Assyrian army

Assyrian army

Monday 31 August 2020

Next moulds sorted

 And figures will be posted soon.

First one covers some of the Xerxes Army figures but is mainly about Libyans. I've also put on a couple of  'Hollywood Philistines' - should be interesting to see how a unit of these work!

Main purpose for the second one is to provide lots of early Persian cavalry... but also has some Admins figures bundled in that I think might be useful in larger numbers for any Mythos scenarios. One other figure - the lady with the lizard. Rose did a number of figures  under the Prestige/Elite name - mostly historical, but a few were Fantasy. This is the only one of the fantasy range I've been able to hunt down so far...

Sunday 30 August 2020

Corps VIIIC - the Arabian Camel Corps.

Garrison camels are a bit under represented in some ways. This comment is mainly due to the fact that Garrison made two different Persian camel riders and I've only got a unit using one of them.  My other camel unit was a specific conversion to provide a Funcken-style squadron that looks good in a Cyrus the Great v Lydia way.

This unit comes under the 'cheap and cheerful' heading.
Both camels and riders have been 'reclaimed' from past endeavours - and the riders suffer from the added issue of having come from a Tiranti mould - so started off as second rate!

The camels seem to be a mix of the 20mm and 28mm versions! - only differences are that the 28mm has a bigger head and plume and is a bit 'fatter' than the 20mm version. The 28mm camels were used with much bigger figures and, frankly, looked ridiculous!
I fully intend to expand the various camel corps in future...

Saturday 29 August 2020

Corps XXVI and XXVII

The Moeshi and Tibareni of Corps XXVI and Macrones and Mossynoeci of Corps XXVII are both described as wearing Median type garments. As for the figure,  I've used my violin shield version of PE4, same as for the Cabalees.
Slight variations on the paint schemes to differentiate them - one Corps has no red in the main costume colour, the other no blue.

Likewise, I gave one a fancy shield plus painted the cap as a bronze helmet.

This shows the three Corps with the plainly costumed Corps XXV, the Cabalees in woollen tunics rather than more colourful Median dress. I sometimes paint a belt on these figures but at other times leave it to represent the tunic falling over the belt - which is really what they should all look like.

I think that just leaves me with two infantry Corps to do - possibly by casting and painting more of these two conversions.

Friday 28 August 2020

Corps XVIII - Some 'traditional' Ethiopians.

Getting to be one of the better represented Corps as both the Arabs and Ethiopians have already been done.

However, the Ethiopians were painted my standard chocolate brown and kept their ostrich plume... so I thought I might as well do some that matched the ones in Greek and Persian Wars - black skin colour and no plumes...
All conversions of PEA5,  the Nubian auxiliary

Easy paint job - these figures can be churned out very quickly.

However, do they look better than the 'original' versions I painted? - Personally, don't think so, I prefer the chocolate brown version over the black version.





Thursday 27 August 2020

Corps XXV - the Cabalee part.

Given up at the moment on even trying the Pisidian helmet... though already done the Milyae

These were painted up quite a while ago - conversions from PE4 using a Rose shield - I've got a number of PE4  conversions, got to use them...
The figure uses the violin shaped shield rather than the plain round one in the book - but then, the description in Herodotus wasn't exactly detailed so...

Figure should have a helmet rather than cap - easy paint job but already had them, helmets could have been painted anyway, - and carried an 'Egyptian' sword - again, already had figures painted so didn't add one. Plain colours fits the woollen tunic idea.
I'm also using these figures as the basis of Corps XXVI and XXVII. These are just described as wearing Median type garments so will simply be more highly decorated.



Tuesday 25 August 2020

Grant Garrison Persian army Review.

As I've already started rebasing some of the Grant Greeks I thought I would start extending the project a bit to rebase more of the collection - and the Garrison Persians being the smaller of the individual forces thought I'd best start there.
Nice to be able to get all the figures in one shot - easily.

Right wing cavalry, PEC6 Cataphract in front of PEC4.

I haven't got much of the infantry, just two units... I assume the Immortals were sold on when the Hinchliffe Immortals were bought.

A mix of cataphracts and PEC3 in front of more cataphracts. Not sure how or why I got all the cataphracts mixed in with the front unit except that 2 figures were'spare' and completed the PEC3 command unit...

I think that this is my favourite Grant Garrison Persian unit. Bit of a mouthfull.

Strangely, not all of the Grant figures were Grant figures. The one with the javelin is one of mine... You may have recognised the figure... I think Harry didn't have enough figures when he based them for his own use and added a sample I sent him! That palamino horse colour seems to be a Harry Pearson trademark...
 The PE3 infantry figures have already be allocated to the 'Xerxes Army' set, it will be interesting to see if I make any use of these in future.

Monday 24 August 2020

Corps XXX The Exiles

Listed as the same as the various Persian Corps so I've used another of my Sparabara units.
Apart from the officer and standard bearer these are all conversions of PE4.

The spara was actually a shield from the 25mm SKT Sumerian range.

The archer figure is simply PE4 with spear removed and shield arm replaced by a bow.
 

Corps XXIII - Another use for Phrygians...

... As the Lydian component of Corps XXIII.

The Phrygian figure is a good enough example for 'in Greek dress'.
Acting as 'pre-hoplite spearmen' this was the first complete unit of Phrygians I painted - as shown by the better than current paint job plus the fact that I tried the dip on them.

Must admit I like the colour scheme on these figures.
Must do some more Phrygians at some stage - got plenty of unpainted figures, for example about 50 unpainted ones were included in one of my batches from Harry!

Sunday 23 August 2020

Corps XXI, Ligyes, Mariandeni and Cappadocians.

Having used the Grant Persians for Corps XX and Phrygians for Corps XXII it left Corps XXI.
Wanting this Corps to have a different feel from Corps XX so I've made them a bit 'brighter'.

Which takes longer to paint but looks pretty good really. Though taking the picture with too much light at their back doesn't really show that off.

Quick comparison with Corps XX - Grant really seemed to like that mauve colour for hs Persians!

And likewise completely different to the supposed similar Corps XXII - but when you've got a figure described in the catalogue as Phrygian, and which looks more like my own view on how a Phrygian should look... To be honest, I feel that I should have worked out how to justify more Corps using these figures!


Thursday 20 August 2020

Identifying figures in The Ancient War Game

Is not always easy and I really should have given a few comparisons before... So here's one that matches a figure to a battle, another that simply identifies a figure that was in an unexpected placee.

I should have included this picture when dealing with Corps XX - it's hard to tell, but I think that these are the figures listed in the Plataea game as Median Javelinmen (javelins and shield) - picture is from page 90.

This picture shows Airfix Egyptian conversions facing Garrison Assyrians - page 54. The Assyrian javelinmen were a puzzle for a while - Harry and I discussed them a few times until it became obvious. All the others are 20mm range - these are from the 25mm chariot! Further, pictures of them even appear on 21 and 49 - just wasn't thinking in terms of the 25mm range!
Sadly, I don't own any of these Assyrians or Egyptians...

Usual copyright notice - The Ancient War Game was published by A & C Black Ltd and copyright 1974 (the estate of) Charles Grant





Wednesday 19 August 2020

'The only figures in the collection that really show their age'

Not all of the Grant collection are in good condition...
28 Persian light cavalry converted to Assyrian light cavalry. They are the figures shown on page 48 of the Ancient War Game.


A bit tatty and a few spears are missing - though it would be possible to restore a lot of these.

Standard bearer showing a much neater join between wrist and hand than I tend to manage. The standard has lost what I assume to be a skull! For me, the most impressive part of the figures is the helmet work.

This is the picture on page 48 showing the unit. The skull standard is clearly visible!

The unit sems to have seen a lot of action and (I think) is seen here losing to some chariots in the Apocryphal Well battle. It's quite difficult to identify some of the units on these old black and white photos.
Usual copyright notice - The Ancient War Game was published by A & C Black Ltd and copyright 1974 (the estate of) Charles Grant

Tuesday 18 August 2020

Corps VI Lycia

I've always liked the Lycian Corps - it's quirky.
Finally got enough of the archer figure to make up a unit/Corps.

The main figure is simply the armoured Greek archer with a head swap and added goatskin cloak.The standard is from the Rose Egyptian standard bearer.

I wasn't happy about the other variant I did, plus even fewer of them were coming out. I settled for putting them on separate bases so that, if needed, I could field an eight base/24 figure unit.

The 'original' conversion attempt didn't make it to the production mould - never liked my attempts, still like the pose but I've got the unit I need now so...

Of course I already had some Lycians - Minifigs figures with a 25mm converted Garrison standard bearer - I picked up the idea from a John Tuckey figure seen at one of his convention displays! I generally prefer these figures to my current conversions. I also painted them better. Especially the cloak.



Monday 17 August 2020

Corps XX, Recruiting a few more Grant Garrison Persions for the Greek War...

There are a lot of Corps involving Persian types with smallish shields and javelins/spears - basically, minor differences distinguishing the different Corps. The 'Paphlagonian' style according to Greek and Persian Wars includes a plaited helmet rather than the Paphlagonian helmet, plus the shield is just described as a small shield. OK, another tribe listed for that general area, the Drilae at the time of Cunaxa, gerra... so I'm going to say that, in general, I'll use figures with the violin shield as the shield of choice for peltast equivalents, not sure yet about psiloi types...
These Grant figures are a bit of an anomaly. Very simple costume and generally look unfinished - look at the paintwork on the arms holding shields. The unit was originally 20 strong but two of them snapped off their bases.

I'm wondering whether these figures were rushed for a game or something then just not gone back to - something I can relate to well on some of my early armies! There is still some detailing though, for example the daggers.
Being so plain I think I'll use these as Paphlagonians and the ones I'm painting up as Corps XXI, the Cappadocians - being listed as 'Syrians' make it sound as though they should be a bit more colourful. None of these three Corps - XX, XXI and XXII, will look anything like the figures in Greek and Persian Wars!

The second Corps of PE3  currently on the paint bench, that will suffice for Corps XX and XXI - meanwhile, Corps XXII, including Phrygians, has been 'Garrisonised' by using the Garrison Phrygian...

Some Grant Byzantines

Not many of these, but beautifully painted...
A total of 21 archers including a standard bearer who's lost his standard.

Strangely these figures have nearly blue coloured bases like some of the Persians - no idea why.

5 more nicely painted figures.

The faces actually have character!

And finally a couple of Roman ballistae - 'normal' green bases.

One weird thing... list of followers seems to have gone from my blog again!

Sunday 16 August 2020

A few 'forgotten' Persians...

As in, they weren't in the display cabinet and I found them when I was sorting the Byzantines...
These are really well painted figures.

I didn't get a good shot of the standard - quite a nice bull's head.

The 'army' itself was still set up so I've rearranged things to get a decent shot - I'll also retrospectively include this picture in the original posting!
And then I'll start taking a few pictures of the Byzantines as originally intended!