Saga Arab/Saracen/Moors Warband

 This was a SAGA warband that I picked up in November 2024 on the Facebook Marketplace. I have been meaning to rebase some of my own DBX based Saracens to provide greater flexibility, due to the revisions between the older Cross and Crescent and the more recent Age of Crusades supplements. Based upon the troops mustered this warband looks like it was for the earlier supplement. I just need to paint up or rebase some more cavalry figures.  The figures themselves are a mix of Victrix and Gripping Beast hard plastic miniatures.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part IX: Arabian Myth Flying Carpet

 While searching my pile of lead, for something, which now escapes me, I found a Flying Carpet. I think it was a Black Tree Design purchase to serve as an additional element for my Saracen HOTT army. However it was a perfect item upon which to test my idea for the overall look of the some new desert elements. As well as establishing a new look I also test drove the Army Painter Speedpaints Starter pack. 

I first hammered a clear plastic push pin through the centre of a LITKO 3mm thick plywood base. I then clipped the point off the tack as close to the wood as I could. This provided a solid element to work with. A 25mm metal washer was superglued to the flat head of the pin. Finally green stuff was used to adhere the figure to the washer. 

I had a previous Flying Carpet as part of the army but I was not content with its base. I had used a clear Warhammer Flying stand and it didn't withstand the treatment I dished out. The figure broke off  a couple of times. I am sure that the photo below was the third time it was rebased. Today's addition appears to be much more robust than my previous effort. 

PS. I am unable to locate the figure on the current Black Tree Design online catalogue.  

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VIII: Arabian Myth

This should be the final entry for the DBA Saracen or the HOTT Arabian Myth army, other than a camp or stronghold. To past the evenings during the last week, I painted the Black Tree Design Bowmen and Crossbowmen that I received in the early autumn of 2010. They have been sitting on the back burner for a while and I needed them completed in order to use them yesterday for some DBA gaming.

See Captain's Blog: Form 540, the blog devoted to my gaming activities.

Last year I order two of the Warriors of Islam army pack deals from Black Tree Design Miniatures. The first was AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers (20 figures) which I used to make five 3 Man Shooter Elements and three 2 Man Psiloi Stands. The second package, AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen (20 figures) provided five 4 Man Shooter Elements. For either DBM or WRG Ancients the Crossbowmen represent Regular Troops and the Bowmen Irregular.

 

Warriors of Islam 2 Man Psiloi Elements

AB1059 Warriors of Islam Archers

Based as 3 Man Shooter/Bow Elements

 

AB1058 Warriors of Islam Crossbowmen

Based as 4 Man Shooter/Crossbowmen Elements

I got the idea of how to paint them by looking at the Warhammer Ancients sourcebook on El Cid.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VII: Arabian Myth

This was another unfinished project sittimg in a drawer for at least a decade and a half. The unit consisted of 6 camel riders. The camels were easy to paint but the riders themselves were not at all inspiring. They were really old Heritage castings and made me think of lumps of lead. Finally one evening last week in the sweltering Montreal heat, I put brush to lead and in short order the project was completed.

25mm Heritage Camel Riders Cross the Wastelands

The unit can be used across the ages by any number of armies but I decided to include it as part of my Saracen DBA/HOTT Arabian Mythos army.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI: Arabian Myth

This week I had a very light class load. Tuesday was the final day of the current session and the summer session does not commence until tomorrow.  I  decided to complete some more units for my 28mm Saracen DBA/HOTT's army. It took the better part of three days to complete the work but I finished 3 elements of Warbands (two of 4 figures and one of 5 figures) and two elements of 4 man spear.

Three Elements of Warbands.

The figures are by Black Tree Designs and the spears are by Foundry. These figures were last seen prepped with a base coat added in Saracen DBA/HOTT Part VI sometime last October. I finally painted them. The bases are by Litko Game Accessories and the ground was built up using Golden Artist Colors Coarse Pumice Gel. The bases were then painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Scorched Grass.

The Red Zebra Spearmen

In the wings I still have another 40 BTD figures for this project. Twenty figures are with bow and twenty are with crossbow. They have been prepped and basecoated. They await the touch of their master's brush. They will form elements of 3/4 Bow as well as a couple of Psiloi elements.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part V: Arabian Myth

To recap an earlier posting, I had purchased on E-Bay from Mega Miniatures a number of individual figures that include an Arabian slave with fan, an Arabian Mage & crystal ball, Arabian Priest praying, Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars, and a street beggar.


My plan was to utilize these figures to create a number of HOTT (Hordes of the Things) Elements for an Arabian Mythos army. A hard rain was falling yesterday morning and I completed these figures.

Photo 1) The Caliph with his giant Negro Bodyguards (Blade General Element)
Figures used: Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars,

Due to the base size of the miniatures I was only able to get three figures on this Blade Element. I was going to include the Arabian slave with fan as part of this element but choose to place that figure on the Clerical Element instead.

Photo 2) A Vizier and Bodyguard (Magician General Element)
Figures used: Arabian Mage & crystal ball, BTD Warrior of Islam for a Bodyguard and what I believe to be a Real Partha levitating mage.
My original plan was to just base the Mega Miniature Mage and the Black Tree Design spear man as a bodyguard on this base. However as a 60mm by 60mm area it came across as quite bare.

I remembered that I had a Real Partha Magic User figure that could be added to the element as a filler. The figure itself appears to be levitating but is actually held in the air on the back of an ensorcelled demon and is the figure that came to dominate the element.

Photo 3: Imam as a Cleric Element
Figures used: Arabian Priest praying and an Arabian slave with fan. Both figures by Mega Miniatures

Photo 4: Street Beggar as a Lurker Element

When I first ordered the figure I thought that I would place it on the Clerical Element as a supporting figure but I then came around to the idea that it would make a perfect Lurker figure in its own right.

Note: BTD (Black Tree Design) figure update. This past week I was informed that the bow figures that I had on back order were finally due to arrive and that I should have them sometime next week. Once painted the Bow/Shooter elements will complete this project.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part IV

 I received in the mail today the Warriors of Islam from Black Tree Designs that I ordered at the end of August. It was a unit builder pack, which consists of a mix of 20 figures in various poses. The package I received had 22 figures (13 sword and 9 spear). My only complaint with the BTD figures is the type of spear that is provided.  It consists of a thin length wire that needs to be cut. For the last batch of spear men I processed I used left over spears from other projects.

This photo is the figures after cleaning off excess flash and laying them out to dry after their bath:

I finally remembered to take a clear picture of the Flying Carpet for the HOTT rules:

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part III

I was hoping to make postings at least once a week but that plan seems to have fallen through. I think I'm averaging a posting every 10 days.  I have finished painting the Black Tree Design Warriors of Islam. I originally purchased two packs of 20 figures. Each came with 10 swords men and 10 spear men. Thrown into the mix was an extra command figure. As noted before I only needed to finish painting the spearmen.

I have chosen to mount them into two elements of 4 Spearmen and four elements of 3 Auxilia (or Warband). I also had a Hero Element (using the Leader figure and a couple of cronies) that I had to mount and flock at the same time as the spearmen.

Figures are mounted on 1.5mm Evergreen plastic card. Ground was built up using Golden Artist Colors Coarse Pumice Gel. The bases were then painted with DeSerres Raw Sienna (Series 1 No 185) and flocked using Citadel Sand and Scorched Grass.

                              Picture One: Two Elements of 4 man Spear and one Hero Element:

Pictures Two: Four Elements of  Three Man Auxilia or Warband

I still have a couple of remaining figures to paint. The planned elements include the Vizier and Bodyguard (Magician General Element) or the Caliph with his giant Negro Bodyguards (Blade General Element) and an Iman as a Cleric Element all for use with HOTT rules.

I am still waiting for the arrival of the backordered Bowmen to complete the needed shooter Elements for this army.

Saracen DBA/HOTT Part II Arabian Myth

As for a Hordes of the Things (HOTT) Photo, I think this comes out fairly good. The Flying Carpet is clearly shown. The individual photos I took of it were pretty blurry, so this is a good shot.

Rear Rank: Flyer (Flying Carpet)
Front Rank: (L2R)
Behemoth (the water Djinn), 2 elements of Horde, and Lurkers (team of Assassins)

Saracen DBA/HOTT

Many years ago I received into my care part of a 25mm Saracen army. I believed the figures where by Heritage Miniatures. The previous owner ran them under the old 5th and 6th Editions of the Wargames Research Rules. In the late 70s and early 80s it was a popular rule set in the Halifax gaming community. I'm sure that I've had these figures sitting around for close to 20 years under my care and I decided that I needed to do something with them. That's where the easy playability of the DBA/HOTT rules came to mind. Plus you don't need hundreds of figures.

Under DBA I would get enough elements to run either a Syrian 1092AD- 1286 AD (IV/5) or a Seljuk Truk 1037AD-1276AD (III/73) army. In either case I had the horseflesh. What I needed was infantry. I had the same requirements for an Arabian Myth Army under HOTT, with some extra figures to fine tune the fantasy elements of it.

I dug through my boxes of lead and discovered I had both a flying carpet (Black Tree Design- I have no idea when or where I bought this piece) and a Ralph Partha water/air elemental (I'm not sure which) that I could use as a Genie or Djinn. I ended up basing it as a water Djinn, which may not be a proper usage in the Arabian mythos but looks great as a figure on a base.

Last week I spent time painting two elements of hordes and an element of lurkers (Assassins). The figures are by Black Tree Design. I have spear men that I need to paint as well as bowmen that are on back order. Black Tree offers some really good deals. I found the figures easy to clean and they currently offer some unit deals (20 foot in some cases at 50% off the regular price). I think I'll order some more. Damn, there's that addiction again.

In addition I picked up on EBay from MegaMiniatures, a number of individual figures that include an Arabian slave with FAN, Arabian Mage & crystal ball, Arabian Priest praying, Arabian Knight Commander, 2 Arabian Knight with Scimitars, and a street beggar. MegaMiniatures have a large inventory of what look like to me to be unique type of figures to help fill any need.

That is all I have for now.