Foundry Biblical range resurrected!

We continue on with the Easter thematic this week ;-)

I just saw that Foundry Biblical range has been completely rearranged and put "au goût du jour" on their Website. It is in my humble opinion one if not THE best Foundry range, and certainly one of my all-time favourite (just don't buy the chariots, royal pain in the a** to assemble they are!). 

Foundry also gets a free sales pitch from yours truly; biblical is one of the most underappreciated period outhere, and even in the Ancients wargaming scene is usually seen as a "parent pauvre" to the Greeks and other favourites. Give it a try folks; unless you despise painting flesh, they are a joy to paint, the history is fantastic and it makes for a nice change from the usual but so often seen Roman legions (yawn). Yes, chariots are a pain to paint, but they. look. so. nice. 

Now, go ahead and click on that nice image and enjoy the fantastic period of warrior-kings, Pharaohs and chariots. You can thank me later. Or invite me over for a game.

New command figures from Murawski

Retreat from Moscow Command

Some new figures this month from Murawski Miniatures; a command pack.

There are 6 figures in the set, 3 of which are cast open handed, allowing them to be equipped with a musket, halberd, or eagle.  

There are also 2 drummers: 

Roger is also going to throw in the middle figure (pic above) for “free” whilst stocks last as the sword didn’t come out properly!  We don’t really know why but you can use him as is or trim the sword off.

Pack price will be: £9.50 for the seven figures

Also the officer casualty figure is now available.

He can be acquired 3 ways :

• £2 plus shipping
• FOC with orders over £50
• As part of the GDW casualty pack for £5

As usual, you can order through Murawski Miniatures website 

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.