JohnBee and the Ancient War Game

 

Don't think I've ever posted these pictures before - some JohnBee Egyptians I got off ebay years ago.

The fact that JohnBee figures were basically Airfix conversions is pretty obvious in these photos...

However, the main use purpose of this post is an id question. I'd always thought that the Egyptian infantry in the Ancient War Game were themselves direct Airfix conversions. Now I'm wondering if some of them were actually JohnBee figures...

At the very least, this lot are based on Airfix. Are they JohnBee? Don't know - poor quality picture, some may (may!) be carrying another javelin in their left hand but... So don't know, but seems reasonable.

On other things, starting a Shem army. The S&S Range figure don't quite fit the description of Shem soldiers but the Assyrian Range does. So I'm painting up a 24 figure unit of 25mm Garrison Assyrians - and it's slow work! Glad it's not a 48 figure unit.

Next, re Black Tree - after the figures arrived I sent a 'figures have arrived Email and asked, well, actually 'Hi John Figures arrived safely today thanks. Should I order more figures, what would the normal expected delivery time be? Thanks'. Guess what? Two weeks later, still no reply. I won't be ordering any more figures from them until I get a reply. Might send another follow up email, they have a lot of figures I would like but...

The Amazonia Zoo

 Living where I do, this could get confused with the Amazona Zoo in Cromer. However, that is spelt without the 'i', so they are different.

This army has a strong tiger element.

Only a very confident enchantress would dare to RIDE a tiger...

I've rebased the beast mistress from an 80mm base to a 60mm one - looks a lot better.

Finally decided to put 3 tigers on a base to act as beasts!

Pegasus had to be painted white... I'm never happy painting greys and here I think the photo (for once) looks better than the original!

Still messing with Amazon spears/javelins/cavalry... 

I'm very happy with the way the 20mm cavalry legs fit on a 25mm horse - so the Amazon top and Greek 20mm legs combination works well.

Still needs a bit of filing/filling, but this spear figure worked realy well - it's come out a bit taller and looks good!

This one should make the cut!

It seems that the '20mm' figures are even more use than I thought.

However I'm not as certain it would work with shields facing front.

One thing that worked - they fit quite well together. It's very rough  - I haven't bothered tidying things up. Especially the right shoulder!

Now all I need to do is get a few good fits together to put on a mould.

Amazon LI and spears update

Only did a unit of 6 and based them as light infantry - not a troop type associated with Fantasy but then I'm not really following any set of rules/traditions slavishly anyway. They're not as 'weak' as they appear though - after all, Lybians were basically shieldless javelinmen.    

Initial lot of 'proof of concept' figures finished with an addition. I've realised that the slimline Amazons fit in quite well with the slimline early Garrison figures - these are really 25mm themselves, I ONLY call them 20mm to distisinguish them from the later 25mm Ancient ranges. So the figure second from the left is a chimera utilising a Greek hoplite like the one standing next to it.

Still not sure which of these (if any) will make it to mould status though. All three have their advantages and disadvantages. Comments welcome!

Amazons with pointy sticks

Starting work trying to find an alternative to bow armed Amazons. Mainly two or three spear/javelin armed figures. Firstattempt is the simple method of cutting the fan of the slave girl with fan to a spear point.

After doing a few I accidentally cut a spear point 'wrong' and it looks better! So a couple more of these made for a mould.

Meanwhile also working on a heavier spear woman and a light javelin woman.

Still working on the proof of concept models - I'm giving the spear woman a complete cloak rather than the scarf of the original, I need to close the hands up and I'll be a bit more careful with the angle of the shields on the arms. Overall, looking good.

Tigers and Amazons

Not sure if this is a Beastmistress or Enchanter with pets...

Haven't decided what to do with the unbased tigers - base some as beasts or leave them 'unattached'? Or paint a few more of course.

Couple more of these units would be a good spine for the army. They're a surprisingly pleasing unit.

Purely archery based infantry would be a bit fragile - I'm working on spear/javelin armed infantry at the moment.

Actually I'm also looking at these archers as the top half of some cavalry.

Enchantress and Slave Girl with Fan make a good officer/standard bearer combination. Fan bearer is being considered as a spearman - just convert the fan as a spear. An alternative is to use the Dancing Girl as a javelin armed figure. Not sure what shields to use though.

Blacktree order has arrived!

 

Order arrived today. Ordered on 6th February  so 5-6 weeks. A bit of a wait, if they had answered emails or told me it would take this long it wouldn't have been a concern. Still, they've arrived so I'm quite happy to put in a second (small) order in - but not about to risk a large order.

Emperor Dalek against normal monster army Dalek. Perfectly acceptable scale wise though probably the worst actual model. The Cyberleader is a bit bigger than the cybermen I have but that is perfectly acceptable to me.

Next, squad of Movellans. Quite nice figures in useful poses.

Comparison with my simple attempt - they match size-wise, so perfectly compatible with my Retro range.

Likewise, they fit in well with other Garrison figures. Overall, useful range that matches other 25mm ranges. These are actual more useful to me than the Crooked Dice figures which are 28mm! Plus they cost a lot less!

So, worth going on with using Blacktree for now - though I'm sticking with small orders!

Amazon Queen in chariot

 

Actually finished both the queen and a 'line' chariot.

For the Queen's chariot I used Persian chariot horses. 

The plume is more impressive and it has reins moulded with the horse...

Also finished the line chariot. I'll make at least one other using the SS64 Dancing girl girl instead of SS61 Amazon Enchantress as the charioteer.

For reins I used something from a previous hobby - fly tying. There is a very useful range of materials to be found in the fly tying hobby! There is a wide range of tinsels available, for example from Veniard.  Been using their stuff for 60 years...

Reply/Update from Black Tree...

Follow up re my Black Tree order.

 'Hi Rob,

I understand your concerns.

Your order is in transit to Cornwall and will arrive soon. Unfortunately DHL have screwed up and shipment was delayed and was then missent to Germany. I have the confirmation that they are sending the shipment to the UK right away. We will have your order shipped to you immediately it arrives.

Sorry for the troubles.

Cheers, John'

First contact after three emails from me over the last few weeks... my last one being three days ago 'As you will appreciate, I am getting a bit concerned...' - original order was placed on 6th February. But at least I have had a reply.

As I recall, the following has been on their website from around the time I placed the order and it is still there:

' Recently our main shipping provider for international orders misplaced and failed to scan a large multi shipment, because of this several orders were delayed much longer then we’d ever like and for that we sincerely apologize, we were as much in the dark as you due to this and never want to disappoint with delayed orders.

Thankfully said package was located and tracking updated, all orders are en route! If you have any questions of concerns please reach out to us at the listed email below, we’re working over time to address all queries and thank you for your patience.'

Anyway, we'll see what happens.

Amazons - a work in progress

 

Very much in the unfinished experimental stage - the tiger, for instance, has been 'borrowed' from theTuranians! SS59, Amazon Queen with tiger on lead following Amazon Enchantress on riding tiger.

SS61 Amazon Enchantress and SS37 Amazon archer - blue bases because they are going to be chariot crew. The shading looks a lot heavier in the photos than on the figures!

Probable general or Queen in SSS1 Stygian chariot. The horses are from the Person chariot... they have reins attached. Probably my favourite current horse option but... standard Stygian chariot horses on same mould as the rest of the chariot. To use this variant I have to cast a separate Persian chariot for the horses - and the reins don't always come out well.

Enchantress as charioteer with archer in standard Stygian chariot. Certainly the more viable option and I may even add reins! Wish now I hadn't painted both chariot bodies the same!

So still a lot to do but in a week or two I could have the basis of a viable Amazon army. Might even see if I can have a go at converting some of the Amazons to make a few heavier infantry.

Zangiran infantry, SS89 and 90

I decided to do these as Bw(X), rank of spears in front of rank of archers on the same base. That just seemed to be the right way of basing these. Strangely, on this frontal view the second rank is very well hidden!

One thing I hadn't considered is that are quite compact - fitting them on 60mm deep bases  leaves a big gap behind them! 

I don't feel I had any choice in the colour scheme for this unit - red and black just seemed obvious. The shield looked a bit bare so I felt it needed something else - they're supposed to be golden dragons...

One thing I did do was only have 3 figures in the second rank. This was done so that they could fire through the gaps in the front rank - could have done four with one not 'protected'  but decided against that idea!

Playtime?

 

First thing is playing around with the Amazons. So I'm trying out giving them a charot. The Queen by herself in a Stygian chariot.This is my first thought - might try Persian chariot horses later. Next a rank and file chariot. This lot  should give the Amazons a useful cavalry force.

Getting back to mould replenishment. Persian infantry and  the Medieval Scottish infantry. Should make life easier in the future - apart from anything else I'm putting the archer from the chariot on a production mould in it's own right - it deserves more than just appearing in chariots. Likewise, I've also included the armoured Greek archer with them - recently found out I didn't have the figure on a 9" mould, just the 12" moulds that are too big for  my Tiranti spincaster.

Tiranti has a new owner, Pottercrafts, but still have their own site. So this is my first order since the take over - delivery rapid and no problems. I don't like Tiranti moulds - they break too easily - but can be useful for producing a few masters. Plus I'll do a drop casting mould for the dragon which I can't currently cast - it's on 12" moulds and won't fit on a 9" mould. Some messy times ahead for me.

Never tried Chavant to embed the masters in - bought some of the softer type. 

So got a few things to get on with over the next few weeks...