These Sipahis are made mostly from the Italeri boxes of Mongols and Saracens with a few add ons and cuts.
There are also Zvezda (sand colored) Sipahis and a Agha and new plastic card shields. The lances are plastic broom sticks and many of the heads got new turbans made of Green Stuff. Some Sipahis also got Esci and StreletsR heads. When visiting the Istanbul military museum I got surprised with the amount of beautiful and very large paintings depicting the Mongol army of Genghis Khan not also in Anatolia but also in China which shows the proximity that the nowadays Turkish (the army at least) feels towards the Mongols. In fact the Italeri Mongol box shows horses and figures clad in equipment that is also the Ottoman Medieval and early Modern armies. I was thinking that the Lasso would have to be taken out from the Italeri Mongol horses but while reading more on the subject I found that even the Lasso was also used by the Ottoman Sipahis. So these Mongol figures are good enough for the barded Rumelian (Balcanic mostly) Sipahis. The Green Stuff turban was added because of the muzlim influence and is naturally not placed on the Mongol original figures as the Mongols are whether Shamanists or Buddhists.
The Rumelian Sipahis.
One Sihlatar (red headdress, similar in shape to Janissaries) was added to both groups of Sipahis. I´m not sure of this but maybe the elite Sihlatar were added to groups of Sipahis in order to influence them in military prowesses and make them more disciplined. In several cinematic researches the Sihlatar are never shown in large groups so maybe, just maybe, they can be portrayed like this. The Agha is the beautiful Zvezda figure.
The Rumelian group was easy to paint due to the metal barded horses and armour of the cavalrymen. Mostly red and green was used in the details. Painting groups like this in the same colors makes the painting process much easier. Other groups have or will have different colors making a large Ottoman force a very colorful sight.
The Anatolian Sipahis have both Mongol and Saracen Italeri figures together with a few Zvezda.
Blue was used for most of the details but the more varied nature of non armored horses and men forces the use of some more colors.
Next: Angolans for 1987-88 Cuito Canavale.
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