THE RAMBLINGS OF A FRENCH CANADIAN WARGAMER

Sunday, April 5, 2015

Maryanna of the King

Biblicals for Easter! Can't be more thematic than that!

My last submission of the painting challenge was a unit of Canaanite Royal Guards, "the Maryanna of the King". I just found time to put them on my blog today, as I've been swamped with real life issues recently (like a water leak in my ceiling!)


Each Canaanite city-state had its cast of maryannu, professionnal warrior whose wealth derived from his holding of a fief. Among the general warrior caste of maryanna was an inner elite of "picked men" (na'arun). These elite units comprised infantry as well as chariotry. From these picked men, a small battle guard called the Maryanna of the King served as Royal Guards.


We know very little about the appearance of these soldiers, so I had the choice to use pretty much any colours I wanted. My royal guard chariotry is dressed in  purple so I had to include the colour, and then I used turquoise for the shield and on the command group to differentiate them from my other elite soldiers. It looks like the kind of expensive colours a truly elite unit of the time would wear. While it is probably doubtful they had a common uniform, kings from the Pharaoh to Murat always enjoyed dressing up their elite soldiers so I figure why not? I will gladly accept pictures to prove me wrong. 


I find the bronze of the armour, helmets and weapons gives them a shiny look which works wonder as an elite and spoiled bunch. I normally am not a fan of single pose infantry, but it works well for troops which would be highly disciplined and it will make them stand out in my Canaanite army.

With this unit, I am but a few chariots away and one small unit from finishing my Canaanite army, and actually respecting to the letter the plan I drew up around 2 years ago. That, is not something I manage often!

This unit helped me reached my goal and, even surpassed it! Yeah me! First time I manage that. I'll post a quick post-mortem of the challenge in a few days.

12 comments:

  1. Very colourful Royal Guards Iannick, great work!

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  2. Fantastic job and this blue is most impressive...a real temptation for me...btw, great buildings as well!

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    1. Thanks, biblicals are a lot of fun to paint. The buildings are Crescent Roots, and they are indeed excellent.

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    1. Thanks John! It's a devious ploy; I'm hoping my showing of beautiful biblicals will make you reconsider your project ;-)

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  4. Great work! Love them, and it's good to know that you are reaching the end of a planned project. You are an inspiration to us all.
    Cheers

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    1. Haha thanks, although inspiration seems a bit much ;-)
      But seeing the "end" of a project is really an awesome feeling.

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  5. Fantastic Canaanites!

    Seeing the light at the end of a long, project tunnel is very rewarding. Congratulations to you and I hope to see a group photo of the collection when all is finished.

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    1. Thanks Jonathan! You better believe it. It might be one of my favourite armies once all done, I'm looking at my progress in my cabinet right now and I really love what I'm seeing.

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  6. Great looking unit, and you're the boss, so lovely, uniform equipemnt they shall wear!

    LOL re "pictures to prove me wrong", too!

    Which Manufacturer?

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    1. Thanks Peter. Ancients are great for the artistic license you can get away with.

      These are Foundry, like all the rest of my Canaanites but the chariots. Foundry's biblical range is exquisite, one of my favourite all-time range. They are labelled as Phoenicians Urgatic Guardsmen on the Foundry site, part of their Mitanni/Canaan range.

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