THE RAMBLINGS OF A FRENCH CANADIAN WARGAMER

Monday, September 8, 2014

Back to ancient times...(Canaanite archers)

Today au menu a unit of Canaanites. No I did not forget about my biblical project! I've been waiting patiently for Warlord games to re-release Cutting Edge Maryannu Chariots, which I expect will now be very soon. I need those to finish my second Chariot unit and my Canaanite Prince. In the meantime I worked on my Napoleonics and Oldhammer project, but recently I had to itch to work on some biblicals, so since I have a few infantry units left to paint I figured I'd paint those. My original plan was as follow :

- 2x6 chariots
- 2x24 spearmen (close order)
- 1x20 archers (open order)
- 3x12 skirmishers (slingers or javelinmen)
- 1x Canaanite prince on chariot

However after discussing it with John, and after reading a few rulesets we decided to build forces for War & Conquest first,  of approx. 1650 pts.
So the new plan, very similar, became :

- 1x5 Maryannu Chariots
- 1x4 Maryannu Chariots + Canaanite Prince
- 1x24 Royal Guards
- 2x24 Spearmen 
- 1x12 javelinmen
- 1x12 Shasu Bedouins
- 1x12 Slingers
- 1x16 Archers

It's a bit Chariot light, I think, but Chariots are expensive and long to paint, so hopefully I'll add more as time goes by. So I decided to do the archers next. Royal Guards I will keep for the end I think, as I usually do for my elites. I used the same painting technique as for my other Canaanites, 3 layers with an AP finish, and the same limited colour palette of pale blues, red and raw linen.


Canaanite archers were semi-trained militia or conscripted peasantry. Canaanite tradition dating from tribal days dictated that the infantrymen supplied their own equipment, but it is unclear whether this still applied into biblical times. It seems a distinction was made between militia armed with spears or bows. Canaanite infantry was mainly used as support to the main shock troops, the chariots. 


My original basing scheme was to put 4 or 5 figures per base for open order, but after doing some tests 5 per base is really too much for 50mm square bases and it looks crowded like a close order unit. So I went with 4 per bases, which looks quite good and different enough to both the skirmish bases (3 per base) and the close order (6 per base) to be easily recognizable on the battlefield. 


I might have got an old batch as these were not as clean a casting as what I usually get from Foundry, although not in the Perry level of bad casting. Still I really like Foundry biblical range, and these were no exception. Great movement, and a joy to paint. 


So now all that's left to do is 3 chariots, including my Canaanite Prince, one unit of Royal Guards and a small unit of javelinmen. Not bad at all.  

The striketrough are completed units.

- 1x5 Maryannu Chariots (2 completed)
- 1x4 Maryannu Chariots + Canaanite Prince
- 1x24 Royal Guards
- 2x24 Spearmen 
- 1x12 javelinmen
- 1x12 Shasu Bedouins
- 1x12 Slingers
- 1x16 Archer 


Currently on my workbench on the historical side : the 2nd battalion of the 1st infantry regiment of the Duchy of Warsaw, obviously Murawski Miniatures.

20 comments:

  1. Beautiful work as always, and it's good to see you back in the land of Canaan.
    I'm looking forward to your next post!
    Cheers

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    1. Thanks! Next should be a Naps unit, and then probably back to Canaan for another unit.

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  2. Beautiful work Iannick! I agree that the 4-figure approach with the 50mm skirmish bases is the better way to go. Wonderful.

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    1. Many thanks Curt! Actually these are open order, the skirmish base are 3 per base http://www.parlabouchedemescanons.blogspot.ca/2013/03/shasu-bedouins.html

      This army might be the best basing scheme I've done. It all works really well.

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  3. Beautiful army Iannick! Warlord have just released the Canaanite infantry.

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    1. Yeeeesss!!! The Chariots can't be far behind! And thanks! Once I finish my original plan I'll take pics of the whole army together.

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  4. Great Canaanite archers! Nice basing too! I have a bunch of the Foundry Canaanites, myself, awaiting the brush. Like you, quality of the castings has some variety from pristine to a bit of flash. Once I clear some of my other projects, I would certainly want to try some of these. Your project is a great motivator for me.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! Its always nice to know your work motivates others. I'll watch your own project with interest once you get started!

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  5. A fine looking unit of Canaanite archers, ready to be crushed by some Egyptians! :-) Great progress on the project, too.

    While I love the look of Chariots, they are a pain in the butt to paint, and expensive to boot, having done 13 of them in the past 2 years!

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    1. Damn Egyptian imperialists! ;-)

      I feel the same way about chariots. But they look so good en masse!

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  7. Wonderful skin tone and colours on these figures. It really shows that all round these in my opinion still the best all round. Warlord have some excellent sculpts but bit thin if I am honest and close but not quite up to these above.
    I have been quite on painting front. North Star Kadesh has upset things as I really like the sculpts but they are very big and harder to mix in with my other stuff. Also very slow in coming.

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    1. Thanks! My project was too far along and the North Star figs too big for me to be interested, although they are nice figs.

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    2. Yes, excellent skin tones! Iannick, can you share you method?

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  8. Very nice Iannick, I am embarrassed to say that I have completely forgot about this project, maybe the challenge will reignite it.

    John

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    1. No big deal, it was a small project. You can probably paint it in a month with your speed ;-)

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