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Horns blared from the right flank as volleys of arrows rained upon the forces of the serpent. Salkyre immediately set his troops to motion, calling upon his mighty drummer Krell to beat out the cadence which called the troops to change formation.

As the booming drum echoed across the valley, Salkyre's troops moved into a defensive line. The command group's horn player was then ordered into action, blaring the signal which sent skirmish troops into the woods while the mounted Raiders were ordered to move around the glade of Beech trees from which most of the ambush had been sprung.

Just as the situation seemed to be under control another volley of arrows hailed upon the Harad. Their target was the massive Mumak which solidified the middle of the Southron forces. Wailing in protest of the hundreds of stings on its flesh the hulking beast's courage could not hold. It bolted in fear and pain, throwing many brave and powerful warriors from the howdah upon it's back.

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Painting

I looked at some pictures of the Harad costumes from the movies and saw more black and really dark reds than purples and yellows, so I decided to paint it more of a realistic look than the games workshop paint guide suggests (although if you like the Games Workshop paint guide all the more power to you).

I let the green stuff from the conversions and flag dry for a whole day before priming them with a black armory primer. After priming them it took around thirty-five to forty-five minutes before I felt comfortable painting them. I first painted the pants and turbans on all of the models a dark red basecoat.

Next the "loincloth" area was basecoated a dark blue on all but the captain, who I left red.

I painted the Captain's armor and neck-guard tin bitz with a few dots of dark blue on the panels (often mistaken for gems).

The blade of the spear was painted silver.

Next a highlight of lighter blue on the armor panels. Also a basecoat of medium brown on the "horns" attached to the spear. At this stage I painted on highlights of lighter colors for the reddish and bluish clothing areas.

I decided to do their skin next. For the faces I did a first layer of dwarf flesh followed by a layer of elf flesh. After that dried I put a wash of chestnut ink (50% ink to 50% water) and let it dry. I then highlighted it with elf flesh and painted the bottom lip (if you paint both lips then it looks like the figurine is wearing a ton of lipstick) by adding some dwarf flesh to the elf flesh (about 20% dwarf flesh). Their hands were painted the same way.

I did all the wood next, the spear, the drum stand, the drumsticks, and the bow and arrows. I painted the bow and spear shafts a dark brown. I wanted it to look as though there were animal antlers attached to the bow and between the shaft and blade on the spear. I did this by painting the base of the "horn" a dark brown. I added more and more light brown to the base color until it was very light. At that point I did a final highlight of pure white to the very tips.

After the paint dried, I used a very watered down (10% ink to 90% water) black ink wash on most of the model. This helped to tone down the colors and bring out the gritty, realistic feel I was hoping to get. I applied the ink wash to the clothes, boots, armor, spear tip and cloak.

After these dried I painted the outer skirt on the captain dark blue and his cloak a dark brown. I applied a chestnut ink wash (50% ink to 50% water) to it.

Banner Bearer

I base-coated the banner bearer's cloak a mix of black and grey (80% black to 20% grey). I then painted two more layers, each one adding about 30% more grey. A final highlighting of red and black (30% black to 70% red) brought out a really nice color. I was happy with the way it turned out and set him aside. Next the drummer's cloak was painted the same way as the captain's.

I painted the banner bearer's armor beaten copper with tin bitz highlights. A final highlight of silver was added. I painted the crescent and diamond shapes silver and the strips of metal on his chest beaten copper. The small insignia was painted silver. I chose the banner bearer to have more expensive metals on him, so that he stands out more.

Horn Player

I wanted to try a new approach on the horn player, just to see how it would look and also to keep going with the idea that the armor was different from model to model. His armor was painted beaten copper with a layer of flesh wash (40% ink to 60% water).

Silver was painted around the outside of that. I painted his armband tin bitz with silver around it. He also had some ornaments on his armor that I painted silver and some ornaments that were painted dark blue with light blue highlights.

For the arrows, I painted just the shafts white and put brown ink on it (30% ink to 70% water). This effect turned out really nicely!

I then painted the horn player's cloak a dark grey and applied a black ink wash (50% ink to 50% water) to it. That was followed by a light highlighting of the dark grey with a tiny bit of white added to bring the color up.

Drummer

The armor on the drummer is the same as the armor on the banner bearer except for the back. The drummer has three strips up the back, which I painted beaten copper, all the rest of it I painted tin bitz.

The drummer's cloak was painted exactly like the horn player's.

Bases

I wanted the miniatures to be displayed very nicely but still able to be used in my Harad army. The best way to do this is to create a diorama base that has holes for the bases to sit in. I have seen this many times but have never been able to find a guide on how to do it so I created my own way, outlined below.

The base was made from a wood sample that we happened to have from when we were ordering new kitchen cabinets. I had to figure out where to put the miniatures so they were balanced enough but still looked natural. This layout was chosen.

Using a marker, I circled around each base as a guide for where I would have to drill.

I took one of my father's 1-inch drill bits, measured how tall one of the normal foot soldier's bases was and wrapped electrical tape around the drill-bit precisely that far from the tip.

I learned that doing this allows you to know when the hole is deep enough for the base to fit and to look as though the figure were actually apart of the diorama base itself. Again, I chose to do this instead of just gluing the mini to the diorama so that I would be able to take the figures out of the base and use them in my army, and it also makes it more portable.

I wanted the base to look as though it were actually part of the desert, so I looked at many pictures of real deserts, the wildlife and the different colors of sand. There were many different types of plants and animals native to the desert.

I came into this project believing that the desert is a very arid place with not many plants, and I'm sure other people have the same basic idea. But it is really a colorful place with many flowers and other plants, including shades of green.

The Joshua tree, Prickly Pear, Tumbleweed, and the Cactus are just a few of the many plants that help make the desert a beautiful place.

I first painted the whole base with white glue and poured sand all over it. I let that set for approximately five hours to give it some time to dry. I then used a watered down chestnut ink on the whole thing. After that dried I dry-brushed a pretty heavy layer of dark brown onto it. Next a much lighter shade of brown followed by a very light brown mixed with a tiny bit of yellow. You can see the steps taken here. I also used the exact same basing technique on the miniatures.

I used three different types of scenery elements. I used static grass as desert grass, I used the tall field grass as an Ocotillo-like plant, and I used lichen as tumble weed.

To apply the static grass I just painted a bit of white glue where I thought grass would look good and sprinkled it on. I found it easiest to apply the field grass by making a tiny base of green stuff then attaching that to my bigger base. I then covered up the green stuff with static grass so that it is not able to be seen. To get the lichen to stay I just dabbed some white glue onto the places were I wanted it.

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