Spring Clean Challenge Sassanids Revived

Lurking in the back of a drawer for over a decade these Sassanids really need some attention.  With the plastic infantry kits coming from both Victrix and Wargames Atlantic I need to get these long neglected minis onto the table.  My gaming buddies are starting to get into Swordpoint so I thought I would add something different to the mix.

The idea of doing a Sassanid army came from my reintroduction to wargaming as a hobby.  In 1986 I saw a magazine at the local newsagent:

Inside this wonderful tome was a fantastic picture of Peter Gilder’s Sassanids against Late Romans:

Having decided that I’d happily have an army like that one day I subsequently collected almost anything but that, however the image (and the magazine) stayed with me.  When Gripping Beast released their Sassanid range (2007/8??) I saw them at Salute and went home with a big bag full of cataphracts.  They are at the front, 20 in total including leader and standard bearer figures.

Over the years I added the Elephant and crew (also Gripping Beast), the 12 Huns at the back (Wargames Foundry), one random amazon horse archer (Eureka), some banners (LBMS) and a party pack of 32 foot skirmishers (Black Tree Designs).

I know I’ll need more horse archers/LC and a block of infantry with sparabara and bows which get fielded as a combined formation in Swordpoint.  I’m looking to get to a 1000 points in total.

Firstly off to raid my library for some reading material:

Already doing better than last year we have consulted the Sworpoint army list and have some ideas for a basic structure for the army.  We have 16 cataphracts (8 bases in the rules) and need at least as many light cavalry.  So I’ll need 16 Sassanid horse archers from somewhere.

These are some Gripping Beast plastics that were in a Saracen First Crusade force that I got from a friend who has had to retire from the hobby.  Although that is very sad I’m determined to give these models a good life in their new home so start by ripping their heads off.  I’m swapping the arab headdresses for Iranian and Median heads from the Wargames Atlantic plastics set.  I’ll finish the conversions be carving off the stirrups – thay weren’t used widely in the region until after the Arab conquest era and will allow my horse archers to represent Parthians and earlier Persian forces too.

I was a bit stuck with the colours but I’m coming round to them and may continue the theme by using bright contrast colours on the infantry too.

Here you can see the Huns at the front (Wargames Foundry), Daylami (mixture of Footsore and Gripping Beast) and the two elephants.  Wait – two elephants?  Yes, I couldn’t resist a brief foray to Aventine Miniatures for the Shahanshah (King of Kings) on elephant to go with the existing Gripping Beast one with the troop howdah.  I love having a bid setpiece as the army leader base and the Shah on giant stompy elephant is doing it for these guys.

Having taken the OTT team’s recommendation and watched Bahubali it turns out that Indian elephants are a totally different colour to African ones so I’ve already made a mistake with this one and will need to make it much darker with a mottled skin colour across the face, lower ears and particualty toward the end of the trunk.

Quick update to progress on the elephants and cavalry.

Lots to show off as we have the two elephants done, well done as far as the final basing which I’ll do when everyone is finished this far.  First the Shahanshah on his elephant.  This is basically just the Aventine kit with the addition of the LBMS side cloth and one of the banners which are intended for this kit.  I also put on an extra bowcase/quiver as there wasn’t one in the extras that the kit comes with, Victrix plastic from the unarmoured archers kit and a transfer to match.

Then we have the elephant with howdah and crew.  Blue crew done with GW Contrast Talassar Blue over the zenithed primer.  This is the Gripping Beast resin and metal kit.  I have enhanced it somewhat by taking banners from LBMS and attaching them to the sides to form the cloth barding.  Another LBMS command banner flag went onto a banner pole from a Vitrix Armoured Persian command sprue and this was stuck into the back.  Finally two javelin holders from the Aventine elephant kit filled up the rather empty looking back of the howdah.

Sassanid armies had two effective arms, heavy and light cavalry.  Everything else looks pretty on the table but these guys are doing the heavy lifting.  I have two large units of 16 cavalry each.  Firstly the Sassanid version of the Immortals the extra heavy cavalry in full armour on fully barded horses.  These are Gripping Beast and I went for a mixture of iron and bronze armour on horses and riders.  Shield transfers and banner from LBMS. Lots of different colours but I tried to largely stick to a similar tone and saturation to help them sit comfortably together.

Also got the 16 horse archers together.  After adding the Iranian heads with headband and a couple in the simple median hat from the Wargames Atlantic plastic set, I painted the new heads and touched up the existing paintwork on the riders.  The horses were to my eye unfinished, so I tweaked the colours on a couple to make them a bit more natural and then went round adding the white socks and face markings and black legs, mane and tail to the bay ones.  In a late decision I changed the standard bearer for a proper Gripping Beast Sassanid standard bearer model, the other had an arabic headdress.  Matched basing and they are nearly there.  Much more Persian.

I’m going to confess to a slight historical failure.  Whilst we don’t know much about Persian costume in battle and how it evolved over time one thing is pretty certain, they liked pattern and colour.  Research on this shows very detailed designs represented on greek vases and ultraviolet analysis shows similar on greek statues.  For more see this exhibition:

3:08 shows a Persian (Scythian/Trojan/Paris) archer which gives you an idea of the problem.

So as a speedpainter I’m going to chicken out and not do the patterns.  I will go for bright colours and according to Dr David Nicolle the Sassanids liked the colour schemes used on chess sets, where yellow/green played red/black so there might be some of that.  There was also a blue clothed regiment recorded in royal armies before Sassanid times and I like blue so we’ll definitely use that.

Decision made I’m starting on the main infantry block.  12 bases of militia levy, half spearmen, half archers and a sparabara (large wicker and leather) shield palisade to put in front of them from Aventine.

Miniatures will be a mixture of Black Tree Designs metal and Wargames Factory, Wargames Atlantic and Victrix plastics.  The metals are only in 4 poses so you can see a bit of razor saw surgery going on here to put a bit of life into them.  Taking off the right hands/arms and swaping them around or adding plastic ones gives enough variety.

Whilst the massed infantry of the Persians were decidedly ordinary their best foot units were allies and mercenaries.  Enter the Daylamites or more simply Daylami from the mountains between Iran and the Caspian Sea.  They were fierce fighters who provided a bit of substance to Sassanid Armies.

Speedpainting technique again using Contrast as previously discussed.  Miniatures are a mixture of Footsore and Gripping Beast.  Identical style to the sculpts and the shields are also identical so very easy to mix together.  Shield transfers are LBMS.  This unit came together very easily.

Still need to dip, matt varnish and finish the basing but we’re getting there.

Finally got a matt coat on all of the cavalry and elephants who have been sitting with their shiny AP Soft Tone Dip finish.  I use Testors Spray Lacquer, the rattle can version of Dullcote.  This has gone out of production and fortunately I have a fair amount left, enough to finish the Persians at least.

Firstly the Grivpanvar – Persian extra heavy cavalry cataphracts.

The horse archers.

Shahanshah on elephant.

Troop elephant.  All bases have been completed too.  Jarvis flock in patches before the matt spray and then tufts of various size and colour in a colour way from straw coloured dry grass to brown.  Mostly Tajima1 but also some from the Gamers Grass Dry Steppe Set.

Finally got a matt coat on all of the cavalry and elephants who have been sitting with their shiny AP Soft Tone Dip finish.  I use Testors Spray Lacquer, the rattle can version of Dullcote.  This has gone out of production and fortunately I have a fair amount left, enough to finish the Persians at least.

Firstly the Grivpanvar – Persian extra heavy cavalry cataphracts.

The horse archers.

Shahanshah on elephant.

Troop elephant.  All bases have been completed too.  Jarvis flock in patches before the matt spray and then tufts of various size and colour in a colour way from straw coloured dry grass to brown.  Mostly Tajima1 but also some from the Gamers Grass Dry Steppe Set.

Finally got a matt coat on all of the cavalry and elephants who have been sitting with their shiny AP Soft Tone Dip finish.  I use Testors Spray Lacquer, the rattle can version of Dullcote.  This has gone out of production and fortunately I have a fair amount left, enough to finish the Persians at least.

Firstly the Grivpanvar – Persian extra heavy cavalry cataphracts.

The horse archers.

Shahanshah on elephant.

Troop elephant.  All bases have been completed too.  Jarvis flock in patches before the matt spray and then tufts of various size and colour in a colour way from straw coloured dry grass to brown.  Mostly Tajima1 but also some from the Gamers Grass Dry Steppe Set.

I love a flat matt finish on my models, especially historicals.  However, I also like a durable finish on my painting so use AP dips.  This gives everything a super shiny finish and it takes a really good matt varnish to cover this without shine through.  I’ve tried all manner of acrylic matt varnishes before and ended up settling on Testors Spray Lacquer (the rattlecan version of Dullcote). I was very sad when Rustoleum decided to stop production last year and everywhere sold out almost immediately – no surprise really,  this is the go to choice for scale modellers too.

Long story short I’ve been looking for a replacement ever since.  Gerry’s matt varnish exposee recently was helpful but I prefer a rattle can – not had much luck with varnish through the airbrush – it always gums it up and it’s a pain to clean again.

I got a recommendation from a scale model shop to try Mr Hobby’s Mr Topcoat.  Here are the test pieces on the Sparabara (Aventine Miniatures).  First the old reliable Testors.

Then Mr Topcoat.

I can’t tell the difference in the final results.  Wonderful.  I’ve finally found a replacement 🙂

Sassanids Army List is in the Classical Armies book pp. 49-50  1000pts

Commanders: (Max 6) Two

Shah – 50pts

Noble – 20pts

Cavalry: (Min 50%) Total 518pts

16x Cataphracts (27 +1 barding +2 Stubborn) 8 bases 240pts

16x Horse Archers 8 bases 152pts

12x Huns 6 bases 126pts

Elephants: (Max 1 per 400 pts) One

Elephant (3 crew) (64+4) 1 base 68pts

Infantry: (Up to 50%) 200pts

Militia Spearmen (Mixed Formation) 6 bases Spearmen, 6 bases archers with Spara (+2) 176pts

Kurdish Skirmishers (Th Sp +1) 3 bases 24pts

Allies and Vassals: (up to 33%) 144pts

Daylami (LgSh +2, ThSp+2, Stubborn +2) 4 bases 84pts

Arab Camelry 3 bases 45pts

Arab Skirmishers w slings & shields 3 bases 15pts

The Persian Levy are complete.  I love the effect of Contrast Talassar Blue over the zenith undercoat.  I think it looks like silk in the sunshine.  I’m super happy with the overall effect but 48 miniatures in a single unit just brings joy to the heart of any wargamer (apart from my opponent probably).

The Swordpoint rules allow for the unit to be made up of 50% spearmen and 50% archers and to use the spara shields to form a static shieldwall which is lost if the unit moves, hence being mounted on separate bases from the troops themselves.  The unit also can have large shields which is why the front rank have the bigger wicker shields and the rest the pelta style.

Aventine made the large spara.  The front rank have Wargames Factory shields and the rest are using Wargames Atlantic with transfers from Relic in Canada.  Transfers on the standards are from Victirx.

The remaining infantry units are finished.  First the Daylami:

The Persian Skirmishers who can stand in for Kurds too:

Two units of Arab allies are done.  Some slingers and camel archers.  The camel are great for disrupting enemy cavalry and have the added bonus of ensuring my cavalry are ‘used to’ camels.

First the slingers, Footsore miniatures with a couple of plastic Perry Mahdists who have borrowed a couple of sling arms from the Warlord plastic Caesarean Romans.

Matal shields with a hide pattern painted using Gerry’s sponging technique to look a bit like goat hide.  Helps to give an irregular feel to the Arabs and differentiates them from the highly decorated shields carried by the Persians.

These camel archers are very well researched and look exactly how I imagine the pre-Islamic arab tribal auxilliaries might have looked.  Relic Miniatures from Canada.  Took a while to get here given worldwide postal disruptions but well worth it.  They are true scale 28mm which means proportions are accurate so they look a bit smaller and slighter than their colleagues but mounted on the camels this is hard to spot and doesn’t cause me any concerns.

Same shields as the slingers, this time tied to the side of the saddle, help to link the units together visually.

The Huns are the final unit for this force.  Nearly ran out of steam but really wanted to see the army finished, and it is!  Foundry miniatures, lovely Perry brothers sculpts.

The Huns are the final unit for this force.  Nearly ran out of steam but really wanted to see the army finished, and it is!  Foundry miniatures, lovely Perry brothers sculpts.

Firstly we have a Sassanid noble.  He’ll provide addtional command control remote from the general.  Gripping Beast sculpt, LBMS shield transfer.  I like the way the alternate red and blue has the look of purple from a distance, which is just our brain playing interpretative tricks on us.

The Shahanshah with banner bearer.  The Sassanids had a sacred banner that when it took the field guaranteed victory, until it was lost in a defeat to the Arabs.  Not sure what it looked like but I used a similar griffin banner for the Shah on elephant so thought this would work here too.  It is lovely and big.

Gripping Beast sculpts, LBMS transfers and banner, beautiful work.  I green stuffed the banner top and ends together to add a bit of impact.

So we are finished.  Slightly late but what good thing isn’t worth waiting for.  1,000 points of Sassanids for Swordpoint.  9 units, 3 commanders. 140 completed models.  Very proud of myself and looking forward to sweeping all before me once we get them onto the table later in the summer. 🙂

I’ve done a video for the first time ever which is hosted on my Instagram account:

Hidden under the video?

For those of you who just want to see a photo this is what I’ve got:

That’s all for this one.  I’m off to start on my Celt-Iberians for Saga: Age of Hannibal.