2nd Arkab Legion - War of 3039

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This Azami Mech-Jock is NEVER going to live
down being kicked in the face by a Scorpion.
I have always enjoyed the many independent brigades of the DCMS; they bring color and flavor to what on the surface is a totalitarian monolith of Japanese cultural traditions.  Once the original source material moved beyond the Imperial Japan tropes and really delved into the character of the realm, most obviously in Wolves on the Boarder, it really began to take shape.  One of the more interesting facets of the DCMS has always been the Azami Warriors of the Arkab Legions.

This original concept was clearly grounded in some western orientalism of the early 80's in which it was originally dreamed up.  Some of the source materials talks about the Azami settled hot dry worlds because it reminds them of there Terran homes, even though I would imagine any world habitable by man likely has some deserts - and no settlers would choose to bypass a lush water rich world for a desert one.  This clearly conjures images of Lawrence of Arabia or the oil boom Saudi's of the early 70's. It does not address the mountain dwelling Persians in the Damavand, or the marsh Arab's of Iraq.  In any case, the writers went out of there way to include a fiercely independent Islamic Arabic people in the game universe, and I appreciate the diversity.

How I envision an Azami city...
The dichotomy of a whole multi-system spanning culture which adopts feudal Japanese traditions to extremes living alongside an Islamic culture was always interesting to explain away, and they writers did so by basically calling the Azami a bunch of hard cases you really didn't want to pick a fight with; and anyway so long as you let them do there thing on there desert planets they'd let you do your Samurai nonsense on yours.  Add in the fact that the Arkab legions basically are self sufficient and maintain some Star League era designs all the way to the clan invasion and you get some cool formations to play with.

The only unfortunate bit is that they do not appear in much lore.  In this case I found a battle in which they played a significant part in 3039; and so I went with it.  These units represent the 2nd Arkab Legion in there retaking of Fellanin II from the Eridani Light Horse in the War of 3039.  If you read the previous post you know the Horseman did a number on the Proserpina Hussars in taking Felannin II and forcing the Hussars into guerilla actions.  Shortly there after a miscommunication sent most of the invaders off world leaving only a small contingent of Eridani on the planet to hold it.  As a result when the Azami warriors showed up they were able to link up with the remaining Proserpina Hussars and liberate the world for the Dragon.

These were actually the first lance set; as opposed to individual machines, I painted.  It just took a year to get the other two units to catch up to them and to figure out what I wanted to do with the support units.  I was originally drawn to this paint scheme from the YouTube tutorial on using contrast paints, something which did not exist when I was painting minis as a kid back in the 90s.  I enjoyed it and it turned out pretty well I think - bonus is that because of the unique nature of the Arkab Legions this is one of the few units I will paint where the mechs and the vehicles all match color schemes. 

Arkab paint scheme from the
original CamoSpecs
The descriptions of the Arkab legions are all of fast units covering big distances in the desert worlds, and so I choose to go with some classic hover cavalry units for the armor support.  Everyone loves Saladins which are basically A/C20's attached to hover skirts and harassers are always a crowd pleaser for there aesthetics.  For the infantry I used some metal miniatures from Brigade HQ - they work beautifully for the Arkab Infantry.  I used contrast paints on them, as with most of my infantry, and I love these infantry minis.  I will be revisiting the Arkab Legion for the Clan Invasion projects when I get there just to use more of these - I want a Hover Mech SRM platoon for sure.  In terms of Mechs I went with some classic Kurita designs in the Panther, Quickdraw and Wolverine and the Crab as a nod to the Star League frames the Arkab Legion sports.  I should have planned a little better in terms of the camo pattern to make sure the good areas were available for decals, but hey - live and learn.  Overall very happy with these guys, I will field a full combined arms battalion of Arkab Legion eventually I am sure.











Sources:
Field Manual Draconis Combine
Historical:  War of 3039
CamoSpecs


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