MilesR: Aztecs for Mudry's Mesa 130 Points

 My submission for Mudry's Mesa is part 1 of a likely series of Aztec themed submissions.  In accordance with the rules of Mudry's Mesa, these figures where purchased on Dec 20th.  I'm planning to use them for pulp games and a ww1 version of my DAK & Dragons game, tentatively tilted ANZACs and Aztecs.  I had planned to run that game at Cold Wars this year but need to delay that for business reasons.

This group of 20, 28mm figures from Eureka are all Novices, there's a similar number of more elaborately festooned warriors to come.  The figure quality is so-so and I would have a hard time recommending them.  It's a very old line from Eureka and that shows in the casting.  They're really 32mm figures so are very well fed Aztecs compared to other 28mm figures

I really like the slingers and think this batch will serve nicely as ambushers in a future pulp game.

These twenty chaps should net me 100 points, which goes to 130 with the bonus on passing through Mudry Mesa

On to Rousell's Sandhill!







Enough, Ok. Just stop! I'm so shell shocked that I got these 2 posts the wrong way round. More great work from the Demon Painter of New England. Well done

From TamsinP - 28mm Aztec Priests (24 points)

Just a small entry this week - four 28mm Aztec priests. The three in green feather suits are 3-captive priests, the one in red is a 5-captive priest. That's right - Aztec priests did go into battle and fight alongside the common and noble warriors. In fact, when you look at the various feather suits sent as tribute, the priests must have been very actively engaged in warfare, with a very high proportion of them having taken 3 or more captives.

The figures are all 28mm from The Assault Group. They will be representing wizards and apprentices in my Mexicagrave project, although I'm not sure that the back-banners are entirely practical for exploring lost/ruined cities. I've just received some more priests which I'll leave the back banners off of (although that does mean I'll need to do a bit of trimming, hole filling and feather texturing).

"What do you mean, only two weeks left?"

Ooh, I like these a lot Tamsin. I didn't realize the Aztecs used back banners like these. They very reminiscent to the mon/flags of the Ashigaru. How very cool. You should create some Inca/Aztec specific spells for them, something nasty based on sacrificial blood-magic and the ullamaliztli ball game.

These four priests will give you a base of 20 points but I'm adding a few more for the banners. Well done!

From TamsinP - 28mm What's New Pussycat (32 points)

No points bombs this week, so here's the Welsh "sex bomb" himself, Tom Jones, to sing a little ditty introducing this post.

Curt asked in his comments on my last submission whether I was going to be painting up any beasties native to the region for my Mexicagrave project. Well, here are some pussycats especially for him.

First up, four Jaguars. Well, Jaguar warriors. These were among the elite of the Aztec soldiers, having captured at least four enemies in battle. If the Aztec was a commoner, they entered the ranks of the nobility. In return for that, they became full-time soldiers and acted as the cities' guards and police as well as being sent out to accompany merchants on trade missions.

It seems that these virile young men have attracted the attention of a pair of cougars. Not predatory older women with a fancy for young men, but the feline variety. Also known as pumas or mountain lions. They might be big cats, but they aren't "big cats" as they can't roar.

And a group shot:

I'm not entirely happy with the jaguar suits. The spotted look was achieved by adding sepia washes to fill the dimples in the texture in between each layer of the main skin colour. I am presuming that the texture was intended to represent feathered suits rather than animal skin. I might go back and repaint the suits to add larger spots of brown similar to those on the helmets.

The Jaguar warriors are from The Assault Group; the pumas are from Wargames Foundry. I make that 30 points for this entry.

Very, very nice Tamsin! You're doing a marvelous job with this 'Mexicagrave' project. The warriors' cloth armour is excellent (with their vibrant shields) and the herb groundwork is truly inspired.  I'm especially delighted to see some local fauna added to your collection - the cougars are brilliant. When will we see a few Pumas and perhaps a huge snake? :)

These will give you a base of 30 points but I'm adding a couple more for the shields. Great work!

From TamsinP - 28mm Aztec Cuextecatli (22 points)

Just to rack a few more points up, here are 4 more Aztecs for my meso-American Frostgrave setting.

These are warriors who have captured two enemies in battle for sacrifice at the temples. Such warriors were entitled to wear a feathered suit (cuextecatl), a conical hat, sandals and a loincloth with embroidered ends. The cuextecatl was a one-piece cotton suit to which red feathers were sewn (with black double-stripes at various points) and was worn over the padded ichcahaupilli armour.

Their shields were decorated with the "hawk scratch" design.

They were also accorded certain privileges in civilian life, such as the wearing of a distinctive cape to show their rank.

The figures are 28mm from The Assault Group. For my variant Frostgrave setting, these will probably be classed as "infantry".

Scoring time - 4 x 28mm foot = 20 points.

Oh, these are very nice Tamsin! I really like your take on the current Frostgrave craze. Will you try to pick out some South American beasties that will fit in-theme? A jaguar or some sort would not go amiss here I think.

Lovely work!

From TamsinP - 28mm Aztecs (40 points)

I know what you're all thinking - "We're three weeks into the Challenge and she's only racked up 75 points. Something is seriously wrong here...". Have no fear chaps and chapesses, things will (I hope) all be back to normal next week when my 6mm confederate infantry are submitted.

In the meantime, I wanted to add a few points this week so I decided to make a start on the Aztecs for my "Mexicagrave" project - Frostgrave transposed to an abandoned (or is it?) meso-American city hidden in the jungle.

I picked these eight Tequihuaqueh (low level warriors) for my first batch. Six of them have obviously campaigned before as they have the "ichcahuapilli" padded/quilted vests awarded to those who have captured an enemy warrior. The other two without any armour haven't taken any captives.

Oh yes, the captives. They get taken back home and sacrificed at the temples. Nice people the meso-Americans.

The archers:

The melee guys:

Cuahololli (club); 2 x Macuahuitl; Tepoztopilli. All with chimalli (shields)

I did attempt to replicate one of the three most common Aztec shield designs on one of them. I didn't really pull it off - I should have used a smaller brush I guess (or one with a better point).

Painting these guys has been fun. After some trials, I settled on using Vallejo grey surface primer as the base so that I can show off the bright colours better. I'd also done some trials with the skin tones (most important for these guys as they do have a lot of flesh showing) and came up with the following:

Base - Orange Brown
Flesh wash
First Highlight - 2:1 Orange Brown/Ochre Brown
2nd Highlight: 1:2 Orange Brown/Ochre Brown
Flesh wash

The highlights were done as multiple thin layers. I might be able to go straight to the second highlight for the rest as they only have faces, hands and feet showing.

In case you're wondering about the scatter material on the bases (and haven't been reading my blog), I've been doing a little experimenting this week with staining herb using inks and thinned paint. As the abandoned city is overgrown by jungle, I figured that there would be lots of fallen leaves and branches/twigs on the ground and herbs seemed to be the best was to represent this on the bases. the scatter I've used is a 3:1 mix of burnt-umber stained mixed herbs and sepia-stained rosemary (for the woody bits). I think it's worked quite well:

The figures are 28mm from The Assault Group and eight of them should give me 40 points.

Lovely work Tamsin. I like your freehand shields and the flesh tone recipe you've concocted looks very effective - I think I may try that out. I also really like your use of herbs for the groundwork - I've tried it for autumnal bases and I think it looks very effective for your 'Mexicagrave' setting.

40 Points for you Ms. P!