Thursday 4 March 2021

AHPC XI: From Mike W, 20 x 28mm Late 17th Century Ottoman Irregular Azabs

 In have previously produced Ottoman Azab units by converting the Gripping Beast Arab Infantry plastic figures by mashing them with Warlord Games WSS Infantry. Whilst I was pretty pleased with the end results, I was looking for something a little more irregular looking.

The Finished unit, 5 bases each of four figures.

I recently go hold of a box of Wargames Atlantic's Afghan Warriors, which allow the modelling of these hardy fighters over a period of several hundred years.

What I wanted to try was combining the Gripping Beast Arabs with the Wargames Atlantic Afghans, with a splash of parts from various other plastic kits to give a full range of arms and hands that  needed!

The Command Stand, Officer in cloak, Standard Bearer and Musician

The main benefit of the Wargames Atlantic boxed set is the number of muskets, shields and jezails that come with the frames and allow a musket armed unit to be easily formed.

Most of these figures are based on Afghan torsos,  with eight based on Arab torsos. I used the Afghan heads but also included a half dozen Arab heads in turbans plus four bear heads from the Wargames Atlantic Irish set!

Anyway the figures were built, all in different poses, the command stand featured an officer in a cloak, again taken from the Wargames Atlantic Irish set, a trumpeter using a Gripping Beast Arab piece and a guy with a spear for a standard, taken from a Gripping Beast Saxon Warrior set! 

Two stands of the Azab Irregulars

Figures were undercoated white, various muted linen, pale colours were used to block in clothing and appropriate details added for equipment and hair etc.

Another two stands

Flesh ink was used on skin areas to give toning, a watered down wash of light brown was used on clothes and dark wash on equipment before applying matt varnish.

Overall the figures are OK, they will blend in on a large table-top battlefield, last night I say a set of 28mm Ottoman heads on eBay, all in typical, although simplifies Janissary headdress. I have purchased a set of these and may repeat this build using these heads to give a much more Ottoman feel to the figures...

Bases were covered with fine sand and then electrostatic grass.