The Relief of Plavigorica - Araby Contingent - January Rank & File

 I, Snorri Ibn Gudruk, scribe to the house of the mighty and beneficent Alkadi Nasreen, Sultan of All He Surveys, and Scimitar of the Great Caliph, am tasked with making  account of our expedition to break the siege of Plavigorica in the Border Princes, in the far North. 

On the command of our great Sultan, our caravan was led by Emir Suleiman, who alone of our company had once set foot upon the Old World.  There in his youth, he rode horses* with the chevaliers of Bretonnia until a debt of honour was repaid.

For nine days we followed our familiar paths, skirting the edge of the Sea of Sands. From Erachti a guide led us on the northward route between oases. Nolg Al-Akar led us twelve days – alert to the stirrings of the undead and the dread mirages. Without him we would surely have succumbed, after all, to the wonder wall at Urmi.  Onwards we trekked, following the north star, shielding our faces against the sandstorms, until we sighted the first shrubs, cacti and rough grasses: the edge of the Badlands.  Here we leave behind everything most of us have ever known. We press forwards for honour, hoping to return.

*Indeed, it is often the manner of the people of the Old World to favour horses over camels even for their most noble lords.

Well here we go! This month I started with a core unit: 10 Arabyan Guard.  These were some of the first miniatures I picked up for this effort - mostly Perry Muslim Militia Spearmen.

Two very minor conversions: to create a standard bearer, and to give Chauncey from the Dogs of War range more suitably baggy trousers. He's a little Ottoman in comparison to his comrades but Warhammer's a pastiche, and he was one of the first miniatures I identified for this force.  The badly painted freehand Arabic on the shields and banner is supposed to be words like "truth", "honour", "hope" etc. Any readers of Arabic will see how mangled it is...  Those words remind me of the old Law slogans that used to be on the Arcane Armorial shield transfers that were widely used in the photos in the 3rd ed rule book.  

From left: Gripping Beast Moorish command musician,  Citadel Dogs of War, Citadel Talisman Saracen, Perry Muslim Militia, Midlam Arabian Nights Adventurer.

All Perry Muslim Militia. 

Every unit has a little orange in it (for "the Arabs": mid-table strugglers Dundee United FC)

One model that took me a while to get at a decent price, was the Talisman Saracen.  I was keen to buy one as a suitably armed leader for this spear unit, and to illustrate how Araby characters have been depicted over the years.  The original Talisman character card for the Saracen (Talisman Dungeon 1987) depicts him as an evil slaver, (with red eyes by the looks of it), while the 2016 digital edition upgrades him to neutral with a more politely phrased ability to “recruit” supporters to his cause… I’m normally squarely for the Oldhammer way, but maybe not this time.  Still, I tried to give mine the classic colour scheme:

1987

2016

Meanwhile, hidden in the ranks is a deadly hashishin:

 This one is from Citadel's C04 Thieves range, which has several classic if stereotyped Arabyan models (no doubt an Alibaba reference). 

Assassins are interesting in 3rd ed - with a flat 25 point supplementary cost, they become more cost effective the higher the level of hero - but I opted for a level 5 hero so as not to outshine the unit leader. 

My take on the Border Princes is they are the Warhammer equivalent of the Balkans. I don't think that's universally accepted. "Plavigorica" is an amalgam of the Montenegrin capital Podgorica and town of Plav, and means 'small blue mountain'.

Finally a tribute to the Spear of All Araby, Jaako the Magnificent. 

This fellow, Tom Thyksson from Bugman's Rangers is on his way to Finland, all being well.

Jings, the lack of painting daylight in January in Scotland is brutal!  See you in February!

The contingent so far:

9 Arabyan Guard with spears, shields, musician and standard bearer, led by level 5 hero 109 pts

Level 5 hashishin with throwing knives  56 pts

Total: 165 pts.