Neo-Assyrian Sab Sharri

 

Here's two mixed spearmen and bowmen units of Neo-Assyrian Sab Sharri from the archives. They're also a mix of ranges with mostly Foundry command in the front rank, a Hinchliffe officer and spearmen and Eureka bowmen in the rear ranks. 

One of my most useful reference books for this period and earlier is the WRG book by Nigel Stillman and Nigel Tallis, Armies of the Ancient Near East 3,000 BC to 539BC, which is unfortunately out of print. I read on the Society of Ancients forum recently that this will be back in print soon, perhaps with an updated bibliography like Duncan Head's classic Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars 359 BC to 146 BC. Good news for all the biblical fans out there!

Nostalgia

Canberra Times Article 25 January 1981

On the 2020 Australia Day weekend more bush fires on the south coast, forced a change of plan and I visited Cancon, for the first time in several years. It was busier and noiser than ever, and while crowds and competitions aren't my cup of tea, the tawdry allure of adding yet more figures to the collection proved tempting enough. I found this old Canberra Times article with a photo of some old gaming mates recently. A lot of things have changed in the hobby since then, but not all are necessarily, for the best.

I also found while sorting through my boxes of 15mm figures these old Minifig Late Republican Roman legionaries (photos below). I think I painted these around the same time using a small pen and ink to get the black line look and I certainly wouldn't attempt to hand paint shields like this now with all the transfers available. I'm not sure why they aren't armed with pila as they're based on the first illustration in Phil Barker's WRG book Armies and Enemies of Imperial Rome. I still have an edition of this dating to February 1972, as well as the 4th Edition of January 1981, with the much nicer Ian Heath illustrations. These figures are still available on the Miniature Figurines/Matchlock Miniatures site and I think they have stood the test of time surprisingly well or maybe it's just nostalgia.