Libyan Warriors

 

Here are two units of Bronze Age Libyan warriors that I've just finished painting. The figures are a mix of Foundry, Old Glory and Newline. I'll use them for a Libyan Chariots Rampant force to start with but need to finish painting more warriors, archers and chariots. The back drop photo was taken in Egypt in 2009, near the Temple of Queen Hatshepsut in Luxor.

One really annoying thing that happens with Libyans frequently is the ostrich plume(s) in the hair snaps off, either in the mail or even in storage. I have literally dozens of these figures that have lost their plume but found a method that seems to work quite well to repair them. I drill a hole in the top of the head angled back slightly and super glue in a 5-7mm wire off cut from a wire spear (have hundreds of these). I then take some green stuff and fold it around the wire so it is enclosed and then using a sculpting tool (a toothpick would do) mark in the lines of the ostrich plume and leave it to dry. The front rank figure (with tats) on the far right in the photos above and below is the one I repaired.

The Stillman & Tallis WRG book, Armies of the Ancient Near East, 3000 BC to 539 BC, makes the following point (p.116):

This plume was considered very important, and may have indicated tribe or status. The inscriptions of Merneptah record that a defeated Libyan chief was deprived of his plume by his followers as a mark of disgrace.