I was very kindly sent these Timurid miniatures by Ashley of Minotaur Miniatures after seeing them on Facebook on the Minotaur miniatures page. If I had not stumbled across them I would not have known about them which, given that they are i/ a Timurid range ii/ very fine sculpts iii/ realistic proportions would have been a terrible shame for me to miss.
I contacted Ashley vie Facebook Messenger asking if he would like to send me some and I would happily review them then paint them up. To my delight he agreed and this post is a product of just that.
Here are a few words from Ashley describing what his inspiration was behind the range:
Minotaur Miniatures was created in response to my experiences playing L’art De La Guerre and not being able to find suitable figures for a Timurid army. I discussed the idea of creating my own figures with my wife, and she encouraged me to explore the opportunity further.
Our first range is centred around the Timurid Empire from 1370 AD to 1453 AD, showcasing the distinctive aspects that constituted their army. Our expert sculptors have poured their passion and creativity into crafting these stunning figures, capturing the essence of these exceptional figures and beasts in unprecedented detail.
With this range of figures and models I have tried to capture an authentic and true to the historic period as possible. This has led me to spend countless hours researching in museums and libraries, tirelessly studying every detail of the era, and making sure the Timurids represented in my miniatures are to the latest research.
Moving forward, I aspire to create various components of the Timurid army, their allies, and their adversaries. With the ongoing support of the wargaming community, I genuinely hope to transform this vision into a reality.
Regards,
Ashley
All the images are "clickable" should you want to hone in on some of the details.
All the models were very well cast with absolute minimal flash (if any) and simply required a quick comb over with a file in places. The metal is high quality which really makes a difference when it comes to longevity IMHO.
Timurid Extra Heavy Cavalry
One glance at this miniature, complete with extra heavy armour, a lance and archery equipment was enough to tell me he was a Timurid Extra Heavy Cavalryman or an extremely heavily armed Subject Noble. The lance has to be attached which was a little fiddly given the size of the join but as you can see, it all fit together nicely post pinning into place.
I chose to match the Timurid Extra Heavy Cavalryman with a fully barded horse in scale/lamellar armour and attached the shield to the horse behind the saddle. I think these horses are the latter Ebob dollies and are, if I am correct, of course very high quality indeed as they are used by Empress Miniatures and a host of other top tier companies.
Another Heavy Cavalryman this time about to nock an arrow into his bow. Again, he could be a Timurid Extra Heavy Cavalryman. Note, the armour style is different to that of the miniature above and he could equally be a Subject Noble/auxiliary cavalryman. The Timurids were known to make the best use as they could from defeated enemies (those that survived!)
More images of the quality of the horses in then range. This time sans horse armour it is easy to see the quality of the horseflesh and the realism of the sculpt. Movement is not an easy thing to capture when it comes to sculpting a horse without losing the dynamics of the horses body and gait.
Extra Heavy Infantryman/Dismounted Extra Heavy Cavalryman
Lighter Armed Auxiliary
I'm going to be giving these models a lick of paint to watch this space.
