Bedouin
An Army List for 'Hordes of the Things'
By Andrew Thomas
Having dug out a number of Arab camel riders from the depths of my wargaming cupboard/black hole recently I've started to look for ways to use them in a HOTT army.
I think that the figures were originally part of a 15mm DBA Midianite Arab force that I never got around to painting (surprise, surprise) but looking through a few web sites I realised that they can easily be used in HOTT with a touch of Bedouin mythology thrown in for good measure.
http://www.acacialand.com has useful notes on various Bedouin myths. In particular details of the tribe of the Rwala who keep a sacred hawdaj, a seat carried on the back of a camel which looks like a four-post bed made of wood, with thick curtains, two meters in height and lined with black ostrich feathers. It is believed to possess supernatural powers, which give the tribe victory over their enemies. The hawdaj is also used in battle as a banner for the tribe, since the sheikh (tribal leader) would put one of his virgin daughters in the hawdaj, which would be placed atop a white camel. The sheikh would then gather the women of the tribe around this camel, and invite the men of the tribe to protect the honour of their women, or die in the attempt. Given the inspired warriors combined with the mystical protective capabilities of the camel, this is classified as a Paladin.
Another quote from the same website tells how Crusaders insulted the leader of the Al Kurnob tribe, who "took revenge by building wooden boxes, large enough to accommodate a fully armed man, disguised to look like gifts, and loaded onto camels, one on either side. Thus concealed, the armed Kurnob approached the unsuspecting Crusaders and ... managed to take them by surprise and slaughtered them all". Obvious Sneaker behaviour.
The enemies of the people of Yamamah camouflaged themselves with branches from trees to attack and take the city.
I decided a djinn (jinn, genie, efreet, afreet) would be an interesting addition my Bedouin HOTT army, especially as further rummaging in my bits box produced a perfect 70mm tall figure (pointy ears and goatee beard, baggy trousers and a pot belly - looks a lot like me actually). At this kind of size I guess he should be a Behemoth and I realise that HOTT v2.0 states djinn should be Behemoth, but the fickle nature of djinn in the small amount of Bedouin mythology I have read leads me towards a God or possibly Dragon classification. A quick bit of research found me the following:
"D'Jinn are said to have been borne from fire and came to Earth ages before man existed. They were the first of the Earth's masters. They built huge cities whose ruins still stand in long forgotten places. Aeons later many of the D'Jinn were forced to flee this world for reasons long since forgotten. A few remained, and still roam the desolate places of the Earth. Of these D'Jinn, there are the benign spirits known as the Agatho and the malignant monsters fearfully called Kako-Daemons."
"The Bedouin recognize two kinds of djinn: omar and shaytin. The shaytin are evil and the omar are good."
"[The Nabateans] believed in certain forces or powers known as Djinn that were less than gods but nonetheless strange and sometimes malevolent spirits that often played a significant role in the daily life of humans for good or evil."
From this I presumed that I could legitimately include a 'friendly', omar or Agatho djinn in my army, although from the third quote I'm not totally convinced about my God classification.
Bedouin culture holds the horse in great esteem. "... and God took a piece of the southern wind and from it created the horse" is commonly quoted. Unfortunately my figures at the moment are all camel-mounted but this can be justified if the army is specifically Midianite or Nabatean rather than just a general Bedouin as it appears they did not use horses. However I think my army will eventually include horses as well, providing I can find some suitably dressed figures.
I class the ordinary camel riders as Knights in view of their apparent propensity to charge richly loaded camel trains whenever the opportunity arose.
Magic also plays a part in Bedouin mythology, with 'Fugara' shamen, Kahin (Bedouin witchdoctor) and Khawi healers who sometimes acted as head of a tribe, so a cleric element is included.
The Worms of Taut which appear to be under-sand sneakers. The only stuff I could find on the web seems to be D&D related stuff .
The army at present looks like this:
|
Rider general @ 2AP (Sheikh) |
1 |
|
Riders @ 2AP (Bodyguard horse in flowing black robes) |
2 |
|
God @ 4AP (Agatho Djinn) |
1 |
|
Cleric @ 3AP (Fugara healer) |
1 |
|
Paladin @ 4AP (Virgin in hawdaj on white camel, surrounded by ululating women and inspired warriors) |
1 |
|
Lurkers @ 1AP (Worms of Taut) |
1 |
|
Knights @ 2AP (Bedouin camel riders) |
1 |
Alternatives: Shooters @ 2AP (Javelin/Sling armed light foot), Sneaker @ 3AP (Al-Kurnob `disguised' camel or tribesmen camouflaged with branches)
Stronghold: The Emir's tent or a Holy Tamarisk tree