Dusting off the Sudan

My recent conversion to using (ahem!) Citadel Contrast paints has meant I've managed to get a lot of painting done. As I'm sure I've stated before, I've used the wash method over a white or grey undercoat for quite some time now, I just couldn't get a regular consistency out of my paints and painting until Contrast came along.

Some quickly painted Beja.

My success with the new method has led me to have a thirst to paint more (that's about the only way I can describe it). I've tried various test pieces for various periods (Romans, Napoleonics, WW2 etc) but I keep coming back to the Sudan. This is in part due to my role playing group, my D&Ders.

Once a week, we meet up and play roleplaying games like Dungeons and Dragons and Call of Cthulhu. We are currently playing the Desert of Desolation series with 5th Edition D&D. I was in need of desert nomads, so I dusted off my Perry Sudan miniatures and some Foundry North West Frontier.

My first challenge was depicting Nile Arabs. I didn't want to use the Beja shield as the Nile Arabs had their own distinct 'dinka' shield. After a little puzzling, I came up with the idea of converting shields from the smaller zulu shields in Warlord's plastic Natal Native contingent and Zulu kits. The conversion was simple, shave down the shield, add a boss from a Beja shield and it's done.

Zulu shield shaved down and beja boss added to make a dinka shield.

I've bought some Perry metals to support my conversions, so the finished units will look fine. Although I now have blown them up greater than lifesize, I think I need to go back to give them some highlights!