Vanha Swordsman

During my recent spell of casting I had (continue to have) serious problems casting the Vanha archer. It became increasingly obvious that it wasn't viable any more. So a new mould is in order, but they're expensive and I needed morte than just an archer to justify the cost...

When I did Aquiland and Nemidian moulds I sorted an officer for them. OK, new project, Vanha officer. Basically cut the spear off a Vanha spearman and replace it with a suitable sword. I now have masters for Vanha swordsmen...

Not sure how well they'll cast though - the sword is very thin and doesn't do all that well when attached to other figures. I can but hope.

Zulu

When I was building my Minifigs Kushite/Blemmye armies I needed a load of cheap spearmen to act as Nobades/subject Kushite spears. The problem was solved when I picked up a couple of hundred Zulus at the bring and buy at a convention. Most of the figures are Minifigs Zulus, not convinced that  a couple aren't by other manufacturers though.

These were always going to be quick dry brush jobs. The first hundred were quickly finished and pressed into service, the rest are still being used in various ways. Might even cast up some Colonial Brits sometime.

 There's nothing else to really say about these - the time spent on each figure was minimal and I didn't use any fancy colours. Mainly lots of white.

For bright colours I waited until I did some figures for my Hyborian Black Nations army - but even these weren't exactly a major effort time-wise.

HoTT Hyborian Black Nations

Such as Kush, Darfar, Keshan, Punt and Zembabwei.

Still waiting for those birthday orders to arrive so started to look around for things to do...

Many years ago I bought a load of Zulus at a Bring and Buy to act as Nobades or Subject Kushite spearman for use in DBM Bk2 army 55.

OK, for a Black Nations HoTT army I could have simply used my current Kushite hordes... plenty of Warband lying around... but I wanted something more colourful. Cavalry, colourful enough, warband, not.

So I've painted up some of the Zulus instead.

Really, should probably have stuck with white and blue for the plumes and clothing, just couldn't resist the red.

The army would be easy to expand - got plenty of Kushite cavalry and Zulus left, plus could take it out of the Hyborian range with a couple of elephants, or perhaps some of the RAFM Um Cijo figures. However, I think that's unlikely - this particular build was more opportunism to use figures already lying around and to give a potential opponent for Stygia rather than anything else.

Another mammoth?

Why?

Felt like.

Evil Wizards and Fiery Sacrifice...

I wasn't originally going to have the sacrifice, but SS116 Maiden Burning wouldn't have it any other way...

For once I've just posted these unvarnished and unbased - they look better in 'real life' than in photographs anyway and I think that the varnish and base may make it worse.

I'm guessing these figures will find employment in my Stygian army. Once I've got a Stygian army.

SS116. An excellent figure but I might repaint the little demon before I varnish it - the highlighting looks OK on the model, but the photo shows me where I could have done it better.

SS54, Wizard of the Dark Ring. I've given him a pasty vampire/zombie colour to show that he is possessed by demons himself. Likewise the red eyes.

SS56 Priest of Matri. Or not, in this incarnation. 

The followers are just that - Followers of Set, SS57.

Mammoths and Spears

The Vanha component.

The extra 4 spears are finished, as are 2 mammoths.

The spears haven't been mounted on bases yet - my filler has run out so I need more.

 I did find enough filler for the mammoths though. Haven't spent as much time on these as I would normally. That's because the mammoth is a pain - the tusks don't fit very well in their slots so I've had to try and fit them as flush fittings. As a result the joint isn't very strong and if I knock them the tusks fall off. Normally, at the very least there would be some kind of decorative picture on the side of the howdah and probably a yellow line separating the two shades of green.

So, at the moment the 'Near East' Tarun/Turan/etc army  looks like this:

All that is now needed to complete this phase of the army is a unit of Vanha archers. After that? Trouble, armies are like Topsy, there are at least 2 cavalry and 4 infantry units I want beyond this, plus assorted monsters and beasties - must do a unit of tigers...

Breaking my own rules...

Never a good idea. One rule I have is 'always do a few extra - just in case.'

So, first unit of 12 Vanha infantry completed, my idea being 4 bases, 3 figures to a base. I've decided I don't like that, want 4 bases 4 figures to a base.... so I'm going to have to paint some more of the things.

Photos of the current batch show them unvarnished and unbased. The quilted armour was originally going to be the base colour and quilting highlighted in a lighter colour, but I haven't bothered doing anything else with it - looks fine real-size as it is.

Tarun (Turanian) HoTT army completed

At least, the basic 12 Rider elements are.

Obviously, the intention is to add various infantry and 'exotic' elements to this - a couple of Vanha mammoths and some Vanha infantry are already waiting to be painted. Likewise, I will possibly field the basic elements as 4 Rider and 8 Knight elements.

 The latest unit of the army consists of the General/Sultan of the army plus a rather large bodyguard.

 Unlike my previous attempts, this time I took the trouble of taking pictures of some of the individual pieces. The original Sultan first painted about 25 years ago takes pride of place and is accompanied by his pet tiger.

 It was at this point that I realised that I hadn't painted the sashes on the figures! Previously I had done a test figure mounted on a Byzantine fully armoured horse. When I did the actual unit I put them on Sassanid horses.

 First attempt at painting a tiger. Slightly happy with it but made sure that I took a photo of it's 'best' side!

Other pictures of the Sultan and other units of the army can be found here:
The Sultan and The Army The army link also shows other elements that may be added to the basic army.

Goblins...Elves...Khitai...

Whatever.

The Garrison High Goblin riding a lizard is like the Wraithe - begging to be put on a horse. OK, LotR/GM would have Goblins painted green and riding wolves - mine are flesh coloured and I don't see why they shouldn't be on horses.

But then, the figure will also do quite well as a High Elf cavalryman. If I wanted to go commercial I would probably do a bit of carving on the helmet and give it a new shield but for me it's OK as it stands. The Oriental look, of course, means it would stand in well as a Hyborian Khitai. The problem with that is the number needed. Only one figure on the mould because it's not really feasible to make a new mould just for this and a Khitai HoTT army would need quite a few of them. Still, it's a thought. Then again, do I really need anothe all-Rider HoTT army?

Probably, and it's a nice figure.

 This original version was cast and painted soon after I bought Garrison, so it's about 8 years old. I had intended an Orc/Goblin army then, it's taken a while to get back to it.

 I quite like the bat motif on the shield, not sure how appropriate it would be for Elves or Khitai, but then - it's fantasy anyway.

 Finally, can't stop messing about... so stuck some wings on three of the lizards... still being painted, hopefully the final product will look better than the current version.

Back to the toy shop

Having put all my eagles and dragons on green bases I really needed something on sand bases for my Eastern Fantasy nations. Back to the toy shop for inspiration and decided on...

 Somehow, a dirty great big vulture seemed a better Roc than using an eagle - it looks more 'Eastern'. It's a bit wide for the base, but really looks evil!

 Likewise, I know Garrison does a neat 2 headed snake but this oversize cobra seemed right to fight on the side of the likes of Stygia. I can just see a Stygian wizard either making a standard cobra grow or produce a magical version. On this one, I decided not to smoothe the filler around the cobra's body as I like the suggestion of it's coils pushing the sand around.

 The scorpion was cheap and fits in well with deserts, so I got a couple of them as well!

Turan - Lamming reinforcements

There's nothing to say that all my S&S Hyboria figures should be Garrison. So this bunch of venerable Lamming Arabs have been invited to join the party. They even conform to the colour code, though I will have to rebase them.

They also fit in very well with the Garrison Tauran cavalry:

Turan and similar

The Garrison S&S Range is basically Hyborian, so it seems reasonable to build up a small group of Hyborian armies with them. My intention is to have about four basic armies. One will be Aquilonian, one Nimidian, one Stygian and one generic Near East Turanian/etc.

I've already got a few items that can be used as part of this generic army - and I'll use non-Hyborian troop types as well to expand them into other HoTT types as well.

So, what can I use?

Obviously SS68, the mounted Sultan/Vanha mounted swordsman is the figure to use as generals and officers. It's already appeared on this blog but might as well show him again instead of just a link:

I also want to use non-Hyborian figures, two obvious ones being SS17, the Eastern Giant, and the Admins geni, AD223. Just found I don't have a photo of the giant, but the geni looks like this:

I'll also find space for giant birds - well Rocs appear in Arab mythology so why not? Trouble is, I've already put mine on green bases whilst this army will be on sand bases. Also, not sure whether to use eagles - possibly better as Rocs - or the hawks as hawks seem to be a feature of Arab culture. Not big enough to carry an elephant, at least the models are bigger than elephants.

For elephants, I've got one Vanha elephant, but it's not really up to scratch and will need a bit of work doing to it:

The Vanha infantry themselves are liable to form the main component of any infantry force but I haven't done any yet.

The cavalry, on the other hand, are starting to look respectable.

Firstly, don't have a unit of these, but SS46 on a fully armoured horse may be a good unit to build - the horse is Byzantine.

I do, however, have a unit on the 'standard' horse.

These 'standard' heavy cavalry should set the  scene for the army. Shiny, bright block colours and units are element based - 4 elements per unit - rather than figures based. So this unit is looked on as 4 elements rather than 12 cavalrymen. I would probably normally use them as 'knights' under HoTT.

Likewise, the 'light' cavalry - Riders under HoTT though just as heavily armoured as the 'knights.' 2 to a base, 4 base unit rather than 8 figure unit. Again, nice and shiny - technically, the figure isn't as good but it looks good! The horse's face is definitely a bit crude. The horse is also a bit long for the base.

So that's where I am at the moment. cavalry probably enough for now, I need to get some infantry and an elephant or two sorted next.