This was, if I remember correctly, the fourth Ancient army I ever painted. I also think it was the point when I began to turn the corner on my painting skills, being much more satisfied with my work. It is also the basis for my entire "Biblical Armies Project." I tend to do DBA armies in "projects," rather than just randomly doing one army then another. I'll paint a series of armies that were historical enemies, one of the other, until I finally tire of it. My theme for this project is the enemies of New Kingdom Egypt. I intend to eventually own all the historical foes of the pharoahs, and have made a bit of a dent in this list, as you can see from the gallery.
The photos of this army are not as nice as some of the newer ones, I think. This was back in my film -- not digital days. When I wanted to photograph an army, I hauled it outside and shot it under natural sunlight with a tripod, rather than concocting a little studio on my painting desk. So, my apologies for the glare on some. This army was also built originally for DBM (De Bellis Multitudinis -- the "big battle" cousin of DBA). Thus, the overabundance of some troop types. I have also begun to go back and redo some of my Egyptian figures, reworking the skin color primarily. I'm using Howard Hues Middle Eastern flesh for the repainting, which to me seems to best match the paintings on the temple walls.
I was inspired to do this camp by an illustration in Chaim Herzog's "Battle of the Bible" book. There is a line drawing taken from a temple wall which shows the temporary Egyptian camp at the battle of Kadesh. It consists of the large infantry shields being driven into the ground to form a perimeter. It also shows a tent like I scratch built out of cardstock, above. I decided to create a "camp scene" by putting an Egyptian chariot currently being repaired alongside the tent. A standard bearer and a spearman emerging from the tent completed the diorama. Much like with the army, I feel my Egyptian camp was also a "turning the corner" point in my DBA camp construction. At this point, I gained a lot of confidence in my ability to mold camp scenes and vignettes, and began to produce camps for other gamers commerically. Although I do not do anything near as prolific as I was in the beginning, I still take on commissions from time to time for friends and fellow DBAers.