This is the true history of the relief of Plavigorica. I, ibn Gudruk, write this freely. My family has not been threatened should I fail to discard any previous account that may have been erroneously made.
We revel in the inspiration of the noble Grand Vizier who led us from the first, and delivered our victory, adding credit to the storied name of our munificent Sultan who we are grateful was spared this danger. It was the noble Vizier who led us safely through the mirages, after all, at the Urmi wonder wall. He fought the great scorpion, and defied the Chomped Lug'ole goblins as we crossed Al-Mamalik Al-Hududiya, which the men of the Old World call "the Badlands". The Vizier encouraged us to fortitude when we learned that much of the vitals and coin from our caravan had vanished although under his personal supervision. And surely it was he who led us against the Skaven siege lines, and after our late Emir was bested in battle, did then inspire us to prevail before the very walls.
I wish only to return to my kin and to live quietly. Now that I have seen such heroism I shall write no more - for what other word is there to tell?
__
Postscript - Alas! Snorri ibn Gudruk tumbled into a ravine on our return journey. Alack! This tome fell with him. It was, for the main part, recovered. Yet, as can be seen, several pages were torn out by its fall, and, despite our efforts, could not be retrieved. This ill news I bear with sadness. Your loyal servant, Al'ad.
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Alkadi Nazreen's Grand Vizier, Iznobettur the Notorious, is his reluctant envoy to Plavigorica. The Vizier's real desire is to be Sultan instead of the Sultan. Here he rests upon a flying carpet that would have been his means of escape if the Arabyan forces had been defeated outside the city walls. He is attended by his faithful servant Wat Al'ad. Both are Midlam miniatures.
The Grand Vizier remains fully focused on the task at hand
Indeed, I'm imperfectly imitating the infinitely irascible Inzogoud the Infamous, (Isn't it irritating?)
Iznogoud is another classic (if prejudiced) 20th Century source for high fantasy Araby. In the the story, the faithful manservant is called Wat Al'af and they are constantly plotting to take over from the Caliph in Baghdad. Fortunately his schemes never prevail.
To end on a less cynical note, I painted a part of the baggage train or camel caravan, one of my favourite things to paint in this challenge. The slightly converted handler and left camel are from Midlam Miniatures, while the right camel is from the Perrys' Mahdist war range, with some green stuff baggage attached.
The hardest part was detaching the handler from the miliput base I'd put him on because he is pretty small. Unfortunately the excellent Midlam Arabian Nights range doesn't scale so well with the other figures I've used. He was going to be in the Araby Corsairs, but I'm glad I found a better place for him.
In the end just under half of this force is from Citadel (excluding animals and the wee 6mm ones for the forced perspective scene):
Other collectors have gone a more purely Citadel route (such as Kim's excellent Araby army*) - so it can be done - but I reckon this was a more affordable way to do it. I'm guilty of pushing the minimum limits with just 42 miniatures plus snakes. Sorry! That plus forming a list around what I gathered, are two ways I've strayed from the OWAC ideal.
I've really enjoyed assembling this force and developing the stories to go with it. These six months have flown by, like a magic carpet. Thank you for all the encouragement month by month. See you for the wrap up in July!
Salam.
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Links to earlier months:
January -spears
February -bows
March - scimitars
April - carpets
May - camels
*Kim has a whole unit of Talisman Saracens! and some fantastic conversions of non-Araby miniatures in there, which definitely inspired some of my efforts.
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