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.