The Aztec army

I had some details about this army on the static page for my conversions but I finally got around to photographing the whole army! This is basically two boxes of Revell’s Aztecs.

The bulk of the army is warbands (5Wb in DBA; Hordes or Warbands in HOTT), and behind them is a line of warrior priests (Auxilia, 3Aux in DBA or Warbands in HOTT).

One of the most recognizable and colorful elements of the Aztec army are the “suit wearers” — veteran warriors who have earned the right to wear armor decorated with furs or feathers. Below are some Jaguar Knights:

And some over-exposed Eagle Knights:

The suit-wearers are Blades in the DBA rules (3Bd) and HOTT. Here is a shot of a line of blades in front of the massed levies:

Another major component of Mesoamerican armies are slingers and archers. The Spanish had a lot of respect fo the Aztec’s slingers. A sling stone could kill an armored man and was practically invisible in flight.  DBA treats these as Bows (3Bw) and Psiloi (2Ps); in HOTT they could be Hordes or Shooters.

And lastly, the whole army arrayed. For DBA, I only need twelve stands for a given army but this colleciton allows me to cover almost all of the armies of Mexico (Aztec, Totlec, etc.) I still need to paint my Mayans and Incas.

And here is a shot of the Aztec’s camp (in DBA) or strongholf (in HOTT). A Grenadier coutal figure peeks over the altar.

The altar is a plaster souvenir from Cancun (I was there in 2005 for Hurricane Wilma with my 5-month old, lots of great memories!) The priests are actually a Zulu and an ancient Greek civilian.

Good heavens! They sacrificed Tarzan!