Assyrian army

Assyrian army

Sunday 30 November 2014

'S' Range Assyrians

The army is missing several units, especially the archery units

On the other hand, I also have another unit of 30 of these lying around somewhere.




Photos from Harry's blog show this to have been a four chariot unit. Must ask him where the other one went.

This figure is the same as the Assyrian cataphracts I have but on a different horse. As I only have 8 of the others, I might 'borrow' 4 of these, repaint them and put them on cataphract horses to give me two 12 man units. Then again, I might not. Decisions, decisions.

I'm also allocating a unit of 'S' Range Scythians to this army so it will have a very strong light cavalry component.
This is another part army, several units being 'elsewhere' at the moment. Very strong in heavy infantry, I think it will be needing a lot of help from my other Assyrian contingents as regards chariot strength.

Saturday 29 November 2014

German 1940 15mm

 The German half of the unfinished 1940 15mm project. As I was working with everything at the same time I don't think either side has a single finished figure or model.











 



Friday 28 November 2014

Garrison is now officially closed

And I'm nominally retired from the manufacturing business.

I've closed the catalogue and will no longer be supporting the email address info@garrisonminiatures.com. All future communications should be made to garrisonminiatures@gmail.com .

However, some qualifying past customers have arranged to be able to buy Garrison figures next year. It is hoped to start limited production for these customers sometime in March 2015. It is also probable that I will start some other limited production of the 20mm Ancients and 25mm S&S Ranges as well.

For further information please keep looking here.

It is hoped that all current orders on my books will be completed and dispatched by around next weekend.

French 1940 15mm

Going with that D1, I was in the middle of doing some early War French and Germans when I bought Garrison. That project pretty much came to a full stop in the middle of painting everything. Should be getting back to it soon.










Thursday 27 November 2014

S&S Vanha mounted Sultan

 Liked this figure the minute I saw it. At the time (1976/7?) it was brand new and just released. At that time I tended to paint figures up quickly and in full gloss - I still like gloss figures, always seems right for what are, basically, toy soldiers.

Not having another use for him at the time he tended to get the job of commanding my Achaemenids when I wasn't using Cyrus.




'S' Range Egyptians



This army, acquired from Harry, is going to take some time to sort.

Two reasons for this. Firstly, the bought elements themselves consist of two different figure versions and have also been painted in different styles by two different people. Next, lots of 'light' infantry figures I need to put together before I can really post photos. Finally, I have quite a few of my 'own' figures that will need to be put in the mix at some point.
 
The end result is that I'm only putting pictures of some of the figures out, so eventually there will be more.


 Later versions of the 'S' Range spearmen.
 

 These earlier 'S' Range spearmen have been painted in what can only be described as a unique style. Actually, I like them.
 

Except for the middle Pharoah's chariot these are early 'S' Range chariots. The body of the Pharoah's chariot is currently of unknown origin.
 I should have taken this photo with the chariots going the other way. There were 2 versions of light archers produced that I know of; this one is not exactly well represented in my armies.

The horse archers are amonst my favourite figures in this army. This could be partly due to the horses being painted in my preferred style.






Wednesday 26 November 2014

Garrison Assyrians - mainly converted!

As the title says, mainly conversions.

The army in it's current form was started with a specific objective - enable me to produce an all-Garrison Assyrian 20mm army equivalent to the one used in the Grant Battle of the Apocryphal Well. I also intended to build the chariot force to a reasonable level using Garrison 20mm horses.

OK, the army is a couple of years late and still building, but it's the thought that counts...
The close order infantry. These figures were all converted from the the armoured slinger by replacing the sling with a spear. Shields - I simply bought a couple of packs of HaT Assyrians and used the shields from there. Heavy archers are a paint job on my 'universal' archer figure.

Front rank is the universal archer, second rank the only 'standard' figure, last rank officer and standard bearer conversions. Officer's sword is the spear beaten into shape, the standard was taken from a 25mm standard bearer.


Mostly card chariots, 20mm horses, 25mm chariot wheels and converted crews. The yoke and pole system is the mast from the old Garrison triremes. Background chariots are some very old survivors - as shown by the use of Airfix horses!




My Assyrian cavalry were always based in units of 6 - a policy I am trying to change



More universal archers, just a different paint job. I have 3 finished units of these - one went AWOL for the day. 72 figures mean I have enough to either act as separate units or as supporting psiloi in the same army.


Still plenty of chariots to finish

Likewise, still plenty of cavalry on the painting bench

Tuesday 25 November 2014

Hinchliffe Byzantine cavalry

Wandering through Liverpool back in the 70s I went into City Models thinking I'd buy some figures. They didn't have what I wanted so, instead of doing the sensible thing and visiting Doug's shop, I bought some Byzantine cavalry.

So for nearly 40 years this unit has been my entire Byzantine army.









Monday 24 November 2014

Lamming Assyrians

The Lammings were one of the nicest couples in wargaming. Bill's figures were a reflection of himself - solid, no nonsense. Well, the later ones were, some of the earlier ones were a bit less solid. He always said that he carved his masters out of solid brass - I can believe that!

As far as Assyrians go, I seem to have lots of different armies, some of which are not exactly fitting to a general scheme. I don't think it would work using my Lamming Assyrians in the same army as my Garrison 20mm - though they would work well with Garrison 25mm figures. My Lamming Assyrians do suffer from a certain confusion re bases. Something else I need to sort then.

Small units, maimly because I spent so much time painting the shield patterns I didn't have time to paint big units. Likewise, the four 4 horse chariots here are actually Minifigs but with Lamming wheels, horses and (mainly) crews - one advantage of buying direct was being able to buy bits separately. I probably have enough unpainted figures around to double this army in size.
 
 Comparing this picture with the heading picture and you'll notice a couple of missing units. One I just didn't think about, the other isn't Lamming but fits as regards size and build.
 I have at least 3 more of the 2 horse chariots half painted plus another being completed as a 4 horse chariot.


If 2 of the crew of the red/white crested chariot looks a bit small, it's because they are the original Minifigs 'S' Range crew.




I do not want to know how long those shields took to paint - but it was over 30 years ago.
This unit was an experiment in painting a unit a bit quicker.
Yes, OK, the standard...
Think one of these is going to be in trouble when his officer notices that he's lost his spear...