Blocked out some of the major colours and did some highlighting work. I also did the carpet. Turns out Seljuks in the Xth century were major influences in carpet making. I looked a whole lot of carpets and went ahead and concocted my own. Middle East means business with their carpets, and every colour and pattern in loaded with symbolism. I kept mine simple and floral/tree-of-life with some stars and moons on the border and made sure I used blue, which is a colour heavily identified with the Seljuks.
Sultan also sports a blue silk tunic, the traditional Seljuk hat (the boerk), riding boots and trousers of a pattern I´m still working out (currently stripped as you can see below). His golden goblet has water. I painted him with streaks of grey on his beard and braids. He certainly cannot represent Kilij Arslan - the Sultan was 17 when the 1st Crusade began, but already an accomplished commander. Will have to procure a more action oriented miniature for that (actually Perry´s command pack has Kilij himself, so I´ll just grab that).
This particular one would be an Emir, that has set up a command post directly on the Anatolian step and calmly surveys the battle field as he sips water and is waited on by his servants.
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| Emir of my Seljuk army |
I quite like how its turning out. I will now move on to the other figures that will be in this composition (servants and a banner bearer). Overall look will help me decide on some colour details on the main figure.
I always try to do the "center piece" of a new project first, as it will set the tone for the entire project, even where it comes to colour pallet. I have a big load of unpainted lead but am in no rush whatsoever - these miniatures are an absolute pleasure to paint. On their way from Perry are another 3 packs of Seljuk horse archers, which will help flesh out a mainly horse archer force supported by an armoured horse archer elite, the ghulam and complemented by some foot militia (town garrison).
Cheers,
Pedro
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