Ottoman commanders

The two red-turban guys are sultans from Warlord (or technically, two versions of the same sultan), and the ulema (religious scholar/judge) is a TAG freebie.

Once again, no conversions. Hmmm, gotta fix that soon...

Ottoman Tufekci dragoons

These are tufekci, an Ottoman shot unit developed along Western lines. They could fight as dragoons or as line infantry, but I didn't have the right minis for the latter, so dragoons it is. TAG minis, no conversions.

first Ottoman cavalry (elite Sipahis)

As mentioned in my previous post, an Ottoman army without cavalry isn't worthy of the name. So here's my first unit of cavalry. All TAG minis, some horse armor added with greenstuff.

Ottoman Infantry Group Pic

So, this is pretty much as far as I'll be going with Ottoman Infantry, at least so long as Pikeman's Lament is my preferred system.

Clockwise from top left:

Azabs with Spears/Polearms - Raw Pike (3 pts) or Clansmen (3 pts)

Azabs with Bows - Raw Shot (3 pts)

Wallachian Voynuks - 2x Aggressive Forlorn Hope (6 pts each) or Veteran Pike (6 pts)

Azabs with Muskets - Shot (4 pts)

Janissaries - Elite Shot (6 pts)

Segban - Raw Shot (3 pts) or 2x Commanded Shot (2 pts each)

For a total of 28-36 available points, though realistically I am unlikely to field an Ottoman force without cavalry; that would feel wrong. So I will get started on those horse guys next...

Azabs Aplenty

Just finished converting a whole mess of Gripping Beast Arab Infantry into Azabs, the next step up from the sad-sack Segban. Some of these are conversions you've seen before, others are TAG Metals, and some are newer converted plastics.

Segban unit

Just painted up the guys I preview it the previous post. As they were apparently the lowest of the low, I painted them in drab colors, inspired by this blogger, to contrast with the azabs and janissaries. Quite pleased with the palette, really gets across that they are conscripted peasants or hardbitten Anatolian bandits (or both!). Still need a flag I guess.

Kitbashed segban infantry (wip), and plastic musket info

So I've been working on more Ottoman infantry, and wanted to share some in-progress Segban. They're mostly the same as the previous Azaps I did, Warlord arms on Gripping Beast bodies, but with matchlocks instead of firelocks and a greater variety of headgear (mostly greenstuffed Warlord hats).

Relatedly, here is a comparison shot of the two plastic musketeer kits from Warlord Games. The small sprue is from the Firelock Storming Party kit, the larger one is from the Pike & Shotte Infantry Regiment kit, and also used for variants like Covenanter infantry etc.

Note that the Storming Party has firelocks, and each pair of arms is one piece, while the Infantry Regiment kit has matchlocks, and each arm is a separate piece. This means that the firelocks are a little easier to assemble, but the matchlocks are a little more forgiving if you are kitbashing with torsos that are differently-sized than the Warlord kits (such as the GB Arab infantry).

Also, the Storming Party gives you 32 musket arm sets, or 16 "left over" if you assemble the box as intended. The Infantry Regiment has 24 musket arm sets, with none remaining if you assemble the box contents as intended. Given that the Storming Party is cheaper by about $15, I think it is probably preferable for most projects, even if you end up adding matchcord manually to each musket.

Life Changes

When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child,

I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.

-1st Corinthians, 13:11

Well.

I had a pretty good run of it, I guess. Played some fun games, did some clever converting and decent painting. Learned some history I might otherwise never have known. Met some cool people.

But the time is no longer right for me to indulge in such hobbies. We must move where life takes us, without clinging to the materialistic diversions that hold us back.