From GregB - Mydas the Mean and Bodyguard (80 points)

Mydas the Mean, Sheikh Yadosh and a bodyguard unit, ready to ensure the gold is collected and the payroll is made!

Merry Christmas and happy new year to everyone in the Challenge! I've been using the holiday to get the brushes rolling, and for my second submission we have another addition to my old-school GW Dogs of War project.

Mydas the Mean - great at financing, and also pretty good at fighting! He keeps the key to his pay chest close, where he can be sure it is safe...

Another view of Midas, with his wicked mace, ready to resolve pay disputes...

Ask anyone in business, large or small - payroll is a real administrative pain in the @ss! Everyone wants to get paid, and if you can't make payroll, you'll have "employee engagement" problems. If those employees are heavily armed Tilean mercenaries, "employee engagement" problems will get pretty violent, pretty fast...enter Mydas the Mean, mercenary paymaster. Mydas is accompanied by Sheikh Yadosh, his trusty money lender, and a group of bodyguards. 

Sheikh Yadosh showcasing the goods!

Mydas, Sheik Yadosh and the mercenary pay chest are part of the classic GW Dogs of War figure range. In the Dogs of War mercenary army, the pay chest takes the place of the army standard bearer in other armies - after all, what would be more important for the mercenaries than making sure they get paid? Mydas is on hand to make sure all of the Regiments of Renown get their fair share when payday arrives - one of the more feared paymasters in all of Tilea! He's great at gathering the money, a lot more careful on the cash outflows.

Bodyguards ready to defend the pay chest - these are metal castings from Perry Miniatures' Italian Wars range.

The money lender, Sheikh Yadosh, is a creditor of Mydas', following him around during his various military adventures across the Old World and lending money to mercenaries who need a temporary cash boost while purchasing supplies...or gambling...probably more of the latter than the former!

Ready for action - heavy armour, bright colours, and some serious weapons.

Of course, payday can get pretty rowdy, and a chest full of treasure needs protection, so the paymaster can be accompanied by a unit of bodyguards. In the game, the bodyguard can serve as a small unit of troops, taking their place in the battle line to guard the pay chest while it projects its morale-boosting effects out to the mercenary troops. 

Multi-part plastic figures from Perry Miniatures' - perfect command group for the bodyguards! They have expensive armour - after all, Mydas has the money to kit them out. 

Mydas, Yadosh, the pay chest and the humble donkey were one of the original box sets GW released as part of their "Dogs of War" miniature range. They did not, however, release any bodyguard figures specific to this miniature range. And maybe they never intended to? Why would they? In the rules, they are specific that the guards would wear heavy armour and carry halberds, as opposed to pikes, and this kind of makes sense when you consider that the main worry of the bodyguards is probably the other mercenaries :) 

The classic figures from the "Mydas the Mean" box set.

At any rate, there were a whole ton of halrberdier figures to be sourced from the Empire figure range of the day, so I suspect this is why they never released specific bodyguards. But fast forward to today, and those companion halberdier sculpts are long-gone. Yes, the new "Old World" game is out and about, complete with Empire figures, but these current Empire figures are a poor match to the old Tilean sculpts. What to do? Well, I spotted an ideal solution in a Dogs of War Facebook group - another hobbyist just used some figures from the Perry Miniatures' Italian Wars range, and it looked perfect! After all, the Perrys sculpted the Dogs of War figures, and Tilea is just the Old World's answer to Italy, so the figures made for perfect bodyguards!

One more group photo...

The guards are a mix of metal halberdiers, with a plastic command group. The banner is from an actual Italian Wars range...I thought it fit fine in the Tilean setting, and I really pleased with how the gang looks! These modern Perry sculpts are a little taller than the old GW sculpts, but then I can imagine Mydas would only hire the biggest fellows he could find to guard his pay chest!

So we come to the tally:

- 13 x 28mm foot figures for 65 points.

- 1 x donkey...let's count him as another five points?

- 1 x treasure wagon...let's count it has a crew-served weapon, maybe make it 10 points?

So assuming Curt is good with all of the above, I would make this out to score 80 points - and a happy mercenary army on my shelf, as they now see there is an actual pay chest on hand to ensure they get paid!

GregB

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This is fabulous, Greg. I remember reading the Dogs of War army book all those years ago, and loving the whole concept of the mercenary paychest, it's guardian, Mydas the Mean along with his partner Yadosh the money-lender. So characterful and cool. It's almost like GW lost its mind for a short period of time, allowing these quirky, non-conforming, characterful side-projects to come into fruition.

I also think it's terrific that you drew upon the Perry's Italian War range to fill-out Mydas' bodyguards. Inspired, that, and masterfully done! Especially as I know you've been wanting to try your hand with the Italian Wars, and this has provided the perfect vector. Perhaps we'll see some more Tilean units bolstered the same way?  That would be very cool.

80 drachmas for your tally! Well done!

- Curt