Sumerians, the heavy troops, part 2

Well, a little delayed, only by a few hours, (The paint had to dry) I am now ready to present my Sumerian Heavies.

These are what on the HaT website are called Lagash Spearmen. The units consists of a front row of shield bearers, a 2nd row of spearmen pointing their spears between the shields, and a third and fourth row of spearmen, ready to jump into action should the need arise.

The shields are very big, in fact, probably ahistorical. Recently a new theory has arisen, that each shield (as shown on the reliefs where these figures are based on) are supposed to represent 6 shields, each with a seperate shield boss. The sumerians did not know how to draw in perspective, so it is quite a plausible theory.. Then again, we will never know i guess.

Here are the 6 units of Lagash Spearmen (total of 16 in each unit, and 1 officer) that I have made.

I honestly tried to make each unit different, but somewhere along the line, a 2nd pair of almost identical shields slipped in. They are not really the exact same color, but are very close in color. It might not be visible on the photographs.

For anyone that has been registering what colors I have been using, they will notice that I have omitted using blue. I tried to research if the sumerians had blue colors available, and it is highly unlikely they did not. So colors are limited to reds, yellows, browns, black, white, and the occasional greens, though not many.

Here are some pictures of a shield bearer from each unit.

Again, one of the helmets, is not the same color as the others. This time one of them is in brass, while the others are in bronze.

To finish off here are some pictures of the 3rd and 4th row poses, one from each unit. I am not completely satisfied with the colors I have used, and may at some later point repaint the clothing.

I have chosen not to take any close-ups of the last pose. The pose that stands with a spear pointing forward. I thought that this post would be long enough without them, and there really is not too much to see on these figures.

Tomorrow the sumerian journey ends, for now, with the specialist troops of the sumerian army.

~Claus