Mutatawwwi'a for Saga

This project started with 48 Footsore Arabs in my painting queue. I was looking for a way to put them on the table and looking through Saga's Age of Crusades book, I saw the Mutatawwi'a got a much-improved battleboard. I painted the warriors using the Andrea Color Black Set of 6 dropper bottles starting with black and 5 progressively brighter highlights. You don't have to use all 5 highlights.  I used a black base and 2-3 highlights and highly recommend this set.

The 48 warriors in the center are all Footsore. I asked them for a specific mix of shield types in my order which they sorted at no cost. The shields are shield transfers by Little Big Man Studio. I originally painted the spears in a dark red but the monochromatic effect was bland.  I repainted them with a bright red to give the army some pop. I had a bit of trouble photographing this bunch due to all the black. Take a look at how different they look under different lighting.

The 8 slightly large Hearthguard fellows in the front rank are Gripping Beast (GB) Mutatawwi'a.  The warlord on foot is Footsore and the mounted warlord is Perry.

These 24 archers can be used as warrior archers or as 2 levy archer units for my Moors.  They're a mix of GB Mutatawwi'a metals and their plastic Arabs. I greenstuffed face coverings to the metals here and elsewhere to keep a consistent, fanatical look.

GB Mutatawwi'a camel riders. In keeping with "taking the black," I did the saddle/pillow rugs in black.  I do love the look of camels so after painting these, I bought some more. 

Warlord Games Roman Imperial camel riders modified for the Crusader era. I dremeled away the Scutums and added appropriate Crusader-era shields.

12 hearthguard on camels plus a warlord too makes for a unique look for these Mutts. And I already got them on the table! Here at the finish line, I'm burned out on painting black and looking forward to my next project, Komnenian Byzantines.

More Bolt Action

Early this year, I sold off a chunk of my Soviet Bolt Action army. I didn't play the game often and when I did, I didn't play it well. Then Jason Meyers (of the Der Feldmarschall blog) started running quarterly Bolt Action events. His superb events and the great players who turn up for them have lit a fire.  I recently finished a Trenchworx T-28, White Scout car, and a twin turreted T-26.  Every one was a superb model so bravo, Trenchworx! Bonus, I'm finally getting the hang of my Badger airbrush. I also painted up Warlord Games Scouts and Engineers because...why not?

My Soviets have been in heavy rotation since summer.  I've used them in What a Tanker, 2 Chain of Command campaigns and 3 Bolt Action tournaments.  In the tournaments, I landed Best Overall General, Best Painted, and Best Allied General. Enough bragging.  I'll finish with a few pictures from my Bolt Action games.

T-34s and a KV-2

After finishing the Chain of Command campaign "Storming the Citadel" (Kursk) my buddy asked if I was interested in the Part 2 campaign continuation. CoC is a great game and their campaigns make the game shine more brilliantly.  There was the time my Soviet flamethrower popped an ambush on a Tiger tank to break Grossdeutschland's platoon force morale and save the day. Or the prolonged duel between my dug in ZiS-3 and another Tiger tank. So many Tigers at Kursk and yes, some were burning.  So, of course, I said yes to part 2, "Citadel, the Breakthrough."

I ordered the Warlord Games T-34/76 platoon and hustled them through my painting queue along with a Warlord Games resin KV-2. At the finish line, not bad! I can't wait to run 4 T-34s in a 28mm game. I'm sure getting the right command dice will be a struggle but still...

In October, I've got a Bolt Action 1,250 point event.  It's just the excuse I need to put my newly painted KV-2 out on the table!