My Big Fat Ancient Persian Army - Part 1 : Command, Chariots and Cavalry

 

Hello again.

 

I've put dribs and drabs of my Ancient Persian army on this blog before but I really wanted some photos of the whole collection to give better impression of the size and scope. They are used as both earlier and later Achaemenid Persians.

 

There is a mix of manufacturers as I used as many figures as I could gather over about 13 years. The basing was hugely time consuming but it was important in order to make sure everything looked reasonably compatible.

 

Starting with the various command elements, 7 chariots and 200 cavalry. 

 

I hope you enjoy this part. Next is the infantry.

 

Cheers,

Mick



 

Great King in Chariot and in camp, commander stands and individual commanders or heroes

 Closer look at the camp base - Foundry, 1st Corps and Old Glory

 Another angle - the standard bearer in the foreground is a Minifig!

Heavy Chariots - these are elsewhere on the blog. 1st Corps models

Heavy and Medium Cavalry - the rich kids of the army 

 Heavies - Ex Newline (now SHQ) probably one of few photos of these painted on the web

Foundry Heavies - featured elsewhere here. Largish figures.

My favourite cavalry unit. Some of my first cavalry figures I painted for the army. All Foundry. I usually class these as medium cavalry

 1st Corps medium cavalry

Old Hinchliffe light chariots - only good for using as mobile archery platforms. Fragile in most games  

 Another view - quite retro looking but I still like them

 A couple of smaller Scythian heavy cavalry units

 First unit. Seen elsewhere on the blog

 2nd unit - rewarding to paint but time consuming

 The light cavalry

 Another view

 And another

 Not cavalry but skirmishers used as part of the 'African' levy

2 units of light troops - Old Glory

 Arab levy camel archers - Newline and Castaway Arts models

 African light cavalry- Foundry and Hinchliffe

 6 units of horse archers - Foundry, 1st Corps and a few Newline

 Another view -I can make 4 large units if the need arises.

 Close up- some dated paint jobs but look ok en-masse

 These are Foundry Scythian models

 One of the last units put together. Light cavalry, Foundry and Warlord

 Some of the earliest figures. Hinchliffe and/or Garrison plus Foundry and 1st Corps mashed into a unit

 Another view

 A bit of detail

A bit more detail

28mm Scythian Noble cavalry - Achaemenid Persian allies

Hi All,

I've just finished two units of Scythian 'noble' cavalry from Wargames Foundry. They are to join the allied contingent of the ancient Persian horde I'm gathering.

As we know, these non-uniformed types tend to take a lot longer to paint because each figure is unique. It gives the completed mass a pleasing tribal and irregular look.

I plan to use them for To the Strongest rules. Either as two smaller units or a larger group as needed.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Cheers,
Mick

28mm Achaemenid Persian additions

Hi All,

I've managed to take some photos of my expanding ancient Persian army.

Definitely a challenge in 28mm! I'm working on more units at the moment and tidying up old paintjobs so I expect to keep this up for a few more months.

You are looking at Command groups with a 'Great King' Chariot. Scythed chariots, Skirmisher group, Light infantry group and Heavy infantry group. The latter have Greek mercenaries and imitation hoplites/Kardakes.

Figures are a variety of Foundry, Newline, 1st Corps, Old Glory and Black Tree Design. Even a Minifig guy on one command base. Bases are nearly all from Shogun.

Hope you like the photos.

Cheers,
Mick