ProjectSeleukid - Scythed Chariots

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. 

ProjectSeleukid- 28mm Galatian cavalry

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.

ProjectSeleukid - 28mm (Trallian) slingers

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 are the Achaians, then the Trallians would be suitable candidates as the slingers. As they were also brigaded with Cretans on the Seleukid flanks, perhaps the same argument carries forward. We also see slingers and archers brigaded together in other Hellenistic armies. For the Seleukids, the Elimaiotes and Kyrtians are another example.

They may have been from the city of Tralles in Karia, southern Asia Minor. Geographically that would make sense, however, it would be unusual to have a body of slingers recruited from a Hellenic (or Hellenised) polis. More commonly you might expect an urban area to provide thureophoroi or the like. 

Alternatively, they may have been mercenaries recruited from among the tribal Trallians - sometimes said to be Thracians, otherwise Illyrians. A tribal grouping would make more sense for providing slingers. Strabo through that Tralles had been settled by the Trallians but that may or may not have been an aetiological explanation for the similarity in the names.

Also, given we had our one day of summer today, I also managed to get some spray varnish on the full army to date. Here they are in their multi-coloured glory: 1396 points for a Fantastic Battles army, or 279 points (almost three divisions) for Hail Caesar.

ProjectSeleukid - 28mm Companion cavalry

Making some further progress with ProjectSeleukid, were are my Companion cavalry in 28mm from Aventine Miniatures. These are lovely sculpts with loads of detail. 

Sadly, the weather has been so very mediocre that these boys still need to be varnished for protection and the remove some of the shine.

Two elite Seleukid cavalry units, each 1,000 strong, appear to have served alternatively or together as the king's bodyguard. The Royal Companion cavalry, drawn from the best horsemen of Greco-Macedonian descent in the kingdom, and the Agema cavalry, drawn from the best Iranian horsemen in the kingdom. After the loss of Media in the 140s BC, the Agema seem to have been recruited from the city of Larissa in Syria, a colony settled by Thessalians a century and a half before. 

For our Magnesia project, Andrew has the Agema (right flank) and I have the Companions (left flank).

This wonderful Angus McBride painting (used here without permission) shows his interpretation of the Companions (C). I'm not sure about the shield personally, but a great image none-the-less!