Also Sprach Zarathustra

 Recent painting project has been touching up some final details on the Zhaleed Empire army.

While I was at it I put a bit of though into the army's background...

History of the Zhaleed Empire

During the First Expansion humanity discovered dozens of unclaimed, habitable worlds. In this first wave of colonization many minority groups (whether religious, ethnic, or ideological) chose to claim territories on these new worlds, creating homelands for themselves among the stars. Many of these colonies failed. Others disappeared, their fate unknown to the rest of humanity. But a few thrived. One of the most successful of these colonies evolved into what is today the Zhaleed Empire.

Zoroastrianism is one of the oldest religions on Earth. But by the mid-20th century it was on the brink of extinction, with only a small number of followers in the Middle-East and Central Asia. When interstellar travel was discovered, a few Zoroastrians decided to create a colony in the new frontier.

Both of the infantry Sahadeen units are fully based and looking good. In the end I decided to mix the heavy weapons (MMGs and missile launchers) in with the rifle stands, making an 11 stand unit. So on the large end for a platoon, but probably not big enough to call a company.

I also decided to add an armored unit, because why not. 

One update that I'm not happy with is the banners on the High Templar stand. The intent was to look like religious iconography, but it turned out looking more like college football mascot. The symbols on the banners are actually Phoenician (I googled and did my homework on that) but they just look too much like the modern Latin alphabet. I'll probably paint over these and see if I can find some other symbols to get the look I want.