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...

Hykranian Horse Archers

First time I've managed to get past undercoating these figures - I always assumed that I would have paint them in lots of different browns. Figures are a mix of Hykranian and Mongol - makes it a much better unit - with the officer being a Mongol.

This time I said 'fantasy, going for bright colours'. Seems to have worked OK. Paint job better than the photos though!

Next thing is to try the lancer figures.

Tauran cavalry

Think I've been neglecting the S&S side recently - this lot had been undercoated for ages - finally decided to do something about them.

 

I need another unit of horse archers to go with them then start on some infantry.

Meanwhile I have also undercoated a unit of Hykran horse archers. Never know how to paint them so it should be interesting. What army they'll appear in is anybodies guess at the moment.