Almoravid Black Guard

My enthusiasm for adding more to my Impetus Almoravid army continues into the new year. I decided having a Black Guard unit in my Almoravid army was a must as they are both elite and look quite intimidating and if you have seen El Cid they give the quintessential Almoravid look.

I decided to equip the whole regiment with Hippo shields which is made from hippopotamus hides which looks either dark brownish or greyish depending on how it is cured. I prefer the brown and went with that. I feel the darker shields combined with the black clothes gives the unit an even more sinister and intimidating look. In addition to the black clothes the uniformed shields will further help differentiate them from the wooden ones carried by the rest of the Almoravids and mark them out as an elite unit within the army.

The figures themselves are a mix of Artizan and Gripping beast. I made a few modifications by adding veils to some of the figures that didn't have them to keep uniformity. One would think all black would paint up fast, but actually it didn't as I had to use several layers of grey adding gradually to get the effect I wanted thus taking longer then anticipated. The banners were downloaded then hand painted by myself.

Thanks for viewing!:-)
Miniature Company- Artizan, Gripping Beast