Village Attacks: Horror of the Sands - Town Heroes

With the Hunters done it was time to crack on with the rest of the Horror of the Sands expansion. So next up was the four Town Heroes, I decided to save the Monsters until last. 

The Town Heroes are the Djinn Trapper, Assassin, Romani and Maharib; most of them tie into the Middle Eastern influences that the rest of the expansion uses. 

As always, I primed them with Army Painter Uniform Grey and then gave them a coat of matt varnish. Unfortunately, I should have waited longer for the primer to cure because the varnish reactivated it and I ended up with horrendous beading issues. Lesson learnt for next time I suppose. 

I started with the Maharib, as he probably would be the most tedious to paint. In real life a Maharib (alternatively spelt Mihrab) is an alcove in the wall of a mosque that indicates the direction that Mecca lies in. What this has to do with a man armed with an axe and a sword I’ve no idea. Mihrabs can be richly decorated with scripture and filigree, which I suppose explains the excessive trim on the Maharib model.

By way of actual painting scheme I started with basecoating most of the miniature with a few coats of Macragge Blue. To help break up all the blue so he didn’t look too much like an Ultramarine I picked out a few details in Khorne Red and Skeleton Bone. The cloth details I should have painted with Pale Sand to match the Yunfakh Hunters but I forgot and used Army Painter Skeleton Bone instead. The scabbard and axe handle I painted with Corvus Black and the axe blade I painted with Leadbelcher. Once that was done I had the highly tedious task of painting all the trim with Scale75 Dwarven Gold, I do not have steady hands and it took forever. Good practice if I ever get some Thousand Sons Rubric Marines though. Once that was done and I had restored movement to my wrist again, I washed the entire model with Nuln Oil. 

For the Djinn Trapper, I went with a yellow theme despite the artwork giving him mostly blue clothing.  So with that in mind I painted his trousers, vest and the trim of his shirt with Averland Sunset. The shirt itself I painted with a few thin coats of Ulthuan Grey. Like the Yunfakh hunters I painted any exposed skin with Ungor Flesh. For the various lamps and rings scattered about his person I gave them a couple of thin coats of Scale75 Dwarven Gold. The leather details I then picked out with Corvus Black and any cloth tassels with Vallejo Pale Sand. It’s a bit hard to see on the model and the artwork is annoyingly dark but I think he has a small section of mail across their face, so I painted that Leadbelcher. For the rolled up carpet on their back, I first base coated that with Macragge Blue and because apparently I’m a glutton for punishment, I then picked out the detailing with Scale75 Dwarven Gold. Then as with the Maharib, I washed the entire model with Nuln Oil.

Next up is the Assassin. The history of the assassins is absolutely fascinating, and if I wasn’t writing a painting blog I would absolutely do a full length article on them. In very very brief summary the actual Order of Assassins operated out of a fortress in Persia between the 11th and 14th centuries. Lacking an army of their own the Assassins had to rely on espionage and subterfuge to keep their enemies in check. 

For my assassin, I started by giving his big ol’ cloak a few thin coats of Vulkan Green and in keeping with the green theme I painted his trousers with Warboss Green. As with the other characters in this expansion I painted his skin with Ungor Flesh. That included his face as  I did somehow miss that the Assassin is actually wearing a mask. Ooops. Not the end of the world and in my defence it does look like a death-mask style affair. To finish him off I painted his shirt with Pale Sand, his daggers with Leadbelcher and any leather details with Corvus Black. 

At first I was a little confused by the inclusion of the Romani character, as I had typically associated the Romani people with eastern Europe rather than the Middle East. But I had a poke around on Wikipedia and it turns out that the Romani people actually had their origins in what is now northern India. 

For the actual model I decided to use Esmeralda from Disney’s Hunchback of Notre Dame, because why not? I started by doing the skin with Ungor Flesh, to tie in with the other models from Horror of the Sands. As Esmeralda has a crisp white top I decided to paint the model’s top with Ultuan Grey rather than Pale Sand or Skeleton Bone. For her trousers I went with Xereus Purple as I pictured her as a rather more colourful character than the others in the Horror of the Sands set. Her hair I painted with a couple of thin coats of Corvus Black and her bandana I painted with Mephiston Red. I painted her whip with Khaki and her leather details with Mournfang Brown. The skin of her drum I painted with Skeleton Bone. The last things that I needed to do were the metallic details like her jewellery and the sickle. The former I carefully painted with Scale75 Dwarven Gold and the latter I painted with Leadbelcher. Finally, as with the rest of them to give her that slightly grim and dark appearance I washed the whole model with Nuln Oil. 

The bases I did in the same way as I did for the Yunfakh Hunters; slop on some Armageddon Dust, wash it with Seraphim Sepia then drybrush with Tyrant Skull. Quick and simple desert base. Last of all, I painted the rims of the bases with a matt black. 

Another four miniatures are done, slowly but surely making my way through the Village Attacks board game. Just the four monsters left to do and I will be done with Horror of the Sands. In fact, if I can get those done next then I will have equaled the number of miniatures that I painted in the whole of 2021. And it’s only, what, April? Pretty good going I’d say. 

Boardgame miniatures left to paint: 725

Boardgame miniatures painted this year: 41