Persian horse archer PEC12

 

Continuing with my 'really need to paint some Persians' urge...

I have far too many of this figure than I could possibly need but really, what else could I do?

It's simply PEC4 with new arms and, well, arms. It's a nice figure and one of the few Persian cavalry conversions that I've given a code to - PEC12.

Purely for information, the cavalry conversions I've given a code to are:

PEC7 Army standard bearer

PEC8 Cavalry standard bearer

PEC9 Guard/Immortal cavalryman

PEC10 Persian robed cavalryman

PEC11 Mede robed cavalryman (no mould of this yet!)

PEC12 Persian horse archer 

PEC13 Persian horse archer, cloaked  

Review of PE3, PE4 and PEC4 infantry

 One for Anthony! Limited Review of some of the Persian infantry - I'll look at others later on as well.

Having to split it, I've started with mainly LMI based on three figures, these figures would probably form the main infantry constituent of most of my Persian armies.

To start, these ones are all based on the light cavalry figure PEC4 - though some are pretty heavily modified. Total 144 figures.

The archer conversions include both cloaked and uncloaked variations - useful for most Persian armies!

This conversion is likewise useful as a classic 'old school' figure - especially useful as bow armed Cardace infantry (I'll use Kardaka for the late hoplite-painted-as-Persians figure)

These are all straight unconverted PE3 armoured spearmen. Total 84 figures.

Well, apart from the back row of the Bw(X) element. The figure at the back was a Charles Grant figure.

This lot are all based on PE4, the unarmoured Sp/Bw/Sh figure. Total 275 figures.

These are the original PE4. The unit on the left with the blue shields are ones I got from Harry.

This conversion is potentially very useful for Sassanids as well as Achaemenids. The spara/shield is actually from the SKT Sumerian range.

A spearman carryig the archaic violin shaped shield. 

Two figures here I use as Bactrians, etc. One simply had the shield removed, the other is firing a bow. I tend to use them in mixed units.

Spear/javelinman with spear and large round shield. Useful as several of the Xerxes levies. I would have used this as a Kardaka figure but it's a pain to cast!

Like the last figure but witha smaller shield and the same general uses - though not as line Kardaka!

    So that little group totals 503 infantry figures...

Garrison Persian cavalry, 2023

 The last major Persian Review was in 2020 Since then I've done quite a lot with the Persians including Xerxes army (including cavalry), the early robed cavalry, and of course the Late National army. With all that, I thought it might be an idea to do a Review of my Garrison Persian cavalry...

This is the cavalry, chariots, camels, war wagons and elephants... 

In 2020 the mounted forces included 314 cavalry, 18 camels and 14 chariots/war wagons.

Today it's 501 cavalry (174 light, 321 heavy/medium), 17 chariots (two of them are general's chariots), 3 war wagons, 36 camels and 3 war wagons!

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War wagons, elephants and later cavalry. I've included the Sassanid elephants here for two reasons - firstly, the crew are Garrison 25mm Persians anyway, and it's unlikely that there will be a Sassanid army Review any time soon.

Up to strength with robed early cavalry - one guard, three line units. I keep thinking of painting up Assyrian cavalry as early Persians mounted on unarmoured horses - already done that with some Minifigs 'S' Range Assyrians and it works quite well.

Persian camel corps - Cyrus the Great's with towers, some Arab conversions for Xerxes, plus a unit of 'normal' Garrison camels. Which means I still need to do a unit with the other Garrison camel figure! There are another 6 Arab camels lying around somewhere...

A view of the right flank. Scythed chariots, various light and heavy cavalry including some I got from Harry. The chariots are the 'new' ones made since 2020.

Part of a back row consisting of about 200 cavalry - 150 heavies and 50 lights. Looks quite impressive on the table!

Actually, not there - I haven't included the 93 Grant Garrison cavalry!

So that's pretty much where the Garrison cavalry force is at at the moment. Still a way to go but I'm getting there.

Some spare figures...

 ...that were lying around, so I painted them.

To be fair, I've got quite a few of these painted up already. J/Bw/Sh armed figures used to be the mainstay of my Persian armies in the 70s.

Although bow armed, and should therefore be on Bw bases, I'm treating them as  line spearmen and put them on Sp bases. When you play solo games it doesn't matter anyway.

Very simple, quick paintwork - more of an aside rather than a fully fledged attempt!

Late Persian light cavalry

This is that late Persian light cavalry unit. By my reckoning I need one more...

Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars says that late Persian light cavalry were armed with two javelins made of cornel wood - as Garrison didn't make such a figure these ones are conversions.

More Warrior Immortals

By adding some Garrison officers and standard bearers I was able to muster another understrength regiment of Immortals.

There were 12 figures with levelled spears and 6 with upright spears - most of the others were in multiples of 5. Had I given all three elements an officer and standard bearer I could have made three full strength elements! 

A close up of the two different figures...

...And rear view...

Early Persian Army Review

Probably one of my smaller Garrison 20/25mm Ancient Reviews and not a lot different to the last one I did. One the other hand, it's been quite a while since my last Review, so...

Two different general's chariots. Not down as any particular general, I assume one of them is Cyrus the Great.

Right wing cavalry, front being a Guard unit. Not sure when the Guard cavalry or Immortals were actually raised but quite happy to have them in my early army.

Sparabara Immortal unit backed by a camel unit loosely based on the camel in Funken! Also not sure when the Sparabara system was invented...

Scythed chariots as per Xenophon even if his scythed chariots were an anachronism.

Left wing cavalry - this lot are the two units I've just completed. Light horses dressed like the ones at the front exist on a wall painting that included robed infantry and cavalry.  Uniform colours different though.

Different types of robed infantry - again, actual organisation that would have been used unknown. The war wagon is my version of the ones supposedly used by Cyrus against Lydia - except they were actually pulled by 80 oxen each!

View across the back of the army. Worth noting that all the figures apart from officers, standard bearers horses and camels are conversions from 'standard' Garrison figures. Conversions are always based on what I feel Greenwood and Ball should have made for the Garrison range.

Add a few camels to the mix.

 All that sorting out a while back wasn't just about finding metal to reuse, it also meant finding and putting together assorted figures from all over the place for further use. One thing that surprised me was the number of camels I had all over, including some that had already been 'recycled' by the Dettol.

So here I am with two more camel units.

I'm starting with another unit of the Funcken style camels, though this time on armoured camels.

There are 2 Garrison armoured camels - one in the early '20mm' range, one in the later '25mm' range. They are so similar in size that I'm just mixing them in the same unit! The front one is the 25mm version!

The howdahs started life as 15mm squares on a piece of card...

I think these pictures give a good idea of the construction method... the 1mm or so cut is because this is the piece that goes on the inside when gluing the two faces together - they don't want to be the same size. If you try it, it soon becomes obvious why!

Note that the howdah has no floor. It sits directly on the camel's back - if there was a floor it would sit too high. Likewise, so would the crew. So the howdah is glued directly on the camel and any crew will be glued in place directly on the camel.

So here are the 6 camels ready to be undercoated then sprayed sand/camel coloured. I'll probably glue a shield on 2 on the sides first.

The next lot is a full size unit of Arab camels. Both riders and camels have been reclaimed from other uses, the riders being one of my conversions - basically a general purpose horse archer. These still need a bit of paint removing, I thought it would certainly be easier to get the riders cleaner if they were attached to the camels - easier to hold!