Minoan and Early Mycenaean DBA 1/18

I have always wanted a chariot army, and late last year I ended up buying three, being a sucker for the Essex "3 for the price of 2" deals. What I hadn't factored into the army building equation was the impact of our February 22 earthquakes here in Christchurch. At the time, the first of the three armies (the Minoans) had been based and undercoated, and about half the figures had had flesh painted on them.

The psychological impact of the EQs was interesting to say the least, and I found myself having lost the painting drive I'd had for several decades previously (and I have not been the only one). I guess facing the on-going shakes created levels of stress and anxiety that we would generally prefer to forget (until exactly the moment when the next tremour hits, although we seem to have hit a quiet period finally). And now there is the prospect of waitng to find out if our house will be repaired or demolished.. hmm

As interesting as all that might be, I think I have finally regained the motivation (in no small part due to the recent Timaru TAGCon DBA competition), and tonight I finished the Minoans. Now this is the first army I have painted after I had based the figures. I don't think I'll be doing it again, it has been just too fiddly and awkward, especially with 'close order' figures, in this case the pike.

Here is the result. The Essex pack comes with enough figures for the only army option, a Psiloi or an Auxilia.

 The four heavy chariots, including the general.

The four bases of pike, with their characteristic 'tower' shields.

The army list allows four psiloi, or three psiloi and an auxilia.

So, what is the next project? There is plenty of unpainted lead and plastic here to choose from  - ranging from Dystopian Wars VSF flyers for the HotT army, to another five DBA armies. There are Dwarves, Sci Fi vehicles, League of Augsberg French, Epic vehicles and infantry. and .. sigh.. just far too many choices.