Gripping Beast Arab Heavy Cavalry - Dark Ages / Medieval

After working with the Gripping Beast Arab footsoldiers, I was keen to see how the cavalry looked - and they didn't disappoint!  Lots of spares / options, and separate torso / legs, which were especially useful when modelling the archers.  Spearmen first though;

Less variety in the horses than you'd find in a typical Fireforge or Perry's set, but not bad.  They're  lot smaller than the Fireforge Templar horses too - which is accurate, as the Islamic armies tended to favour mares rather than stallions.

I used some spares from the Arab footsoldiers set to add variety, including these teardrop shields.  The remit for this commission was variety, so as well as varying the horse colours, I've also finished some of the spearmen in black, some in white, and some (like the chap in the centre) in brighter colours.

Reverse angle of the same grouping.  I used different saddlecloth colours too, sometimes matching the plumes dangling under the horses' heads, and sometimes not.  Most of the armour was finished in bronze (black primer / undercoat, then bronze, gold highlight, then sepia ink), though some is finished in steel (black primer / undercoat, gunmetal, silver highlight, then sepia ink).  This steel finish is different to that used on the crusaders, as the sepia ink gives it a warmer tone.

The main cloth colours used (in addition to white and black) were mint green, french blue, and a deep wine red.  All the saddlery and leatherwork are red-brown, though I varied the shoe / slipper colours on the riders.

The miniatures were to be left unbased (hence the fetching green plastic / blu-tack) - the shield covers are Little Big Man studios.  I used a slightly different technique with these (to that used on the Irish and Vikings, earlier posts).  Instead of applying the decal to a primed shield, I placed them on art paper instead (good quality printer paper works too), then glued the cut-out paper discs onto the shields with wood glue.  This was mainly to allow me to 'battle damage' the shields, like I do for most medieval subjects, but it also had the effect of reducing the amount of 'shine' from the decal.  In the end, I opted not to battle-damage the shields anyway...

The archers, again using a combination of black / white / bright colours.

The archers were much easier to put together than the spearmen, as I didn't have to worry about the spear butt colliding with the horse flank, or not being able to get the shields in place.  The arms are annoyingly at the wrong angle for easy shield placement - nice straight arms would be much better - and next time, I might employ spare left arms from Warlord Games Bolt Action WW2 infantry.  The plain sleeves will match nicely, and this will give much more in the way of options when fitting them together.

Of course, no such problem with the archers.  The ability to 'twist' the torso allows for more natural (or dramatic!) posing, and no fouling of the horse's neck with shields.  The quivers could use a flat back on them, to make them easier to fit to the saddle, and the odd right arm which was actually holding the reins might be good too...

The bow cases were a handy way to add some colour, especially to the archers in black.  I was matching these up to some Perry ones which the client had provided, which included slung shields on their backs.  I hoped to give these chaps slung shields too... but they looked a bit cluttered, so I left them off.

Reverse angle of the black archers, showing the difference between the bronzed scale armour (left and centre) and the steel finish (right).