Campanian / Apulian Army DBA II/8bc

I've painted up all the options for a DBA II/8bc Campanian / Apulian Army. These are southern Italian armies from the arrival of the Oscans until the end of the second Punic War in 201 BCE. These peoples fought both for and against the Samnites and Rome.

The entire Campanian & Apulian armies on display.

Under DBA, the Campanian army has a nice balance of close order hoplite spearmen, loose order warriors and some cavalry. The Apulian army has a little more cavalry and the foot are entirely loose and open order bush bashers.

The hoplites (Irregular Miniatures)

The figures are all 15mm Tin Soldier, except the hoplites which are Irregular Miniatures, and were a pleasure to paint.

A rear view of the Hoplites.

Let me know what you think, but I find the combination of basic white tunics with simple but colourful patterns makes the army visually pop.

The Warriors - Bush bashing 3Ax in DBA.

Rear view of the Warriors.

The shield designs are a mix of transfers and freehand painting. Where you can see central discs on the shields, I used spare Games Workshop Tau transfers then overpainted them. Most of the Greek looking designs are Vini Vidi Vici transfers.

The General and his cavalry advance.

TIPS FOR APPLYING TRANSFERS

I hadn’t used transfers for a very long time and aside from following the manufacturer’s instructions, found these couple of extra steps most helpful.

The cavalry from the side.

Before placing them in water, carefully make a cut in each transfer with an X-Acto style blade, from the centre to its edge (avoid slicing the design as best you can). This helps the transfer conform to the shield’s curved surface. Wet the shield with Tamiya Mark Fit. This helps you slide the transfer into position. For me, this worked a lot better than applying a layer of gloss varnish which I’d seen recommended in a couple of places.

You can see some of the Crackle effect on these skirmishing psiloi.

I made a departure from my usual basing methods in that I used Mont Marte Crackle Paste to cover the bases. The paste worked well enough but the effect was diminished by my covering a lot of the cracks with vegetation. I’ll use it when I next do a desert army.

I’ve done a short demo of how I used the paste and will post it soon.