Saturday 15 February 2020

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. 

20 comments:

  1. SUperb Ottoman troops, love this awesome Turkish drummer...

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    1. Cheers Phil, yes I enjoyed painting up the drummer - a great model.

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  2. Those look really good! The whole project is moving forward splendidly.

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    1. Cheers David - I have formed quite a production line painting these Ottomans!

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  3. Beautiful. I love the Ottoman Turks, eclectic and very effective troop types.

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    1. Thank you, I agree they are quite different from other armies.

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  4. Gorgeous looking ottomans! The commander is excellent and all the shields work really well and are splendidly colourful!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you Iain they have been fun to paint.

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  5. nice job, beautiful colors and the variation of the miniatures especially the shields, when a Battle Report?

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    1. Cheers Ronin - I think it will be a while before the Ottomans hit the field but there are other battle reports in the pipeline.

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  6. Fabulous work Oli. It's funny as I'm working on some TAG Azabs as well which I hope to have up on the blog soon. Love that camel-mounted drummer! Definitely going to get one of those for my collection. Thanks for the inspiration.

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    1. Cheers Curt - really looking forward to seeing your painting skills on these minis.

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  7. Lovely looking toys Oli...
    The Ottoman Turks were one of the first renaissance armies I ever had ... old style 15mm Minifigs...
    I don’t think that they are the easiest force to play... but when you win you get to look really smug.... ;-)

    All the best. Aly

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    1. Cheers Aly

      They are an interesting army, this my second attempt at them in 28mm, the first lot got sold on Ebay. As for wargaming victories - they are pretty rare anyway!

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  8. Awesome looking figures- Ottomans are my favourite army - whether late medieval , renaissance, or horse and musket! Great job.

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    1. Cheers John, it's been a fun project to work on so far and can cover a lot of eras which is great.

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  9. Question. How do the TAG and Old Glory 25mm match up with Foundry 28mm figures?

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    1. Hi Todd, I think it depends what ranges you are using but it should be ok. I have mixed TAG and really old wars of the roses Foundry figures in these pike bases and it is not noticeable: http://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2016/02/picard-pikemen.html

      For the really old Foundry ranges, like that wars of the roses one, I glue an extra piece of plasti card to the bases of the shorter figures. When they are on a multi base the extra height on the base is not noticeable and it helps achieve a more uniform height.

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