I liked the idea of a colourful, exotic army that didn’t require horses to be painted. The army is a mixture of mainly Gladiator and some Essex figures. All options for this DBA army have been painted and based.

For reference material I relied heavily on Osprey’s Men at Arms "Aztec, Mixtec and Zapotec armies”, “Aztec warrior 1325-1521” and I actually managed to get a copy of the “Codex Mendoza”. All of these gave me the basis for painting up my army, even to the extent of copying some of the colour plates.

1 x 4Bd (General) – General, standard bearer, conche blower and drummer.

1 x 4Wb – Cuachic shock troops.

2 x 4Bd – Suit wearers (jaguar knights).

6 x 5Wb – Clan warriors, variety of clothing and weapons.

1 x 2Ps – Slingers.

1 x 3Wb – Otomi mercenary warriors.

1 x 4Bw – Tlaxcalan mercenary archers.

1 x 2Ps – Bowmen Camp – Porters on the move, carrying provisions to keep the warriors supplied for the next encounter.

Above. The Aztec host.