Gutian Warband

" They came pouring down from the mountains with screams and mighty fury.  The savage Gutians sent chills through the ranks of Akkadians  The line must hold ......"

Here we have a warband of Gutian hill tribes.  Fortunately for the Akkadians they will serve as allies in my army.  I like the primative almost stone age look of these warriors.  I have raised the bases up 2mm to give them more stature as they are slim sculpted with no helmets and armour etc.
Very nice sculpting again from Cutting Edge Miniatures and using Army Painter ink.  I have given copper weapons to reflect early period and technology.

They mainly seemed to wear goats skins which come in many colours.

Sargon the Great

Here we have Sargon the Great.  Holding his men together for a fierce charge from the Gutian mountain tribe.  His dog will feast well this night, on their bones. Sargon was  hailed as a mighty warrior and leader up to Neo Assyrian times  and beyond.  With his well equiped army he created the first empire in Mespotamia.
These men are part of the Akkadian army who took over from the Sumerians.  A large sheild still kept in use for spearmen and differs in appearance more like later Assyrian or even Persian shields.

This a more pleasing size of unit for some and represents a 24 man block.  These are all Cutting Edge with a Castaway Arts drummer at the back.

Hammurabic Spear

Here is a fine unit of Hammurabic Babylonian spear.  Spearmen from this period can also be represented with javelin and axe or sword.  King Hammurabi well as giving us the Law Code was a prolific campaigner and conquered all of Mesopotamia.  Enemies would have looked mostly similar.
Chariots were simple rail types and fewer in number compared to later Empires eg Mitanni and Hittites.

I have chosen to give these regulars uniform red kilts to contrast from my Sumerian and Akkadians.  These are all Cutting Edge 28mm.  I do like upright spear mostly.

Moses Battles the Amalakites

In this scene Moses urges the Isrealite army into battle against the dreaded Amalakites.  Before the conquests of Joshua the Hebrew warriors were gaining valuable fighting experience.
As long as Moses can keep his staff in the air victory, with the hand of God would be assured.  Moses chose a high point to be visible to the army.

Here we have a nice mix of Foundry and Cutting Edge with the Moses figure from Castaway Arts.  This base is done again Impetus style but would look nice as part of a bigger unit and of course an army!  The Hebrew army of this period would have been very similar to Cannanites and no defeated enemies equipment would have been wasted.

Thumose III

Here we have Thutmose III in all his glory wearing the double crown of upper and lower Egypt.   He is considered by many to be Ancient Egypt's greatest general.  Fearing invasion he took the war to his Asian enemies in 17 campaigns!  Best known of these is the battle of Meggido where he took on the mighty "chariot lords" the Mitanni in a colourful multi chariot clash.
I took a bit more time with this new model from Cutting Edge 28mm New Kingdom Egyptian range as I find the sculpting wonderful.  I have tried to create a colourful noble image fitting of this great Pharoah without being too busy on the eye.

Hittite Interrogation

In this scene tensions are running high on the eve of the great battle of Kadesh.  The Egyptian officer struggles to maintain order amongst his men.  The captured Hittite scout is taking a heavy beating form monk warriors and will not yield information on the numbers of Hittite forces in the area.

Rammu (left) an eager Egyptian soldier, is seen being held back, his sword already drawn to smite the wretched Hittite.  The brave Hittite did not talk and Rammu was given permission to put an end to the interrogation, taking off the captives' head with one blow.
Rammu however failed to fully distinguish himself at the mighty battle of Kadesh the next day.  He was crushed by an overturned Hittite chariot fleeing the battle.

The figures are Cutting Edge with the Foundry viginette.  Again this represents and characterful spear block of NKE.  You can see the pain on the pain on the Hittites face.  Army Painter as usual.

Syrian/Mitanni/Cannanite/Hebrew Bow

As in the title these bowmen have multi use in many armies of the Near East.  I like to think of them as more Syrian with longer robes than Cannanites.  I suppose though in reality all troops would appear similar and came together as allies regardless.  A nice mixture of soldiers here.  Front 4 are Cutting Edge and back row is Foundry and Essex(who appart from many silly poses, do still have some nice stuff).  I feel they blend together rather well.