Being primarily a cavalry army there is not a lot of foot in a Ghaznavid army. What little infantry there exists is made up of a few Arab and Daylami allies, and a handful of Ghaznavid spear, bow and skirmishers. The DBMM army list allows only four elements of Ghaznavid spear and two each of bow and skirmishers, but given the Forged in Battle packs are comprised of 24 figures I decided to paint the whole lot on the basis that they may come in useful for other rule sets or as stand-ins:
The spear are nice little figures and are quite heavily armoured:
The pack also includes a couple of command figures:
The bowmen are similarly heavily armoured and sculpted in a straightforward firing pose:
In spite of the fact that Forged in Battle's infantry packs are sold as 24 figure bags I have noticed that most actually contain 26 figures. Given that they don't make any specific Ghaznavid skirmishers and only four figures are required, I used some of the leftover figures from the spear bow packs:
I still have the Arab and Daylami infantry to go, but that is the Ghaznavid foot now completed:
One of the nice variations in a Ghaznavid army is the use of elephants. The DBMM list allows for up to five but also has an option to remount up to three generals on elephants, so a potential eight in total:
Given that most of these are rated as superior and cost 20 points, or 36 points if a general (and a whopping 51 if rated as 'brilliant'), fielding all eight would soak up just over half of the 400 point games we usually play, but they would pack quite a punch.
Splendid brushwork, Lawrence, especially those magnificent elephants!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. Elephants always add that little bit of exotica to an army.
DeleteExcellent paintwork, Lawrence. I don't think gamers will worry too much about whether the elephants are African or Indian.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard, and you're right of course. If I was a manufacturer it wouldn't make much sense to have two types of elephants, but I still think a howdah for these guys would have been good.
DeleteCrackin work Lawrence, the figures look excellent.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray, I can see the end of the project in sight now.
DeleteBeautiful work sir!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal, much appreciated.
DeleteA lot of work Lawrence, your army looks awesome! one trick for generals riding elephants paint the cloth/rugs white with minor patterns. I agree with Richard, your wargame opponents wouldnt worry to much whether you have African or Indain elephants. I like playing around useing DBMM point system to purchase units for hypothetical Armies as well :o) Really fun to see my opponents buy cheap infantry ie Ps,Ax and Hordes all (S) ratings, along with some cavalry as supports. Not a good sight to see on the table top 400/500 pts worth of Ps,Ax and Hordes about 70-80 elements attacking you!
ReplyDeletebut hey! its fun!! :o)
Thanks Phil. Yes, these elephants were modelled without any blankets but I could have modelled one for the generals in hindsight. The bronze helmets should hopefully be enough to identify them though. We haven't played my Gauls for a while because of the reason you outlined, At 3 points a base they are cheap and you can deploy them in real depth which makes it almost impossible to mow through, even with troops that quick kill them. Romans never stand much of a chance.
DeleteI'm sure you are aware Knights and Elephants destroy warbands with highest die roll.
Delete(thinking out loud here) if facing warbands. I would buy/deploy 6-8 elephants in the centre with 6 kn(F) on each flank of the elepants and 6 Bw Reg(S) on each flank of the Kn(F) as support fire and attack :o) the warbands and hope for the best die roll results :o)
Yes, that would be tough especially as the knights destroy two ranks of warband. Knights and elephants would be about the only thing that I'd be worried about though, and if you went six or so elements deep with the warband you might still have a chance. We have bee playing DBMM for six years solid now and still enjoy all the nuances it throws up.
DeleteLovely paint work as is always the case with your armies or whatever scale or era, Lawrence! I do agree about the howdahs for the elephants though - I don't know much about ancient warfare, but did anyone actually just ride around on the back of elephants like these ones are doing??
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, I think it was fairly common. My Numidians are similarly unprotected and that seems right for them. I have read a bit about Carthaginians and that it was actually quite common for them as well, even though they are invariably pictured in castles and that is how all mine are modelled.
Deletethose are definitely African elephants with them ears. I'm surprised that you didn't modify them all by trimming down the ears. Now you're stuck with the wrong elephants. No one is gonna know or care of course, but you WILL. and it will eat at you. A little knowledge of the army is therefore a dangerous thing. 😁🤣
ReplyDeletebut other than that obvious fopaux everything looks really great.
If I had tried that Stew they would have ended up looking like something out of Reservoir Dogs. All will be forgiven when they make their debut, which I hope will be in three weeks' time.
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