The Ottoman army continues...

The Ottoman army continues to grow.  A large group of Azabs have been added to the collection armed with a wide varierty of swords, axes and other polearms. The unit is a mix of Old Glory and Assault Group figures with shields and weapons from all over the place! I have removed the feathers from the turbans of some and added them to others to create as much variety as possible. As the Azabs were irregular troops I wanted to reflect this in the fact that the weaponry is not uniform and the shields are of a variety of styles.

The troops themselves are in fairly drab robes, it is the shields that really add the colour to the unit. Regular readers of this blog will know that I loathe painting detailed shields but have been lucky as sets of Arabic/Islamic transfers are available which have made working on the shields much easier. While some carry these motifs others just sport colourful patterns. The Battle of Zonchio picture that was included in my last post shows the Ottoman shields to bear relatively simple stripes or crescent motifs, although this may of course just be the artist simplifying them. Some of the non-Turkish Azabs, the Eastern Europeans within the unit not wearing turbans, carry shields with more heraldic designs on them.

I have also finished another unit of archers, this time made entirely of figures from the Assault Group. These are great miniatures although the quivers they wear may be from the 17th century as there is an example in the Opsrey Elite series on "The Janissaries" which is from the 1600s but then again in the Osprey Men-at-Arms book on the "Armies of the Ottoman Turks" a 15th Century Janissary is depicted wearing one so who knows? My suspicion is that the style of quivers they carry is probably later than earlier.

Ottoman Azabs.

Ottoman Azabs, the figures are a mix of Old Glory and The Assault Group.

The Azabs from behind - I was trying to keep them in fairly drab colours but the shields are very bright.

Ottoman Turk Archers.

To break up the monotony of painting all these Azabs I have also completed a few little extras. Below you can see an Ottoman camel drummer, an excellent figure from Redoubt Enterprises with loads of character. At some point I intend to paint up some more Ottoman musicians to form a mehteran, or military band. Below him can be seen a mounted command base with a finely dressed Ottoman commander and his standard bearer. The commander is an Essex Miniatures figure while the horses and standard bearer are Assault Group figures. A little work had to be done to make the Essex figure fit the TAG horse and both his horse and turban have had plumes of feathers added. At present I am working on some artillery and Sipahis so will hopefully be able to show them soon and maybe some pictures of how the whole Ottoman force is looking so far.

A Turkish drummer mounted on a camel.

A Redoubt Enterprises Turkish drummer on a camel.

An Ottoman command stand.

Ottoman mounted commander, the commander is by Essex Miniatures and the horses and standard bearer are by The Assault Group.