Dan Becker's Fireforge Games Mongol Warrior 28mm Figures

This article describes 28mm historical figures from Fireforge Games - Mongol Cavalry and Steppe Warriors. Like much of the Fireforge medieval figures, these are designed for use with the Deus Vult rules, but can be played with any army or skirmish type miniatures games.

For those familiar with this web site, there was an earlier article on Fireforge Games Mongol Warriors. I liked them so much that I wanted to build and paint more. This second session doubles the size of this Mongol army to 72 warriors: 48 foot soldiers (two boxes of infantry) and 24 cavalry (two boxes). Rather than referencing earlier photos in the previous artcle, I have made more photos on the earlier figures to present all photos here in one space.

Scroll to read about the miniatures and see smaller photos. Click on the photos for a gallery of larger images.

Fireforge Games Mongol Warriors

This photo shows all 72 Mongol warriors built and painted from two boxes of Steppe Warriors (24 figures each) and two boxes of Mongol Cavalry (12 figures each). In all there are 24 blade and spear infantry (in the front two rows), 24 cavalry warriors (in the second and third rows), and 24 bow infantry (in the back row),

This photo shows Mongol Warriors from the right side.

There are enough heads and body types to make a good mix of lightly armored figures with either bows, spears, or blades as weapons. The bodies consist of separate legs and torsos, so with minor rotations you can make many dynamic poses and postures.

This photo shows Mongol Warriors from the left side.

I kept the painting and build options consistent with the two builds. The formula is to use Army Painter Speed Paints for the basic skin, clothing, and weapons. The details and smaller bits are highlighted with regular acrylic model paints for which I used mostly Vallejo Model Color and Army Painter Warpaint Fanatic.

The bases are made with textured spackle, grass flock and some Army Painter grass clumps. Then the completed model soldier is coated with Krylon Matte Finish (1311) for a hard protective coat.

This photo shows the first batch of 12 Mongol bowmen. The rest of the article will show each group of miniatures and give more details on each group.

The photography of the minis was done on a folding table with some plain beige felt ground cover. I did purchase a backdrop which provides the water, grass, and trees in the background.

The lighting was provided by some overhead LED shop lights and LED photo lights. This continuous lighting allows you to use very small camera apertures such as f22 or f32 which give a very big depth of field. A dead giveaway of miniature photography is that the depth of field is very narrow.

This photo shows Mongol bowmen first squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol bowmen first squad from the left side.

This photo shows Mongol infantry warriors with hand weapons.

The front row have spears and rattan shields. The middle figure carries a Mongol standard with some colored horse tails. The back row has some characters with blades (swords and axes) and two with some gnarly looking maces.

This photo shows Mongol shields first squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol shields first squad from the left side.

This second squad of Mongol bowmen follow the same painting scheme as the first squad. The flesh tones are painted first. Then the leg wear and tunics are painted with speed/contrast/express/ink paints to block in the colors. Finally, all the little bits are highlighted with model acrylic paints.

This photo shows Mongol bowmen second squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol bowmen second squad from the left side.

Here is the second squad of Mongol blade and spear infantry. The standard is the second option from the first squad. This standard is a pyramid of 9 horse tails. The first standard was a merry-go-round of about 12 horse tails.

This photo shows Mongol shields second squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol shields second squad from the left side.

Here is the first squad of 12 Mongol cavalry warriors. Some of these riders have more fancy, more colorful tunics than the foot soldiers. Many of the Mongol warriors likely had very rich and expensive kits. The Mongols conquered and gain tribute from other nations, so they probably had lots of money to go round.

The Mongol sprues had enough to make two extra standards. Here I have simply made a base for the standards. They can be used as objectives or home base markers.

This photo shows Mongol cavalry first squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol cavalry first squad from the left side.

Here is the second squad of 12 cavalry warriors. There are 4 different horse bodies. The horses are in lively poses and fun to paint. A slight issue is that there is a noticeable gap in the middle of the neck. Perhaps when the heads are straight ahead the gaps diminish.

The rider bodies contain enough variations to make all bow, mostly spear, or mostly hand weapon soldiers. I have done 6 bows, 3 spears, and 3 bladed weapons. This can be combined with the first squad to make lots of 6 figure units.

This photo shows Mongol cavalry second squad from the right side.

This photo shows Mongol cavalry second squad from the left side.

If you are intrigued by Mongol warriors and their culture, I have read two books that I really enjoyed:

(2021) Marie Favereau "The Horde: How Mongols Changed the World"
(2023) Christopher P. Atwood "The Secret History of the Mongols"

The Mongols allied and made enemies with so many nations. This army can be used as either ally or enemy in many battles.

These figures were enjoyabe to build. The features are quite distinct and easy to paint. The variations are such that you can use these figures in skirmish games such as Victrix' recent Pillage battle game.