Wednesday, April 3, 2024

Akkadian Bowmen

After cleaning up the last (well, almost last) of the SYW/WAS cavalry in the painting queue in the last post and a quick addition of a command stand for the Italian Ward project, painting focus returns to Biblicals and pre-Biblicals.
The first pairing in this Biblical tranche is two, nine-figure units of Akkadian bowmen for the 28mm Sumerian project.  Figures are from Newline Designs.  Up to now, all of the figures for this project have contained themselves to Sumerians, proper.  In the most recent two Newline Designs' orders I tossed in a few handfuls of Akkadian and Gutian infantry.  Also into the mix was added a couple of straddle cars.  The straddle cars are really quite interesting models. 
As a teaser, Tuesday (yesterday) saw the first of a number of anticipated refights of the Battle of Fornovo.  Tuesday's battle witnessed several shifts in fortune as the battle ebbed and flowed as the five players battled it out for victory.  Battle report will be published in a few days after photos have been downloaded, edited, and the narrative written.
Very exciting game, played well by all.  Great fun!  The game will be back in action on Monday.

53 comments:

  1. Jonathan, yet again I find myself amazed at how many figures you can produce in such a short space of time!
    Neil

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    1. Neil, it can be somewhat of an illusion. I may have several battle reports in sequence with no figure parades followed by a few figures parading across the blog in rapid succession.

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  2. Great work on the Akkadians. Looking forward to the battle report for Fornovo

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    1. Thank you, Neil! I will begin work on the BatRep later this week.

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  3. Nice archers. Fornovo is a hard one for the French in a wargame.

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    1. Thanks! I think the battle ought to be evenly balanced on the table with, perhaps, a slight edge to the French.

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  4. Lovely work on those archers and look forward to seeing the straddle cars. A nice teaser for the Fornovo AAR too:)!

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    1. Thanks, Steve! The straddle car is an interesting vehicle. Oddly, the Newline website shows no photo of one. I may submit mine and see if it makes it through scrutiny. Some of my other units have been posted there, perhaps, I have a chance?

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  5. Nice looking figures. I guess in truth they could be used for any "biblical" army as archers in loin cloths!

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    1. Thanks! Since they are labeled "Akkadian" on the package that is what I call them too. Yes, these fellows will likely see service in other armies as well. I notice that the bows are a different style than either the Sumerians or other Biblicals.

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  6. Lovely figures JF. I love all your bronze age/ chariot stuff.

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    1. Much appreciated, John! I love the Bronze Age/chariot stuff too.

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  7. Beautifully done Jonathan. Are the straddle cars in the queue? I'm looking forward to seeing Newline's take on them.

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    1. Thank you! The straddle cars are in queue. The queue is for photos since I finished painting them over the weekend. The Newline models are quite good.

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  8. Fine addition to the Biblical ranks. It will be interesting to see if the French can be victorious.

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    1. Game #1 at Fornovo was a close-run thing and was tense until the end.

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  9. It was an excellent game, played in good company, with a nailbiting finish.
    Chris/Nundanket
    PS excellent bowmen.

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    1. I agree, Chris! The game was great fun. Glad you like my little bowmen.

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  10. Excellent archers, and looking forward to the Fornovo report.

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    1. Thanks, Greg! The Fornovo report is in my To Do List.

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  11. More great figures Jon, where do you find the time? That was a fantastic game, thank you so much, and I look forward to your AAR (the only disadvantage with Zoom is not seeing those amazing colourful armies up close!) .

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    1. Thank you, David! I thought yesterday's game was really interesting and quite dynamic. It will be equally interesting to see how the game unfolds if sides are swapped and the game replayed. On the disadvantages of Zoom, I could always bring my phone into service for close-ups if you like.

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  12. Great looking Akkadians, Jonathan. Your range of gaming interests is very impressive!

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    1. Thanks, Dean! Are my interests any more than yours? I am not so sure.

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  13. Lovely looking archers Jon, the colour palette and basing really work very well! I have never heard of a straddle cart and am looking forward to seeing one when you get ot painted....I am imagining something like Austrian gunners on a Wurst seating arrangement?!

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    1. Thanks, Keith! The straddle car is even more odd than you imagine.

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  14. Lovely job on those archers, really well painted, I really like the Newline Designs biblical range, I have some of their Assyrians in the pile of shame and they are good looking figures. You have done a cracking job on the Akkadians.

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    1. Thanks, Donnie! Quite few Newline figures have found their way into my Biblical armies. I like them a lot!

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  15. A nice addition to your Biblical collection which must be getting to be quite a size.

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    1. The Biblicals fill many boxes. Many, many boxes.

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  16. More good looking units in the ancient world. The level of production and quality shows your care. The upcoming battle reports are sure to show some great table top generalship. I have a lot of respect for the work put into your virtual games.

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    1. Thank you, Joe, for your continued support and encouragement. Hosting these remote games is a lot of fun for me too.

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  17. Lovely "guys in towels" as one of my less Ancients avid wargames friends refers to Biblicals! :-)

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    1. Happy you approve of my guys in towels. More to come.

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  18. Great looking figures Jonathan.
    I had to Akkadian Goggle Straddle cars as I had never heard of them. The first result was your blog post! 🤣
    Luckily there was an image below so I can see what they looked like.

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    1. Should read - "I had to Google Akkadian Straddle cars" I guess it is proof I am not a AI chat bot. 😊
      Not sure what else it proves - nothing favorable though.

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    2. Thanks, Ben! I will have to Google Sumerian straddle car and see if the image resembles the Newline models. You are no AI chat bot! Thanks for your comments.

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  19. Bow men look really good. I swear I have a loin cloth around here somewhere. 😀

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    1. Thanks, Stew! I won’t ask you to model your Akkadian uniform.

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  20. What everyone else has said about both the archers and the battle. Nine figures on a base seems an unusual choice. Is this for a particular rule set? They look very effective the way they are based but one gets used to twos or threes to a base.
    Stephen

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    1. Nine figures is an odd number, for sure. Since the basing is geared toward Impetvs where number of figures per base does not matter, I use figure count to help identify troop classification. For me, it works.

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  21. Lovely looking miniatures Jonathan.

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  22. Nice archers. Your painting productivity is a constant source of amazement.

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    1. Thank you! Sometimes I am amazed I get any painting done at all.

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  23. Excellent looking archers and a nice teaser for Fornova!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thank you! I need to sit down and hammer out the Fornovo BatRep.

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    2. Funnily enough I'm also painting an Italian wars command stand, it must be in the air, oh and also some Newline cavalry, nice figures!
      Best Iain caveadsum1471

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    3. It must be in the air! Newline figures are really quite good.

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