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Post by paddy649 on Aug 12, 2018 11:13:36 GMT
So last October I posed the question "What is the fastest DBA 3.0 Army to paint?" I concluded that my top included III/75 Islamic Berber as "most of these figures are clad entirely in black with only hands and occasionally faces exposed. So spray black, dry brush highlights before weapons and shields. I then went on to say I'd put my money where my mouth was - so here they are....my 7th showcase army for the year.
So about this army - the figures are from Essex miniatures - my first foray with Essex - which is quite unusual for a DBA player. I bought the figures at Salute at the end of April this year and started painting them last month. So these are all new paints and from unpainted lead to what you see here they took just a smidge under 10 hours. Yep! Just 10 hours! These boys were fantastically quick to paint. Black undercoat, dry brush grey, then I used a really restrictive palette of brown, blue, silver and white. This restricted palette meant I was not wasting time opening and closing paint pots all the time. I took a bit of time on the camels because they needed it other than that the army had little decoration and was just quick. The flags were internet printouts and then I followed my usual steel bases and textured paint with the 3 colour paint over for Dry terrain troops. The end result I think is rather good - definitely looks better than 10 hours worth!
The historical accuracy of this army can be questioned - please do. I have no ideas if the black and blue colour scheme is at all realistic and the flags may be announcing anything for all I know. I didn't do much research and just tried to copy other armies on the internet. If I had my time over I'd probably have used the Donnington New Range for this army as a bit of subsequent internet surfing has convinced me that they do far nicer command and Black Guard figures. The Essex figures are good, if a trifle bland and uninspiring. They lack texture and I find that means they actually need more highlighting, or would do if they weren't black! One small problem with the running javelin thrower on one of the Psloi bases whose base broke and needed pinning.
Overall I like the camels and the general. The Black guard are effective as a unit and the Light Horse and Psloi look realistic. A nice little army for 10 hours of effort. I have no idea how this army will fight. I haven't played a game with it yet. I don't think that they'll be slouches especially I reasonably close terrain. I wouldn't want all that Psloi caught in the open though. Paul what are the stats for this army like?
The Whole Army
The Infantry
The Cavalry
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Post by Baldie on Aug 12, 2018 16:01:48 GMT
Look champion
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Post by Haardrada on Aug 12, 2018 16:58:12 GMT
Great job and the finished army looks fantastic.
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Post by goragrad on Aug 13, 2018 9:32:43 GMT
Heath in his Armies and Enemies of the Crusades notes the Berbers as mostly favoring various shades of blue and red based on illustrations of the period. Not sure if that was updated, but I do remeber as well seeing a source for black.
Very nice looking army, regardless.
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Post by paulhannah on Jan 30, 2020 13:09:07 GMT
Paul, what are the stats for this army like? First, my apologies for being a tad tardy in replying to your query. 44 results for this army in our group's COMPENDIVM, and their record's not so good, 14-30. They've had a really tough time of it with the Feudal Spanish, against whom they are but 4-10. --How have they done for you? Very impressive work for such speed-painting. Ten hours...amazing. I especially like the shields and the light hue you chose for your camels. Well done. |
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Post by paddy649 on Jan 30, 2020 16:07:36 GMT
Oh - not that good then. They haven’t been that good for me either and are 1-2. Still they look good.
I painted these nearly 18 months ago and have painted much since but for the last 12 months have been very bad at posting showcases - most because of the lack of space on this website. The light shade on the camels is deliberate as Berbers prized white camels for riding while the darker ones were used as pack animals.
More recent armies have been larger or Medieval or were figures that demanded more work and so they all took far longer so I’ve still not managed to beat 10 hours. However I plan to buy a Sea Peoples and a Norman army - both of which could be contenders. Also think that Martin’s Viking Raider army could be done in under 10 hours as well.
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Post by Vic on Jan 30, 2020 16:14:25 GMT
First off, congratulations on those minis! They look superb. Just a note: The historical accuracy of this army can be questioned - please do. I have no ideas if the black and blue colour scheme is at all realistic and the flags may be announcing anything for all I know. It really depends - the list covers a long period of time, and several subsequent waves of Berber states that fought extensively in many different regions. All four major waves of Berber dynasties, al-Murabitun (Spanish Almorávides, English Almoravids), al-Muwahhidun (Spanish Almohades, English Almohads), al-Mariniyyun (Spanish Benimerines, English Marinids) in modern Morocco and Mauritania and their contemporaries Ziyaniyun (Spanish Ziyánidas, English Zayyanids) in modern Algeria and al-Hafsyun (Spanish Hafsíes, English Hafsids) in Ifriqiya/modern Tunisia, and the later Watasiyun (Spanish Vatásidas, English Wattasids) that replaced the Marinids, fielded highly diverse, multiethnic armies, pretty much all of them including everything: Berber horsemen and foot, West Sudanese mercenaries, Tuareg camels, Bedouins, Arab urban militias, religious fanatics, Andalusian professional troops, Mozarab infantry, Christian mercenaries, etc., which makes trying to be historically precise about the list a question of who, where and when, exactly, do you want to represent; as an amalgam of all those States, however, I think the list works rather OK.
These figures with black/blue robes look best fitted to represent members of the Iznagen confederacy (Arab Sanhagah, Spanish Cenhegíes, English Shanaja), the westernmost and southernmost of the three main Berber confederacies, closely related to (and neighbours of) the Tuareg from the Sahara, so I'd suggest the army looks quite right for the initial expansion of the Almoravids (who were of Shanaja stock), covering their campaigns towards the Sahel (1049-1088), their conquest of the Maghreb as far east as Argel (1052-1082), and possibly also their rather fast conquest of all of Muslim Hispania (1090-1102, with two further campaigns in 1110 and 1116). Other dynasties came from northern Berber stock and would have dressed in less picturesque ways, and Peninsular Almoravid armies changed a lot once they settled down and absorbed Andalusian states and their culture (so much so that the next Berber wave, the Almohads, rose up in response to the perceived "decadence" of Almoravids in just a few decades).
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Post by martin on Jan 30, 2020 18:45:15 GMT
Also think that Martin’s Viking Raider army could be done in under 10 hours as well. You've obviously looked at the paint-job on my Vikings in the FB photo's.....they look like a < 10 hour army  |
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Post by paddy649 on Jan 30, 2020 19:41:31 GMT
Thanks Vic - love the historical background - I’ll call them Almoravids from now on!
Martin - Not at all - your army looks great. The reasons I reckon this could be a sub-10 hour army to paint are:
36 figures - so 15 minutes per figure once spray coated black.
Simple tunic colours majority are buff and white which are quick to dry brush on. That gives the majority of the shading.
Relatively few colours on the bodies - flesh, steel and brown for wood, hair and leather before black lining. The one variable is whether you can live with brown hair or need to add some blondes and gingers into the mix as you did. Armenians are easier - black hair! This would possibly take 6-8 mins per figure and leave a few minutes to nail nice varied shield designs to add colour before gluing to the base.
Textured brown paint, dry brush sand, spray 2 coats of Matt varnish and flock takes a total of 5 minutes per base (remember I discount drying time as the textured paint would need to dry overnight and you don’t want to flock until the varnish is dry.)....... and that is the last hour gone.
I’m just about to embark on Medieval French - that’ll take me more than 10 hours to do the knights alone!
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