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Seleukid civil war - 28mm Fantastic Battles

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Having  gazed lovingly at all our hard work long enough , Andrew and I sat down for a bit of a laugh and did what any good late Seleukid would do - had a civil war. So it was on for the diadem and the fancy palace in Antioch. Who would win, Antiochos the legitimate king, or his half-brother/cousin/uncle/nephew, Antiochos the other legitimate king? We only had access to a six foot table which, while perfect for a 1,000 or 1,200 point game of Fantastic Battles, turns out is a bit tight for 1900 points a side! 😁 I tend to steer away from games that are just crowded with figures with no scope for manoeuvre and zero terrain, but as we had already chatted for a while and spent time gazing at the completed project, we were also a little short for time. So we dispensed with both terrian and mishaps, purely to be able to move models around the table and roll dice. Predictably, there was little scope for cleverness, and much opportunity to have units blocking the way for others. But it was stil
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ProjectSeleukid - An army for the battle of Magnesia (190 BC)

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At the completion of ProjectSeleukid , Andrew and I have amassed a fairly respectable 28mm 2nd century BC Seleukid army. Since starting this project off in July last year, between us we've painted: 284 foot, 86 mounted, 3 elephants (+ crew), and 2 scythed chariots. Not bad for 16 months given other projects going on along side. Starting with the order of battle for Magnesia, we split the army roughly down the centre, with Andrew taking the right, and the left falling to me. The division enabled us to build forces of roughly equal size meaning that we could use them together, or in opposition, with the three rulesets we're likely to use - Fantastic Battles , Hail Caesar , and l'Art de la Guerre . We decided to stick with 60x60mm bases for everything, using 9 figures to a base to represent pikemen, 6 to represent other solid foot, 4 to represent irregular foot and three for skirmishers; mounted were based 3 for heavy/medium cavalry or 2 for light units. By applying a roughly
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ProjectSeleukid - Seleukid strategoi

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And there we go, with the completion of two more Seleukid commanders and 16 months after embarking on ProjectSeleukid, its initial ambition is complete! I can now field half of the Seleukid centre, and the left wing for the battle of Magnesia (190 BC) at a sliding scale of 1:200 - 1:250.  The strategoi stands are both made up of 28mm miniatures from Aventine Miniatures. The green captain uses a spare officer and infantryman from the thorakitai/imitation legionary unit, while the mounted yellow captain is from the South Italian cavalry pack used to make up my Tarantine cavalry. His Attic helmet is an older model, but it checks out. I'll do a complete army showcase in the near future, but here are the lads all packed up in preparation for an epic 1900-point game of Fantastic Battles against Andrew's half of the Seleukid project this weekend. Across two 10.5 litre Really Useful boxes I have: 1x royal commander (Warlord) 4x commanders (captains) 1x priest (magic-user) 4x cavalry u
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ProjectSeleukid - 28mm Seleukid Cataphracts

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The final unit for the left wing of our Magnesia order of battle is a unit of Cataphracts. These are Blitzkreig Miniatures 3D prints. They are about the same height as my Aventine Seleukid Companion cavalry, but a lot heftier. There was a wee problem with 'lumpy' undercoat which is mostly disguised in these pictures, but the overall look is not too shabby! Just two captains to go, and it'll be time to get them on the table!
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The Company of Fools

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Bring on the Clowns The Jokers and Buffoons I've had the Time of my Life And the Life of my Times In the Company of Fools Great Big Sea,  Company of Fools Inspired in equal parts by Great Big Sea and  Commedia dell'arte , the next party pulled togather in preperation for Fantastic Scuffles is the Company of Fools, an assortment of subversives to undermine the seriousness of any situation.  All are 28mm metal sculpts which, despite their vintage, have mostly withstood the test of time. The exact role of each character in the party has yet to be finalised, but I plan for them to each have a bit of magic up their sleeves to put on a propper show! Scapino the tumbling goblin and is familar, Pappa Luna, are from Warmonger Miniatures.  The ever-enchanting elf, Columbine, is from Reaper Miniatures. Pantalone, the skeletal jester is also from Reaper Miniatures. Arlecchino the Trickster is from Bad Squiddo Games. Of all of the miniatures, his is the most complex in trms of detail, but
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6mm Fantastic Battles - Seleukids vs Gauls/Galatians

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This week Roger and I dusted off our 6mm collections for a 1,000 point historical game of Fantastic Battles , pitting his Gauls (Galatians really, if they are this far east) against my Seleukids.  The army breakdowns, and deployment after rolling for mishaps appear in the photo above. The Gauls had a tough centre and powerful left, while the Seleukid strength was heavily biased to their own right. The opening turns saw the Gallic racial trope of 'impulsive' adding a nice bit of spice, as some units such as the two warbands hurled themselves towards the Seleukid line, with both the medium and heavy warbands receiving volleys of missile fire as they approached.  The Gallic light horse on their extreme right entered the woods that anchored the Seleukid left flank. The Seleukid heavy cavalry on the right opened out in preparation for the assault of the Gaestati. Across the line, the Gallic infantry crashed into the Seleukid line. On the left, the medium warband charged the Arab cam
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ProjectSeleukid - 28mm Essex Elephant

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This week saw the completion of the second-to-last unit on my Magnesia roster for ProjectSeleukid. I needed an elephant - the iconic peice of Seleukid wargear .  After my previous work on an Aventine beastie , I would have loved another. However, storage-box-height concerns meant that I needed to make certain compromises. After a bit of a search, I figured that scalecreep might be my friend for a change, and ordered an elephant from Essex. What can I say? The inside of the elephant is marked Essex 1984 - the sculpt is 40 years old. While it's showing it's age - especially the crew which have the same proportions of Essex 15mm ranges - the elephant itself isn't bad. It is roughly the same height as the Aventine one, it is significantly narrower, and the head is smaller. The howdah was equally tall and skinny, so I cut it down by about 10mm to allow it to fit in the storage box.  Just a couple more commanders and a three-comapny unit of cataphaacts to go!
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ProjectSeleukid - Scythed Chariots

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Attempting to keep up some momentum - although I'll admit these were a struggle - this week we add two companies of scythed chariots to my 28mm late Seleukid army. The models are from 1st Corp. They were fiddly to build, but look decent painted up and, most importantly, just about fit on a 60x60mm base! Scythed chariots are an enigmatic legacy of the Acheamenid army, absorbed into the Seleukid military machine. While we know almost nothing about their exact look and fit out, they were seemingly employed by the Seleukids from the 4th to at least the mid-2nd centuies BC, present also at Ipsos (301 BC), against Demetrios Poliorketes in Kyrrhestis (285 BC), on the left flank at Magnesia (190 BC), 140 were paraded at Daphne (166 BC), and were perhaps also used by Lysias in Judaea (162 BC). In Fantastic Battles, I plan to use these as fantastic beasts with the expendible, furious charge and reckless traits to represent their battlefield role as one-shot disruptive terror weapons. 
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ProjectSeleukid- 28mm Galatian cavalry

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Taking advantage of having a day off work, I forged on and painted up another unit for my 28mm Seleukids, this time its the mercenary Galatian cavalry. These'uns are from Crusader Miniatures Celtic range and they are pretty nice La Tène mounted nobles. I wanted an irregular feel, but always prefer to stick with a limited palette (so they don't look too much like a rainbow), so stuck with a green theme with a bit of red, but multiple different horse colours. The army is now coming together nicely and the last units needed for Magnesia have been ordered... more to come.
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ProjectSeleukid - 28mm (Trallian) slingers

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Sitting down to get started on my Galatian cavalry, I had to wait for some wash to dry on the horses, slipped, and painted up a small unit of slingers. These are Macedonian slingers from Crusader Miniatures; decent if unremarkable figures. Nominally they are sitting in as Trallian slingers for our Magnesia project. According to Livy, 1,500 Trallians were deployed on each flank at Magnesia. Other Trallians are listed (by Livy and Appian) among the mercenaries fighting for Pergamon and Rome on the otherside of the battlefield. Beyond that, there doesn't seem too much consensus on who they were, or what they may have looked like.  Duncan Head argues very plausibly that they were armed as slingers. In both armies they were partnered with Cretan archers, and on the Pergamene side, they were also joined by Achaian peltasts. In a later passage, the "the Cretan archers, the slingers and javelinmen" are mentioned facing off against the Seleukid chariots, Presuming the javelinmen a
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