Later Muslim Indian Delhi Sultanate - Part 4 of the Army

Later Muslim Indian Delhi Sultanate - Part 4 of the Army

DELHI SULTANATE - the men who shoot

I am moving on quite quickly with this new army morph. Having only decided to create the army in July after realising that I could easily morph my Arab-Muslim-Indian collection into the Delhi Sultanate.

Getting the right figures proved a bit elusive at first. A bargain purchase of a pair of 25mm scale RAMF Small Roman Onager from EBay which must have been out of production since the 1980's kick started the idea. Being 25mm scale I thought they might not be suitable but to my surprise they fitted perfectly onto a standard 15mm scale 40mm x 40mm artillery base. After talking to Duncan Head who confirmed that the Delhi Sultanate tended to recruit their artillerymen from the Ottomans I placed an order for some Donnington's Ottoman Gunners, 2 each of codes OF18, OF19, OF20 and OF21. I also noticed they do some piles of cannon balls so ordered 2 of their OG04 just in case they were suitable to fit on the base. After lots of playing around assembling the Onagers I painted up the gunners and cannon balls, It took me a while to ensure that I could fit all of the gunners on the bases but I was pleased with the final result.

Two x Reg Art S

Next up were the Deccan Handgunners. I chose Essex MOG12 castings as these were perfect for the end of the DBM army list era. There are only four elements meaning I only needed a single pack which makes a change from having figures left over. 

Four x Reg Ps S Deccan Handgunners

Lastly there were the Rocketeers. These are an unusual troop type counting as Reg Art I whilst they are fully mounted on camels. I originally ordered some Essex Mikes Models RE19 castings which whilst very old are still excellent sculpts. After I received them I decided that I didn't like the casting mix which was just a loaded camel and a standing Rocketeer. So I revisited the Essex website and saw that they also made other Rocketeers in their Moghul Indian range so I ordered some MOG14 Rocketeers. I had seen some historic drawings showing the Rocketeers firing from behind kneeling camels and as luck would have it Essex also sell any of their camels ranges as special camels only packs. So I decided that since these are supposed to be mounts for the Rocketeers I would use the camels that were normally supplied with their MOG31 Handgunner pack. I could have probably used the MOG31 Handgunners for the Deccan Handgunners but having already ordered the other castings I didnt see the point of ordering more figures that would require painting in due course.

The elements took me a long time to get right as there were three distinct parts to be painted and then assembled onto their bases. The Delhi Sultanate can have six elements but I noticed that the Hindu Indian army list can use eight elements and since I may well morph this army into the Hindu version I completed eight elements.

So apart from the seven Irr Kn F strong Rathor allied contingent the entire army is now finished.