15 mm Arab Archers LI (Forged in Battle)

After last month's flurry of posts about the 2022 ADLG Survey, not to mention all the data analysis & charts, I found time to finish off a few batches of figures.  The first to be photographed is some light infantry archers for my Arab Conquest army.

Most of the Arab Conquest lists in Art de la Guerre (ADLG) only allow 4 units (think bases) of light infantry archers, which makes them an ideal project within a project.  Of course, as a wargamer, I find things are never quite as straightforward as they first appear.

To cut a long story short, I realised it would be better to do twice as many light infantry units.  The extras will be used as missile support markers.

In ADLG missile support improves the defensive abilities of both spear and swordsmen and increases their ability to withstand an enemy charge.  Specifically, it adds 1 to the unit's score if it loses the first round of melee and cancels the furious charge of mounted opponents.  My view is that this will be a cost-effective way to bolster medium spearmen (7 points a unit plus 1 extra point for missile support).

Figure review
The figures are from WE-AC07 Arab Archers.  I bought two packs to do both light (LI) and loose medium (LMI) archers.  Both packs contained 25 or 26 figures (listed contents 24, but I got a bonus figure or two) of which most were bow armed.

Each pack contained five different poses of bow armed figures plus assorted command.  One quirk I noticed is that the heads tend to be turned to the right rather than straight ahead: it makes basing interesting.

As I've already pointed out, some needed replacement bows, but nearly all needed some preparation before priming.

There was a consistent problem with mould lines.  Nothing too serious, but they require removing.  With the archers, most had vent sprues on the bows that had to be removed very carefully.  Unlike the slinger and javelin figures, there was a certain amount of flash with these figures.  I definitely spent more time preparing these figures than the other Forged in Battle packs.

Whilst painting these I also learnt that it was worth spending a few seconds with a scalpel ensuring that the scabbard end and the lower edge of the sword belt were clearly defined.  It really made these features much easier to paint.

Slide show

List of all the project posts.