Sunday 12 April 2020

A Turkish Grand Parade.

 During the lockdown I've taken to reading several books at once. Well obviously not all together but you know what I mean. One is Charles Oman's classic The Art of War in the Middle Ages, part three which concerns the renaissance period. I have always been fascinated by the Turkish invasions of the West and the heroic battles to try and stop Islam taking over the Hapsburg empire.
 One battle in particular has always interested me and thats the Battle of Mohacs where basically the Kingdom of Hungary was overrun following the defeat of the Christian army. During the lock-down I have been adding various small units of Akinji and Azabs to my collection to build it into a decent sized army. Today I couldn't help myself and decided to have a bit of a parade of the Turkish army as it would have possibly been at their victory at Mohacs.
 Sometimes one needs to see your toy soldiers en masse and just enjoy the spectacle of colour. I had forgotten just how nice the army was and would love to take credit for the beautiful painting of the vast majority of the figures, sadly I cant as they were  lovingly painted by my nemesis John Reidy who put a lot of effort into the units.
 These were painted by master painter and all round good egg; Tony Runkee. They are Artizan Spahis.
 So sorry for the ego thing, but I needed to actually see what I had in the army and decide if I needed to paint some more units.I think I have enough and can stop planning more.Now I just need to find some suitable hussar figures to use for the Hungarians and perhaps locate some peasant types to fill out the odd crossbow blocks.

 At Mohacs the Turks chained their guns together to make things even more difficult for the Hungarians. Unfortunately the heroic charge by the knights failed to reach the hill where the guns were ensconced.
 The vast majority of the figures is Hinchliffe with a smattering of Mini Figs and Campaign Miniatures.





24 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thanks Neil and its not everything. I left off three further heavy pieces and generals. One gets carried away with the hobby sometimes.

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  2. Always so colourful, nice collection mate.
    Dave.

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    1. Thanks Dave, like several of my armies they dont get the action they deserve.

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  3. Now that is an impressive sight. Hinchliffe figures for this period I think really carried it off. Always wanted a Turkish army, may have to do an 18th century one instead 😀

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    Replies
    1. Gilder really nailed the figures for this period Graham and John made a brilliant job of painting them. The units I added dont stand up to the standard John set.

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  4. Fantastic looking line up there Robbie.

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    1. Thanks Colin. You know how meticulous John is when he paints, always very neat it drives one nuts attempting to copy his style.

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  5. Spectacular Robbie. Very impressive and awe inspiring array! Phil

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    1. Thanks Phil I only wish I could claim credit for the paintwork.

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  6. Gorgeous collection, Robbie! I agree that we need to see our armies out on the parade ground in all of their glory so that we can savor our accomplishments.

    Outstanding work!

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    1. Thanks Johnathan, I love to see rows of soldiers it lifts ones spirits.

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  7. Replies
    1. Thanks Ray, its a tough army to fight with but its got lots of troops to throw away.

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  8. Replies
    1. Thanks for that. I must fight Mohacs after the ending of lockdown.

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  9. Replies
    1. Thanks David and good to see you getting out every day.

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  10. Lovely colourful army! Definitely getting the early Miniature Wargames vibe from them. Dave

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    1. Thanks Dave. John had met Gilder and copied a lot of his painting ideas and nailed them really well.

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  11. Robbie-Fantastic!!I agree with you that every now and then it does you good to get lots and lots of figures on the board,just to ogle at them-keep the blogs coming,we all need something to read and look at,cheers
    johnc

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    Replies
    1. My pleasure John you cant beat toy soldiers for lifting spirits.

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  12. Spectacular army - excellent parade!

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My 6mm Napoleonic set up.

My 6mm Napoleonic set up.
Austria 1809.

Austrian Hussars

Austrian Hussars
Hinchliffe figures

Austrian Grenzer

Austrian Grenzer
Austrian Grenzer

Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2013
Smoggycon 2013

Smoggycon 2012

Smoggycon 2012
Smoggycon 2012

Smoogycon 2009

Smoogycon 2009
My French getting another beating