West Sudanese Giant DBA army from book 3 list 69

Here is an over view of the Giant DBA army which became two armies, one of bows and one of spears plus cavalry (like LH, or Cv, or Kn) each side. Three photos of them in mock battle (not a proper DBA game) followed by a few close ups of the Kn before they were based.
CarlL

Left flank above (from bow army / Pagan army viewpoint.

centre ground above

right flank above
some of the "Quilted Knights" below

I decided last week to add some "in character" buildings, like a Mali town (inspired by photos of medieval Djenne) but scaled to fit the DBA / BUA area feature size of 18x36cm (3BW x 6BW) in 25/28mm scale. And then I thought of adding two Benin / Togo takienta (plural sikien) which are dated to 15th and 16th AD by most references (built as defences in interior region of Koutammakou by the Batammariba tribe, in response to slave raids by other tribes selling on to Europeans on coast). But these "farmhouse-castles" would have made good defences against the earlier slave raiding, (done to buy horses or other goods from those in North Africa or in areas we now know as Ethiopia, Somalia and the Sudans); or even as defences for farmer and his cattle from predatory animals from the savanna; so I decided to add two takienta as either camps or small BUAs for my Big DBA army. The results are below. The town is modular for ease of storage and multiple use, but has defects like small gaps between modules.

I have had problems finding a solution to creating satisfactory thatch roofs for the takienta towers which would have "witch's hat" like thatch in very grey thatch. Here are two of my prototypes: one using black washing up 'scrubber / sponge' - but this only produced low thatch; and another using fake fur glued to hand shaped styrofoam domes (think egg shape with flat bottom) and then glued and combed to try to simulate thatch. Unfortunately I started with oddments of bright green fake fur which then proved hard to make grey! So its WIP on my thatch and both prototypes need lightening up with light grey or snow white. Although not part of any DBA game, I represented the ground floor stables in the takienta by having a lift off terrace roof in centre of each model to reveal a section of where the animals would be kept overnight. The last image has some archers defending their farm, (two 28mm DBA 3Bw elements) to give you an idea about the model buildings size.
CarlL

Agreed…great work, Carl. 
The quilted knights look like the same designer as the Irregular 15mm knights (as used by Colin the Hittite for his 15mm West Sudanese). Are they Irregular casts?
And the buildings really look the part 👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

Very impressive collection and buildings.
Well done.

Sheffmark, 

I went mainly to modern images of traditional West African clothing for my inspiration, so likes of Kente cloth patterns from Ghana, or the traditional BouBou style clothing more associated with Cameroon today but widespread in use in West Africa; there are a few drawings, some colourised, of West African dress from time of late nineteenth century by European travellers; there are some descriptions of colours and clothing in likes of histories of the Hausa states, for example the "The Occupation of Hausaland 1900-1904" edited by H.F. Blackwell, which is a translation of the contemporary Arabic letters found in the house of the Wazir of Sokoto in 1903 [this tells of disputes resolved by the Wazir about all sorts of day to day transactions including descriptions of cloth involved in trade disputes]; I also used images from internet of the modern bardings used at horse fairs / durbar in northern Nigeria; there is the set of articles by Alan Todd in Slingshots 216,217, 221 [mentioned in the DBA army list but not the DBMM army list] and the book "Warfare in the Sokoto Caliphate" by J.P. Smaldone has references to our early period, and to snippets (like a glossary of Hausa military terminology where you can learn that the bishir was a red and white sadlle cover or the warwaji was a white oryx hide shield!) and to horse breeds (and looking these up gives you horse colours etc) and some descriptions of shields and what they are made from (so helping identify what shields could look like if made from animal skins) ; I added some traditional Adrinka / Akan symbols to their banners and shields as they have a number of commonly used symbols in West Africa of traditional lineage for symbolising likes of strength.  There are also bark kilts and 'raphia' skirts as well as traditions in face paints / hair colours and feathers that can be gleamed from internet searches.  Hope this helps?
CarlL