Ottomania: More Eyalet Infantry

Another batch of Ottoman Turkish Eyalet Infantry by Red Box. The last bunch were armed with muskets. This group wield edged weapons; halberds and scimitars.

These are the five edged weapons in the set which just leaves me the ‘command’ group so far not attempted.

A quick glance at the individual figures:

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I’ve added some basic decoration to some of the shields:

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The same kind of basing idea allows them to fit nicely with my last cohort of musketeers.

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The Ottomania project allows me to simply add a little more whenever I fancy and the army is growing slowly but steadily over time. With these irregular troops my Ottomania infantry arm is really starting to expand.

The Eyalets were basically administrative units of the Ottoman empire and there were as many as 42, with new ones established or founded and old ones being discarded at various times over the centuries. There was an order of precedence for these provinces;

“At official functions, the order of precedence was Egypt, Baghdad, Abyssinia, Buda, Anatolia, “Mera’ish”, and the Capitan Pasha in Asia and Buda, Egypt, Abyssinia, Baghdad, and Rumelia in Europe, with the remainder arranged according to the chronological order of their conquest.”

The list below gives an indication to the huge extent of the empire and the range of peoples, traditions and cultures which it spanned. I suppose, I could even nominate a specific eyalet for each of my two groups to differentiate them.

Eyalet Name

Habesh Eyalet (Abyssinia)

Adana Eyalet

Archipelago

Aleppo Eyalet

Algiers Eyalet

Anatolia Eyalet

Baghdad Eyalet

Basra Eyalet

Bosnia Eyalet

Budin Eyalet (Buda)

Childir Eyalet

Crete Eyalet

Diyarbekir Eyalet

Dulkadir Eyalet

Eger Eyalet

Egypt Eyalet

Erzurum Eyalet

Al-Hasa Eyalet

Kefe Eyalet (Theodosia)

Kanizsa Eyalet

Karaman Eyalet

Kars Eyalet

Kıbrış Eyalet

Morea Eyalet

Mosul Eyalet

Podolia Eyalet

Ar-Raqqah

Rumelia Eyalet

Shahrizor Eyalet

Sidon Eyalet

Silistria Eyalet

Eyalet of Sivas

Syria Eyalrt

Temeşvar Eyalet

Trebizond Eyalet, Lazistan

Tripoli Eyalet (Tripoli-in-the-East)

Tripolitania Eyalet (Tripoli-in-the-West)

Tunis Eyalet

Uyvar Eyalet

Van Eyalet

Varad Eyalet

Yemen Eyalet

Ottomania – Topçu Ocağı Corps Completed!

Campaigns consisted of invasions by great armies of the Ottomans, with heavy parks of artillery… The generals opposed to them, not being able to meet the Turks in the field, spread their forces in numerous fortresses, more or less strong, and the campaigns consisted in besieging these fortresses. With rare exceptions, these sieges were successful. The Turks brought overwhelming forces to bear on them. Their siege guns completely overmatched the guns of the defence. It was a question of a few days or a few weeks how long these fortresses could resist. From “The Turkish Empire, its Growth and Decay” by Baron G. Shaw-Lefevre Eversley (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46481)

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I’ve been beavering away these past few weeks finishing off my collection of RedBox Ottoman Artillery (known as the Topçu Ocağı).

The pace of industrial development being slow during this period, the 16th Century Artillery box is broadly similar to their 17th Century set (but with different poses) so depicted wearing the same uniform colour, the sets will match well together.

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As mentioned previously, I also had one stray broken cannon left over from the 16th Century Siege Artillery set. I’ve now put that right to make it a total of four of these siege gun teams, each with a mighty wall-smashing artillery piece. I confess to a macabre liking for these monsters of cannonry.

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The 16th century artillery box includes some very pleasing poses, including these struggling ammunition carriers which, from their headdress, apppear to be janissaries which have been dragooned into the laborious task:

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I also particularly like the ear-protecting character in a fez, seen here standing next to the officer in a large turban:

The plastic cannon pieces themselves are a trifle bendy but it is an effect that is not too noticeable. The carriages, however, I think look convincingly solid.

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So, over the past year I’ve somehow managed to make myself a besieging Ottoman artillery corps (in Turkish; Topçu Ocağı) all being neatly entrenched behind earth-filled gabions,and consisting of 12 big guns, namely:

• x2 17th century field guns
• x4 16th century siege artillery
• x4 17th century mortars
• x2 16th century field guns

It all makes for a reasonably imposing sight when stretched out as a siege line across the lounge carpet. Even more imposing to a nervous population cowering behind it’s city walls, I should think! Not a bad start to my Ottomania project, all in all.

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I’ve enjoyed branching out into a different era to the 18th / 19th centuries and you could say it’s expanded my horizons. I’ve already painted some Janissaries and there is plenty more in the RedBox range to expand my Ottomania project even further.

What’s more, I couldn’t resist purchasing some other 16th/17th Century troops from a rival nation state that I saw going very cheap on eBay recently, so there’s definitely some life in this project for some considerable time to come.

Ottoman Artillerymen

By way of a quick progress update while the cannon, gabions and basing are underway, I thought I’d share my Ottoman artillery figures of the Topçu Ocağı artillery corps.

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Three gun crews have been painted; x2 teams of eight figures each and x1 siege artillery gun team of four figures. The 16th century crews come with two men carrying what appears to be large leather bag of cannon balls. I’m still painting the bag but when it’s finished should make for a nice scene.

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More heavy lifting of ammunition:

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Light my fire – Turkish portfire carriers:

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Turbans indicate the officers in charge. The siege gun commander holds a brass quadrant, an instrument for calculating the required elevation of the gun.

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Ramrod holders:

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So, all these fellows are just patiently awaiting the development of their dioramas, which I’ll share when complete!

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Siege Guns of the Kapikulu Corps

The third instalment of my Ottomania project is yet another group of artillery. After recently painting two boxes from the 17th century, I’ve been making use of one of RedBox’s 16th century guns instead. Cannon technology changed little between the 16th and 17th centuries, so the gun crews can be placed together with no problem at all.

The siege cannons in the set come in a four but as I appear to have, err, lost part of a crew somehow, I’ve only attempted three of them (this at least makes things a quicker to do).

Redbox’s 16th Century siege artillery guns are certainly of the kind of large calibre which suggest they’re capable of hurling wall-breaking cannonballs. Plastic Soldier Review suggests the barrels might be a little short, a notion which is supported by the guns looking somewhat stubby. I think they’re pretty convincing siege guns nonetheless.

The figures are of the usual high quality and this time I’ve gone for a grey uniform, blue trousers and a red sash. My Serbian friend from Bennos Figures Forum found some interesting information about the Turks.

“I spoke with one man from the history museum, he said the Ottomans never had regulation about the uniform colour…In fact, in XIX century we cannot speak about any standardisation of uniform except for Nizams…”

No regulation there may have been, but I like to think that perhaps wealthy leaders might choose to equip their artillery troops in some distinctive manner. Anyway, as I always say, ‘my figs – my rules!’

This group of siege gunners belong to the Kapikulu Corps, the Sultans’ elite of the Ottoman army which contained its own infantry, cavalry and artillery, much like Napoleon’s Imperial Guard. Begun in the early 14th century, the Kapikulu grew in size and Süleyman I increased them to 48,000 strong, half of which were Janissaries (elite infantry). Most of the artillerymen in the Ottoman army belonged to the Topcu Ogaki Regiment of the Kapikulu Corps. By the time of Bayezid II (1481-1512), up to 5,000 topcular (artillerymen) were serving in the corps.

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The Topcu Okagi specialised in all forms of siege warfare including the manufacture of ordnance and guns, mining, sapping, transport, labouring and siege works. Such was their sophistication that my Osprey guide suggests that their sapping and mining activities (trenches, saps, artillery emplacements) had more in common with WWI than the 16th/17th centuries.

The figures contain an officer holding a quadrant, by which means he could (with some decent grasp of mathematics) calculate the desired angle of elevation on the gun barrel. For a good overview of its use, see this post by the “To the Sound of the Guns” blog dedicated the American Civil War. It seems that such a device was still very much in use in the mid-19th century and, indeed, has not entirely disappeared from gunnery even today!

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Once more, I’ve made use of the very convenient and effective gabions by Anyscale Models, used in my two other sets (the 17th Century field gun crews and the Humbaraci Corps Mortars). I’ve even enough left over for the remaining box of Turkish 16th Century artillery… but that will probably be left now for another day, as that’s quite enough for now!

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Next up on my painting table is a return to more familiar territory and finishing off those Mars Austrians for the good old Nappy Cavalry Project!

Turkish Topçu

My two teams of Ottoman topçu artillerymen are more or less painted and are awaiting their mighty guns. Not only that, they are also awaiting their gabion protection screen. The diorama bases (one for each gun team) are already in progress and so I should start applying paint to them soon. 

In the meantime, here’s a pictorial review of my (nearly) painted Ottoman topçu.

This artilleryman is opening his powder horn, an item that still requires a little paint…

The ammunition being carried. I’ve supposed the cannonball is made of stone. I particularly like how this man’s coat is pinned back.

The spongeman. The man responsible for ramming home that stone shot. After firing, 
he will then dip his fleecy ramrod into a bucket of water and clean out the barrel of the cannon to make sure there were no sparks to set off the next charge.

I’m no artillery expert but I suppose this man might be a ventsman whose unenviable task was putting a thumb over the touchhole, to stop any premature explosion if any burning particles have been left by a previous shot.

Once the gun is ready, this firer will step in to ignite the charge with his portfire and the cannon will discharge. I am quietly pleased with the burning, glowing end of the cord, a quick job of experimental paint mixing which seemed to work pleasingly well.

This chap with the fez holds a handspike which he will use to help move and re-sight the cannon prior to the next shot.

This artilleryman holds a sledgehammer which is used for some reason which I read about but have since temporarily forgotten! It’s possible that it was used to drive the large cannonballs home or to assist in the repositioning of the cannon, but I’ll find out more…

Commander of gun crew “iki” (number 2). His holdfast on the turban needs attending to.

Commander of gun crew “bir” (one). His feather is still awaiting some paint.

Another portfire holder.

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They’re impressive figures by Redbox and I’m quite pleased with the way these Ottoman artillerymen have come out. Well, my next task is diorama making which, as I’ve said, I’m already now under way on, so hopefully something to show at some point in the not-too-distant future.