My Big Fat Ancient Persian Army - Part 1 : Command, Chariots and Cavalry

 

Hello again.

 

I've put dribs and drabs of my Ancient Persian army on this blog before but I really wanted some photos of the whole collection to give better impression of the size and scope. They are used as both earlier and later Achaemenid Persians.

 

There is a mix of manufacturers as I used as many figures as I could gather over about 13 years. The basing was hugely time consuming but it was important in order to make sure everything looked reasonably compatible.

 

Starting with the various command elements, 7 chariots and 200 cavalry. 

 

I hope you enjoy this part. Next is the infantry.

 

Cheers,

Mick



 

Great King in Chariot and in camp, commander stands and individual commanders or heroes

 Closer look at the camp base - Foundry, 1st Corps and Old Glory

 Another angle - the standard bearer in the foreground is a Minifig!

Heavy Chariots - these are elsewhere on the blog. 1st Corps models

Heavy and Medium Cavalry - the rich kids of the army 

 Heavies - Ex Newline (now SHQ) probably one of few photos of these painted on the web

Foundry Heavies - featured elsewhere here. Largish figures.

My favourite cavalry unit. Some of my first cavalry figures I painted for the army. All Foundry. I usually class these as medium cavalry

 1st Corps medium cavalry

Old Hinchliffe light chariots - only good for using as mobile archery platforms. Fragile in most games  

 Another view - quite retro looking but I still like them

 A couple of smaller Scythian heavy cavalry units

 First unit. Seen elsewhere on the blog

 2nd unit - rewarding to paint but time consuming

 The light cavalry

 Another view

 And another

 Not cavalry but skirmishers used as part of the 'African' levy

2 units of light troops - Old Glory

 Arab levy camel archers - Newline and Castaway Arts models

 African light cavalry- Foundry and Hinchliffe

 6 units of horse archers - Foundry, 1st Corps and a few Newline

 Another view -I can make 4 large units if the need arises.

 Close up- some dated paint jobs but look ok en-masse

 These are Foundry Scythian models

 One of the last units put together. Light cavalry, Foundry and Warlord

 Some of the earliest figures. Hinchliffe and/or Garrison plus Foundry and 1st Corps mashed into a unit

 Another view

 A bit of detail

A bit more detail

Persians

Here's a base of Persians I painted recently.  They are made by Immortal miniatures (now owned by Warlord).  They have been sitting at the bottom of a box for a while now- I have about 20 in all.  I have finally dragged them out to paint.  I've no grand plans for a Persian horde.  It's just fun to paint something different!

Thomas Fairfax

Here's Sir Thomas Fairfax.  One of the more popular roundhead generals.  It's a Warlord games figure.  The horse is really animated and enjoyable to paint.  The drum is from as Warlord infantry command sprue.

Huzzah! and Tally-Ho Chaps!

Here is the Colonel from Warlord Games' Crimean War - Black Powder range. I'm not into this period (yet), but this guy appealed to me.  He very much has the look of a hard campaigning, pipe smoking veteran of the field.

"Well played old chap!"

ECW Warlord Dragoons

Warlord make some great ECW figures in their metal range and the Dragoons box set are no exception.  They are require assembly for the plastic horses and there are plenty of options for hats.  The figures have plenty of detail, carrying lanterns, rabbits and other paraphernalia.  Even if you are not into this period- they are a great fun to paint and worth the money! There are mounted and unmounted troops to offer more flexibility on the gaming table. 

Another Firelock Storming Party

Here is another firelock storming party made by warlord Miniatures.  The drummer and officer are both metal and are really superb miniatures. Next up on the ECW table is a unit of dragons.

Odds and Sods

Here are some bits and pieces from the painting table of late.  I have been painting a few figures just for the fun of it!  

Some Crusader Miniatures Nubians- All crusader figures seem to paint up so well and easily too! When TigerZouave visits next these guys can join his collection!

Here are some odd Warlord Roman I put together to form a command base of sorts

I bought this guy from ebay- missing an arm.  The arm and lance were from my bits box.  I'm not sure if the Romans Auxiliary Came corps  used lances like this- Maybe this guy was an innovator?

Some Black Tree Athenians.  I have been painting quite a few Greeks lately.  I must take a pic of them en-masse

Some more ECW figures

 Some additions to the Grand Royal Army!

I have been neglecting my duties of adding to the blog- mostly due to the miserable weather.  However....today was the perfect day for taking photos of miniatures.  Here are some English Civil War figures I have painted recently.  The blue regiment is a mix of Warlord and Redoubt figures.  The Warlord figures are the command and pike from their 30 Years War box set and the Shotte are all Redoubt.  Redoubt make some of my favourite ECW figures- however- their moulds seem to be getting a bit tired and they need a fair bit of clean up.  Warlord minis always seem to be crisp.

The figures below are from the Warlord Firelock Storming party box.  Many of them are conversions through.  Having painted a few boxes of Warlord ECW plastics, I have accumulated quite a few bodies without arms.  Interestingly, the Firelock box gives you extra arms!  -and voila! some of the easiest conversions ever!

Firelock Storming Party

The Petard crew is also a Warlord set.  These metal figures are bravely storming the fortifications.  I wasn't sure how to base these figures and toyed with individual bases and combinations- but finally arrived at the idea of putting them all on one base. They were lovely figures to paint.  Full of character and detail.

Petard Crew

More Romans and a few hairy Celts!

I have been a bit quiet of late, but that is because I have been slowly going mad painting Roman Red!
I am close to finishing an army.  In addition to the Warlord figures I displayed in an earlier post, I have added some more Black Tree figures.  I really like the Black Tree Ballista figures and their western Roman Archers.  I am working on an Auxiliary Cavalry unit and then they should pretty much be done.  All infantry are based on 40x40mm bases.  This was not for any particular ruleset, but to offer the greatest flexibility when playing.  Also below is another diversion!  War and Peace games had a ridiculous sale on the Warlord Celts plastic set, which I could not resist.  These figures are great fun to assemble and paint.  There is plenty of scope to individualize them and a real dynamic feel to the poses.  I don't intend on building and army of Celts, but as a contrast to the regimented Romans they were a fun project. 

32 Hairy Brutes looking for a fight!

2 Black Tree Scorpions and a larger ballista - sorry about the dodgy photo

The boys with the eagle must be in charge!

48 Black Tree Romans. 

The Little Big Men shield transfers really come up well.

Centurion 'bung-eyes' leads them into battle

Black Tree Western Archers.  These are really nice miniatures to paint.

Some very old Citadel Roman Eastern Archers- courtesy of tigerzouave!

Wargames Factory plastic Roman cavalry.  These guys are hard work to paint.  The detail is not great at all and really needed work to get them to this stage.  I have some Warlord Metal Command figures to add to them to hopefully make the unit look better.

The General!