From Mike W - More Medjai Warriors

Following on from the recent test batch of Medjai Warriors i have now completed an additional 9 figures plus a Command figure for the opposition 'Arab Cultists'.

The Painting process was exactly the same as previously described in previous posts.

The finished group of figures

One of the little guys has been painted as a leader for eth Arab Cultists who will be working with the evil forces of the undead to raise the former high priest Imhotep. These guys are working in alliance with German Archaeologists who are looking for ancient artefacts that would imbue power to the fledgling Third Reich.

A leader of the Arab Cultists

Arrayed against them are the Medjai, traditionally known as the Pharaoh's Bodyguard, who have sworn to guard the Pharaoh's interests over the centuries. Imhotep's raising from the dead would inevitably result in the raising of the Pharaoh's Armies to be used for evil purposes.

Medjai Heavy Weapon's Team

What next for this project - well definitely some Archaeologists (German, British & American), some more Afrika Korps plus transport for the same. Thinking a Kubelwagen, a truck and a multi-turreted tank of some sort!

Three Medjai with assorted weapons

Arab Cultists & Medjai will need mounted versions, on horses and/or camels and then probably I'll need a number of regular Arab figures as will - not all Arabs are Cultists or Medjai!

Another three guys, the one in the middle with a German Stick Grenade

The one thing I have plenty of is Egyptian Undead, just waiting to be raised! But there is a couple of chariot models that I need to complete sometime.,,

A Medjai Elder, contemplating their plan of action

AHPC XII: From Mike W - 28mm Test batch of Medjai Warriors for Egyptian Undead Adventures

 This is a test group of figures that will be expanded over time to represent the Medjai - also known as the Pharaoh's Guard - in my planned for Egyptian Undead Adventures series of games! Again these are 'Hollywood' style interpretations of the Medjai tribesmen, used by the Pharaohs as their personal bodyguards. I again apologise for the terrible liberties taken in transposing dress styles from south east Asia to Africa.

Completed test batch of six Medjai Warriors

It seems historically the Medjai were an elusive people whom Ancient Egyptian texts seem to refer to as either an ethnic or an occupational group. In the early part of their history, they appear to have been a subgroup of Nubians associated with a land called Medja in the Upper Nile regions.

According to Hollywood (and specifically the film 'The Mummy'), the Medjai are the Pharaoh's sacred bodyguards, a group who have watched over and guarded Hamunaptra (the Ancient Egyptian City of the Dead) for centuries. They are sworn to do all in their power to prevent the resurrection of the crazy High Priest Imhotep, who wants to use the bodies of the dead as an army to do his evil bidding .

A possible command group, showing black robes and dark blue turbans and sashes quite well

Anyway enough of the history (real and dodgy), these figures are very similar in construction to the Arab Cultists you may have seen on some of my previous posts (here). The difference is the colour scheme that I used to completed the figures.

After a white undercoat, I painted the flesh and gave this a sepia wash when dry, then the robes of these guys were painted dark grey. Turbans and Sashes were painted a bright blue. The robes were then given a couple of Dark Tone washes to give a shaded black look and the blue areas were also given a black wash to add shading  and mute the blue colour a little.

Close-up of the firepower - Left to right, a  Jezails, a musket and a Bowman.

The flag was painted sky blue and then washed blue, before highlighting again in sky blue - this ties in to the sky blue colour scheme I used in previous Egyptian Undead Postings from last year's challenge (here).

Basing was fine sand and dried rocky tufts of dried grass to fit in with the general scheme for this project. I'm pretty pleased with the outcome and will build up this force and start looking for Adventurers to add to the mix, if you want to keep up with the project watch out for more here.

AHPC XII: From Mike W - Egyptian Undead Adventures - Odds & Ends

 Here is another selection of the various items I have been working on for the Egyptian Undead Adventures side show that I have continued to work on over the last few weeks, hopefully they are of interest.

More Arab Cultists, this time based upon Gripping Beast's Arab Infantry Set

Firstly more Arab Cultists, after the success of last week's batch I found three Gripping Beast chaps on the sprue and so pressed them into the Cult! The guy firing the Jezail is a Gripping Beast figure with a Perrys' Afghan Jezail and arms added, I had to cut and fill the right shoulder to make the changes fit well.

The guy on the right looks a bit like a Grimsby Trawlerman's Wife in a headscarf - but that 's still scary enough!

The guy with the sword has Perry Afghan arms added, plus some trailing head dress parts, whilst the guy carrying the Jezail has Peery Afghan arms again and a spare head form an hooded Oathmark Human, again with trailing head dress parts added. 

Alongside the Gripping Beast Recruits, I also found 3 x Wargames Atlantic Afghan figures to add to the recruit list. These figures are ever so slightly smaller that the gripping Beast figures but not so much that they look out of place. 

Three more (Wargames Atlantic) Arab Cultists

I have kept the same look and feel for these figures but opted to arm one with a modern German rifle and one with a Luger pistol, courtesy of the Warlord Games Afrika Korps set (see below). The other is stuck with just a sword

That's a total of sixteen Cultists

All were painted and based in exactly the same way as last week's figures, I've claimed 1 Squirrel Point for these 28mm Arab Cultists - as I forgot to label the previous post as such and want to keep within the Squirrel rules

Next a is a group of 6 x Afrika Korps soldiers who every knows are only in Egypt to find the Lost Ark of the Covenant, or such like! These are really test pieces as I'll build up a small force of figures that can be used in various scenarios as they come along.

Test Group of Afrika Korps, extreme left is a Perry figure, the rest are Warlord Games

As such I'd acquired a sprue of Afrika Korps figures from both Perry Miniatures and Warlord Games to compare and contrast - and hopefully allow for some kit bashing to make some unique one off figures.

Close-up of three figures, I like the action poses and the selection of heads that can be used.
Left hand and right hand guys both have cigarettes in their mouths!

Both sprues have a wide range of options but I was almost immediately drawn to the Warlord Games sprue in preference to the Perry's one. The figures were simply more dynamic in my opinion and they were noticeably larger that the Perry versions.

Prone Machine Gunner, counting half points!

What's more the Warlord Games figures are comparable in size to the Arab Cultists above, its a shame as the Perry figures are really nice but due to their smaller size not really useable for Kit Bashing!

That said I have painted up one Perry figure to show and photograph to allow all here to compare sizes etc.

All figures were undercoated white and then I used Citadel 'Tallarn Sand' for most of the uniforms, historically the Afrika Korps used a green uniform that faded quickly in the sun so I have made a nod to this by giving one of the figures a green jacket and making all soft caps green. For this I used Foundry 'Phlegm Green'.

Direct comparison of Warlord Games )right) and Perry Miniatures (Left) crouching figures.
By being smaller the Perry figures are more fiddley to build and accessories can't easily be swapped between sets.

Straps, Weapons and equipment were coloured according to historical schemes I found illustrated online, I did the helmets in Citadel 'Bubonic Brown'. I used an Army Painter 'Dark Tone' ink wash on the weapons, helmets, boots and equipment packs on their backs, whilst I washed the uniforms in Army Painter 'Light Brown'.

I then gave the figures a dry light brush of Tallern Sand to highlight the uniforms and help tone down the base green used. Matt varnish was applied to all figures and then based with fine sand and dried grass & stone tufts.

AHPC XI: From Mike W, 28mm Undead Egyptians

 So this is possibly my last Egyptian Undead posting of the current challenge, a group of 24 x Skeleton Spearmen including Standard Bearer, Musician and a Champion.

Finished Unit of 25 Skeleton Spearmen

I said possibly - as I have a unit of skeleton swordsmen to complete but with only two days to go and a Late 17th Century Piedmont Infantry Regiment already on the go and nearing completion, I can't be certain!

Unit form the Left Flank

I ran out of proper GW Tomb Kings Shields after my early postings for this army so I have had to resort to scratch building shields for this unit, that  and the fact that these figures are from the original release of plastic skeleton figures from back in the 1990s and slightly smaller than the more modern Tomb Kings figures, means I am using these to represent the earthly remains of a line unit, rather than guardsmen in my other recent submissions.

And from the Right Flank

The shields are cut from cardboard and then adjusted to give them some character. Some have had studs attached, others have had papyrus scrolls added and a couple have simulated damage added.

Six of the Skeleton Spearmen, with ragged shields
and attached Papyrus scrolls & studs.

Additionally, I added a few papyrus scrolls to about four of the spear staffs to again give the unit a slightly different look and feel to the guardsmen skeletons previously done.

Anther batch of skeletons

The shield finish is not so smooth as the finish as you'd get from the plastic GW shields, this due to the porous nature of the cardboard but after a coat of varnish and wash I have deliberately left them looking more ragged to emphasise their peasant roots.

Third group, the studs are sliced spear staffs, super glued to the shields

The figures were purchased as a bulk lot from eBay some time ago and were a bit of a disappointment at the time, being the older style figures and may undercoated in red and pink for some strange reason. I undercoated all these guts with Citadel Screaming Skull, when dry I washed with Army Painter Strong Tone and then again waited until dry before dry brushing with a mix of light sand and Screaming Skull paints.

The Command group from the unit, the Musician has a drum set
 made out of three hollowed out skulls 

Shields were painted light blue and the backs a Khaki/Earth, spear shafts were painted black, Weapons were finished off with Brass, as were the Standard and Shield studs. Papyrus was painted a Linen colour and then various writings were added.

The bases were finished with fine sand.

AHPC XI; From Mike W, 28mm Undead Egyptian Sorceress [Lady Sarah]

 As a quick bonus for today I'm deploying a 'Lady Sarah' figure to teleport me to The Alter of the Snow Lord! I'm looking forward to this random challenge as handed down by Curt...

Completed Rooms

So getting this far has been fun, not all rooms completed but I believe I have followed the guidelines to get this far, minimum of four rooms per level and a 'Lady Sara' to get between levels! I want to allow enough time to deal with the Snow Lord's Challenge!

Reaper 28m Egyptian Sorceress

This figure is another Reaper 28mm metal item, this time a female Sorceress who will help  the Priestess and Mummy Lords keep control of all those pesky, dumb skeletons!

Side view

It is mounted on a UK 2p piece and was undercoated white.

I added standard flesh colours - over pretty much all of the figure, she's not wearing much! The scanty robes were done in a plain linen colour and details were in light blue to tie in to the Army's theme. The Snake staff was done in dark blue with a gold snake's head, with white, linen and light blue streamers.

The other side....

The head dress was painted dark blue with gold trim and light blue stripes as a highlight on the front, side panels.

I used a watered down light brown wash on all white and linen cloth areas and a darker flesh was on the skin areas to give a toned finish to the body.

And a final view...

Fine sand and a grass tuft was added to the base after allowing the matt varnish finish to dry.

AHPC XI: From Mike W, - 28mm More Undead Egyptian Archers

 After my last post on this army, I was stumped trying to find a source for additional shields to fit out the few skeleton figures that I had in my spares box. Thanks to everyone for your ideas and offers!

Newly rediscovered Warhammer Tomb King Boxes! 😀

 

One of the things I like best about this annual challenge is that it forces me to go through my metal and plastic mountain and find models to paint. To that end, I took a trip into my loft on Friday night to check what  could find...

Completed unit of archers, add that to the 10 I did a couple weeks ago,
then a sizeable missile force.

... Tucked away in the dark recesses was a storage box that I'd forgotten about, when opened it turned out to be an Aladdin's cave of Warhammer boxed sets and unpainted figures!

Another view of the completed Archer Unit

Specific to this army there were unopened boxes of unopened Tomb Kings infantry, a box of three chariots plus some frames of the original Mk1 skeletons and three Mummies from one of the Games Workshop boxed games (HeroQuest I think). 

A close-up of five of the boney blighters

As an aside, there were also a bot of unmade Lizardmen, a pile of undercoated Lizardmen and a box literally crammed full of undercoated Orcs. Hopefully I will work through these in the remaining weeks of the challenge as well as getting some more historical figures completed as well. 

Five more skeleton archers

Well as a starter for 100, I've made-up a new unit of 20 Skeleton Archers, outfitted and dressed as per the unit I did early in this challenge and added a scratch built musician and a standard bearer / champion. I made the drum from two round shields glued together and a paper strap, for no other reason than I could and it will differentiate the Archer units from the spearmen units with their musicians carrying a horn.

I've also started work on the Chariots and some spearmen - but that is for another post.

The third set of five skeletons in the unit

Once the figures were built and undercoated in a light earth colour I gave them a wash of Army Painter Dark Tone before dry-brushing with Screaming Skull. I maintained the light / dark blue colour theme by doing bows and quivers in light blue and straps and details in dark blue, then washed in a diluted blue ink.

The unit's Command section, Big Bass Drummer to keep up the rhythm of firing off arrows and a Standard Bearer come Champion.

All trim was done in gold and washed with dark tone ink. Everything was then covered with a matt varnish

Bases were painted with a light sand paint and then a fine sand, I held off on the electrostatic grass at this stage as I'm running short and awaiting a new delivery, plus not every figure in the army needs the tufts to maintain the look and feel.

AHPC XI - From Mike W - [Graveyard Beach] 37 Egyptian Skeletons and Mummy

Third and final post for the day, a couple of units of Undead Egyptian Skeletons accompanied by anoter couple of  character models to lead the rapidly growing army.

I'm taking a liberty here as I'm claiming that the Sahara Desert is in fact a very wide beach! Fact is Egypt does have beaches and I'm sure you can find skeletons there!

The units are from old Games Workshop Skelton figures in my plastic pile, that has been in th eloft since we moved here 14 years ago, some are undercoated (black or white and even a few in grey), some are bare plastic, all very old and increasingly fragile! 

I know there is such a thing as plastic rot and some of these guys are suffering from it - noticeablely - I guess - due to the thin limbs that these models have. they snap off very easily!

Unit of 10 Egyptian Skeleton Archers

The first unit is of 10 archers, all where given a new white undercoat and then washed in a watered down Army Painter Strong Wash. I then dry brushed these with Light Sand and then Skull white to get the effect I was looking for.

Bows and quivers were painted light blue and straps and any head / arm bands dark blue. All metal work including jewellery was painted 'Greedy Gold' and then highlighted where needed with Brass.

Slightly different view, I've added a hint of green to the bases 
here to acknowledge that here was water in Egypt!

Another  light brown wash and figures were based with fine sand and dried grass tufts. I maintained the light blue shield theme, used on my previous submission and ensured shield backs were an aged wood effect.

What I forgot was that the spear shafts on the first unit were black, on these I have gone for light blue...

The second unit of 15 Skeletons was painted in exactly the same manner, the first two ranks wee mostly spearmen and the third rank was made of axemen. I concentrated on the musician, standard bearer and champion to give the unit some focus

15 figure unit of Spearmen and Axe men. Highlighting the Standard Bearer

And from the front

The Command row from the unit

Second Rank Spearmen

Third rank Axemen, I'm not sure own historically accurate it is for 
Egyptians to have axes, but its what I had to hand.

The down side is that I'm now down to my last 10 or so plastic Egyptian shields, these Games Workshop items ae very distinctive looking and help tie all three of the units together.

Unit Champion

I have dozens of plastic skeleton figures waiting to be painted but all with the Old World / Vampire themed shields - I need to source a supply of ancient Egyptian shields from somewhere - if anyone has any ideas on where I can get these relatively cheaply please let me know.

Standard Bearer

One thought I've had is to use these units as the Guard units and then simply get hold of metal or plastic shields from non GW sources and call these future units the Rank & File Units in the Army...

Unit Musician

The two Character figures are also old Warhammer metal figures, one is a skeleton, the other another Mummy. I gave these two a splash of red, the skeleton on his loin cloth, the mummy on the staff that he carries...

Skeleton Lord, I forgot to matt varnish this guy - now done!

From behind...

... just to be a little different but still with the underlying dark / light blue themes. I'm happy wit the loin cloth but I might go back and change the staff to dark blue if I find time.

Mummy Figure, looking suitably dynamic

And again form behind...