Sumer or Later...

I've previously mentioned how the illustrations in the book The Soldier by Richard Humble and Richard Scollins has been the inspiration for many of my wargaming interests. My interest in the Risorgimento, Sedgemoor, Flodden and the French Wars of Religion (specifically the battle of Dreux) were all because of seeing pictures on that book. 

Another illustration in that book is that of Sumerian soldiers with their big shields and long spears. Ever since laying eyes upon that picture I've always wanted to game Sumerian city states going to war with each other. Over the years I purchased figures in 10mm (Steve Barber and Magister Militum..not compatible by the way) and 15mm (Chariot I think) but never finished off the project. 

Baccus recently released a Sumerian range and I was tempted but opted not to purchase with all of the tariff craziness going on right now. I remembered that Micro World Games had a Sumerian range (as well as a cool 16th century range with landsknecht, reiters and gendarmes). I decided to place a relatively small order in for their Sumerians and it arrived today (great service and packaging by the way). 

I decided to post some of the MWG Sumerians next to some Baccus 17th century Sun King range pike for a size comparison. 

As you can see, the MWG figures are head and shoulders bigger than the Baccus 6mm. I don't have any of the Baccus Sumerians but I'm not sure they would be able to mix together. 

Anyway, I doubt I will tackle the Sumerian project anytime soon. I've thought about rules and there's the possibility of using Trebian's "To Ur is Human" rules although I might have to change the basing for them to suit my preferences. 

Ottoman Blues and a lack of time...

I was talking to my good friend and fellow gamer about how our hobby time is very limited these days and the frustrations that come from it. This year has really been difficult as far as time and schedules are concerned. Wargaming conventions have been missed, painting time is curtailed and gaming opportunities nearly impossible. Even when I do have time, often I am lacking the motivation or energy to take advantage of the opportunity. Until these realities change, I will try to take advantage of the moments I have and progress with painting miniatures so that they are ready to make war on the tabletop when the opportunity arrives. 

I recently completed a 6mm 17th century Muscovite army and a 10mm Macedonian army. With time limited, I am delaying the start of a new project. I am just painting figures that were partially painted and lingering on my hobby desk. The current task were a bunch of Crimean War Ottomans that I primed blue nearly 2 years ago! 

The figures are 10mm Magister Militum and were acquired right before MM went out of business. Luckily Peter Berry's Tenth Legion endeavor has acquired the 10mm offerings from MM. 

I think I primed them with GW Macragge Blue, applied a very diluted blue/black ink wash, dry brushed with more Macragge Blue. That was the plan at least, I'm thinking these may have just been primed only. Anyway, the figures are fairly straight forward to paint if a bit tedious with the white straps. 

References indicate the Ottoman uniforms and equipment were pretty rag-tag. I've thought about mixing in some random brown or grey pants and giving a few brown leather accoutrements or a varied blanket rolls. That may be too much effort. 

I should also point out something....I often go to great lengths to determine what a soldier's uniform looked like. Despite the efforts at historical authenticity, I will snib my nose at it and paint it differently for aesthetic purposes. With the Ottoman fellas above, the fez tassel should be a dark blue like the uniform. I intentionally went a light blue for the purposes of color contrast and diversity. I also added a yellow tassel button (I had seen some color plates showing a gold button, I went yellow instead) just to give the figures a little extra pop of color. 

I think I have 3 battalions worth of Ottoman infantry to finish (about 70+ figures). I'm not sure what is next after these guys are done. I think there are some Ottoman cavalry, 10mm Greek mercenary hoplites (earmarked for service in my Persian army), 6mm Scottish infantry for my Killiecrankie project and perhaps some other stuff too. While time is limited and schedules are wonky, it doesn't really matter which project I'm working on, what matters is that I make progress. Paint now (when I can) and game later. 

Complete: Pikes and Pachyderms

I have previously posted on the nearing completion of my 10mm Macedonian/Successor army for To The Strongest rules. Today I managed to snap a picture of the army in its entirety. 

And above is an image of all it's glory: 6 pike blocks, 3 units of mercenary hoplites, 2 bases of hypaspists, 2 units of Thessalian cavalry, 2 bases of purple-clad companions, 3 bases of slingers, 2 bases of archers, 6 bases of "elephant screens" and 3 commanders. 

While I had the armies out of their storage trays, I decided to pose a few staged battle scenes featuring Successors versus Romans.

Some Successor elephants with their screen of bow-armed skirmishers face off against pesky Roman velites. 

 

Next up we have some pike-armed phalangites ready to skewer Roman Hastati, Princeps and Triarii. It's been mentioned in the posts covering my Roman army but the red shield reflect Roman legions and yellow shields are their romanized Latin allies. 

Lastly we have a rather gallant charge of Companion cavalry led by their king. Opposing them are Roman cavalry who are led (from behind) by a Consul. 

I want to briefly touch upon the basing approach I use for these armies. There was a time when grass tufts were becoming more available that I was using them... overusing them (see my WW1 armies as an example). My approach to the  armies for TTS was different. I try to cut corners to speed up the painting by priming in black and leaving alot of the black to create depth. Highlights are minimal. Basing is also simplistic. Initially I used a gel paste for texture but I now use a fine sand since it's quicker and less messy. Folkart craft paint is used for the sandy earth (Teddy Bear Tan for these armies) followed by a dry brush of bone white or off white and application of fine grass turf from Woodland Scenics. Not fancy but effective. 

With three TTS armies complete (Macedonian, Roman and Carthaginian), I hope to get in some games with them and also ultimately paint up my Indian and Persian armies. 

The "Undiscovered Country"...

At the risk of sounding too morose, I titled this post with a line from Shakespeare's Hamlet. It's a favored phrase of mine; I believe it's a reference to the afterlife however I use "undiscovered country" for anything that I (or others) have yet to explore. 

For the purposes of this post, I want to discuss what my next project will be. I still have some 10mm Macedonian cavalry to finish so that I can complete my Successors army for ato The Strongest. But what will be after that?

As I was putting some of my recently painted figures away in storage, I saw my 10mm forced of 1973 Egyptians, Korean War Chinese and 1940s Viet Minh. None of these "armies" have an opponent painted to game against. They were all initially painted up for the Pendraken painting competition but I never got around to painting their opponents. Those are all strong candidates for what will end up on the painting table next. There is also the Fenian Invasion project that is nearly finished and very much languishing. 

I'm also anticipating the purchase of the 10mm plastic Azincourt army sets whenever Wargames Atlantic decides to release them (if you can't tell I have been eagerly and impatiently waiting for their arrival). The plan there is to base them up for Test of Resolve's Hundred Years War variant. 

Only time will tell what I decide to slap some paint on next...

Pillow Punching Pachyderms

Another item that had been languishing for quite some time were the final batch of Macedonian/Successor elephants. The three elephants had been painted but the crews had laid in primer only for months. I decided to finish them off once and for all on my day off from work. 

With them complete, it brings my total number of "elephant screen" bases to six. While not quite rated as steamrollers in To The Strongest, perhaps they can anchor a flank or cause some horses to get a bit uneasy. 

As previously mentioned, towers would probably be more accurate than the riders I have crewing these elephants. I would have enjoyed the visual spectacle of the towers but they and their crews would have created headaches for storage. I opted for the riders instead. These little buggers are pinned to their pachyderm mounts and, as you can see, I have some archers, javelin throwers and quite a few sarissa-armed crew. 

With the completion of the elephant screens, I only have two units remaining to paint for my Macedonian/Successor army: mounted bases of Companions and Thessalians. 

Muscovite Mission Accomplished!

Making progress with the painting queue has been a challenge for most of 2025, but especially so this last month or so. I finally managed to finish up my 17th century Russian army in 6mm. 

The army is comprised of three "western" pike and shot units, two streltsy units, one "western" reiter unit, two dragoon detachments, a Cossack detachment, two artillery pieces and two commanders. 

Here is the third and final pike and shot unit showing off their red and blue uniforms. I found the red company flag online and the regimental flag is courtesy of Baccus. 

And here are the western reiters, the only full sized cavalry unit in the Russian army. They are loosely based on a color plate I can across showing a green-clad member Colonel Wormser's reiter formation. 

And lastly a closeup look at the detachment of cossacks. They will probably be of dubious battlefield effectiveness but they might be able to secure an objective or something where mobility is needed. 

I will be using the army with the Liner Militum: Tercios rules and the Kingdoms expansion (which covers the ECW and Deluge armies). Here's a look at the points breakdown:

• 2 Streltsy bases (large sotnia): 100 points each (200 points total)
• 3 Pike & Shot bases ("modernized" streltsy, large sotnia, muskets, pikes): 115 points each (345 points total)
• 1 Reiter base (large unit, arquebus): 100 points each (100 points total)
• 2 Light Artillery bases: 70 points each (140 points total)
• 2 Dragoon detachments (small unit): 60 points each (120 points total)
• 1 Cossack detachment (harasser rule)" 65 points 
• Potyomkin (Passionate trait)
• Pushkin (Will trait)

970 total army points (if my fuzzy math is accurate).

I will tackle some Ottoman and Polish armies to.do battle with the Russian host, however in the interim they will be facing off with my 17th century Swedes in a few hypothetical battles.