Aspi, Jinsi & Zamburaks - some Sikh artillery

I'm working my way through the various troop types for my Sikh army, painting one unit at a time to get a feel for them and to check my sources. Aspi are horse artillery, Jinsi are field and heavier guns and Zamburaks are camel guns, so some nice variety here.

Starting with the Zamburaks (it means "wasp" in Persian, apparently) these are from Irregular's Persian range. They're one piece castings, but I was able to make out most of what the detail was. They are part of the irregular forces that supported the Sikh Regulars. I put a lot of detail on their clothing. I've tried to capture it using a 7mm extension ring for my standard SLR lens. I've previously used it for photographing 2mm figures but couldn't get the whole figure in this time, so I reverted working with it.

Actually I got a decent shot using the standard lens. 

I went for quite a range of colours. I mixed some metallics in with the lighter colours to make them look a bit more silky.

I've done a batch of four at first. One of the things I like about Irregular is that he makes minor tweaks to figures with the same code. That's really good with irregular troops who have a variety of equipment. For example only one of these has a shield.

The camels are nice models too.

The Regular artillery are all the same models and figures. These are the Aspi, or the horse artillery. I've done them in "summer trousers" to make them easy to distinguish. Having seen a number of Sikh home produced artillery pieces in museums they are heavy on decoration, so I added some extra brass to the wheels and carriage.

The Jinsi are in their standard uniforms. In theory the jackets and trousers are the same colours, but some writers noted that due to the timing of distribution of uniforms their "tops and bottoms" faded at different rates. I've therefore used a slightly lighter shade of blue on the trousers.

I haven't worked out how many of each type I want yet, so I just did one of each. The one disappointing thing is that the guns are both the same size. The Jinsi should really have much heavier guns, but I couldn't see that Irregular made one when I placed the order, otherwise I'd have asked to have them swapped out. On reflection, I should have just asked. Having just checked the Crimean range I see they have some British 32lb siege guns which would probably have done.

Next up, some Sikh dragoons.