Sea Peoples - Sheklesh

Sheklesh contingent for my Sea People army, from Wargames Foundry. The static grass and tufts are from WWScenics.

The Sheklesh are characterised by their swept back hair, there is suggestion that at some point they settled as the Sicels in Sicily. There is also reference to the Sheklesh being one of the tribes that were circumcised. It has been supposed that because of they were circumcised hands rather than genitals were removed from the dead and presented to the Pharaoh as a tally of his enemies. I wondered whether this practice was commonplace or in response to a particularly fearsome enemy, but some initial reading suggests that this was indeed commonplace by the Egyptians as a method of counting enemy slain with a reward being given for each enemy penis or hand presented.

I decided to tinker with the number of models on a base to give me some skirmishers. Depending on the rules I choose to play these can represent either 6 or 3 units. This enables me to play DBA, Impetus (Basic or Advanced), Hail Caesar or To the Strongest. Despite there only being 3 different figure variants for the Sheklesh I don't feel this detracts from the overall look of the units. 

Sea Peoples - Introduction

 

I've departed from the usual format for the blog and decided to show a picture of the whole Sea Peoples army that I've just finished basing rather than progress as it was painted. As I've finished this army it seemed to make sense to write an introduction to the Sea Peoples. Future posts will show different parts of the army. 

The precise origins of the Sea Peoples appear to be lost in time, though it is acknowledged that they were a confederation rather than a single group and more than likely came from a number of possible origins ranging from Sicily, Anatolia, the Aegean, Balkans and Mediterranean islands. Details of what they looked like are taken from the Tomb of Rameses III at Medinet Habu which depicts a defeat of the Sea Peoples in a naval battle, land battle and shows captives being taken. One thing we can be certain about is that they did not respect the established powers of the day, they attacked the Hittites, Phoenicians, Greece, Cyprus, Canaan and Egypt. They even formed an alliance with the Libyans to attack Egypt. It would be fair to call them the Vikings or pirates of the Bronze Age. From a wargaming perspective they make an interesting choice as they are mostly a foot army, with not many chariots as opposed to their Bronze Age opponents. They are also a good choice to have in the collection as they can serve as mercenaries in other armies of the period. If you're not too fussy they can even be fielded as Philistines’ (at least those in headdresses). 

The army has been assembled to allow me to play a variety of different rules sets. These include DBA, Hail Caesar, Impetus (Basic and Advanced), ADLG, Sword and Spear and To the Strongest. Included are figures that represent the various tribes that made up the Sea Peoples, these being the Sheklesh, Sherden, Tjekker, Peleset, Denven, Ekwesh, Weshwesh and Lukka. I haven't included any figures to represent the Teresh, these may be added at a later date if I feel I need them. There are going to be four armies in my Bronze Age collection and the other three are historical opponents for the Sea Peoples. The armies planned are Sea Peoples, Mycenaen, New Kingdom Egyptian and Hittite. One down.... three to go!

St.Giles' Parish Church and Comemoration of the Centenary of the Armistice

Found these pictures while looking on my phone and thought they might be of interest to blog followers.

They were taken November 2018 are at St.Giles' Parish Church in Wrexham, showing the  commemoration poppies for the centenary of the Armistice.

The Royal Welch Fusiliers lost close to 10,000 men in World War I and the 10,000 poppies displayed in the Royal Welch Fusiliers Chapel, were knitted by people from far and wide, from Australia to members of the St. Giles' congregation and local community. 

Pictured is the beautiful stained glass window depicting uniforms of soldiers of the RWF  through time, with St.David and the regimental goat, by the artist J.A. Nuttgens installed in 1989 to celebrate the tercentenary of the founding of the RWF in 1689. The window lists the battle honours of the RWF.

Also picture is the candle my daughters lit for their Great Great Grandfather, CSM John Robert Davies DCM of the Royal Welch Fusiliers who served in the Boxer Rebellion and the Relief of Peking in 1900, continuing to see service in India, Egypt, Gallipoli and Mesopotamia where in 1916 he died of his wounds and was buried in the British War Cemetery in Basra. 

Of interest to American readers Elihu Yale the greatest benefactor of Yale University is buried immediately to the southwest of the church tower. 

"Wrexham Tower, which rises over Wrexham Court, was modeled after the tower of St. Giles Court in Wrexham, Wales, where Elihu Yale is buried. An inscribed stone, sent from the old Welsh church as a gift to Yale, is set in the tower’s base". (The Courtyards, Saybrook College, Yale University). 

Also buried in the churchyard is Sir Robert Palmer (1832-1910), of Cefn Park a survivor of the Charge of Light Brigade. Another local link to the Charge of Light Brigade is 'Balaclava Ned" the last survivor of the Charge of the Light Brigade. Edwin Hughes was born 12th December 1830 in Wrexham, and died in Blackpool in 1927.

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Information from:

Stained Glass in Wales: http://stainedglass.llgc.org.uk/object/2061

St.Giles' Parish Church, Wrexham: https://stgilesparishchurchwrexham.org.uk/joomla30/index.php/st-giles-news/256-st-giles-parish-church-remembers

historypoints.org : http://historypoints.org/index.php?page=st-giles-church-wrexham

Hall of Fame: Balaclava Ned : http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/northeastwales/hi/people_and_places/history/newsid_8170000/8170593.stm

The Courtyards, Saybrook University Yales University: https://saybrook.yalecollege.yale.edu/about-saybrook/courtyards

Sea Peoples - Ox Carts

The Sea People Army is well under way and the first units are complete and based. The army includes models from Wargames Foundry, Miniature Design Studio, Cutting Edge Miniatures (Warlord) and Newline Designs. The Wargames Foundry biblical figures are some of my favourites of all time, and I absolutely loved painting the Sea People. The Miniature Design Studio figures, I believe are now sold by Caliver Books are  lovely figures and I think don't look out of place with the Foundry figures. These two account for the bulk of the army and the foot figures. I chose the lovely Cutting Edge chariots, however I wouldn't include the foot figures in the army as they are noticeably smaller in size and I feel they will look out of place amongst the others. Which is a shame because they really are beautiful sculpts. My Hittite army which is on the list is mostly Cutting Edge Miniatures, with a few Miniature Design Studios. 

First up are Ox Carts, these are lovely models from Newline Designs and I can thoroughly recommend looking them up if you haven't already. The carts need a little modelling with green stuff or similar to fill the gaps (see photos), but nothing major and easily within my very basic skill level. Once assembled they paint up really well and I'm very pleased with the finished models. 

Assembled Ox Carts prior to filing with greenstuff. 

Painted Ox Carts

Blog is back

Return of the Blog......again!

Firstly, apologies to anyone who posted comments while this blog has been inactive, real life remains busy with little time for hobby interests, but hopefully I'm in a better position to hopefully pick up my brushes productively and produce some posts.

What to expect for 2022 and the return of the blog....

Currently painting 28mm Sea Peoples with plans to dig deep into the lead pile and paint up Mycenaen/Minoan, New Kingdom Egyptian and Hittite armies. The bulk of these have languished for far too long in storage and over Christmas I had a sudden urge to paint them up. I'm getting close to being able to start basing the first of the Sea Peoples.

Other things I've been painting are Persians for Mortal Gods. Planning on expanding my collection with Thracians also in the mix and Mortal Gods Mythic. I've also purchased the Roman Fighting Ship from Sarissa Precision, this will see service in Gangs of Rome, SAGA ands Mortal Gods (as a Greek Trireme).

18mm Italian Wars is another project resurrected from the lead pile. Figures are from Alternative Armies and Venexia (now available from Lancashire Games)

There are other plans but I'll keep those quiet for now and see how the Biblical project goes.

Below are some pictures of the last game I played earlier this year, SAGA Hannibal. The Celts are from the collection of my friend Peter D, the Carthaginians are mine. I'll post better pictures in another post. The result was a resounding victory for the Carthaginians. 

Click on any picture to enlarge