I'm not keen on gw's spikes and gums look to their black numenorians, and swan knights on foot are now fine casted :/So any advice for alternaives? I was thinking historical byzantine or persians could be a good bet

Personally, I wanted to represent some Black Numenoreans as they mingled with the Haradrim, in the Second Age and the first millennium of the Third Age. I wanted them to look mostly like Haradrim, but with some Numenorean-ish elements (like chain mail). Also, the

To do this, I used some Dismounted Heavy Cavalry by Perry Miniatures, found here: http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product ... ts_id=2126

Here's a picture of the ones I've painted so far:


The man with the captive comes from this set: http://www.perry-miniatures.com/product ... ts_id=2116

I think they blend in quite well with the other Haradrim, but especially the use of chain mail makes them stand out a little.

If this is the look you're after, I can thoroughly recommend Perry Miniatures. The casts and sculpts are great, which is to be expected as this the Perry Twins' company, two sculptors who have done a lot of LotR and Hobbit models for GW. Historical Byzantines or Persians could work very well too, I think.

They do look nice, shame perry don't do Byzantines, from what I've heard, I'm thinking the Black Numenorians would stick out more from the Harad forces, yes they have mingled, but when their Numenorian heritage is their claim to authority/power/superiority, I think they would try and maintain the "Numenorian" aspects of their Identity more.

I'd love something along the lines of Elendil/Isildur/The Knight of Umbar. That specific type of armour and decoration, but twisted a little. Maybe a little sharper around the edges, or dragon/bat wings instead of the bird wing details. Something subtle instead of aping the Mouth of Sauron. The GW ones are cool, but I like the idea of Black Numenoreans considering themselves to be the true Heirs of Numenor, and decorating themselves thus, whereas the Mouth (and perhaps those that dwell in Mordor itself) go all out for the latest in Mordor fashion to show that they are totally in the Dark Lord's thrall.

Sadly, I don't think there's anything suitable, without a lot of conversion work. If I had Greenstuff, I'd maybe have a go with some of those Perry WotR plastics, giving robes, helms, cloaks and Numenorean details to them.

I think it depends a lot on the time. When the Numenoreans first settled in Harad they of course were very different in appearance, but as the years passed, many Black Numenoreans mingled with Haradrim and most Numenorean traces seem to have washed out after 933 Third Age when the Black Numenoreans and Haradrim of Umbar were driven off while Gondor captured Umbar. My 'Black Numenoreans' were made for that time (very much like Haradrim, but slightly different).
By the way, most of the Black Numenoreans, the King's Men, were descendants of the House of Hador of the First Age, who were blond! So, most of the early Black Numenoreans were in fact blond!

I am not sure if their Numenorean heritage would be claim to power over the Haradrim. I don't think anything is mentioned as to why they were excepted by the Haradrim. I personally don't think their heritage would be their claim to power amongst them, but this is of course debatable.

Anyway, here are some more ideas for alternative miniatures.
- Gripping Beast Moors: http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=25 or Byzantines http://www.grippingbeast.com/shop.php?CatID=8
Especially the Black Guard and Andalusian Infantry might be useful.
- Warlord Games Assyrians http://store.warlordgames.com/collections/assyrians or Persians http://store.warlordgames.com/collectio ... d-persians
- Artizan Designs Moors http://www.artizandesigns.com/list.php? ... 106&page=1
- Musketeer Miniatures Caliphates http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/sto ... ical&id=23 or Byzantines http://www.musketeer-miniatures.com/sto ... ical&id=56

Hope you can find the models you like, but as you see, there's lots of choice!

I'm thinking of possibly going with the late romans with added capes and work on the helmets to make them similar to the last alliance armour
http://www.grippingbeast.com/product.php?ItemID=241
Same deal with the musketeer miniatures late armoured roman infantry with cloaks or the hail caesar Qurubuti spearman (My linking them is not just because they are technically related to my disertation :p) with hand weapons, not sure where I would get those though..
Hail caesar has the advantage I can order them in from Eclectic games hopefully, though the pack numbers make it a bit awkward.