From DarrellH Reconquista at Partizan, Hasham Guard Cavalry

Finally, the completion of another cavalry unit! This time it is the turn of Yusef ibn Tashfin's Hasham Guard Cavalry Regiment.

Heavy Cavalry such as the Hasham Guard were something of a rarity among the Berber tribes thus it is likely that the guard units were specially raised and trained as personal bodyguards to the Emir, Shaykh or Sayyid.  These units would not fight in the Christian style with their increasing tendency to couch the lance but rather with throwing spears and javelins albeit mounted on very sturdy horses. It is not clear as to whether the Hasham Guard units would use feigned flight as a tactic like many other Muslim cavalry types.

I have primarily used Vallejo paint but started with a Foundry Blue for the base of the miniatures cloaks, turbans and veils. The base for the Black is Andrea black which is wonderfully matt and a great base to start with when painting up a black robe. (It must be good as they have sold out of it in the Andrea online shop!) The protective layer of varnish is Humbrol Gloss Enamel with a final spray of Windsor and Newton Professional Matt Varnish to flatten things out. I find W&N to be the best matt varnish i have tried in all my years of painting (by a royal mile!).

Excellent, a beautiful unit. please add points and your name to your posts. See you at Partizan

martin

Hi Martin, That's 120 points right? Could you add them to my tally please?

From DarrellH - Reconquista at Partizan, Christian vignettes II - 15 points

Death from disease were a constant companion of all soldiers on campaign during the 11th Century. Dysentery, cholera, typhoid fever and even plague were to be the last fatal companions of many a stout soldier. Nor could rank safeguard from such epidemics that could strike at the heart of any army.

The knight below is in his final agonising death throws as cholera takes his soul. A washer woman tries to offer him comfort whilst a priest prays, perhaps as much for for himself as he does for his companion now that cholera and dysentery have broken out in the camp!

from DaveD - Thats another great creation Darrell well done

From DarrelH - Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Christian Vignettes part 1 - 12 Points

Hi,

I've been working on a few larger units while simultaneously having the odd vignette sitting at the side of the table to work on if I'm waiting for anything to dry, that sort of thing.....

Here's the first, a Bishop blessing a Caballero Villanos (poor knight) who were quite often taken from the upper peasantry and were likelier still to come from a border region where there was often conflict, or the threat of, mainly in the form of raids. These border zones on the Spanish peninsular were not, as one might assume, necessarily borders between the religious principalities. They could just as easily be a border between two Christian 'nations' or two Muslim kingdoms.

From DaveD - lovely work there  Darrell, very evocative - I will go with 12 points for em!

From DarrellH: Reconquista at Partizan 2020, Yusuf ibn Tashfin Command Base (20 pts)

Yusef ibn Tashfin victor against Alfonso Vi of Leon and Castile was a very remarkable man. As leader of the Moroccan Almoravid dynasty and was one of the founders of the city of Marrakesh. On heading the call of the Taifa Kingdoms, the once mighty kingdom of Al Andalus in Southern Spain; pleading for military aid and intervention in order to block the encroachment of the resurgent Christian Kingdoms. Tashfin managed to unite the Taifa Kingdoms with his Almoravid invasion force and lead a very successful campaign, putting the Christian forces under immense pressure and devastating the ambitions of Alfoso

He faced Alfonso VI of Leon and Castile twice in open battle winning spectacular victories on both occasions at the Battle of Sagrajas 1086 and the Battle of Consuegra 1097 respectively.

This piece is the command base that will be attached to the Yusef ibn Tashfin's Black Guard. His personal guard and chosen mostly from Slav and Sudanese slaves. (Unfortunately I cannot post any pics of the Black Guard as they were finished before the painting challenge began- you can see pics of them on my Just Add Water wargames blog)

From Paul
The painting is superb and you get bonus points for the banners and shield work. Thats 3 figures and 5 bonus points for 20 points

From JohnSh - Nine Archers - Not a Bomb but a restart (45 points)

This week I managed to finish nine Norman(ish) archers for my Saga warband. Life has been rearing its ugly head this last month or so and I have not had a chance to put paint on a brush until last weekend.

I have painted these figures to an "acceptable wargames standard" which is the current limit of my time and ability. To be perfectly honest I'm not really a fan of these miniatures, I don't even know what brand they are, they came as part of a large trade I did about a year ago but my Normans need archers so they entered the queue. Having said that, I am quite happy that they will add another option to my Saga force, and occasionally do a bit of duty in Swordpoint, Lion rampant and Dragon rampant armies.

This is a restart to the Challenge for me (I know, I know, only three weeks to go!) as I almost thought that I would have to withdraw but I am very happy to be able to submit some more figures. I just need to have the next three weeks off work, put on a few pots of coffee and paint, paint, paint!

They are a little bit shiny as I had to use brush on varnish. the Sydney humidity has precluded the use of spray varnish - except for those fans of frosty figures.

Alan and Paul: Great to see you getting some paint on some figures! I know you've been facing some obstacles, so I was delighted to see these in the queue. They look fine to me, and I predict they will massacre many of my figures in due course. Paul will probably use them as proxy FIW redcoats against me at some point as well. :)