Reading up on the rise of Islam and the fall of the Sassanid Empire as I work on the Sunset of the Sassanids campaign. Found two books of interest pictured below. Have not found much about about either author and just got the books so I am not sure how good they will be. Both are available on Amazon.
A new version of the Broken Rays of the Sun campaign map is now available on the blog.
Been busy getting another battlegroup painted and others flocked as Round 2 of Broken Rays of the Sun gets ready to begin. One whole group shot and then I will give details for each BG below.
The Bulls of Babylon have now been added to the Parthian/Early Sassanid host. It just so happens you can have 24 Cataphracts in this list. These are a mix of Old Glory 15 Cataphract models (Parthian Cataphracts, Sassanid Cataphracts, Palmyran Cataphracts, Sarmatian Cavalry). Sometimes there is a mix when you order ready made FOG BGs from Old Glory but I also had these laying around and wanted to use a mix as kind of representative of the transitional period of the end of the Parthian Empire. I painted all of these and made the flag using a bull's head I found online somewhere and then filling in the blue color using Pantina on my Mac.
Next up there are three battlegroups of Scythian/Saka Cataphracts that will form the strike force of the Early Central Asia Steppe Nations (such as the Dahae and the more settled Chorosmia) in the Broken Rays of the Sun campaign. See the Extra Lists Addendum for the campaign found here for more details on the lists. These figures are all from the Forged In Battle WE-SK01 Skythian Armored Cavalry set. Mark Kernan of The One Tree Miniatures (but his website is FieldofGlory.net) painted all three battlegroups. Their armour is really too early for this period but Old Glory 15s does not make a suitable figure for this time period and the Khurasan Miniatures figures I am just not sold on and they do not match up with other figures in my collection.
The last two battlegroups are part of the foot contingents for the Early Central Asian Steppe Nations. Chorosmia is required to field the minimum foot in the Broken Rays of the Sun Campaign if more than 300 points are fielded. I have three more foot battlegroup of these but they are not ready for photographing yet. The majority of the figures are Forged in Battle WE-SK05 Skythian Skirmishers, WE-SK04 Skythian Light Infantry and some of the axe wielders from WE-SA06 Alan Infantry. Mark Kernan painted most of these and I painted about a quarter.
In the Spring of 2020 as everything ground to a halt due to Covid-19, I launched into a test campaign using the Broken Rays of the Sun Scenario (see Campaign Page here). The ensuing test run saw 7 campaign turns with 5 miniature battles generated and a sole King of Kings arise. The Babylonian Sun Times chronicled the events of the campaign which also prompted a spur in painting of new figures.
Since that time, the campaign rules have been revised to incorporate lessons learned and the map has been redrawn to focus more on the land under the Broken Rays of the Sun.
Furthermore, a new book by Uwe Ellerbrock, The Parthians: The Forgotten Empire, has prompted a renewed interest in the campaign.
I hope to restart the campaign later this week as painting progresses on a new battle group to serve under the Broken Rays of the Sun.
Finished up flocking on some odds and ends that have been on the desk.
8 stand battlegroup of Sabir Hun Heavy Foot - Forged in Battle 15mm figures using a mix of Scythian and Alan foot. Most painted by Mark Kernan of The One Tree Miniatures Painting Service out of Northern Ireland. I added about a 1/4 of the figures to round them out to 32.
8 stand battlegroup of Skythian medium foot spearmen - Forged in Battle 15mm figures again using a mix of Scythian and Alan foot. The majority of these were also painted by Mark Kernan. These will also double for Hill Tribesmen for Parthian and Sassanid armies and will be a stand in for Caucasian Hill Tribe foot in my Broken Rays of the Sun Campaign. I have a boat load more of these (spearmen and archers) that have not been flocked that I will add to the blog at some point. These are for the most part the same figures as used for the Sabir Huns above but with more spearmen and fewer axemen.
Two 8 stand battlegroups of Dilimite Foot warriors - all but a handful are Forged in Battle 15mm Dailami foot with some Eureka Almughavars thrown in for variety. These have all been painted by yours truly. The Dilimites are an early name for the Dailami before they became famous. They have an allied list in Field of Glory. I need at least 16 more stands of these.
4 stand battlegroup of Arab light horse archers - these are all Forged in Battle 15mm figures that will be part of my Hatran allied contingent for the Broken Rays of the Sun campaign. I painted all of these. I have 16 stands of foot archers, 4 stands of camelphracts, 4 stands of cavalry horse archers and a camp also done for these that have been pictured elsewhere.
2 command stands: one on the left is a Hatran Allied General and the one on the right is a Dilimite Allied general.
The Dilimites are a mix of figures: Two figures are Forged in Battle 15mm and one is an Eureka Almughavar. I painted these. The musician is a FIB Sassanid just for variety. Unfortunately, the lighting was off for these.
I have been working again on the Broken Rays of the Sun Campaign and V2 will be along in a month or so. The map has been redone. The original was a completely hand drawn affair and in retrospect include too much of the Arabian Peninsula and the Roman Empire when the lands of the Parthian Empire should have been the focus. I also found some free icons on the web to replace the circles, pencil marks and coloring to make it look better. I will let you decide.
Version 1 Map
Version 2 Map
As you can see, I also added a map key to the right hand side. Hopefully, this will be something someone out there finds of interest. Until next time, enjoy...
Having played out the Broken Rays of the Sun Test Campaign, I have given everyone glimpses of the figures used in the campaign but never all at once. To rectify that, here is the gallery of all of the horde that are currently finished (painted, bases, flocked and sealed). This army started as a Sassanid Persian and it was the first army I purposefully built for FOG. Played well over 100 tournament games with it finishing 2nd in period at the International Team Tournament in 2009 at Lisbon. Over the years I have added other pieces so that it can be fielded as a Parthian host as well. I will add captions to let you know where I got the figures and who painted them.
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| The entire completed host on a 3' x 2' gaming mat. |
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| Two shots of the Parthian leader stands. All of these are OG15 figures that I painted. I believe all of these came for PA01 Parthian command. |
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| Parthian Cataphracts based 4 per stand. All OG15s from and painted by your truly. The flags I made myself. These are a combination of figures from PA03, SA02, PL03 and ES03. |
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| Another angle of the two BGs of Parthian cataphracts from the picture above as well as the dreaded Camelphracts in the right foreground. The Camelphracts are Peter Pig Ancients Pack 72. They also work as part of a Hatran ally for the Parthian and Early Sassanid list. I painted all of these figures. |
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| The last two BGs of cataphracts in the army. These are the first two cataphracts that I painted when I was running the army as Sassanid. The flags are ones I made myself and, yes, they are oversized as I wanted an in your face look for them. These are from ES03 from OG15s. |
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| These three shots are mostly of the Parthian Horse Archers in the army although the Camelphracts and one of the Parthian Cataphracts made it into the foreground of the last picture. The basing color of the two Cavalry Horse Archers are different than the light horse as I had to paint up more horse archers when V3 came out as 8 stands are now required. These are all OG15s that I painted and are from pack LA10. These are actually from the Later Achaemenid range but I liked the way these looked and stayed with them. Not to mention I seem to have acquired about a hundred of the buggers. |
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| Some of the Parthian support troops. In the foreground are Greek City Militia mounted as medium foot. The are OG15s. I bought these as Greek Mercenary Thureophoroi from pack IGBG118 but they are in fact the Javelinmen from Thracian pack TH03. I think they look great. I painted them myself. In the background are two BGs of archers that will be described in the next picture. |
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| Here we have two BGs of Hatran foot archers. In V1 and V2, a Hatran ally was allowed for the Parthians that could have these. I added the Hatran list to The Broken Rays of the Sun Campaign so I had to have these. These are mostly the archers from FIB WE-PA09 Arab Skirmishers and the Arabs from OG15 SS20 Elymnaian Archers and Arab Archers. There maybe a few other random figures in the mix as well. I painted half of these and Thomas Demers of Mad Monkey Painting painted the rest. |
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| These are Hatran Horse Archer cavalry from the Hatran ally. I have 4 stands of Hatran light horse archers (FIB WE-PA08) and a mounted command stand (OG Parthians) waiting to be finished that will round out this ally command. I painted these and they are all OG15s. The riders are from pack SS21 Arab Camelry Riders and the horses are a mixture of OG15 horses I had laying around. |
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| These two pictures are part of a Mountain Indian Ally command I have been working on as I could find suitable figures. I wanted a more Afghani look for these so for the light horse I went with the OG MC08 Hippakantistai. The command stand has one of the Hippakantistai and a left over figure from the LA02 pack that I had already replaced the javelin on. I have several BGs of the Mountain Indian foot and some archers in the works but have yet to finish them. |
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| Here we have a Saka ally for the Parthians. Again, all often mounted are OG15s from the Skythian range. The Noble cavalry have all had their cast javelins replaced with lances. The two wagons in the top right of the picture are two steppe wagons from FIB WE-SK06 Skythian 2-Horse Wagons. There was a third but I broke it. I have been working on a third camp base but it is no where near complete. These work as FOG 300 camps or (if I have to play it) ADLG camps. The two bases next to the wagons with camels are other FOG 300 camp bases for the Parthians. They are mainly from Xyston pack ANC20282 Parthian Baggage Camels with a couple of figures from Xyston ANC20056 Persian Leavies in Persian Dress thrown in. |
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| These two pictures show the three bases of Sassanid leaders I have for the later morph of these troops. These are all OG15s from ES01 Sassanid Command except for the foot figure on the stand to the left. He is another from Xyston ANC20056 that I added a standard to. I painted all of these. |
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| These three pictures are of the Sassanid Armoured Horse Archers that dominate the Sassanid list in the latter part of the era. I painted all of these and they are all OG15s. Originally, I bought a boxed FOG Sassanid Army from OG and that is how I acquired most of these. The four BGs with full horse armour came in that box. The one above with the colored dots on the half horse armour I could only get by ordering LTBG75from the Field of Glory Battlegroups section as they are not in the normal Sassanid range. You can have three of these in the Early Sassanid list. |
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| Here we have 10 stands of Levy Spearmen (Horde). I picked up a painted Sassanid army from Hinds Limited when I was first getting into FOG and most of these came from that army. I have since sold almost all of it. There are a few I painted later as I was fleshing these out and they are from 50Paces (I think) and a few OG15s. In V1 and V2, they could be Poor PROTECTED Mob or Poor Defensive Spear. In V3, you can still get the Mob and Poor Spear but you have the option of getting some real Persian Infantry. I have the lead from FIB but have yet to get around to them. In ADLG, the Sassanid list is broken as you have a mandatory two stands of these you have to bring which makes it impossible to run historical lists from the later period. |
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| The Daylami Guard: In the later years, you are allowed six stands of these. You could also use them in the Later Pre-Islamic Arabian list from Lost Scrolls. These are all painted by me and are OG15s from pack AC11. In V3, you can have 8 stands of these so I need to get around to painting up two more bases. |
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| The Elephant Core: The two BGs on the left are OG15s and the one on the right is Essex. The Essex elephants are from pack SAE9A and are remnants of the Sassanid Army from Hinds Limited. The other two, I painted and are from ES09 Elephants and crew. |
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| The full sized Sassanid Camp: a Fire temple of sorts with the eternal fire in the center. This is scratch built by your truly. The columns I picked up on E-Bay. The fire are some beads I picked up at Hobby Lobby and put together and then added the red stone on top. The three priests are some more of the left over Xyston ANC20056 Persians. |
