary (Table Top games figures I think, but I can't be sure)

Assyrian Auxilliary (rear view)

Assyrian Skirmishers (Chariot Miniatures)

Assyrian Horder (Chariot Miniatures - only 6 on the base though)


Assyrian Horde (front view)

Assyrian General and Heavy Chariot (Chariot Miniatures)

Assyrian Cavalry (Chariot Miniatures)

Assyrian Spear (Essex Miniatures)

Assyrian Spear (rear view)

Saturday, August 4

Basing Figures

Over the years I must have based thousands of figures. It is the part of the painting process I like least because it is tedious and repetitive.

However a good paint job can be ruined by poor basing, so it is worth some effort to get things to look right. This is a very subjective subject of course.

I have tried many techniques in my quest to find a fast and effective solution but I have yet to find a method I am completely happy with.

What follows is a brief description of my current method of basing.

If you want to try this for yourself you will need the following:

Materials needed



  • PVA glue. (I got a big bottle in WHSmith's - in the children's crafts section - it was a lot cheaper than buying from a proper craft store.)
  • 3 grades of scatter material - fine sand and grey stone gravel (fine and medium).
  • Acrylic/emulsion paint in the base colour of choice. I mix my own from octagon yellow, raw umber and white. I am looking for a dry, light earth tone.
  • And the final ingrediant is plain flour.

You will also need:

  • An old paint brush.
  • Static grass.
Getting Started

Mix the paint and PVA glue together in a 6 to 4 ratio (6 parts of paint to 4 parts of glue). Then add the flour - this is a bit trial and error but the mixture is very forgiving more paint or water can be added at any time. You are looking to get a slightly sticky consistency that will still paint onto the figure base - try it out a couple of times on an old bit of card.

Once base paint mixture is ready, paint it onto your figure bases. Be generous and get it to fill in around the metal bases to disguise the edge. NB: Your figures should already have their bases painted in the base colour.

Basing - Stage 1 Apply the Base Paint Mixture and Scatter Material



While the base paint is still wet add the scatter material. Start with the coarsest grade and on two or three places on the base drop a small amount of this material. Next repeat with the next coarsest gravel. Scatter this over the places where the first gravel is located and maybe one other places on the base. Use a bit more of this second gravel than the first. Finally use the sand. Again go over the areas already scattered (these areas now have all three types of scatter material - the effect should be of big stones surrounded by medium and small stones). Please note: you are not trying to get the scatter material all over the base.

Once the base paint is completely dry this will fix the scatter material in place and we can start the next stage. The bases should be left to dry overnight, but it is possible to work on them after two or three hours but you will not get as good results.

Basing - Stage 2 First Dry Brushing



Dry brush the whole base with a highlight colour. I use Americana Desert Sand - this looks a dry and dusty colour which is exactly what I want. This lighter coat starts to give depth to the base with the original, darker shade showing through in the dips and crevasses around the scatter material.
Basing - Stage 3 Highlight Drybrushing


The next step is to mix 1 part of Desert Sand with 1 part White and when the first dry brush coat is dry, repeat the dry brushing process. This time focus on the areas where the scatter material is locateded. (An occasional use of this colour elsewhere on the base is ok but do it sparingly. )The rocks and broken ground will begin to stand out.

Finally mix 4 parts White with 1 part Desert Sand and with very little paint on the brush quickly brush over the very top edges of the rocky bits. This has to be done carefully. If you can see what you have done it probably means your dry brushing was too heavy handed and the effect will not be as good as it could be.

Basing - Stage 4 Highlighting the Highlights and Static Grass


Now when this has all dried, put three or four small dabs of PVA on the base. Not on the rocky areas but on the flat areas around the rocks and scatter the base with static grass.

One last job, using you original base colour paint round the base edges.

Remember less is more, I have often spoilt a good effect by not stopping at the right time.
And why did I use flour - because it gives the mixture body and when the mixture dries the flour gives it a fine texture that careful dry brushing can bring out nicely.