Finally finished these horsemen from Siberia Miniatures. I've had them for a while but have been daunted by the challenge of painting them!
The Basmachi are interesting. They are not from a particular people but are a bit of a mashup of Uzbeks, Tajiks, Turkmen and others, with a bit of distortion from Soviet cinema, where they sometimes took the role of the stereotypical opponents in Soviet 'Easterns' (an analogue of Western movies, but set in Central Asia). These ones in particular seem to be based on the antagonists of the hero of the famous movie White Sun of the Desert. See my previous posts about Abdullah, Sayid, Sukhov and Petrushka for more info.
For these models, I didn't follow images from the movie as closely. Instead I looked up photos of Turkmen, Uzbeks and other Central Asians, and did my own interpretation, including some fanciful ideas of my own. No offense is intended toward any of the proud peoples of Central Asia! I just did the best I could to get some colourful models ready to be mercenaries in my upcoming Jhamjar rebellion.
Three riders with rifles. Not much chance that they could hit anything firing those rifles at a full gallop but they look great!
And here they are in all their glory!
