Akıncı cavalry - finished unit

After a long time of silence, I am back again. During the pause I did not spend any time with wargaming. Inspite of this a unit of akinci light cavalry was successfully finished and my collection got a new storage cabinet with 7 shelves! It was urgent to increase my storgae capacity because of the continiously growing number of figures.

The akincis were one of the oldest part of the Ottoman army. Akinci families joined the Ottomans in the 14th century and later they were converted to Islam. Their role was to plunder the enemies land, scouting, harass the enemy troops. In open battles this kind of light cavalry had to secure the movements of the sipahi and kapikükü cavalry. When the Ottoman army marched, the first troops who met the enemy were the akincis. Their tactics were very similar to nomadic light cavalry tactics: hit and run, feigned flight and shooting arrows while retreating. The constaninouly falling arrows of the akincis were a shocking factor during the fight. They were poorly armoured in order to preserve their mobility. Mostly their equipment consisted of: bow, sabre/mace/battle axe, lance, little round shiled - the kalkan and possibly a helmet and a chainmail. Akincis had a special position in the system of the Ottoman army - they were irregular cavalry. They did not get salary or fief for the military service, their only income was the plunder that they could acquire on the raids. Later, the eventful, dangerous and exciting lifestyle of the akincis became very popular in the Turkish romantic perception despite they disappeared from the Ottoman army by the 17th century. Tartar light cavalry, delis and bashi bozouks took over their role.

The figures are from the Gripping Beast's Arab light cavalry set, however they are a little bit converted with the Arab heavy cavalry set and the Fireforge's  mongol miniatures.

Three pictures of my new shelves prepared for my 28 mm medieval collection. The other figures are on the older shelves.