New Kingdom Egypt: Medium Infantry

    These are some of the figures I painted up quite rapidly on short notice in February and March of this year for a game at Battle Group Boston's HAVOC convention. I had had the figures for 4-5 years and had started painting them, and them we started on our 1809 project, then the Borodino 1812 project, then Dresden 1813 project so they went on the back burner. From past experience at this event, I wanted a game that would set up and play quickly, so I decided to run a battle using Charlie Sweet's Ancient rules (report is here). The Egyptians would fit in perfectly with that scenario, and they're fairly easy to paint, especially having ahead start on them. So, I painted the whole army in about 6 weeks. Of course, the varnish was still drying on the figures as I loaded them into the car for the game... as usual!

    Anyway, I didn't have enough time to do any work on the bases if I was to have them ready on time for the convention, which was fine for an "old school" type game on a gridded board. After the convention, I bought some materials to do the basing the way I wanted, but the priority shifted back to planning and painting for my Historicon games, so the Egyptians once again were consigned to the back burner. I finally had time to complete their basing this weekend... and did so. This post will cover the "Medium" infantry of the army (spearmen and 2 handed mace/axe men. All the figures are Old Glory, with a few odds and ends of old Garrison figures sprinkled in here and there. I will eventually add a few more chariots and archers to the army, plus some mercenaries and Nubians. Any suggestions as to other 25/28mm manufactures of NKE figures to go with these are welcome!

Here's a unit of Egyptian "melee" troops  wielding bronze 2 handed mace/axes. Very little armor is worn, and they have their shields slung across their backs.

Another view. These particular Old Glory packs come with a somewhat too high proportion of "command" figures, IMHO - 8 out of 30. I had to struggle a bit to work them all into the various units. Still, it is nice to have *some* hornists and drummers in among the mix!

The distinctive Egyptian head dress was the only thing at all challenging to portray, but I think they came out OK. 

Next up is a unit of Egyptian Spearmen; these guys are using their large shields, and wear crocodile armor doe some additional protection,

The two command figures in this unit are old Garrison figures. 

 I have been fascinated with Ancient Egypt since reading a book written for teens on the subject back when I was about 11. The stories about Cheops and the building of  the Great pyramid, the Egyptian priests and deities, and the Pharaohs - the great victories of Thutmose III, and the mysteries around his aunt (and Pharaoh)  Hatchepsut and the pink sphinxes at her mortuary palace at Deir-el-Bahari , Ankehaton and Nefertiti and their experiment with monotheism, the puppet boy-king Tutankhamen who succeeded him (and left such a rich archaeological heritage), and Ramses and the battle of Kadesh were utterly fascinating!

We know from the accounts of Kadesh, that at least by the time of Ramses II, the Egyptian Army was divided into "Divisions" each named after a primary Egyptian god (Amun, Re, Seth and Ptah), which contained both chariots and infantry.

Thus, inspired I have painted each of my units with a "Divisional" color - Red for Amun, Yellow for Re, Blue for Seth and Green for Ptah. These then would be Medium Infantry mace/axe men of Division Ptah. The use of these weapons 2 handed is, I suspect somewhat speculative and driven somewhat by the advantages of same in the original WRG rules. 

Still, if they were in fact wielded with both hands, I would think they would be capable of fearsome damage!

The presence of the large shields suggest they were used one handed a good portion of the time, I would think. 

Spearmen of my Division Amun.

The beige towels I used to take these pictures upon (outdoors in diffused light) do a nice job of suggesting sand dunes, I think!

Crocodile armor is worn once again by these better protected troops. 

Finally, another unit of 2-handed mace/ax men. The blue color marks them as Division Seth, at least in my scheme!

The lone Spearmen in the ranks is another old Garrison figure.

Now would be a good time to cue the triumphal march from Giuseppe Verdi's, Aida, I think!

worth another version - one of the grandest scenes in all of Opera!

Peter