Ottomans for Maurice

When one gets bored with European armies in funny hats, one usually looks to the East, where, although its former glory is lost, its armies beaten back first from the walls of Vienna, then out of Hungary, the Ottoman Empire still stands.

Theatrical intro aside, I wanted to paint something new, and more importantly, have an army different in playing style than the usual ones for Maurice. These fellows then could be part of any imaginary Colonial campaign, from the Barbary coast to India (and for that reason I'm painting up an elephant unit as well), in which the European powers either beat them again or fall to the ravenous hordes.

The army I'm planning will have a rather simple battle order, with two National Advantage cards: Feudal, allowing lots of irregulars to complement the army morale, and Clerics, which will add a small amount of expendable combat modifiers when the cleric is used. 

The core of the army will consist of four Elite regular infantry units (the Janissaries) and six heavy guns, around which ten irregular units will be arrange, as a sort of screen: will they be infantry or cavalry will depend entirely on the battlefield and enemy disposition. 

The irregulars will harass the enemy's regular units, and then cannon fire will be concentrated on the weak points, and the Janissaries will deliver the final blow. If the enemy proves too strong, the core could retreat, and no Pasha will shed a tear over losing a bunch of Spahis.

What is currently complete is the "core" units, eight cannon, three Janissary foot and four "Levant" foot from the Baccus Ottoman range, which could either be used as regulars or irregulars. I have four more Heroics and Ros cavalry units glued to bases, and the elephant "cavalry" mounted on bases and primed.

I think the army is already a spectacular sight, although I worried a little about the sloppy paint job (and especially the varnish, which misbehaved a lot), but 6mm is a blessing for sloppy painters like me, because the cohesive look of the finished goods hides most of the fault in detail.

Three command stands and the Cleric with a huge Sacred Die (showing how many uses it has left). The commanders are Baccus Crusades-era figures.

The Janissaries were much easier to paint than the dudes with shields because of the static poses and long coats. I could not add a banner, though. 

The Levant infantry is cast with the figures facing each other's backs, and is obviously meant for looser formations, so I built 24-man units. From a Baccus pack of 96 figures, I almost always build three 32-figure ones (four bases with two strips on each), and this arrangement is a compromise between the packed ranks and the 12-man irregular infantry units I have for European powers.

Four Janissaries and one Levant infantry is painted in green, the rest is two blue, two purple and one orange, rather colorful, which was the goal. 

The H&R figures lack almost any detail, so I did not bother much with fancy painting: a black undercoat, picking out the higher areas, and the deed was done. They are Crusades-era and Polish Pancerni horse, and their bases are thicker to reduce the height difference between the two manufacturers' figures.