Clowns to the left of me. Jokers to the right.

This post looks at a new unit of Harquebusiers for my Imperial Thirty Years War and Polish-Lithuanian armies.

28mm Harquebusiers, mainly from from Bloody Miniatures, with a couple of Warlord and TAG, perform a ride-by shooting manoeuvre. 

This unit started around an idea I had to try and use figures in a pose that I have always found challenging to use; the "shoot the guy next to me" pose.

28mm Harquebusier from Warlord Games in the dreaded 'shoot the guy next to me' pose.

The Pose

Figures in this pose exist in many periods, and from many manufacturers.  I have never been clear how sculptors have expected gamers to use these figures.  In the 'olden days' of figure ranges having maybe only one or two figures for a troop type, then this pose could be hideously limiting.  Imagine a whole unit, ranked up, of figures in the pose above; not a good look!  Even nowadays, with broader ranges of figures, the one or two figures in a pack that are shooting to the side have been left at the bottom of my 'pile of potential'. 

In a recent trawl through my collection of riders I came across the rather sad collection, right at the bottom of a box, of all these 'shoot the guy next to me' rejects.  I was considering that these would be a great entry to Wargamers' Room 101 (see Yarkshire Gamer's podacst for more details on Wargamers' Room 101) when a thought struck me; "What if I made up a unit of just these figures and used the pose as a feature?".  If I based the figures so it looked like they were riding by the enemy, while shooting at them, it might just work.  

Shooting From Horseback

So, how did horsemen shoot from horseback in the 17th century?  You don't have to look through too many contemporary battle pictures to see mounted horsemen shooting every which way. I had a look through the 'Militarie Instructions for the Cavall'rie' by John Cruso, first published in 1632, and thought to be the manual used most readily by inexperienced officers in the British Civil Wars who were trying to read-in to their new roles as war broke out.  Despite Cruso providing almost excessive details on how to load pistols while mounted, he provides little details on how to fire them.  

Picture from John Cruso's Militarie Instructions for the Cavall'rie

His only digram showing how to 'give fire' shows the classic posture for firing a pistol forward.  Cruso later mentions that horsemen should be able to fire to the left or right.  He also mentions that some other manuals recommend being able to fire to the rear, but rather dismisses the idea as not being terribly useful (perhaps thinking it is better to focus solely on getting away from trouble!). Perhaps there is something behind figure manufacturers continuing to turn out figures in poses shooting to the side after all.

Illustration by Graham Turner in Osprey Warrior series 'Ironsides - English Cavalry 1588-1688' by John Tincey.

Graham Turner's fabulous picture of a horseman giving fire to his left, whilst resting his carbine on top of his bridle arm (the arm with which he holds the horse's reins), shows a classic pose described in Robert Ward's 1639 book 'Animadversions of Warre'. Ward advise that Harquebusiers should strive to have their enemies on their left so they can use this posture to give fire with their carbines. 

The Caracole

If an individual horsemen could be expected to give fire to any quarter then how did this work for formed bodies of horsemen. Just about every book about warfare in this period tells us that cavalry were trained to fire rank by rank in something called a Caracole. The first rank would fire their carbines or pistols forward at the enemy, and then retire to the rear of their formation to reload, while the next rank came forward and repeated the process.  Once this constant fire had broken the enemy's resolve then the horsemen would draw their swords and charge home to complete their victory. However it is not clear if the rank by rank fire by horseman is what the term Caracole refers to.  

More pictures from Cruso. This is the start of the 'Carracoll'

where the defenders have split to allow the chargers to pass between their two bodies.

Second of the Cruso 'Carrocall' pictures in which the chargers have been thrown into confusion and are now trapped, at the mercy of the two bodies of horse. 

Back to Cruso who describes the "Carrocall" as a completely different manoeuvre in which charging enemy cavalry are defeated by the defenders splitting in two, to the left and right of the chargers' direction of travel. As the hapless chargers career through the gap, they are fired on from both flanks, and then charged in the flanks/rear.  This all sounds terribly tricky to execute, but doesn't sound anything like rank by rank firing. 

Cruso and Ward both mention firing by rank, then wheeling to the left or right to retire to the rear, but do not refer to it as a Caracole.  It is interesting that Cruso advises against this rank by rank fire if you are likely to be charged as he says you will be thrown in to confusion through the rearward motion of some of your own troops. The left wing of the Parliament cavalry at Edgehill obviously did not take this advice! 

Caracole is meant to derive from the Spanish word for 'snail' that is caracol.  I don't see a connection between rank by rank fire and snails (especially as this same rank by rank fire on foot is not described as a Caracole). 

The Battle of Fleurus 1622 by Peter Snayers - Rijksmuseum

Peter Snayers' famous painting, now thought to be of the Battle of Fleurus in 1622, in the middle distance shows a large Protestant cavalry formations, riding across the front of enemy Spanish infantry, exchanging fire, in what looks very like the curl of a snail's shell.  Is this a Caracole?  Snayers' painting also shows in the left foreground a shell-like 'circle' of Spanish horse pouring fire into another formation of Protestant horse that are falling in to disorder while Spanish infantry and artillery also add to their discomfort.  

The exact meaning of cavalry performing a Caracole remains unclear to me. What does seem clear is that 'ride-by shooting' (to mix in modern terminology!) was seen as a typical cavalry function, and this could take multiple forms on the battlefield. 

Forming The Unit

With all of this information and uncertainty swirling around my mind (rather like a cloud of confused horsemen in a Peter Snayers' painting!) I started to hatch a plan for using the previously rejected figures in a unit.

Trial set-up of the figures - front rank in ride-by shooting pose (Caracole?), second rank ready to support.

I put together some of 'shoot to the left' figures, together with their horses, and started to experiment with some potential formations that I could use to show the unit in the act of firing on the enemy while riding across their front.  I finally landed on a single rank in the ride-by shooting pose, backed up by a rank in normal poses, which to me looked like they were ready to start their own shooting once the front rank had retired to the rear.  I had been prepared to adopt a wider than normal unit frontage but as it turned out my standard 25mm per horseman frontage seemed to work ok if I accepted a rather haphazard and perhaps unsafe looking formation.  (Anyone who feels this looks far too chaotic should take a close look at the Snayers painting - there is a fabulously detailed version available of Wikipedia link.)

A whole lot of shooting going on!

This approach to forming a unit had the added benefit in that it allowed me to use many of the Bloody Miniatures recent mounted release in a unit, with a sprinkling of Warlord (and I think TAG) figures from the reject box. Some small conversions were required, such as to get a suitable Cornet and Trumpeter figure, as well as making the Warlord/TAG figures fit neatly on the Bloody horses. As with all of the Bloody Miniatures I have had so far, these were a joy to paint. 

Front rank blazing away while the second rank advance,  ready to add their own firepower, or perhaps charge home if the enemy seem to be wavering.

The resulting unit works for me, although I'm sure it will confuse people as to which way the bases are meant to face when being moved about on the table. It was exciting to read in a recent Bloody Miniatures newsletter that there are more mounted figures coming soon.  I am now almost hoping for more 'shoot the guy next to me' figures to be included in the release!

Flag from Flags of War Thirty Years War range.

The Captain and Cornet have invested in 3/4 armour.

Warlord riders on Bloody Miniatures horses. One in the Robert Ward pose, and one not.  

Bloody Miniatures, with the addition of the ever useful trumpet-hand from the Warlord plastic Pike & Shotte cavalry sprue

A Bloody Miniature and TAG riders on Bloody Miniature horses.

Bloody Miniatures doing some shooting.

The rear shot. 

I hope that my journey through old military manuals and paintings will help inspire anyone else out there with a sad collection of neglected figures who are in tricky poses.  Try some alternative basing to get those figures where they belong - on to the table.  They will almost certainly be quickly ridden down by hard charging Royalists, Swedes, Poles etc. but at least they will look a bit different. Better than being stuck in a formation with clowns to left, and jokers to the right, both shooting at you! 

Maybe the new unit will not have to use its casualty marker first time out, but I doubt it very much.

Casualty figure from Bicorne Miniatures, and counter base from Warbases. 

Until next time.

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig.

Ottoman Infantry

 This post looks at the first unit recruited in to my Ottoman army for the Khotyn 1621 project.

28mm figures from Warfare Miniatures - casualty from Warlord Games

The start of this years’ hobbying has involved lots of research into the Ottoman army.  I have been scouring the various Helion, Osprey and other books / websites that I have been able to find regarding the 16/17th Ottomans.  It is not straightforward to decipher an order of battle, or even a clear definition of the troop types.  I have had to adopt a level of pragmatism to allow me to press on with getting some figures on the table.

A quicker painting approach than normal was used for this unit.

Research, Thoughts, and Decisions

I have decided to simply split the infantry in to two categories: the Janissaries, and the provincial infantry (the Serhaddkulu infantry).   The non-Janissary infantry was actually made up from a bewildering array of different recruitment sources.  Their exact make up and numbers was not clearly documented at the time
and is very hard to tie down now.  Despite the variety of recruitment methods, their use on the battlefield seems to have been fairly uniform.  Ottoman commanders seem to have wanted more musket armed infantry to support, or stand in for, the musket armed Janissaries.  I decided it would become a bit arbitrary to try and differentiate amongst the different types of non-janissary infantry and so, to start with, I’m just going to have two flavours in the army.  More efficient and effective musket armed foot, the Janissaries, and less efficient/effective foot, the provincials. 

(It seems that as the 17th century continued some of the non-Janissary infantry started to rival and possibly even supplant the Janissaries as the better troops.  This makes no difference to my force as I will still have some better infantry and some worse.)

The next thing was to look at clothing / uniforms.  This was even more confusing! The fancy Janissary uniform, with the amazing head-dress, is well known by figure manufactures and is commonly pictured in books. The easy route would be to have used this full dress costume for the Janissaries and something else of the others types of infantry. However I couldn’t get away from the suggestion that, in action, the Janissaries didn’t risk their fancier outfits, and instead wore an irregular selection of what ever they preferred.  This means they would probably look very similar to the provincial / Serhaddkulu infantry, if subtly better dressed / armed. 

As I still wanted to be able to easily see the difference between the infantry types on the table I made the somewhat arbitrary choice to base them differently rather than have different figure types.  The Janissaries / effective infantry will be on my regular 40mm square bases, with 4 figures to a base.  The provincial / less-effective infantry will be on 60mm squares with 6 figures on a base (as I have done for my irregular Scottish Highlanders).  So even if the figures look very similar, the different formations / base sizes will distinguish the two basic types of infantry. 

There are two caveats that I have made to this attractively simple approach. One is the formation of special ‘volunteer’ storming parties that were formed before some of the assaults at Khotyn. To represent these I may have some special units on the 60mm square bases - I’m still thinking about this.  The second caveat is the dismounting of the Ottoman cavalry to take part in assaults.  This is also a challenge to consider in the future.

Flags are from Warfare Miniatures and Wargames Designs.

The First Unit

Following the planning above I settled on ordering some figures from Warlord Games, Warfare Miniatures, The Assault Group, and also Perry Miniatures, all of which have Ottoman  infantry ranges.  The Perry range is aimed at the end of the 18th / beginning of the 19th century, but by choosing some of the ‘irregular’ codes they appear to me to be useable for the 17th century.  The muskets should probably be matchlocks but it’s pretty hard to tell at this size of figure and so I’m willing to over look this as the figures are so nice. Warfare and Perry look like they will mix in units quite nicely, but are both a little taller than the TAG figures.  Warlord are between the two extremes. I may not mix TAG in the same units with Warfare/Perry, but keep them in their own units. 

Some disagreement may be? 

The first unit off the painting table are all Warfare miniatures.  Even with my simplified approach to Ottoman infantry I am still going to need a lot of them and so I had a hard think about how to paint them.  The previous unit I had painted were some Bloody Minis on which I had lavished quite a lot of time.  This was great fun, but made my already slow painting pace even slower. For the Ottomans I decided to have a go at a potentially quicker approach; the under-painting / zenithal highlighting / slap-chop technique that has become very popular in recent years.  There are some great explanations online about this approach and probably my favourite is by Stuart at Miniature Realms - take a look at his YouTube channel here - link.

28mm Perry Miniature primed in dark brown by hairy brush.

Heavy dry brush with Tan Earth.

Lighter dry brush with Wraithbone.

Rather than use an airbrush to prime and undercoat the figures, as Stuart does with black to white, I have primed in my regular dark brown by brush, and then dry brushed up through tan to off white.  This dry brush means that the more translucent ‘Contrast’ types paints give a one coat, quite contrasty, shaded look to the figures.

It is certainly possible to take things a stage further, as Stuart shows, by adding further highlights over the one coat of contrast.  However this takes precious time.  I did try this on the command base, and I think the final look of the figures benefits from the extra attention.  However, for the rank and file, and to get them on the table quicker, I will try and stick to a one-and-done approach. They do not look like my best work, but I think they are serviceable once on the table. 

28mm Ottoman casualty by Warlord Games on a Warbases counter base.

From this first unit I would say they take at most half the time of my regular approach (base coat over brown prime, wash, then highlights). 

In Conclusion

The start of the project has been, as I suppose is normal for me, quite slow and involved much time decision making.  Hopefully I can pick up the pace a bit now, and start getting some infantry units done.  Up next are … more Ottoman infantry. 

Until next time!

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig (FoGH)

“Mighty fair description of men without horses …”

(A quote from MacIntosh, played by Burt Lancaster, in ‘Ulzana’s Raid’. The quote has no relevance other than describing mounted warriors being on foot!)

28mm figures from Bloody Miniatures

This post looks at the latest unit coming from my painting table; a unit of dismounted Polish Rajtar (Reiter) for the Khotyn 1621 campaign.

Inspiration 

The inspiration for this unit was two-fold. Firstly I was looking for a reason to paint another batch of the stunning Bloody Miniatures that have been accumulating in the pile-of-opportunity.  They really are a joy to paint.  Secondly I was inspired by reading about the actions at Khotyn in September 1621.  As the month went on the assaults and sallys that took place became more and more desperate.  Much of the fighting involved the storming and counter-storming of the Polish defensive earthworks. Every available soldier was required in these actions and this led to both sides dismounting their horsemen to add to the fighting strength.

The command party with officer, cornet and trumpeter.

Horsemen, but on foot

The dismounting of cavalry to storm, or defend, fortifications in this period  was fairly common. Their armour, firearms, and more elite status no doubt added to their effectiveness in the role. I have used a mixture of Bloody Miniature figures to form this unit, including figures in three-quarters (or cuirassier) armour, back and breast plates with buff coats, or just buff coats.  To add to the dismounted horseman feel I also chose figures in the long bucket-top boots, a definite period indicator of a rider. (If dismounted troops had the choice then this form of footwear would not have the been the best choice for clambering over earthworks, or to aid agility, but let’s say they had not brought spare shoes with them!) 

Some handy options for fighting in fortifications: armour, extra powder and grenades!

Building the unit

The Rajtar units in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth armies were typically recruited from Germany.  They probably wore a mixture of armour, based on what they could afford and personal choice.  I also avoided three barred ‘English Pot’ helmets to keep the continental feel.  The only light conversions needed were to make a trumpeter and a cornet to carry the troop’s colour. These were fairly straightforward.  The trumpet came from a Warlord plastic cavalry sprue. (I’m not sure that dismounted troopers would have bothered with a trumpet and their cornet/colour in this more brutal and disorganised fighting ‘in the breech’. However, it was fun to show these types dismounted as well.)

Making the most of cavalry short range firepower

Painting

I painted the troopers in fairly neutral colours, with a vague blue theme based on nothing more than personal choice.  I have shown the buff coat wearers in sleeveless buff-coats, for this earlier 17th century period, by painting coloured coat sleeves.  Scarves (sashes) and other clothing accents were painted red / scarlet to help tie in with an Imperial theme, in case I want to use the unit in my Wallenstein Imperial army for Thirty Years War battles. Red is also nice colour accent against the dark, greyish armour and blue, grey clothing. The cornet/colour is from the Flags of War Imperial Thirty Years War range, with some battle damage added.

With carbine, swords and pistols.

Basing

The figures are based individually on 2 pence piece size bases and I have made up some sabot bases as well (all from Warbases).  This gives a suitably pell-mell feel to a unit that will be required to carry out some desperate actions in difficult circumstances, as well as in difficult terrain. I included a casualty marker on a Warbases 40mm counter base. The casualty is from the Bicorne ECW range. His discarded pistol is from the Bloody Minis spare equipment packs, and his lost hat is from the ‘spare bits’ box. 

Casualty from Bicorne Miniatures, on a Warbases counter base.

Khotyn 1621 Project Update

In other Khotyn 1621 project news, I have been researching the Ottoman army and buying a few figures to investigate options and possibilities. Thank you to everybody who has made recommendations.  So far I have selections of figures from Warlord Games, Warfare Miniatures, The Assault Group (TAG), Perry Miniatures, and Fireforge Games, as well as some 3D prints from various designers all printed by the super-helpful Paul at Sabotag3D Wargames Accessories.

The whole outfit - in their sabot bases (also from Warbases).

Book Competition Winner

Regular readers will remember that in the previous post (here) I offered a copy of Michal Paradowski’s Khotyn 1621 book from Helion as a prize to a commenter on the post (on any of the social media channels in which it appeared).  The commenters were added to a spreadsheet and a winner was chosen at random.  Many congratulations to Danny Buck who commented on Twitter.  You can see Danny enjoying his book below, and you can follow him on Twitter / X here: @DannyBuckUEA  

Many thanks to Michal for providing the book as a prize, and also many thanks to all of the commenters who took part across X, Facebook, TMP, LAF and here on Blogger.

Dr. Danny Buck with his prize! 

The next unit on the painting table should be Ottoman, and I look forward to discussing my initial choices in figures and paint schemes in the next post.

Until next time,

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig. 

New Project: The Khotyn Campaign - 1621

A New Year and a new hobby project; this time it is the Khotyn campaign of 1621 that pits the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth against the mighty Ottoman Empire. To celebrate this new project I have a book to giveaway, read on for more information.

Book Giveaway

The book, ‘The Khotyn Campaign of 1621’ by Michał Paradowski and published by Helion, is part of the inspiration for the new project.  Michał was kind enough to offer me a copy of his latest book as a giveaway.  To win this free copy of the fabulous book all you need to do is comment on this blog post, or one of its social media announcements, before midnight GMT on 2nd February 2024.  I will then pick a winner at random from across the various channels. (Sorry - you’ll need to be in the UK to win the book as posting it internationally is too tricky.) Good luck! 

Battle of Chocim, 1621 by Józef Brandt.

Note. The place name ‘Khotyn’ can appear differently in various local languages (e.g. Polish: Chocim, Romanian: Hotin, Ukrainian: Хоти́н ). It is most easily pronounced in English as ‘Hot-in’.

A Mini Book Review 

I highly recommend this book to anyone with even a passing interest in the conflicts of Eastern Europe in this period.  The book provides the historical background to the campaign (including the campaign in the previous year in which the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth suffered a disastrous defeat), as well as describing the army commanders and all of the armies involved.  There is then a detailed account of the campaign itself accompanied by useful maps and lots of information on the orders of battle.  The book is illustrated throughout including many period pictures, as well as some beautiful colour pieces by Sergey Shamenkov that were commissioned for the book. There are a number of fascinating appendices and the whole work is thoroughly served with excellent foot notes.  

As well as its qualities as a reference work the book is very readable as a narrative account and I devoured it in 3 or 4 sittings.  The chapter on the campaign between 2nd September and 9th October 1621 was a definite page turner with the day-by-day action unfolding in an increasingly bloody and desperate affair. For a wargamer looking at this conflict, or period, the book is ideal. It not only provides lots of the details we all crave about armies and battles, but also illuminates the historical background and context for our games.

I very much look forward to Michał's future work with my only regret being that I can't build armies and terrain as fast as he can research and write books! If you're not lucky enough to win the free giveaway copy then you can of course buy a copy from the Helion website here. 

Defending the Polish Banner at Khotyn by Juliusz Kossak.

Brief Campaign Background

"The battle was terrible and perilous, for our men were in amongst the enemy, and the dead bodies heaped upon another like bridges"

From issue 171 of Nieuwe Tijdinghen published in Antwerp, November 1621

Khotyn 1621 is perhaps not very well known despite being a major and bloody encounter between two of the major powers in the region. For a proper description then you should read the book.  There is also an interesting video available on YouTube from the SandRhoman History channel here. 

Here is my two minute, summary background.

The campaign was due to an escalation of border tensions between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire, and followed the disastrous defeat of a Polish army in 1620.  Emboldened by this victory, the new Ottoman sultan Osman II, who was still a teenager, mobilised an enormous army ready for the next campaign season in 1621. From the Ottoman capital, Istanbul, he joined the army in person and marched North in the hope of achieving a personal military victory to bolster his insecure political position.

Shocked by the 1620 defeat the Polish King, Sigismund III Vasa, received the support of the Polish-Lithuanian Sejm (parliament) to raise a new force from across the Commonwealth, and to recruit their Cossack allies.  The Lithuanian Grand Hetman Chodkiewicz marched the Commonwealth forces South to the border with Moldavia. Chodkiewicz then crossed the Dniester river in to Moldavia and picked a strong defensive position the southern bank, next to the castle and village of Khotyn. 

Osman advanced towards the Commonwealth forces, along with his Tartar allies, determined to quickly crush all opposition. At the beginning of September the Ottoman forces started to arrive at Khotyn and found the Commonwealth forces and allies behind prepared defences. There then followed a series of attacks by the Ottomans, with counter-attacks and sorties from the Commonwealth, that went on for over a month. By the start of October both sides were exhausted and a peace treaty was agreed. Although tactically a stalemate, the campaign was a strategic success for the Commonwealth who had regained their honour from the previous year's defeat, and managed to hold off the humbled Ottoman army. Osman was forced to head back to Istanbul with nothing to show for his costly campaign. 

The campaign saw the death of the both protagonists' leaders. Chodkiewicz died during the campaign through illness, and Osman was deposed and murdered in the following year, his position now untenable amid competing factions within the court.

"Now a crown hangs above the sabre,

Now the sabre falls upon the crown,

Now the slaves rises to an empire,

And the erstwhile emperor becomes a slave."

From the poem Osman by Ivan Gundulić written, between 1622-1651.

The Death of Chodkiewicz by Franciszek Smuglewicz.

New Hobby Project - Khotyn 1621

So why have I picked this campaign to be the basis of my latest hobby project?  First of all it pivots neatly from my last project, Dirschau/Tczew 1627 (see the culmanation of this here), and will allow me to use the Polish-Lithuanian force that I have just built up.  This is a definite boon when you’re building both forces for a battle.  

Secondly, Khotyn sees the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth engaged with the huge Ottoman Empire. Since starting to explore the history of the 17th century Poles, I have also become fascinated with their great rivals to the South.  The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth were exotic and different when I was looking at the Western armies in the Thirty Years War, and now the Ottomans take that fascination a step further.

Finally, the Khotyn campaign, with the main actions taking place between 2nd September and 9 October, is chock full of interesting aspects that will make this an engaging, long-term project.  

Ottoman Command 28mm - The Assault Group (left) and Warfare Miniatures (right).

Hobby Project Objectives

What I are my hopes and aims for the new project?  The main objective is to be able to able to recreate an action, or actions, from the Khotyn campaign on the table top. There are no time limits or expected force sizes, at the moment, although this may evolve overtime. 

After my early investigations here are the things that I am initially looking forward to exploring through the project:

• Four different armies: The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth with an allied Cossack force, and the Ottomans with an allied Tartar force. These feature lots of new types of troops to collect, paint, and work out how to use on the tabletop.
  
  
• A variety of types of engagement to represent on the tabletop, for example: attacks on fortifications, counter-attacks, sorties, open field engagements, and night attacks. 
  
  
• Interesting terrain options to populate the tabletop such as: a medieval castle, a fortified Orthodox Church, fieldworks, wagon forts, a major river (the Dniester) and bridges of boats.
  
  
• Regular followers of the blog may have realised that I like adding tabletop vignettes as colourful backgrounds to games.  Recreating the Ottoman camp will provide opportunities for some really interesting vignettes including: elephants and camels in the camp, the Sultan’s tents and guards, and a morale boosting Ottoman band (possibly partly mounted on the elephants!).  

Ottoman Command 28mm - The Assault Group (left) and Warfare Miniatures (right).

First New Figures

The first thing I’m tackling is to build an Ottoman force.  I’ll then be able to start playing some games against my existing Poles, and learning about how the different troop interactions work on the tabletop. 

Sprinkled through this post you will see the first Ottoman figures completed for the new project; two command bases. In previous projects I have omitted doing command bases and then found I have enough troops done for a game, but there are no generals to command them.  Hoping to avoid that particular pitfall this time! 

I have used figures from The Assault Group and Warfare Miniatures for the two bases.  Just painting these few figures has thrown up lots of questions that have required me to start researching what the Ottomans may have worn in this period and this is very useful as I start to plan for more Ottoman troops.

Ottoman Command 28mm - The Assault Group (left) and Warfare Miniatures (right).

Initial Hobby Plans

At this point of the project I’m doing more reading than buying or painting figures. I’m trying to get a sense of Ottoman uniform / dress for the period and the types of troops that are likely to have been at Khotyn.  I’ve started looking at the different Ottoman ranges available in 28mm and there are quite a few.  It feels like some of the ranges are a bit limited in the variety of troop types and/or poses.  I’ve also been looking at Middle Eastern ranges in general, from the Crusades through to Colonials to see if there are any suitable figures there.

I expect to order a few figures to start with, as samples, because it often makes a difference to see figures ‘in the flesh’.  It will also be useful to see how different manufacturers can be mixed together, especially in the same unit. 

While all of this is going on I have plenty of ECW/TYW figures in the existing ‘pile of potential’ so, I will not run out of things to paint, and some of these figures may be useable as the Foreign/German troops that were fighting for the Polish-Lithuanian army.  I might even be able to keep some of my previous projects going in parallel with this new project, although I’ve not been very good at juggling projects in the past. 

Ottoman Command 28mm - The Assault Group (left) and Warfare Miniatures (right).

Finally

Well done for getting through to the end of the post! I would be very interested to hear people’s thoughts on collecting 28mm Ottomans; which are your preferred figure ranges?  It would also be useful to hear about any books people recommend, especially uniform/dress guides.  

Don’t forget to comment to be in with a chance of winning a copy of the book!  

If you find it difficult to comment on Blogger posts then you could try to comment on one of the related Social media posts:

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Ottoman Command 28mm - The Assault Group (left) and Warfare Miniatures (right).

Until Next Time,

Andy @ The Friends of General Haig (FoGH)