Maya Completed

 Well.....not quite complete actually - I need a further 4 bases of commoners with spears. As I don't intend buying 5 more boxes of Caesar Maya just to get them I will have to raid the 'native reserve'. 

 All Caesar (except the Alligator Knights) 

Front right - Alligator Knights (Revell & Caesar) 

Back right -General's unit (white plumes).

So what's next?

Can't do anything with the Incas until I find the weapons I so carefully cut from the sprues and put away in a 'safe place'.  Also need to figure out how to build a litter for the general.

Recent purchases might give me a push though:

Orion 72013 - Ukrainian Foot Cossaks and Artillery

Orion 72007 - Polish Winged Hussars

Red Box RB72050 - Highland Infantry

I'm also finishing off the last of my Hellenistics. 

Have a feeling I might be looking for a change of scene........

The Unexpected Army - Tarascans

With a second tranche of warriors on my painting board I looked at the Maya army list variations. 

For the 'Post Classical Period' DNW wanted 11-31 Commoner Archers.  So basically 55 archers in breechclout needed.  A search through my plastic stocks found nothing suitable nor anything that I could convert in such numbers.

What I did find was some figures in tunics.  So what could I use them for?  An opportunity to dive back into my source books.

Reading about the Tarascans (also called Purempecha, Purepacha, Huacanace & Michoaca) showed soldiers with very short tunics but the text says that they were often longer - aha!  The bulk of them are archers plus some suit-wearers and otomi mercenaries.

 2 x Sh(S) backed up by 2 x Sh(O)

 Atlantic Trojans -the kneeling figure is somewhat larger than the rest

Sh(O) - rather two-dimensional figures

 This core of archers amounts to - 11 x Sh(O) @ 3 ap = 33
                                                      2 x Sh(S) @ 5 ap = 10
From 'stock natives' I can add - 5 x Bd(S) @ 5 ap =  25
                                                 3 x Sk @ 2 ap = 6
So that's 74 points out of 90 taken care of.  I now need to find 3 x Bd(S) Otomi mercenaries.

Some Progress & New World 'Knights'

No armies actually finished yet but a little progress on the painting front:

7 x 3 Thracian peltasts (Tin Soldier 15mm)

(middle period so no highly patterned tunics but still light colours)

My take on 'Coyote Knights'

(Revell & Caesar 20mm)

A number of New World armies have 'knights' and I wondered who had what?  Going back to my primary source - "Armies of the 16th Century (2) Aztec & Inca Empires" by Ian Heath - I produced a grid for those 'knights' actually mentioned.

Alligator		Maya
Coyote		Maya Metzotec Tlaxcaltec
Deer		Tlaxcaltec
Duck		Tlaxcaltec
Eagle		Aztec Guatemalan Huaxtecs Mixtec Tlaxcaltec
Heron		Tlaxcaltec
Jaguar		Aztec Guatemalan Huaxtecs Maya  Mixtec Tlaxcaltec
Lion		Tlaxcaltec
Owl		Tlaxcaltec
Puma		Tlaxcaltec
Quetzal		Maya
Snake/Serpent		Maya

Seems like the Tlaxcaltecs had the greatest variety and most had both Jaguar & Eagle.  Will need to look at other sources to see if I can add to this table.