Fantasy Armoured Aztecs

 Towards the end of the war between Aztecs and Spanish conquistadores some Aztecs started to make weapons incorporating Spanish steel, for example, spears with metal swords on the end.

I have taken this idea further for my fantasy country of Aztecia. The Fezians have conquered Northern Aztecia but rebellions occur. Eventually the Aztecs start to use captured, copied or bought armour and steel weapons. Given the sub tropical to tropical heat in much of Aztecia full armour becomes intolerable. However, some of the elite warriors have begun to wear items of armour, rather incongruously, over their patterned suits or with bare legs and arms. In some instances the helmets are actually made of wood rather than metal, just like their elaborate native animal shaped helmets.

Some strange hard plastic copies of Crescent knights emerged once from China; they are the basis of my armoured Aztecs. They came with flesh coloured legs and arms and Roman-like helmet crests; here one has been painted like a blue jaguar. The leader/hero has a Timpo shield.

The figure at far left is a conversion of an Indian in contemporary Chinese production. At far right a standard has been created from florist wire, a bonbon bird and putty. (In fact I'm going to call it the bonbon bird standard!

Bonbon cracker toy closeup. It was Superglued to the wire and then covered in putty 'feathers' to help strengthen the bond. people wonder why I lash out and bring bonbons to Xmas gatherings and, furthermore, why I often insist on keeping the trinkets. I actually carefully select the bonbons after consulting the back of the boxes to see what is in them. Scott of the Man of Tin likes to use bonbon stuff.

 
Incomplete warriors

Indian converted to sorcerer. I cut off the buckskin fringes, rimmed off the headdress and added a head cut from a small plastic dinosaur. AN under part of the headdress was added and a piece of putty on the chest to which a metal skull was added; skulls were also added to either side of the front under the headdress. Putty feathers were also added to the animal head staff. 
I am going to paint the sorcerer in half black and half red skin paint. The headdress might be painted turquoise.

The other figure is intended as a hero or leader. Like the skulls the weapon was in the spares box and has its origin in some 28mm set. As usual with many of those weapons they are so big that they fit 54mm or 60mm figures. I snipped off a poer cable. The Timpo shield was a different touch. I bought s astack of these spare shields long ago and why not use them for non Romans? They also look good on skeleton warriors. 

It is fairly obvious that not only have the Aztecs been saving 'acquired' Fezian items but that the Patrans and Beersteiners have paid them some secret visits.

I can see myself working out a whole list of Aztec spells for the sorcerer - any ideas are welcome..

I hope to have these painted in a couple of days as Mat's Fezia has a small rebellion of elite Jaguar warriors to put down. There is only one unit hidden in the jungle facing six units of light infantry, including to archer units and a wizard so any extras for the Aztecs would be welcome. The Aztecs might or might not be armoured, have a hero figure and a sorcerer. The dice gods decide that. I can see the Aztecs taking a few down with them but I don't have high hopes for that rebellion!

 One further note: authorities on such matters, such as the archaeologist of the toy soldier arcane, Bobby the toy ship builder, has commented that the warriors also have an uncanny resemblance to warriors of Atlantis. I also have heard from those expert on interplanetary civilisations that in the tropical corners of Planet Mongo there are very similar looking warriors who once had a mighty civilisation but are now held in check by Ming the Merciless. Also, according to writer and cryptic archaeologist, Erlin Von Donnigan, space farers may well have visited Earth in the distant past and left a lasting influence on religion and civilisation creation.

For those wondering about the triceratops headdress there are rumours of giant reptilian looking creatures deep in the interior of Aztecia. This is not the only place they are reported; the island of Jurassica  is another and huge dinosaur beasts certainly exist in the lands of Chaos. Orcland and the country of the Dark Elves.