Balkan Cavalry

Today's post sees a first for the blog with a unit of 3D printed cavalry. The miniatures are from Wargames Atlantic's digital range and can be found here: https://wargamesatlantic.com/products/turkic-light-cavalry?srsltid=AfmBOop0DfBvUUgga1_vvtNiQDZbSAeZ0XB4aOtZxUTLqxRU-pTnNUt7.

They have also been converted, so the finished unit is not put together wholly from the 3D printed pieces.

The set is intended to represent Ottoman akinji, as described here previously: https://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2020/01/ottoman-raiders-akinji-and-azabs.html, as well as other Eastern European irregular cavalry of the 15th to 17th centuries. I have chosen to use the fur cap heads provided by the set to create a unit that would be equally at home in an Ottoman or Hungarian army. The 1500s saw a whole host of different types of light cavalry clashing on the Ottoman Hungarian border with troops such as Delis, Tatars, Calarasi and Székelys being examples of these. These chaps represent a fairly generic unit of fur capped horsemen armed with spears, bows and shields.

Of course I have made a few tweaks to the figures. The shields that can be printed out from the set are very small and not particularly interesting so all of the shields have been added from other manufacturers. The 3D files do not include swords in scabbards so the figures sabres are falchions from the Perry Wars of the Roses plastic kits with the quillons trimmed down. Whilst the set does include empty bow cases for the figures that are holding their bows it does not include bow cases with the bows inside for those figures that are holding spears. To remedy this bow cases with the bows inside have been added from Essex Miniatures. Other additions you may notice are the plumes of feathers for some of the horsemen and the saddle drums for the Captain dressed in red. These small drums were a feature of light horsemen from Eastern Europe and were used to give commands on the battlefield. There are contemporary images of hussars and stradiots using them as shown in the pictures below.

Detail a 1506 print of the Battle of Fornovo, 1495, showing a stradiot with a saddle drum.

Detail from "The Battle of Orsha, 1514" c.1520-1534 showing a wealthy hussar captain with an ermine cloak and saddle signal drums.

The horses are not 3D prints but Wargames Atlantic's standard plastic horses: https://wargamesatlantic.com/products/horses?srsltid=AfmBOorDIh1SW54HLQvcOGehcPbPMuHctzE3SYRusi5_ep8LbiSyvkLp. I had intended to use more suitable metal Ottoman horses for this unit but wanted to wait and see the printed figures before buying the horses. This chose to be a wise move as the figures legs are very wide apart, to such an extent that the Wargames Atlantic horses seem to be the only ones that they will fit comfortably. This is a bit of pain as it means the figures won't mix in well with my other cavalry due to the size of the horses although they will fit in fine in units of their own, as demonstrated by the final two photos below. In height they are comparable to the Perry Miniature plastic horses but they are a little wider.

On my work bench at present is another unit of these, this time representing akinji with turbans. They are lovely figures but I still feel 3D printed miniatures are not quite ready to replace metal and plastic ones. As with the plastic armoured Ottomans, https://camisado1500s.blogspot.com/2024/05/dismounted-sipahis.html, despite them being multi part kits the builds that can be made from them are quite limited. Normally I would include a standard bearer in a unit of twelve cavalry but the nature of these kits makes it very difficult to have a figure carrying a standard. The figures were not cheap to have printed either, especially when the cost of the horses is factored in. Saying that I do have lots of spare heads and other parts left over which will come in useful for converting other figures later on. The figures are shown in the photos below with the final ones showing them mixed in with other Balkan troops from the collection.

A unit of Balkan Light Horsemen

28mm Balkan Cavalry. These horsemen could be used as Ottoman akinji or as light cavalry in Hungarian armies.

The horsemen are armed with bows and spears.

28mm Balkan light horse from Wargames Atlantic.

A view of the unit from behind.

This could either be a Wallachian force or a detachment of Ottoman Balkan auxiliaries.

28mm Balkan troops for the 1500s.