The new Arthurian Cavalry set from Curteys Miniatures which I got from Salute is finally ready. Best figure of the bunch is definitely the Sarmatian-style attacking one. Seeing as they're unarmoured cavalry I gave them the shield design of an Equites Dalmatae unit enlisted under the Magister Equitum's Gallic Command.
Although they're a command group I decided not to give them a standard of any kind and just gave all of them long spears, even the trumpeter.
The figures themselves are very good. You can see a definite positive evolution in the sculpts of their Arthurian range. While their older infantry did have somewhat stumpy feet and off-set eyes, these figures aren't plagued with these problems.
I also got a bag of Arthurian Cavalry from Old Glory. Kind of bought them sight unseen but they turned out to be quite a surprise. While some of their miniatures can be hit or miss these are fine looking figures. A couple of the same poses but with different heads but the metal is soft enough to change their right arms into other positions so you get some more variety. I painted up just one of them for now so I could see just how well they paint up and how well they fit in with the Curtey's. On both those questions I can say "great"!
I'm going to give the Old Glory figures shield designs from the Comes Africae. To me they give off a barbarian vibe, so my idea was to buy Old Glory Gothic and Lombard Cavalry, perhaps even mixing some Irregular miniatures in there as well so they might also serve as African Vandals. (Although they should look okay for Vandals, Visigoths, Suebi or Alan allies, I think.)
This figure in particular will be a mounted noble for Dux Brittaniarum, while the other eight will become two units of Shock Cavalry. (The tenth one, the trumpeter, will not be used) If I read correctly then Speidel thought the Equites Stablesiani were the bodyguard units of the provincial governors. So I don't think it's a bad design for a noble.
Lastly I painted another warrior unit, this time with the shield design of the Petulantes Seniores. The next warrior unit I paint will be the Celtae Seniores, both were brigaded together according to the Notitia Dignitatum.
A detail I picked up from Luke Arson's site was the design itself, how it was a debased version of the twin-headed zoomorphic motif common in the Notitia. Seeing as the Celtae Seniores had the twin headed design too and how one picture of the similar looking design of the Cornuti Seniores was drawn with simple heads; I believe that the Petulantes Seniores too had those twin animal heads but got lost lost in the copying process. That's just my theory of course.
That's why two of the shields have those headlike features added to the known design.
These two unarmoured models were from the command set. The left one is the trumpeter; I cut away his trumpet and gave him a spear instead. The right one was the standard bearer; his banner pole was trimmed down and turned into a spear.
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