Tuesday, June 3, 2014

Avar Skirmishing Cavalry

Scourge of the Steppe: The Avar nation was really a conglomerate of many different nomadic peoples.
Impetus Unit Type: CL
Base Size: 8cm x 6cm
Special: none
Manufacturers: Khurasan & Old Glory 15s
Comments: 
So, I was going to take individual photos of all four units from multiple angles... but I didn't. These units function as light cavalry (CL) in my Avar army for Impetus. I should specify that there are a fairly even mix of horses from Khurasan and Old Glory. Most of the riders are from Khurasan's Huns range and their Avar range. Please take my advice and don't buy the Avar cavalry. They are very poor models and the horses were ridiculously huge (i.e. I threw them in the garbage). It's funny because, on the contrary, their Hun models are the nicest 15mm Huns I've ever seen. I was also forced to twist and bend riders to fit on unmatched horses - such is the mish-mash nature of these units. I really had to scrounge through the collection to get enough minis for four units.
I had originally planned to use four riders per base. However, when it came time to start painting I decided to try three, just to get the extra unit. With the Impetus-style diorama basing I think it turned out OK. Although sparse on the base they actually look "correct" galloping out in front of my more densely-based Noble cavalry. And let's face it, one of the cool things about Impetus is that we don't have to use the same basing conventions as our opponents.
I typically field them on the flanks in my secondary commands and use them to harass the enemy and, when possible, to flank slower moving units. The great thing is, if you play them right, you can cause some disorder and a little damage to the enemy and then have them flee before they are taken out themselves. 
Thanks for reading,
JET

6 comments:

Phil said...

Beautiful paint job with these Avars, we've got one army like this, that's a pleasure to play with...great work!

fireymonkeyboy said...

Yep, these look terrific. Been waiting a while to see them ;)

FMB

Christopher(aka Axebreaker) said...

They do look great!

Christopher

Millsy said...

Absolutely gorgeous! The basing is wonderful and really sets them off.

JET (aka Jason) said...

Thank you for your encouragement gentlemen. Noble cavalry will be along shortly.

Jason said...

Great figures. I agree about the Khurusan Avars, I did re-use a couple of them on Essex horses and they look ok. Fortunately this is their only range that is poor.