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Sunday, August 22, 2021

Ancient 1/72 Siege Weapons Scratchbuilt; Chinese siege scythe, hand mangonel, Triple ballista, Roman battering hand

 These summer days I've entertained myself with ancient wargames, and making some ancient weapons  . Still unpainted, although when painted they will not change much (some inkings to make look the wood old, as they are basically made out of wood for more realism) and changing the rubber bands to brown ones at least, as they are all really working!

From left to right;

Chinese Siege Rake; based on historical drawings, the chinese had this kind of huge "scythe" or "rake", to destroy battlements or crush people on the wall  . Slightly loosely based, out my memory after having looked many times at it. According to greek historians, a similar thing (in scythe form) was used in a siege in Anatolia.

Hand mangonel; the most basic and primitive catapult, one that was just pulled by hand  . Actually working, I can throw rocks on my unsuspecting minis  . Based on a chinese model, but the same concept would be used by Mongols, Byzantines and others.

Triple ballista; a concept invented by Chinese again, apparently to achieve a tremendous strength. I added wheels to aid in transportation  . I tried to make it work somehow using it's three "bows", but I didn't manage it so the back two are just decorative  .

Finally, a roman "battering" hand  . This one is basically my own invention. A bit inspired by Archimedes hook, which some 18th century painters depicted as a hand. I went a bit further and used an articulated hand of an action figure, as considering something that might have been invented to grip enemy ladders and siege engines  .

General view;

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