Just a quick post with a few photos of my recently completed Arab Conquest army. All the figures are from the Forged in Battle Dark Ages Arab range:
The real killer with this project was all the swordsmen I had to paint, with two hundred and sixty figures in total. Initially I thought that there was just blade or Bd(O) required, which would have represented a more modest one hundred and seventy-six, but then I flipped over the page and found I needed an additional eight-four based differently as warband. These are mutually exclusive in that if you want to field the cavalry as heavy cavalry (ie 'Knights') you lose the blade and replace them with warband:
Far more enjoyable to paint, probably because there weren't so many of them, was the cavalry, and especially the heavy cavalry as these are very nice little sculpts:
In total the army is comprised of one hundred and twenty-five horses and camels, four hundred and thirty-seven foot and riders, totaling five hundred and sixty two figures.
Next up is the last of my quartet of Arab armies; the Ghurids which was a Sunni Muslim empire centered in Afghanistan and lasting around a hundred years from 1148. It emerged just as the two-hundred year Ghaznavid empire was declining, to be eventually overthrown by the Ghurids. This one will require two-hundred and sixty pikemen, so at least I now know what to expect.
Such an impressive sight, Lawrence! Well done! Amazed at how quickly you turn out entire, beautifully painted armies.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan, I have been giving it an even bigger push so far this year.
DeleteAgree, beautiful looking collection sir 👌
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal, it was good to complete this lot.
DeleteWow you have sure turned this around quickly. Nice work!
ReplyDeleteIt helps that we have two grandchildren and their parents living with us for the time being as they have another due in the next fortnight. The wife is therefore helping out full time which means I can slip downstairs to the painting room unnoticed.
DeleteYes wow ….lovely looking collection Lawrence I do like a good looking army parade …I luv them 👍
ReplyDeleteThanks Matt. It is so I can remember what I have done, especially as some figures may rarely appear in a game.
DeleteThese are great Lawrence - those Forged in Battle figures are very nice indeed - I particularly like the camelry!
ReplyDeleteThanks Keith. They just had their first price rise in years so I was glad I got in just a matter of weeks before that happened.
DeleteVery impressive! Gorgeous army.
ReplyDeleteThanks. I tried not to go too overboard with the colour palette to prevent them looking too garish.
DeleteCongrats on your Completed en masse Arab Conquest Army awesome!
ReplyDeleteA lot of work and great achievement Lawernce! Ghurids will require two-hundred and sixty pikemen, I'm not surprised! :o)
The Ghurids, notably with general Qutb al-Din Aibak, launched successful campaigns between 1175 and 1206, pushing into the Bengal Delta and establishing permanent Muslim rule in northern India.... anyway... great painting and Forged in Battle Dark Ages Arabs minis are great too!
It looks like a nice army with some interesting inclusions such as decent cavalry and elephants. I'm hoping to get the pikemen done next month so I can get them on the table toward the end of April. Thanks again for encouraging me to take the step Phil.
DeleteAwesome looking army, they all look splendid!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain. As some of the options are mutually exclusive they are unlikely to ever be on the table as one group, so I was keen to get a few photos of them assembled together.
DeleteGreat looking army. I empathize with your 'bonus' swordsmen discovery. I'm working on a syracuse army and thought I'd finished all the hoplites I'd ever need to paint (ever...groan). And then they updated the army book (i.e. split off from classic greek and created a specific list) and I suddenly needed to find another 32 or so. After getting rid of my 'extras'.
ReplyDeleteThanks Dave. I have heard that the DBMM army lists are in the process of being updated so I hope there aren't too many surprises in store. At least this surprise was while I was still working on them, but there is nothing worse than having to return to a previously completed project to update it.
DeleteThat is one very impressive looking army. Great work, Lawrence.
ReplyDeleteThanks Richard. It is not the most adaptable army but quite effective in DBMM against the right opponent.
DeleteBrilliant Lawrence. What a (tour de) force!
ReplyDeleteBest wishes, James
Thanks James. This turned out to be one of the larger armies I have attempted thanks to my belated discovery of the additional warband that were required.
DeleteA very impressive horde of figures, Lawrence, bet you wish you never turned the page over though!
ReplyDeleteThanks Ray. It was a surprise, although I am actually glad I discovered it while in the middle of the project so I didn't have to come back to it in the future. Plus I managed to the extra troops ordered before a fairly significant price rise.
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