From ChristopherS - 28mm Almoravid Black Guard (144 Points)

My first submission to the challenge in the form of 28mm Almoravid Black Guard based for Impetus. 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. If anyone has followed my blog then they will know I've had a long running El Cid project where most of Christian Spanish army is finished and I've now began the Almoravids. I've finished a regular Berber unit and now decided to add the Black Guard.

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.

With 24 figures at 28mm this should give me 120 points towards my challenge with Nick and the 'Bronze to Steel' challenge in addition to the Analogue Challenge itself.

Simply stunning work Christopher! I love how you've done their black clothing and the hippo hides are brilliant. 

This unit will give you a base of 120 points but I'm adding a few more for the work on the shields and banner. It's great to have you on the roster Christopher!