Thursday, March 12, 2015

Almoravid Army


Gents,

It's been a good little while since the last update, but a lot has been happening... 

...much has hit the painting table since December and no doubt in the future more to be added. For now I have completed an Almoravid Army that can be used for games such as Lion Rampant but have done enough forces to play actions as large as games using Hail Caesar...an ultimate goal in the future.

So below are a number of shots showing the evolution of the army and a few in-game shots for you to view and hopefully gain some ideas or inspiration from. I've added a few notes along the way where appropriate to highlight anything particular to the photo.



This first group of photos shows my Perry miniatures Mahdist infantry to use for generic North African skirmisher infantry. I did a few conversion on the last photo shown below.












I've combined some left over Gripping Beast Arab foot heads and Wargames Factory Ancient Numidian heads and arms with a metal bamboo spear to make a unit of heavier North African Berber Foot. On the spear is some Green stuffed tufts.






Now for some cavalry. I'd decided the Perry Horse from their Crusader and Sudan range were the best available. These also gave me the most variety and flexibility to use for the El Cid period or indeed for many years up the 20th century.  


Hasham Guard Cavalry - Perry Horse with shields from Eureka miniatures.




















































Moving along to a completed force here are some shots of a finished Lion Rampant Army. A relatively small force these don't have the on-table presence of a larger host which is ultimately the look I'm after for the Almoravids. Nevertheless as a raiding force they do just nicely and look the part with light troops, some cavalry and mostly Berber foot to take it to the Christians in the many forays into Northern Andalus. 

In the bottom photo are my Andalusian troops that can substitute in and be both an ally and enemy of the Almoravids....there is a lot of interchangeability in these armies.











From there we can see some in action shots of a full Lion Rampant force on table showing both Almoravid and Andalusian forces engaged. These El Cid era force do have a very eye pleasing combination of colors and troop types that offer up some really nice combinations for players to game with.