Three DBA armies painted in one week

I had not planned to complete these three armies in so short a time, but with my order of Legio Heroica coming this week I want to clear the work table. The weather here was extremely warm, so drying times were short. I also improved my technique for painting folds and outlining which quickened the pace.

Photo one, show the Serbian collection. The Serbs were off and on allies of the Byzantines, so clothing, arms and shields would be influenced by them. I still wanted the irregular look, so kept a balance between the linnen colour and the reds and blues one would expect for Byzantines. Not shown is the standard which has a cross. All flags were done but the fixative had to dry well before handling.

Photo two, are the generic Slavs (III-1c) which have a geneeral on foot. Lots of linnen, beige and btrown clothing. Shields are likewise leather covered wood. Banner, again not shown depicts a Griffon on a near white background.

The Moravians in Photo three are the largest of the three armies as this has all possible options; extra bow and blades. These were covered in an earlier posting which mentioned their clothing styles and shield patterns were influenced by the "West".

From receipt of package on the 22nd, all three were varnished, based and flocked by the 29th and this morning the flags were painted. As the creativity is still flowing, I shall work on the medieval flags for my next army, the 15th century Bavarians.

Cheers,

Moravians

The Moravians are one three DBA armies (with options) I am painting as a commission work. The challenge is to create three distinct collections as all three are from the same time period and region; Moravians, Slavs and Serbians.

Only the Moravians are pictured and in photo one, the have just been cleaned and will be placed on their plinths for priming and later painting. The plinths are long enough to fit 6 mounted or 12 foot. Painting irregulars becomes easy, as every third or fourth figure may have the same coloured shirt, but later during the process will have different coloured breeches and so on. Having painted a number of Slavic armies I kept darker colours for breeches and lighter tones for tunics. With shadow and highlights the clothing would lighten somewhat.

What could be gleaned from the WRG Dark Age book, mentioned the Moravians choice of colours and shield patterns were influenced by the Franks (East and West). Photo two, show the infantry need only the wedge pattern on their shields and they are ready for varnishing.

The mounted in the background lack not only the shield pattern, but breeches and tunics as well. In addition to the Moravians, there are six Lithuanian horse that will be added to an army of Wends painted a few months ago.

With the additional holiday tomorrow, these will be ready to varnish on Monday.

Cheers,