Amazon Army Review

The army is now officially complete. Of course, that doesn't mean I won't be adding units to it - got enough figures for another archery unit and spear armed cavalry unit lying around staring at me...

Another thing I really should do is snip the fans off a few fan bearers to make that light infantry unit up to six elements - they were a test unit anyway.

The Queen passing behind the Nobles in their chariots.

Guard heavy cavalry in front of a medium cavalry unit. I was sorely tempted to add a third spear/shield unit but haven't.

The 'line' infantry - two archer units in front, three spear armed units in the rear.

The spear armed units include two medium spear units flanking a Guard heavy infantry unit.

Two units of horse archers. The extreme left flank unit with the tiger riding officer is an actual conversion - archer top on cavalry legs and a new bowcase. The other unit is the original - an ordinary archer with the base removed and sanded between the legs until it fit on a horse. The horses have been angled so that the archers aren't shooting their neighbours!

The non-human component! Tigers and Pegasi with an enchantress riding a tiger.

That's probably it for units before Christmas - got some individual figures I can get on with before the tree goes, covering my painting station and ending painting until the tree comes down in January!

Amazon heavy cavalry

My normal cavalry squadron is 12 figures. For this lot, I went for 18 figures so that it covered 6 bases.

 

For shield blazons I've continued the animal theme, in this case by using a stag.

The armour is just paint. It works really well.

I went for something different for the command element. The commander is MID3, Midianite Princess on camel. Standard bearer is simply SS62, slave girl with fan, with the base cut off and made to fit on a horse. And finally the defining feature of my Amazon army - a tiger.

Amazon army update

 Figures for new mould have arrived with Pete Brown. Meanwhile I've done everything I intend to on the army until it comes back - unless... MOULD UPDATE! -Pete has also posted it today! (23/10)

It wasn't intended to be this big, but it's still too small for a 'proper' Review.

The figures have been displayed in single ranks rather than my usual double ranks. Makes the army look bigger.

Cavalry are very much prototypes... the horse archer is hopefully going to be supplemented by actual conversions and the spear/shield cavalry tidied up a bit. I expect to do a couple more squadrons of spear/shield cavalry and at least one other horse archer squadron.

General reviewing the troops as she passes behind Pegasus. Although there was only one Pegasus in 'real' mythology I'll probably do a herd.

Another lot I'll probably extend. It could be quite spectacular. 

One thing I thought of but didn't do was use the Enchantress riding a tiger as a cavalry officer. Might consider that in future.

25mm Amazon army

 

Current state of the Amazon army. Not big enough yet for a Review, but seemed they deserved to have some sort of parade.

Right flank guarded by the new conversions. I expect the final army to have another one of these units.

The centre. Pegasus, the general and a chariot in front of a unit of archers. I expect to do a few more chariots plus at least two more infantry units - one of archers, one of spears.

Left flank.  A poorly equipped unit of spears in front of the exotic part of the army. Beastmistress on the right, Sorceress on a tiger in the middle and a bunch of beasts on the end. This part of the army is probably complete unless I add more tigers. 

Zenobia... keep wondering whether I should find a place for her in the army...

A few conversions waiting to be cleaned up and sent away to have a mould made. The ones in the middle with the hoplons would probably make up the spear armed infantry unit, the spearwomen pointing may end up as chariot crew. Haven't checked it yet but the middle spearwomen may be convertible to cavalry as well.

So naturally after writing the above I removed the base from the original conversion and put it on a horse...

No frills on the painting - getting theidea and finishing with this took about  12 hours, though I did do a few other things in that time as well... As a figure, works well and I've also done one for a mould... Quite possible to do a couple of units eventually?

Amazon cavalry

Converted from the foot archer by the simple expedient of cutting off the base then grinding the area between the legs until the figure fits on a horse - I've used Persian horses for these.

I went for a simple paint job. I'll probably do another unit at some stage - easy to do - I won't be putting these on a mould. Must get a mould made for the other Amazon infantry conversions.

The Amazonia Zoo

 Living where I do, this could get confused with the Amazona Zoo in Cromer. However, that is spelt without the 'i', so they are different.

This army has a strong tiger element.

Only a very confident enchantress would dare to RIDE a tiger...

I've rebased the beast mistress from an 80mm base to a 60mm one - looks a lot better.

Finally decided to put 3 tigers on a base to act as beasts!

Pegasus had to be painted white... I'm never happy painting greys and here I think the photo (for once) looks better than the original!

Still messing with Amazon spears/javelins/cavalry... 

I'm very happy with the way the 20mm cavalry legs fit on a 25mm horse - so the Amazon top and Greek 20mm legs combination works well.

Still needs a bit of filing/filling, but this spear figure worked realy well - it's come out a bit taller and looks good!

Amazon LI and spears update

Only did a unit of 6 and based them as light infantry - not a troop type associated with Fantasy but then I'm not really following any set of rules/traditions slavishly anyway. They're not as 'weak' as they appear though - after all, Lybians were basically shieldless javelinmen.    

Initial lot of 'proof of concept' figures finished with an addition. I've realised that the slimline Amazons fit in quite well with the slimline early Garrison figures - these are really 25mm themselves, I ONLY call them 20mm to distisinguish them from the later 25mm Ancient ranges. So the figure second from the left is a chimera utilising a Greek hoplite like the one standing next to it.

Still not sure which of these (if any) will make it to mould status though. All three have their advantages and disadvantages. Comments welcome!

Amazons with pointy sticks

Starting work trying to find an alternative to bow armed Amazons. Mainly two or three spear/javelin armed figures. Firstattempt is the simple method of cutting the fan of the slave girl with fan to a spear point.

After doing a few I accidentally cut a spear point 'wrong' and it looks better! So a couple more of these made for a mould.

Meanwhile also working on a heavier spear woman and a light javelin woman.

Still working on the proof of concept models - I'm giving the spear woman a complete cloak rather than the scarf of the original, I need to close the hands up and I'll be a bit more careful with the angle of the shields on the arms. Overall, looking good.

Tigers and Amazons

Not sure if this is a Beastmistress or Enchanter with pets...

Haven't decided what to do with the unbased tigers - base some as beasts or leave them 'unattached'? Or paint a few more of course.

Couple more of these units would be a good spine for the army. They're a surprisingly pleasing unit.

Purely archery based infantry would be a bit fragile - I'm working on spear/javelin armed infantry at the moment.

Actually I'm also looking at these archers as the top half of some cavalry.

Enchantress and Slave Girl with Fan make a good officer/standard bearer combination. Fan bearer is being considered as a spearman - just convert the fan as a spear. An alternative is to use the Dancing Girl as a javelin armed figure. Not sure what shields to use though.

Amazon Queen in chariot

 

Actually finished both the queen and a 'line' chariot.

For the Queen's chariot I used Persian chariot horses. 

The plume is more impressive and it has reins moulded with the horse...

Also finished the line chariot. I'll make at least one other using the SS64 Dancing girl girl instead of SS61 Amazon Enchantress as the charioteer.

For reins I used something from a previous hobby - fly tying. There is a very useful range of materials to be found in the fly tying hobby! There is a wide range of tinsels available, for example from Veniard.  Been using their stuff for 60 years...