Ancient Indian Horseman (June 18, 2008)
- Thread starter Sandris
- Start date
Virote_Considon
The Great Dictator
Nice! A much needed unit! 
EDIT: First Post
EDIT: First Post
Stormrage
Ever Present Taskmaster
Yaaay! Its great! Thank you, Sandris!
That's a very nice little guy!
Ahem... You know, if ever you would be looking for inspiration for other pre-Islamic Indian cavalry units, I have a few suggestions: 
Shaka Horse-Archer: Descendents of the Scythians who conquered much of India and became the Indo-Scythians. I assume it would not be unlikely that they would have served the Indian states as mercenaries, much like the Indo-Greeks did. They would most likely be unarmoured, perhaps a small crescent shaped shield, dirt coloured clothes (think dusty steppe look), pants in the Iranian fashion, a Phrygian cap and a bow.
Kambojan Mercenary/Cavalry: Shielded (Greek shield) mounted javelinman or lancer with linen armour (same helmet as Macedonian companion) on unarmoured horse. Mix of Iranian and Hellenic equipment and clothes with pants in the Iranian fashion. Perhaps an Iranian wicker shield instead of the Greek one. Perhaps with the same head-gear for the horse as the Indian horseman has.
Arachosian Cavalry: Arachosia (eastern Afghanistan) was part of the Indian Mauryan Empire after they conquered the region from the Hellenic Seleucids. Described as excellent light cavalry, the Arachosians would likely have served in the Indian army, just as they did in the Seleucid. Speculatively, they were unarmoured mounted javelinmen, with crescent shaped shields, Phrygian caps (Thracian caps) or no head gear at all, pants in the Iranian fashion, and light brown and white clothes (think dusty Afghan highlands). “Persian” horses get a special mention in Indian myths.
Yavana Mercenary or Indo-Greek heavy cavalry (companion): Lancer on front-armoured horse, bronze cuirass, with a mix of Hellenic and Iranian equipment, perhaps Greco-Iranian face-mask helmet (silver helmet, gold face mask), “Indian”-ish patterned clothes, Iranian pants, and Greek shield. Like their heavy infantry counterparts, they served as mercenaries or bodyguards for various Indian rulers. Perhaps with the same head-gear for the horse as the Indian horseman has.
I would imagine that long dark hair and trimmed beards abounded among all these guys. Although, perhaps the Shaka (Scythians) could be blond. The guys over at Europa Barbarorum have a few examples.
A medieval Indian horseman might feature roughly the same looks as his ancient predecessor, but with an iron helmet, an axe, and a shield.
Shaka Horse-Archer: Descendents of the Scythians who conquered much of India and became the Indo-Scythians. I assume it would not be unlikely that they would have served the Indian states as mercenaries, much like the Indo-Greeks did. They would most likely be unarmoured, perhaps a small crescent shaped shield, dirt coloured clothes (think dusty steppe look), pants in the Iranian fashion, a Phrygian cap and a bow.
Kambojan Mercenary/Cavalry: Shielded (Greek shield) mounted javelinman or lancer with linen armour (same helmet as Macedonian companion) on unarmoured horse. Mix of Iranian and Hellenic equipment and clothes with pants in the Iranian fashion. Perhaps an Iranian wicker shield instead of the Greek one. Perhaps with the same head-gear for the horse as the Indian horseman has.
Arachosian Cavalry: Arachosia (eastern Afghanistan) was part of the Indian Mauryan Empire after they conquered the region from the Hellenic Seleucids. Described as excellent light cavalry, the Arachosians would likely have served in the Indian army, just as they did in the Seleucid. Speculatively, they were unarmoured mounted javelinmen, with crescent shaped shields, Phrygian caps (Thracian caps) or no head gear at all, pants in the Iranian fashion, and light brown and white clothes (think dusty Afghan highlands). “Persian” horses get a special mention in Indian myths.
Yavana Mercenary or Indo-Greek heavy cavalry (companion): Lancer on front-armoured horse, bronze cuirass, with a mix of Hellenic and Iranian equipment, perhaps Greco-Iranian face-mask helmet (silver helmet, gold face mask), “Indian”-ish patterned clothes, Iranian pants, and Greek shield. Like their heavy infantry counterparts, they served as mercenaries or bodyguards for various Indian rulers. Perhaps with the same head-gear for the horse as the Indian horseman has.
I would imagine that long dark hair and trimmed beards abounded among all these guys. Although, perhaps the Shaka (Scythians) could be blond. The guys over at Europa Barbarorum have a few examples.
A medieval Indian horseman might feature roughly the same looks as his ancient predecessor, but with an iron helmet, an axe, and a shield.
Virote_Considon
The Great Dictator
Yeah, of course you are right, I agree. At least for an Indo-Scythian warrior. But I guess it would also work for the wealthier warriors of the Steppe Scythians.I'd be more inclined to give the Scythians brightly-coloured/embroided(SP?) clothes
Blue Monkey
Archon Without Portfolio
Wonderful! But slow down! Or at least tell me what you're modeling next so I can post some reference images. I don't want to critique units you've already finished. did I mention wonderful unit?
Mightn't a Vedic Chariot or some such be more in order? Seems more iconic...Ahem... You know, if ever you would be looking for inspiration for other pre-Islamic Indian cavalry units, I have a few suggestions:
Blue Monkey
Archon Without Portfolio
I've requested a ratha on several occasions, have posted enough images to inspire anyone, and have more available. Virote & RX8FT have also made requests. Even your own
didn't inspire anyone. The pervasive attitude seems to be
The lack of a ratha (+ UU, GL, & King variants thereof) is probably the single most important thing keeping me from single minded obsession on producing a Bharata Varsha mod.Ok, that Ratha looked pretty damn awesome, but how the hell could someone animate that in Poser?! It's not a challenge, it's damn near impossible! But I guess if anyone could pull it off, it'd be utah, so I'll give that one to you,. The thing is, would it kill people to request a simple humanoid every once in a while? Cmon, man. You know how hard it would be to pull off a gilded chariot of the Indian gods. Pretty much everything would have to be made from scratch. And most unit creators can't create models (except Bjorn and utah, of course) and so we have to pull a few tricks with existing models. We're just not skilled enough to make really complicated things,
First of all, really nice unit and thanks for doing it! This will find a home in my mod(s). Secondly, I'd like to echo the request for the ratha ; well, I have requested it a few times myself!
; well, I have requested it a few times myself!Ha ha ha! I forgot about the naked chicks & lizard chariot. Wow. I do what I can to inspire, I guess, although some other dude posted the 'concept art' and I didn't realise at the time that it was a subcontinental Indian chariot type...
Chariots must be a bee-autch to animate, though, good gracious. No wonder they don't get done much. Probably just as hard to make in real life!
Chariots must be a bee-autch to animate, though, good gracious. No wonder they don't get done much. Probably just as hard to make in real life!
Stormrage
Ever Present Taskmaster
But several chariots have been made.. Its just a cart.. it has no movable objects except the wheels. Horses run. Driver/s drive and..fight. I think a model would be a problem, not the animations..
(in other words, dang, Sandris you make it look so easy)
(in other words, dang, Sandris you make it look so easy
)Yeah, chariots were very important in early Indian armies. Allegedly, the army fielded by King Porus against Alexander the Great, seemed to have only slightly more cavalry than chariots. They served to support the war elephants and infantry-archers.
A note on the infantry-archers: armed with a bamboo longbow and a massive two-handed sword for defence, these guys were the main infantry force of the Mauryan armies, up until the empire fell in 184 BC. But the longbow would continue to see use in India among the other states. In the unit tree, I guess this guy would replace swordsman. The vanilla Longbowman could be represented by a later Hindu Longbowman, perhaps with an Islamic touch to it.
Tribal javelinmen and spearmen could replace vanilla archer and spearman.
I am sorry for all this chatter, but I am just fascinated with ancient India and especially the Indo-Greeks.
So far as chariot models, I looked for a little bit and came across three.
http://www-c.inria.fr/gamma/download/affichage.php?dir=MISC_VEH&name=CHARIOT1&last_page=11
http://www-c.inria.fr/gamma/download/affichage.php?dir=MISC_VEH&name=Y2391_CHARIOT&last_page=11
http://www.planit3d.com/source/meshes_files/chariot.html
On the same site as the first two there are separate 3ds objects of wheels or wheels and axles that could be useful in animating to get the wheels to turn.
http://www-c.inria.fr/gamma/download/affichage.php?dir=MISC_VEH&name=CHARIOT1&last_page=11
http://www-c.inria.fr/gamma/download/affichage.php?dir=MISC_VEH&name=Y2391_CHARIOT&last_page=11
http://www.planit3d.com/source/meshes_files/chariot.html
On the same site as the first two there are separate 3ds objects of wheels or wheels and axles that could be useful in animating to get the wheels to turn.
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