Moulds RY161 and RY162 Fantasy Medieval Arab infantry

Moulds now back from Pete. This one consists of robed Arab infantry, I have done a couple of test runs and they seem OK.

 

And this lot are the Turkish style tunic and trousers figures. Normally I wait a month or so for the mould to post cure a bit more but think I'll be churning out regiments a lot sooner than that!

Fantasy Muslim regular cavalry 2

 

This finishes my 'establishment' for my nominal town/sultan's regular  cavalry force.

Probably should have spent more time on the standard!

Meanwhile, going through the painting production line are a unit of Sarmatian Rhoxalani and a unit of nominal Lombards - lance rather than javelin armed! I'm currently looking at doing 3 Rhoxalani units and 2 Lombards - the Lombards then giving me a complete DBA army! 

The mould this lot are on have so far produced a bit under 100 figures with about another 50 or so wanted for future units. Add to that the figures I needed to get the infantry master cast. So how does this fit in with my 'costing' structure?

Moulds, metal, energy costs and (? - hobby!) time. To get a mould and figures made tends to be expensive - can't afford to have a mould made to produce 20 figures! So how do I cost it?

I'll use this as a starting point. When I was trying to get Minifigs to either start production of the S Range Ancients or let me buy the range they said they had to have guaranteed sales of about 800 per figure. That's... not my starting point!. For me, I look at a price of £1.25 per infantry figure or rider. Metal costs about 25-30p, no idea what electricity costs per figure, and then a mould costs about £100 each. So very roughly if every 'spare' penny went into buying a mould then about 100 figures makes a mould cost effective for me. Selling figures, not inclined to give my time up for free so I split it - 50p to the mould, rest to me. Actually as metal costs a bit more than 25p a figure and as I have to pay tax on 'profits' it probably knocks it down to 35-40p or less per figure for me.  Shouldn't forget any discounts such rounding down the bill or giving free postage for larger orders, likewise the cut PayPal takes... Anyway, bottom line is that for a commercial Garrison mould rather than a personal Garrison mould I probably need at least 200 figures per mould for it to be worthwhile. 

Some moulds will never pay back the 'investment', others way over achieve. Overall though Garrison more than pays for itself, and, happily, I'm able to have quite a few new moulds made to replace old moulds or just to make it quicker to cast figures by making the content of each mould a lot more logical than the haphazard moulds I originally bought!

Fantasy Muslim Regular cavalry

 

Lance and shield armed cavalry, basically regular or paid retainer armed and equipped by a town, city or sultan.

I painted these with a mail shirt rather than have them unarmoured - historical I would have had them without armour, fantasy always armoured! Also left all of these figures with plumes intact!

I've used the sword and shield armed figures for the officer and standard bearer - there is also a figure like this with a bowcase for double armed light cavalry.

Standard is from the 25mm Sassanid range. The mould I'm getting made has this standard as one of the spaces taken up.

Fantasy Muslim elite cavalry

 

Have to be elite, no way this lot would ever settle for being some lowly militia outfit!

I've painted some Sarmatians with bronze horse armour; thought brass would be better for these but didn't like the result. Went for scale armour using alternate metalic colours instead - works well.

These figures are unusual - generally scaling figures up like this is a disaster. Thi lot, even though the paintwork isn't exactly neat or precise, still look good in my view! Really pleased with this unit. May not be an accurate depiction of Medieval Muslim cavalry, but like the look for a Fantasy unit.

Meanwhile, as these were close to finished, the next lot are on the table. These would make a town guard or militia...

Getting Arab infantry moulds ready

Still a little bit of work to do, but figures for the Arab and 'Turkish' infantry should be going off soon to have moulds made.

There's a lot on these moulds! Robed figures include, spearmen, swordsmen, riflemen and archers. I wasn't sure about standards but have decided to use a Sassanid standard - the spearmen or swordsmen are easy conversions and with two points of attachment the joints should be strong. Saves having four separate figures! I'm looking on these figures to be basically wild desert tribesmen. Didn't do  a robed cavalry figure but I think one of the unmodified Achaemenid Persians will do that job.

The tunic/trousers mould includes some J/Bw/Sh light cavalry to give a bit of variety. Figures themselves - apart from the cavalry and javelinmen perhaps a bit more 'regular'? Spearmen backed by archers or rifles as a kind of palace guard, town militia or government troops? Unmodified Rose Zulu war figures make good Ottomans as they are - good for 20mm, though bit small for 25mm.

I must admit I've been surprised at how this lot of figures has grown in scope - I was originally just going to do one mould for all the infantry! Figures are a bit variable, but with uses in both 'normal' wargames and Pulp scenarios I'm quite pleased with them.

First of the Fantasy Arab cavalry

 

A mix of them shooting arrows and waving swords around...

I've been just casting cavalry recently - Arabs/Turks. Rhoxolani, Goths - and have quite a few in various stages of completion. All while still looking at figures to convert for the infantry moulds.The rest of this year is going to be busy!

Mould 160 and some immediate consequences...

 

Normally I let a mould stand for a month or so to post cure before I start casting. This one I started casting and converting straight away... this lot are the initial proof of concept figures (cast and converted 1 day, painted next day... proof of concept, not masterpieces!)

I realised that I could do with a J/Sh/Bw light cavalry figure so these are 'first attempts'.

These are the infantry figures I had originally intended to do - did 2 robed archers because first one looked a bit short. The infantry spearman is not just a version of the cavalry figure above - that figure is a  horse archer, the infantry figure is just spear/javelin and shield.

Hadn't originally intended to do this one - simply basing the cavalry figure - because I didn't think it would work. I did four because I wanted to see if they would make a decent city militia or guard - on balance, think it does work.

This is the mould - quite crowded and has a lot of potential... Rhoxolani, Goths, Fantasy Arabs...

The first horse archer unit is already undercoated...

And I've also cast units of Rhoxolani, armoured Arabs and Goths.

Dr Frankenstein, I presume?

 

So, having decided that the Rose colonial figures  seemed the best bet, my first move was to start chopping figures up...

Proof of concept figures. The one in the middle is simply the Garrison Mameluke stuck to a base. It makes a good officer and already has a carbine. The carbine looks crude, but that's because it's in a carbine scabbard! Figure on the far left is a standard Rose figure. I could use these unmodified as Ottoman infantry purely using paint. The kneeling figure makes a good uniformed fantasy 'regular'. 

Comparison of various figure... overall, although Rose figures are slightly smaller and slimmer than Garrison, they are still basically compatible.Incidentally, I've left the plumes on all the figures - easier to cut plumes off figures that don't need them than add plumes to ones that do! One thing I hate are head swaps. I can never get them right.

Comparison with Jacklex - they go well together. I'm still working on the new figures - need more choices and then I will have the best ones put on a mould. Pity Jacklex are no more.

Incidentally, these new figures are causing a problem. I had pretty much sorted out what I wanted for an infantry mould... all these 'new' figures mean that I won't be able to fit everything I want on one mould, not sure I want to have two moulds made!

Note re scale: Minifigs 'invented' 25mm scale and defined it as a 6' tall figure measured to the top of the head - a 23mm tall figure would be 5'6", all these figures are roughly 22-23mm to the top of the head, so close to 'true' 25mm. 

Making Arab infantry masters

 Cavalry figures for the next mould are now with Pete. Some of these figures will then be further converted as Fantasy Arab infantry.

Meanwhile I've started with some of the robed infantry figures anyway. The one with the upright spear spear will act as a standard bearer - spear a bit short but... Torso is from the Mameluke, spear arm and robes from my robed Achaemenid Persian conversion. So a conversion made from conversions. A shield from the '25mm' Norman range gives a bit of variation...

Robed swordsmen - the one with the Khmer shield will also serve as an officer!

These are some of the figures done as 'proof of concept'. The one in Turkic clothing is simply a cavalry figure on a base. 

To do once I get the mould back - robed archer plus Turkic swordsmen, spearmen and archers. Turkic swordsman and archers are just a matter of puttting cavalry figure on a base, Arab robed archer will have the same sort of body swap as the Robed swordsmen, and the Turkic spearmen will get a new arm from an Achaemenid Persian!

Gothic, Rhoxolani and Fantasy Arab cavalry for mould...

 

Still  a bit of tidying up to do on these figures but this is generally the expected composition of the mould.

Rhoxolani Sarmatian cavalry - conversion of Sarmatian cataphract, simply cut down the kontos and add a Dacian officer's shield. Seriously wishing I had photographed these on a different coloured background - white is boring...

Gothic cavalry. Bowcase replaced by sword and figures given slight variations on shields. For standard bearers I'll just use the standard Sarmatian standard bearer but give it a shield... 

Lancers plus officer. The officer doesn't carry a bow... These figures will be mounted on a different horse.

Likewise generic Arab cavalry. The swordsman might be used as just another archer as he's got a quiver. The archer and swordsman figures are direct conversions of the 1972 Garrison Mameluke figure FNC1. 

Some of the later lance/bow/shield generic later Moslem cavalry - conversion simply consisted of giving the Sarmatian cataphract a shield. Flanked by figures on the horses I expect to use.

And this is the horse I expect to use for the lancers and horse archers.

These figures should be sent off in a couple of days. When I get the mould back the archer and swordsman  will form the basis of infantry archers, swordsmen and officers, not sure yet about the spearman element of the army.

Mould 159 Medieval Era

 

Latest mould back from Pete includes the entire Medieval Era classical range. I'll have to see how well they fit alongside the 25mm Medieval archers and xbows.

Basically means I've now got a production mould for the entire Medieval Era Range.

G18 'Hoplite with thigh armour and upper arm plates Thracian helmet crested'

 

This is another unit that has been lying around for ages. Not sure where the 'thigh armour and upper arms plates' are, but that's the written description!

Until I spotted and bought this lot I hadn't even realised the figure had been released - it's not in the 1972 catalogue. It didn't come with an officer or standard bearer so I cast them separately.

What I did have was a master figure that had lost it's spear hand. So the version I normally cast is a 'reclaimed' figure using a spear that is slightly longer than the original' Unpainted redone figure next to one of the bought figures.

Kushite cavalry

 

First 18 figure Kushite heavy cavalry unit based on the Numidian cavalry. The gloss varnish on this lot aren't making for good photos! 

I chose to do a six base unit rather than a four base unit as this corresponds to my normal infantry or light cavalry basing structure. In retrospect, should always have done it this way...

There is a second unit undercoated and waiting in the queue.

I actually did seven  elements - including a general. The Pharaoh is a Greek cavalry figure with a Rose Prestige Range head. The cavalry are a simple paint conversion - rather than sand down the Roman shield pattern I just lathered several coats of paint over the shield!

Sarmation HC Horse Archers

Rhoxolani MC - at some stage I intend to do an Alan/Rhoxolani conversion of the cataphract by cutting the kontos down, at which time I'll be able to do mixed LC/MC units with JLS/B/Sh. I painted the armour using Vallejo leather brown - can't say I like that choice, red leather would be better and use the leather brown for belts, etc.

It's a nice figure - found the masters but no record of the figure, made it as a one piece casting because the original separate rider didn't cast easily. Must admit I  like painting up the standards, just don't think of them as being in any way realistic!

Gallic chariot force

I seem to have taken a long time to paint this lot. Still, there are six of them, usually do chariots in batches of three.

They have been done as line chariots/lower class nobility. Plainer horse furniture, side panels of chariots  painted to represent whitewash. The charioteer is the Gallic archer minus his bow.

This means I now have a total of nine chariots - three higher class, six slightly lower class warriors. Might do another six in the near future - that would give a goodly force of fifteen, should be enough for most purposes...