15 mm Arab Medium Spear (Forged in Battle & Essex)

Here's the latest addition to my Arab Conquest army for Art de la Guerre (ADLG).  It is the penultimate group of infantry in my army.

I now have eight bases of medium spearmen and one command base (an extra).  This allows me to field up to four ADLG units each of two bases.  As I've explained before, Arab medium spear can add missile support (for one extra point) which makes them that bit more robust and useful.

So far I have painted all the various types of light infantry and medium archers I need.  Now that I've finished these spear I only have the heavy infantry to do; then I can start on the cavalry.

Figure review
The majority of the figures are Forged in Battle's WE-AC06 Arab Spearmen and I managed to get eight varied bases from a standard pack of 24 figures.

The Forged in Battle figures come in a variety of poses but in the pack I received there were 7 of one pose.  Not ideal, but I think I was probably unlucky.  Otherwise, the figures were as I've come to expect if not a little better (see previous posts in the series for detailed comments).

The command stand is all from Essex; bought second hand as a job lot. They are from packs AEA9 & AEA11.  I've now used nearly all the figures in the job lot so it's turned out to be a real bargain.

The Essex figures are just a touch less stocky than the Forged in Battle castings but not markedly so.  In hindsight, I should have put a piece of card under the Essex figures to boost them ever so slightly.

Flags to download
The flag I've used is one of those I posted in August.  My only regret is that the flags are so narrow that it's almost impossible to drape them so they look somewhat static; if accurate.

Heavy metal tip
Ever since I returned to wargaming in the 1990s I have used metal bases.  I really like the heft it gives the bases plus, with magnetised toolboxes and Really Useful Boxes, safe transport is guaranteed.

However, ADLG medium and heavy infantry units are composed of two standard DBx elements (so 40 & 30 mm deep respectively) and if they have missile support a marker of some sort is required.

To make play easier I made simple magnetic sabots from MDF bases and strong magnetic vinyl.  For missile supported units I made deeper sabots to accommodate a light infantry archer base as a marker.

All told this has three advantages: the units stay together during play, they are easier to move, and the thicker bases are much easier to pick up without touching the figures.  Aesthetically, I like the simple black finish; they frame the figures really well. 

On to the heavy spear now.

List of all the project posts