28 mm Commanders (Essex Miniatures)

When I placed my last order with Essex I decided to buy a few extra figures to add some variety to the long slog of painting a 15 mm Hellenistic army.  I ended up with commanders for three of my Art de la Guerre (ADLG) collections: Hellenistic, Arab Empire, & Ilkhanid Mongol.

The figure is based on a magnetised 40 mm plywood base which is the same size as my 15 mm ADLG command bases. My plan is to use them as CinCs during competitions. Afterwards they will be retired and placed in my display cabinet.

Book Reviews - David O. Morgan

This is something of a first.  Instead of reviewing the books I want to focus on the author.  David Morgan died in 2019 but left behind a significant body of work.

I first came across his book on Medieval Persia by chance last year when I was looking for books on the Arab Conquests.  Purchased second hand, the first edition was both a bargain and a delight.  With a clear, concise and approachable style the book dealt with all the rulers of post Arab Conquest Persia with aplomb.

What I Have Painted Recently

I haven't written a post like this for a while but recently I've been having a bit of fun working through some odd packs from my lead pile and even a few new figures.  So I ended up with quite a few finished items from different armies and periods.

First up are some Bedouin light horse using RKMA4 from Roundway with a mixture of Roundway & Donnington horses:

Afghan Light Spear

This is mainly a photo post. The figures are all Roundway and are intended as medium spear or javelinmen for my ADLG Timurid army:

The spear armed figures are RKMA8, the swordsmen are RKMU5 and are from the Mameluke and Mughul ranges respectively. They are yet another example of using a restricted colour palette.

Fortifications

In April I saw an offer on TWW from Alternative Armies for a bundle of 40 mm frontage wall sections in five different styles that was too good to miss. I ended up with a total of 2.4 m (yes metres!) for only £20.00 delivered.

Last month I finally got round to painting some:



The sections on the left are for my Later Polish army and those on the right are for my Timurid & Islamic Persian armies (hence the different basing schemes).

We All Make Mistakes

At Britcon I bought three packs of figures. One of them is shown below. They are Essex (RNO2 Azab/Turk Javelinmen). As always I really enjoyed painting them. I've painted so many Essex figures over the years that I now find them relaxing to paint.

Timurid or Persian Light Horse

I have just finished basing these. They are a mixture of Roundway and Donnington figures and horses and will see service in my medieval Timurid and renaissance Persian armies.

What I Have Painted Recently

Medieval Eastern Europe Command (15 mm Essex XMED1)
For my Later Polish or Lithuanian armies.  I posted some WIP photos in February.

Back To Medieval Wargaming - Follow Up

After last month's post I'm pleased to say that I have managed to play six medieval games.  The games used armies built from the medieval Field of Glory (FOGAM) lists but used the renaissance (FOGR) points and rules.  For those interested in more detail there's a somewhat dated comparison of the two rules sets on the Slitherine forum.

So far I have fielded a Timurid army (complete with elephants), a Later Polish army (two variants with knights and mixed battle groups), a Mongol Invasion army and an Ilkhanid Mongol army with Armenian allies.



Links to the lists are given at the end. My opponents have been variants of the early and late Russian lists.

Re-Mystified on Tour :: Stoke Challenge 2015

As you can see I did not come away empty handed from this year's Stoke Challenge.



Having said that I had a very mixed day.   Best described as follows:

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way."

Charles Dickens: A Tale Of Two Cities (1859)

My newly painted, and very recently completed, Safavid Persian army made their competitive début and were promptly and repeatedly trounced.  If you are interested my army list is available to view.  I scored a total of 5 points in three games! By far my worst competitive performance to date.  Consistently rolling 1s in Field of Glory Renaissance is never a good idea.

Home Straight

Yesterday I reached a really significant point in my Islamic Persian project: I now have all the figures I need to complete the 650 point version of the army prepared and mounted ready for painting.

The final reinforcements arrived from Navwar ten days ago.  I even bought enough figures to do the extra 150 points to bulk the army up to 800 points however that's for the future.

It's Been A While

April in the UK was warm and sunny. So apart for enjoying the weather I've been getting on trying to finish a 650 point Field of Glory Persian army for the Renaissance competition at the Stoke Challenge. I've even gone as far as writing my list and ticking off the battlegroups as I finish them.

At the moment, I have a few Turcomen to finish, along with a dozen heavy and four elite cavalry. Sadly, the last two involve horse armour with complex patterns. So far the elite horse armour is taking me 2-3 hours each! Luckily I have a quicker method for the heavy cavalry.

Another Month Nearly Over

I've just realised that it's nearly a month since my last post. So what have I been up to? Well the Islamic Persian project continues to progress. This month I have:

• Finished 4 of the second six bases of Turcoman cavalry.
• Finished 6 sample figures of armoured Persian Qizilbashes.
• Prepared the figures for two Persian command bases.
• Drafted a 650 point list to see how much more I need to paint before this year's Stoke Challenge.

The sample figures are an important breakthrough for me. The army has both Elite and "regular" qizilbashes and I need to easily distinguish between them in the midst of the hurly burly of a game. To this end I've finally decided how I'm going to do this as well as deciding how to get a touch of variety into the bases.

Almost There

A few weeks ago I wrote about my new plan for 2015. Well it seems to be working.

This morning I finished four more Islamic Persian musketeers and have the heads and hands finished of the remaining eight. Once these are finished, and based, I will have completed all the firearm infantry for my long delayed FOGR project. Plus, last week I finished four cavalry figures which means I have completed one third of the Turcoman cavalry bases I need and have more underway. Little bits and often seems to be working for me.

I would do more tomorrow but I'm planning to attend Vapnartak at York Racecourse where I'm going to give the tabletop sale a try. I'm not sure how well I will get on but if I don't try I'll never know. I'll report back next week.

Wargaming In 2015

I've been promising myself I'd write about my experiences of playing Field of Glory Renaissance (FOGR) over the last two years but my day job kept getting in the way.

The recent changes to VAT for ebooks and Corvus Belli's decision to suspend production of their 15 mm historical ranges ensured that I was propelled headlong into Christmas and kept busy until today.

After much thought I've decided to take a break from regular wargaming in 2015. "Shock horror" I hear you cry! Let me briefly explain why:

Yet More Fame

I sent Ian Kay of Irregular Miniatures a photo of one of my Persian camel gunners. I promised him one for his web site:



He's now given it pride of place on his web page.

Having painted quite a few MIP14 & 15 recently I can recommend you investigate the range if you're interested in building a Renaissance Persian army.

Indo-Persian Armour - Photo Resource

I've been following a very useful board on Pinterest:

The term "Indo-Persian armor" includes armor from Persia, Ottoman Empire, India and other nearby countries made in the Indo-Persian style. In the past terms such as "Eastern", "Oriental", "Islamic" have been used to differentiate between this type of armor and European armor types. "Indo-Persian" includes non Muslim cultures such as Hindu, Sikh and Christian use of this type of armor. Nearly identical armors can have different names depending of the country/culture of use.

Indo-Persian armour - pinterest board.

Plus there's another I've just spotted and will be following from today:

Prints reflecting the people, culture, clothing, weapons and armor of the Ottoman Empire, Persia, India and related areas. The term "Indo-Persian" includes Persia, Ottoman Empire, India and other nearby countries. In the past terms such as "Eastern", "Oriental", "Islamic" have been used to differentiate between these types of prints and prints from other regions . "Indo-Persian" includes non Muslim cultures such as Hindu, Sikh and Christian.

Indo-Persian prints - pinterest board.

 I always find resources like these help inspire my painting, especially when I get painter's block. I hope they help you.

Muslim Tents

I've had a free print subscription to Saudi Aramco World for quite a few years now. It often contains articles of historical interest and they are always lavishly illustrated in full colour.

Anyway to the point of this post. I was perusing my back issues prior to a clear out when I came across a real gem of an article from 2010 about tents in the Muslim world. I'd set it aside for future reference and I'm glad I've re-discovered it: in the next few months I will be making a start on the baggage for my Timuird / Persian / Moghul army.

If you too need inspiration it's well worth bookmarking the article. There's also a full archive online where you can download pdfs to your hearts content. Highly recommended.

Camel Gunners Finished!

Today I finished the last camel gunners for my Eastern renaissance armies (Safavid Persians & Moghuls mainly). As I've mentioned before I now have more painted camel gunners than I can possibly use.
The Field of Glory Renaissance (FOG R) list for the Moghuls has a maximum of 10 camel gunners. The Safavid Persian list has a maximum of 4. After buying another two from Irregular at Vapnartak earlier this month I have 14 and all of them painted! This means I could actually equip both armies at the same time. Such is the madness of wargamers.

When painting the last two figures I wanted to represent damascene metal work on the shields so I decided to practise first. I ended up using standard drawing pins pushed into a wine cork.

Islamic Persian Camel Gunners Part IV

I have finally finished the six Irregular Miniatures camel gunners I bought earlier this year. I posted photos of the first painted figure in June. However, I was unhappy with the shoulder cape which I initially painted to match the coat. After a limited amount of research I decided it was more likely to be leather armour and so I re-painted the first one and the remaining five to look like this:

"True scale" photo:


Warts 'n' all photo: