Casting ZinnBrigade Prussians

Back in May...2018... or thereabouts I ordered some Prussian ZinnFiguren moulds from Germany. What, with one thing and another, I finally got round to trying them out!

I bought 2 moulds - officer/marching soldier and 2 different firing.

Moulds are neat but I was originally concerned at the lack of air channels.

It didn't prove a problem. In fact, I needed a clamp to hold the moulds together - elastic bands just weren't enough. To spread the load on the rubber there are rigid 2mm mdf boards on the outside of the mould.

After just a couple of trials it worked - one thing, I found that metal temperatures had to be lower than for spin casting.

Initial trial batch - by the end of the holidays I hope I will have cast quite a few of these.

Setting up for Christmas

As I said, once the tree goes up painting stops...

Tidied up painting desk before...

After putting tree up...

Last figures this year

As I've mentioned, once the tree goes up I lose access to my painting desk. So this lot are probably the last lot of figures I'll get finished this year. As it is, I only painted the horses - the riders were bought ready painted. I don't know whether it happens today, but back in the early 70s 'S' Range and early PB riders were moulded with saddles attached and the horses were were bare backed - so quite a few people would only buy a few horses and just swap the riders for the battle they were fighting. So these days I buy some riders that never had their 'own' horses - happily, Garrison horses usually do the job!

Figures in pretty good condition though one has lost his plum,e (me being ham fisted!)

Simple paintwork - personally, I don't think I could ever leave the shields that plain!

Bit blurred, but still shows that the Garrison horse is a reasonable fit. I didn't bother touching up the paintwork on the riders - it isn't really all that noticeable on the table.

Early Persian field army, Winter Review

My early Persian armies have expanded quite a bit this year so it seemed like a good idea to hold some kind of Review. Sheer logistics meant restricting the army to Garrison line infantry/sparabara with a few supporting cavalry. It also gave me a good opportunity to see exactly what I had in various areas in terms of units and colour schemes. This would enable me to plan future expansion (as if...)

The army parades for the King in front of a 50p Ahura Mazda (picked up at a car boot sale)

The king and head noble (?) follow elements of an Immortal unit and Guard cavalry.

Another unit of Guard Cavalry follow the chariots.

Next, elements of 2 other Immortal units plus representatives of the Persian and Mede portion of the Empire.

The right being post of honour a complete Immortal regiment is joined by high-ranking and noble regiments of Medes and Persians. Cavalry at the back include lights and line heavies.

Some line Persian/Mede regiments in front of the Ahura Mazda.

However, the field army has more than just Medes and Persians in it - Elamite and Saka/Dahae infantry backed by line heavy cavalry and Scythian light cavalry.

In total, about 60 cavalry and 350 infantry. Not massive in relation to my total Persian army, but looks good as part of a standing field army! Also, worth comparing with my last Review and remembering many of the infantry here weren't around then.

Meanwhile, still casting the robed figures like mad and also want to cast a few more Guard cavalry...  Also thinking about next year. Want to get some Roman armies sorted - shouldn't be difficult but I just don't seem to manage - did do most of a small Irregular army once, plus   a larger Airfix Roman one (including light infantry and cavalry conversions) about 45 yrars ago. Might also start 7YW British or German force... though not sure my eyes could cope with the painting.

Tidying up some Persians.

When I first started using the body filler basing method I originally intended to just use that as a base before adding flocks, etc. As such I experimented with a number of colours for the base, usually an earth colour. Finally decided it's time to get some some of these units up to the 'Chapter Approved' (is that an actual GM Trademark?) colour standard so I've overpainted the earth colour on a couple of units with an olive green/green sky paint mix.

One of my 'original' generals from way back 10 years or so back - the army standard was one of my first Garrison conversions after I bought the range.

Figures from the original Garrison range. The archer is still one of the mainstays of my Persian army, the javelinman/spearman  isn't used as much as it should be!

Garrison conversions, the figure holding the Spara works equally well as a Sassanid levy if I ever get round to it.

Side view - note the originals are in a later Achaemenid scheme.

Another unit of Garrison robed sparabara.

Partly because I like them I seem to be painting a lot of the Garrison Persian robed sparabara conversions. The Immortal figure, for example, I consider to be a poorer design - one thing is that the spears are very fragile. So, another unit of the Persian levy. Again, I'll point out that they should be Medes, but I'm aligning my id of the figure to the Minifigs Mede and Persian figures, so the figures I call Persian are actually Medes and the figures I call Medes are Persians... anyway, I know what I mean...

Again, I've gone for a 24 figure/3 element unit.

3 views...

And an enlarged picture to show up every painting imperfection.

And a picture of the original Garrison Immortal mentioned earlier.

Persian Hordes

A bit over  a year ago I mentioned that I'd painted up a unit of Hordes for my Persians but didn't get round to basing them. I thought that, perhaps, I would base them in the New Year. In a way I was wrong and have actually based them before the New Year. I just hadn't stipulated which New Year...