Land of the Lead: July 2016

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

35mm Marshal and ADC

The latest in my 35mm collection, a Marshal and his ADC.

Buffalo Hunt

I found ten of these Bison at a flea market last week and could not resist painting them. They are just the right size for my 40mm Indians.

Sunday, July 24, 2016

My Big Fat Ancient Persian Army - Part 2 : Infantry and Mercenaries

Many of the infantry are relatively old and have had figures added to complete units as I've changed my mind over the years.

700 figures later.

Yes, it took me years to complete, on and off. After a bit of break from painting Persians, I'm able to appreciate looking at them with fresh eyes again...

You can see I'm not scared to use bright colours if I felt like it. Again, a variety of manufacturers are represented. Because I wanted to have a fair bit of flexibility with the army, there are lots of options for allies and earlier and later period units. But really, no one really seems to care if I'm out by a couple of hundred years at times.

They are split into 3 main categories. The elite corps; as the backbone of the infantry. They are only average, solid troops when compared to most of the Greek City State citizen-soldiers. The Sparabara; as the meat and potatoes units. Little more than a road bump against a phalanx but the archery can disrupt an attack. The Levy; the rabble and unreliable allies which mainly just to the bulk rather than utility.

I hope that people interested in this period can draw some inspiration from these photos and get some ideas for painting. My theory was to create a theme for each unit to create the variety and colour for the army as a whole. My assumption is that at the start of a campaign most contingents would have been dressed in a similar fashion.

Hope you enjoy the photos.

Cheers,

Mick

The elites (in relative terms)

Later Immortals/imitation hoplites/Kardakes

Imitation hoplites/Kardakes

Greek mercenary Hoplites - Black Tree Design. Foundry Command

Got most of these second hand and tried to keep the shield designs and added a few highlights

More Greek mercenary Hoplites - Foundry with LBM shield transfers

Egyptian Marines - Eureka - one of the last units added. The shields hide most of figures but gives them a reasonably solid appearance.

Phrygian axemen by Old Glory - one of those 'must have' units
Some leftover 1st Corps Greeks in there as well.

Detail photo

Another angle

And another

The "come and get me" wall of Sparabara

I can plonk these down in any open terrain and hopefully break up Greek attacks

From the other side - nice colour variety without overdoing it (I think)

One of the first Persian units I painted. Had some retouches to keep them looking good. I remember feeling pleased with the leopard skin on the commanders cloak