Thursday 7 January 2021

AHPC XI - Mike W [The Larder] 28mm Ottoman Janissary Kazan

Today's post takes me back to my Siege of Vienna project and the assembly of the Warlord Games Janissary Kazan set.

The Kazan, or Cooking Pot, was the central device used as a common bond between all the men of a Janissary Orta, the idea being that men who cooked and ate together would fight together.

I managed to keep a copy of the photo of the unpainted figures for this post, unlike a few others that I had on the go over the Xmas period and I have place the three figures on a simple round MDF base. 


The Three figures plus cooking pot glued to MDF base, ready to be painted


As usual I undercoated the figures in white before opting for a light green coat, blue trousers and red under coats - where applicable. Sashes were white and head dresses red with a white turban


Good view of the uniforms also the use of washes to
add shading rather than dip as in previous years.


I used Army Painter washes to ad shade to all the main colour blocks, and them some highlights to give further definition to the figures. It does take longer in terms of painting time to do this with washes but they dry much quicker than 'Dip'.


Another view of the finished figures

The Kazan is traditionally a large metal (possibly copper) pot and formed ceremonial as well as functional duties for the Janissary Ortas. With my Janissary figures I have the units all in very similar dress, this gives them a feel of being more 'regular' however, I'm aware that this was driven by my ignorance at first and then a need to keep things themed for the whole army.

With further research I now believe that the Janissary units were a lot less uniform, with multiple coloured coats and trousers within a unit and on campaign they'd be wearing pretty much the same as the rest of the army!