Hi Kieran
Brett here from North Shore club. I can see from your queries that you are looking at a FoGN Turkish army! A fun choice, although I fear it will be a difficult army to do well with against good opponents …
Still, hasn't stopped me as I'm making Ottomans as well.
Generally I put a lot of time into paintjobs (I know your stuff is lovely so assume you do the same) and so have gone the prettiest, rather than the cheapest, figure options,
Basically this means AB, and Old Glory form their seven years war range (see link The OG horses are a little bigger than the AB ones, you can buy AB horses separately and I have done this and mounted all the cavalry on AB horses (both AB and OG have saddles molded onto the rider).
The best reference source is William Johnson "The Crescent Among the Eagles" which can be purchased through Nafziger.
The figures I am using:
Janissaries: AB all the way. Gorgeous figure range in multiple poses. They don't have a standard bearer in the mix but there are figures that can be easily converted to a standard bearer. They also are missing a kettle drummer, however I have mixed in one from Vexillia which – although not nearly the same quality as AB -are a good size match and, with only a single drummer figure in a unit, this is fine.
Nizam-i-cedit: Old Glory. These are ok-ish figures, but the best available for Nizami. You can get a large or small unit out of each OG bag.
Bostanci: Nothing available that I have found. AB Janissaires with Green-stuffed hats (or Old Glory Nizami heads) grafted on seems the best option.
Sekhans etc: Again, AB, their ‘Albanian light infantry' are beautiful, multi-posed figures. You can also mix in a few stray ‘serressaner scouts/bandits from the AB Austrians 1792-98 range as well.
Fellahin: More Difficult. European fellahin are simply local peasants, who joined the army for a period of time at their leisure. You could go with more simply painted AB sekhans, painted with a lot of off-white for Greek/Balkan fellahin, or field ‘anatolian' fellahin – a sundry Turkish looking fellow with a turban. I haven't decided myself which way to go with these yet.
Suvaleirii: Old Glory make a good Suvalieri. Figure. You need a minimum of 18 figures so (somewhat annoyingly) need to by 2 OG packs for these.
Silhatar & Sipahi oglans: Johnson describes these two regiments as "armoured lance-armed heavy cavalry". The FoGN authors have clearly used Johnson as their principal reference and have made them Shock cavalry. The best figures I have been able to find for these are from an Italian manufacturer : Legio-heroica. Their ‘TUR03' Qapikulu on un-barded horses are nice, and fit the bill for the Shock cavalry. They work in ok size-wise with AB & OG (the legio infantry on the other hand look to small alongside the others). These figures are a mailed lancer, with helmet and a shirt covering most of the mail. Shields are included separately so you can leave them off.
Sipahi Old glory sipahi work fine for these chaps.
Dellhi Again, the OG figures are good.
Yoraks: These are great points value – cheap, cavalry units. Buy them small, you only need 8 figures per unit. Use them as rear/flanks supports for better cavalry, to hover and reduce enemy skirmish fire, or to ‘cossack' their way around enemy flanks. AB mamluks are the best figures for these IMO.
Mamluks Can't go past AB. However note that the AB figures do not have lances, so if fielding the Guard Mamluks from Constantinople, (there were 3 regiments of these, and they weren't really ‘true' mamluks) you should convert them to lances, or – as I do- use OG sipahis for the Guard LC.
Artillery: Old Glory are good. One bag will give you 3 medium guns and some huge pieces for immobile artillery if you want to field these. Plenty of gunners as well.
As an alternate, you could use AB French 6 pdrs for the medium artillery as they were French supplied. Marmont supplied a some of these to the Turks from Dalmatia. You would need to find some crew through (I might have a handful of extras I could give you if you go this way). You could use French artillery limbers for the medium unit(s), the heavies don't have limbers (they have fortifications instead).
Command: Again the OG pack of Officers is the basis. A couple of figures from legio would mix in well, and the OG renaissance range has a ottoman command pack that includes a couple of tents, a reclining sultan and some foot officers, some serving girls, and some fine looking Guard Janissaries (Solaks) with very long plumes, a halberdy looking spear, and tigerskin pelisses thrown over their backs – all perfect for your line of communication marker (the FoGN version of a baggage camp).
I will be at Nth Shore club on 11th November, happy to bring along my box of Turkish toys and copies of research I have done if you want to pop over and take a look.
Cheers
Brett
