Ottoman Turks

Having already completed the Janissaries and four of the units of the Sipahis of the Porte it was time to turn my attention to the “Feudal Sipahis”.

Now one advantage of the Ottoman army is that the same figures can cover a major period of time (if you don’t look to closely) and as I was looking to use this army for both the 16th and 17th Century I was looking for figures that would distinct from the “armoured” Sipahis I have used for the Sipahis of the Porte (these were from either Warlord or The Assault Group). As if by magic Warfare Miniatures have released their “unarmoured” Sipahis about 18 months ago which I ordered and have had sitting in a box since. So it was time to finally get them out and glue my fingers together again.

Now the only issue is that the figures are multi part metal (which I have a love/hate relationship with) and if I had been sensible I would have sorted all the bits out first and then started the build rather than start and then realise I had used some parts on the wrong figure and had to start again (doh!!!). Also if you haven’t worked with multi part metal before I would really recommend getting an accelerant to make the superglue set faster.

It was mainly the main weapon arm, sword scabbard and carbine/bow that have to be fitted, but the advantage is that once done you do get a lot of unique figures.

With this army it also lets me get out the colours I rarely use due to the predominance of bright silks etc they wore.

However this also gave me the issue of 30 odd horses I needed to paint (and I have a love/hate relationship with painting horses also) so it was time to try something new. While the airbrush was still out after undercoating the figures I broke out a burnt umber, grey and light brown and airbrushed the horses. It was then time to give them a quick wash with either Army Painter soft tone for the browns or nuln oil for the greys.

I have done a lot more “light” horse colours than the traditional dark bays I usually do to try and give them the Arabian flavour.

Then it was on to complete the various manes and tails, so the basics on 30 odd horses done and now it is time to get down to the tack and saddle and details.