Arrival and Departure

My Korean DBA army is almost ready for action. This is the first DBA army I ever started, but it languished for years because I didn't have enough figures to complete it. A guy in the Asheville club I play with has a Mongol army but no historical opponents, which inspired me to spring for some new figures and complete it. I took these pictures before I finished flocking the bases, but you'll have to forgive my excitement.

Here is the complete army (2 3xCAV, 1 2xLh, 4 4xSp, 4 3xBw, 1 2xPs). I wasn't able to find any historical sources on the colors, so I kind of made it up as I went along. I know Korean peasants wore white, so that was my basic color, and I added the bright colors that makes Korean style so different from Japanese. In this case, the main combinations were red and orange/purple.

Here is are the two Cavalry stands. The footman on the right stand will get a pole & banner, once I figure out what sort of banner a Koryo Korean army might have had.

Here is the Light Horse stand. I kept the colors muted here, figuring they were more likely to be border riders rather than nobility.

Here are the Spear stands. The neck wrap under the helmet is distinctively Korean. I did these guys in a dirty linen color instead of white, but in retrospect, I think white may have been better.
Here are the Bow stands. These are what I was missing before. The place I've been ordering figures from lately only had Han Chinese, so these figures look a bit different from the others. Not historically perfect, but painted in white and red like Koreans, they don't look too bad, and most people won't know the difference.

Finally, here is the lone stand of Psiloi. These are Han Chinese too. When my wife looked at the army, her comment was "I like the Koreans with the pumpkins on their heads." <sigh>

I still have to make a Camp Element before the club's DBA day next Sunday, but if worst comes to worst I can just flock some posterboard and pretend.

For reference, here is another painter's Koryo Korean army (is has a different mix of figure options).

Finishing these guys has been a fun change of pace from the Napoleonics I've been cranking out lately (once the machine shop finishes my bases I'll post some pictures). They're a lot easier too, without all the pack and straps that Napoleonic figures have. Plus, since DBA armies are so small (this was 8 cav, 27 foot; the Allied army at Talavera I'm working on is about 60 cav and 220 foot, plus 10 mounted generals) it's easy to finish. I've been thinking about what to do next. Historically, the Khitan-Liao (sort proto-mongols in Manchuria) would be best, but I kind of want to do either Tang China (think Mulan) or an army of Japanese Pirates. They aren't an official army in DBA, but it would be fun to put one together (here is one stab at it).

In the meantime, I suppose I'll have to work on the unit of Dutch in French service I have lined up next. They served in General Leval's "German Division" at Talavera. Mostly white uniforms, with light blue facings; pretty unique looking, which should be cool.