Collecting and Modelling The Humans Of Araby

Introductory Words

When first I looked into the Araby Army book, I noticed there were indeed a lot of troop types to represent! I thought long and hard about how I want to represent the People of Araby, and decided maybe I should mostly look to the Haradrim, Corsairs, and even Easterlings for most of the characters since they are the only Near-Eastern-looking Citadel Miniatures available. So here is my collecting plan and modelling plan:

Lords

Salah-Adin:

Markus Wulfhart model with hat replaced with a turban made of Citadel Green Stuff. Arrow chipped & sanded away and the bow replaced with a scimitar molded from thin card.

Caliphs:

Kings of Men from LotR with round bases swapped out for square ones and sculpted with Green Stuff to have turbans on top of head-scarves. Also Green stuff on them to make them look lamellar armored.

Heroes

Jasmine Silverviel:

Bretonnian Damsel sword-person sandpapered and Green-Stuff-molded to be dressed as Silverviel herself is in the Araby book

Malik Ibn La'Ahad:

Dark Elven Assassin with face redone to look like a human face with facial hair like Malik Al-Sayf from Assassin's Creed 1, but with shadow over eyes.

Genies:

Ogre Kingdoms Araby Maneater with horns and spike removed, severed from the waste down to make room for a tornado-shaped molding of Green Stuff. Little guy replaced with Genie Lamp made of Green Stuff.

Hashishins:

Haradrim Hasharin from LotR replacing round base with square base and molding on a Green Stuff hood to ensure they look different from the Hasharii of Harad

Core Units

Warriors of Araby:

Haradrim Warriors replacing round bases with square ones, spearmen who can have spears easily removed get thin card figure-8 shields and thin card scimitars while spearmen with half the spear hugged to their bodies will simply get these figure-8 shields attached to their belts. All will get conical helmets upon head-scarves.

Bowmen of Araby:

the archers from the Haradrim Warrior kit with the same base replacements and head-decorating described above.

Corsairs:

Corsairs of Umbar from LotR with head-scarves and silken face-masks molded on and the round bases replaced with square ones.

Slave Guards:

These guys won't appear in my army because how can you fight if you have another dude cuffed neck-to-neck to you? Doesn't make sense to me!

Desert Riders:

Haradrim Raiders from LotR with same head-molding as Warriors of Araby above, giant spinal dream-catchers excluded from assembly, all spear-armed ones given crescent shields a.k.a. figure-C shields, and all bases to be replaced with closed cavalry bases

Camel Riders:

How do I build these guys without overpaying for camel models? Not appearing in my army.

Special Units

Palace Guard:

Easterling Warriors from LotR with Green Stuff molding of dome-helmet and chain-mail face-masks to all heads (while NOT gluing on the 3-horned helmets), all round bases replaced with square ones. For the ones with shields I will cover their shields with thin card oval shields, but the ones with bows will have their bows removed and instead have "Great Weapons" (whatever those are) used with both hands.

Janissaries:

Empire State Troops re-molded with Citadel Green Stuff to look like the Janissaries of Medieval Turkey.

Mamelukes:

Easterling Kataphrakts from LotR line with same head-molding and shield-altering as Palace Guard, replacing round bases with closed cavalry bases. Finally, swords get replaced with makeshift spears from toothpicks with Green-Stuff heads

Naffatun:

Corsairs of Umbar with non-sword weapons (including shields) replaced with sculpted little spheres of Green Stuff. Round bases replaced with square bases, and extra molding to make the figures look more covered up (including chain-mail face-mask)

Nomad Hunters:

Haradrim Warrior Spearmen with spears remolded into 3-barrel pole guns like in Deadliest Warrior restoration of Ming Dynasty weaponry, replacing the Haradrims' round bases with square ones.

Flying Carpet Riders:

Haradrim Warrior Bowmen on scratch-molded carpets on toothpicks molded to Monstrous Cavalry bases

Rare Units

War Elephants:
African Elephant doll from Safari Ltd glued to Screaming Bell Base with makeshift thick card howdah with Green Stuff-armored Watchers of Karna from LotR placed in the howdah (replacing their round bases with square ones)

Rocs (Giant Eagles of Araby):
Wood Elven Great Eagles with no special modifying whatsoever.

Onagers:
Brettonian Trebuchets with all crew "Arabized" using Citadel Green Stuff (turbans and head-scarves and bushy beards). Yeah, it's actually that simple.

Conclusive Words

This is merely the collecting and modelling stages of my Warhammer Fantasy Arabyan Army. The next post whenever I have time will be about the Painting stage, how I completely ignore the Citadel Dry Compounds like with my Lord of the Rings Easterling Army, and which Systems in the Citadel Paint System page I will use for different mannerisms. After that comes who is already allied to Araby and who I intend to forge additional alliances with....

~KP