'Empire' From Kerry T- Is the bow mightier than the sword (290 points plus terrain)

Morning, afternoon & evening all

I'm not sure if its my inherent Western bias but initially I felt I was struggling to find a theme for Empire until I remembered my Arab armies. 

I suppose when I think of historical empires then the words Roman, British & Napoleon seem to spring to mind. To paraphrase an osprey " the dramatic eruption of Arab peoples from Arabia after their adoption of the Muslim faith in the 7th Century remains one of the most extraordinary events in world history. By the end of the century they ruled a state that stretched from the Atlantic to India, from Southern Arabia to Central Asia covering an area far greater than that of the Roman Empire"

The Reconquista (1050 to 1492) was the struggle to rest control of Spain from the remnant of that Arab empire.

The figures I've painted are all 3D prints from Reconquer designs with the background walls from the Printable Scenery Port Winterdale Ramparts and Ruins range. I bought these and printed them off more than a year ago. My intention in getting these was to have some terrain/ city walls suitable for Southern France, Spain & Italy so being very different in appearance from the more classic castles of the Western European/Norman era 

The figures are Berber horse archers and Military order nights from Reconquista. The horses in this range are a joy to paint. The knights are painted to represent the Knights of the Order of Santiago whose initial function was to provide safety for pilgrims visiting holy cites in Spain . The bows on the Berbers are pretty fragile and 2 broke during basing so I decided to use wire spears for the knights lances rather than risk more breakages.

I painted the walls late this afternoon and am typing and taking photos as quickly as I can to meet the deadline. 

Fortification dimensions are 120 cms long, 8cms wide with the walls being 11cms wide. 2 towers are 24 cms high and 2 are 21cms high. I've not painted the inside of the towers only giving them a basic initial coat. I'm not sure but at some stage I may give this a wash but I was afraid to do this today in case I ruined them 

  

So in summary

12 Berber Archers @ 10 points = 120 points

12 Knights of Santiago @ 10 points = 120 points

Theme Bonus = 50 points

Not sure how much the terrain is worth and would value Byron's advice

2 squirrels I think

Many thanks

Valleyboy