Figures for a Blemye army

[Denis Grey]

A collection of figures I bought second-hand earlier this year turns out to contain enough Blemye bowmen and cavalry to make half an army for DBA.  They are the old TTG castings, now sold in the UK by Alternative Armies under the Isarus label.  (Credit to Mr Smith for identifying them.)

I am tempted to buy the other half, however, TTG's Blemye range doesn't include any spear-armed infantry that I could use for the spearmen and spear-armed auxilia elements.

I am considering using the Isarus AR8 figure (Arab Negro Spearman).  Would that be suitable?  Are there any other figures I might consider?

I'm not especially taken with the Forged in Battle Blemye javelinmen, but I wondered whether Irregular Miniatures Berber/Sudanese spearman (AB12) might be another possibility.  Unfortunately the website doesn't have a picture of this particular casting.  Has anyone seen an example in the metal, as it were?  Would it work?

Many thanks.

Denis

[Duncan Head]

I have a couple of the Irregular "Berber/Sudanese", but I think they're AR12 "with long spear": in any case they wear loincloth and in some variants an Arab-style headcloth, so (assuming AR8 is dressed the same) wouldn't match the tunic-clad archers all that well.

Have you looked at Donnington MUF07 (New Era > Medieval > Islam) "Sudanese spearman" - four variants, tunic, spear, round shield?

[CarlL]

There are Irregular's
Libyan / Numidian RC62 with tunic, javelin and small round shield (3 photos under Macedonian & Punic Wars need end of long page)
OR
FZ141 African male with spear in Colonial range (photo of all variants on website, (would be easy to add shield to left hand / arm)
OR
look at Kingdom of Benin range?
OR
FuzziWuzzi or Dervishers from colonial range (again photos on website)
Hope these help.
CarlL

PS Its not marked as such but AB7 or AB8 or AB10 are used in the Benin photos along side the Benin figures of one contributor of photos (in his camps and other bases) These all being Berber or Sudanese javelinmen or spearmen.

[Jim Webster]

There are Irregular's
Libyan / Numidian RC62 with tunic, javelin and small round shield (3 photos under Macedonian & Punic Wars need end of long page)
OR
FZ141 African male with spear in Colonial range (photo of all variants on website, (would be easy to add shield to left hand / arm)
OR
look at Kingdom of Benin range?
OR
FuzziWuzzi or Dervishers from colonial range (again photos on website)
Hope these help.
CarlL

PS Its not marked as such but AB7 or AB8 or AB10 are used in the Benin photos along side the Benin figures of one contributor of photos (in his camps and other bases) These all being Berber or Sudanese javelinmen or spearmen.

I was going to suggest the Fuzzi Wuzzi 

[Erpingham]

Sorry to digress, but how does one pronounce Blemye?  I've always gone for Blem - ye, but I've also heard Blem-ey (neither of which may be right).

[Andreas Johansson]

Sorry to digress, but how does one pronounce Blemye?  I've always gone for Blem - ye, but I've also heard Blem-ey (neither of which may be right).

I'm not sure it makes sense to speak of a "correct" pronunciation of "Blemye", the word is a backformation from plural "Blemyes", probably repeatedly made, likely by people who pronounce it differently.

But if you want to be correct in terms of how classical words are traditionally treated in educated English, it's one Blemys, prounounced BLEM-iss, several Blemyes, pronounced BLEM-ee-ess.

The name also (I think more commonly) occurs with a double -mm- in the middle, but this would make no difference to the pronunciation in English.

[Denis Grey]

I opted for the Arab Negro Spearmen in the end.  The casting is intended to be bare-chested, but I did a simple paint conversion to match the tunics on the archer figures.

The results - and the rest of the army can be found here: https://flic.kr/p/2pzSVgD

[Keraunos]

Very nice.  An unusual army - and thanks to Andreas for advice on pronunciation!

[Jon Freitag]

Nice looking army, Denis.

[Orc65]

Would Eureka Miniatures' 15mm Abyssinians be suitable? https://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_102_692&sort=3a there are UK and US distributors which may help.

[Denis Grey]

Would Eureka Miniatures' 15mm Abyssinians be suitable? https://www.eurekamin.com.au/index.php?cPath=87_102_692&sort=3a there are UK and US distributors which may help.

The ones with bare legs probably would have been, but I think painting tunic tops onto the ones I used is probably easier than paring away the trousers on the other two Eureka castings.

[gavindbm]

I opted for the Arab Negro Spearmen in the end.  The casting is intended to be bare-chested, but I did a simple paint conversion to match the tunics on the archer figures.

The results - and the rest of the army can be found here: https://flic.kr/p/2pzSVgD

They certainly look good.  Very nicely done.

[CarlL]

Well done Denis.
At first I thought 15mm Blemmye is popular then realised I was thinking of your DBA Fanaticus post (as above)!!
CarlL

[Denis Grey]

Well done denis.
At first I thought 15mm Blemmye is popular then realised I was thinking of your DBA Fanaticus post (as above)!!
CarlL

Thank you, CarlL.