Just a quick update before Christmas, as I managed to get another unit of Sumerian spearmen off of the painting table, leaving me with almost a full first division:
Today’s blog post takes us straight into the world of 6mm. I’ve wanted to paint some Hail Caesar armies in 6mm for a long time—the sheer visual appearance of massed armies at this scale just can’t be beat, and the amazing work by IrregularWars and other 6mm-dedicated blogs has been a constant source of inspiration. Overwhelmed with possibility—Romans? Carthaginians? Egyptians?—I decided to let history be my guide, and start at the very beginning, with the Sumerians.
Located in what is now Southern Iraq, Sumer has often been claimed as the origin of civilisation. Among the first to develop writing and urbanisation, the Sumerians fascinate me, especially their language - an isolate whose linguistic affiliations still cause disagreement. In fact, much about the origins of the Sumerians is still debated; no wonder fringe theorists still turn to early Mesopotamia for evidence of ancient aliens! The Sumerians also provide quite an easy ‘in’ to 6mm wargaming, as by their very nature such early armies are both smaller, but also quite limited in scope.
Whenever I begin a new project, I like to start with a quick unit both to get my eye in, but also to see how the colours will work at that scale. This is especially important at 6mm, as at this size it’s about contrast and ‘legibility’ from a distance; there’s no time (or physical space on the model!) for endless meticulous detail. So, first off block is a unit of archers:
Although several companies make 6mm Sumerians, it seems that none make archers, despite their being fundamental to armies of the period. Fortunately, at 6mm scale things are quite forgiving and it becomes easier to substitute in other figures that look ‘right’ from a distance. These are Heroics and Ros archers, from their Etruscan light infantry pack; painted with copper helmets and sheepskin kilts, they look just the job.
Of course, no Sumerian army is complete without massed ranks of spearmen, so this unit was next off the block. These are from Irregular’s beautiful 6mm Sumerian range:
There’s some discussion
when it comes to Sumerian military equipment. Surviving depictions such as the ‘Standard
of Ur’ and the ‘Vulture Stela’ (below) show warriors in helmets, kilts, and long,
studded cloaks. Finds from city of Ur suggest that the helmets were copper with
a leather cap below, and modern depictions conventionally interpret the kilt as
sheepskin, and the cloak as copper-studded leather. However, some instead see the
cloak as felt or cloth. To avoid potential controversy, I’ve decided to plump for
the ‘traditional’ depiction of Sumerians—copper helmets, dark red leather
cloaks and felt kilts. If nothing else, I like the visual contrast of these
three core colours. Whether the long shields of spearmen were wicker or leather
is also uncertain; the colour I’ve chosen could handily be interpreted as
either…
Depictions like the Vulture stela show massed, phalanx-style ranks. It has been proposed that, since the Sumerian number system was both decimal and sexagesimal, formations were based on this principle, with a basic ‘unit’ comprising 60 soldiers. Certainly, the Vulture stela seems to show a column 10 by 6! Since the Irregular spearmen are in ranks of 6, this works quite nicely.
 |
Sumerian warriors as depicted on the Vulture Stele
(c.2500-2340 BC). This stela records perhaps the earliest detailed war account,
between the city-states of Lagash and Umma (Lagash won). © Louvre Museum |
It’s difficult to know how to open a blog; perhaps I should
begin by saying a little about myself. I’m Ben, a museum curator by day and
miniature painter by night, and this blog is devoted to chronicling my journey through
historical wargaming.
I’ve been a hobbyist for as long as I can recall; one of my earliest hobby memories is inheriting my dad’s collection of figurines from the 1980s.* I began, as so many people did, with Warhammer, but over time I was increasingly drawn to the historical side of the hobby. In hindsight, this is totally unsurprising; history was always my passion, and as an Egyptologist and museum curator I now get to pursue that passion every day in the workplace. Really, my hobbying is an extension of that.
In recent years, I found myself with less time to hobby, as
real-life commitments increasingly became a priority. However, over the last
year or so, I’ve managed to carve out time to properly re-focus. This last year
also saw a marked shift in how I hobby. I used to paint alone, never
really playing any of the games or sharing my work with a community. This time,
I vowed to be different. I started an Instagram account, and the feedback there
has been incredible, really spurring me on to keep painting and posting updates
once or twice weekly.** Most of my engagement there revolves around the Lord of
the Rings game, and whilst I will still keep that up I felt it was time to
start up a blog devoted solely to my historical models, to give them some of
the spotlight.
So, what can you expect from this blog? Well, as you’ll have guessed from the above spiel, it’s all about history, baby. I paint mainly in 6mm (ancients) and 10mm (medieval) scales, but dabble with 28mm for skirmish games like Saga. I’ll be posting once or twice a week to show off works in progress or finished pieces, and there’ll be plenty of tutorials. This will also be a forum for me to combine my paintings with musings on history, so expect plenty of pedantic commentary about fabric patterns and shield shapes.
*Some subsequently received the obligatory terrible thick coat of paint, a rite of passage for all 10 year olds picking up a paintbrush for the first time, but others still lie pristine in their boxes. That Citadel Great Spined dragon is probably worth more than my flat now…
**For those of a fantasy bent do please check out my
Instagram page (@model_man_ben). Several of my historical miniatures have
already been posted there.
I've had unfortunately little time to paint anything recently, and subsequently have also been a bit quiet on the blog-front. However, I...
