Irregular Wars Wargaming

While I've been dabbling in Seleukid light infnatry, Andrew has gone and completed his second phalanx ( see the first one and thoughts about phalangites here ). These lads were originally going to be argyraspides - elite silver-shields - for the Magnesia orbat we are working on, but somewhere along the journey recieved bronze-rimmed white shields. Regardless, they look the business and I can't wait to fight beside them - and then against them!

Our man in the East Indies has sent another of his dispatches on the ongong Galleys & Galleons  pirate activities in that area: A pirate flotilla has been terrorising the northern coast of Sumatra for several months. The Sultan of Songkhla, hearing of this, despatched a squadron to hunt down down and destroy them. The Songkhla squadron soon located the pirates off the island of Sebangka (in the SE approaches to the Strait of Malacca). Unusually the pirates didn’t flee. It turned out they had their base on the island, including most of their accumulated loot. The pirate flotilla (276 pts), commanded by wako legend Chen Zuyi , comprised - 1 x Large junk “Hakka Merchant” (76). Q3 C3: Derring-do, Intimidating, Flagship, Lateen-rigged, Reinforced hull. 4 x Small junks “Bamboo Shoot” “Bean Sprout” “Bitter Melon” and “Bok Choy” (50). Q2 C2:  Derring-do, Intimidating, Lateen-rigged, Reinforced hull, Yare. The Songkhla squadron (246 pts) commanded by Abdul the Pious, comprised -...

This week we returned to our new Burrows & Badgers campaign with a three player rumble in the ruins. The roguish Dirty Paws, (purple deployment), Lord Knawsley's royalist retinue (blue deployment), and the Jackass free company (yellow deployment) went at each other in an open engagement. For secondary objectives, the Dirty Paws were trying to assassinate enemy leaders and bring down the biggest beast in town - Lord Knawsley. In turn, the noble beaver's aim was to assassinate enemy leaders and take down as many of their men as possible in the process. The Jackass aim was to deliver a wee parcel in across the far side of the table - we played the opposite corner - and otherwise to strike unseen from the shadows. On turn one, one of the Jackass moles emerged from underground with his parcel mere paces from the exit point on the battlefield, far beyond the reach of either of the other bands. At the start of turn two he nipped off, earning experience and delivery fees, but pla...

Project Seleukid's next unit is a group of archers from Elymais. This region in the west of Iran (centered on modern Khuzestan province) nestled against the Tigris and reached up into the Zagros Mountains with Susa as its capital. Herodotus does not distinguish Elymais from the rest of Persia when discussing the dress or equipment of the Achaemenid army, so Persian style dress can be suggested. The bashlyk (Persian tiara) appears on the early coinage of both Parthia and Kappadokia, as well as neighbouring Persis, so it is not too much of a stretch to suggest that the Elymaians may have continued to wear it under the Seleukids. Elymais was one of the first satrapies added to Babylon after Seleukos I's return in 312 BC and remained a part of the empire until its secession (under Kamnaskires I) during the Seleukid dynastic troubles of the early 140s BC. Following the Peace of Apameia in 188 BC, Antiochos III, on the hunt for liquid assets to start paying the indemnity enforced by ...

The second Seleukid captain is nominally Antipatros, referred to by Livy as the son of Antiochos III's brother. This is a little problematic as the only recorded brother of Antiochos was his older brother Seleukos III who died after a short reign in 223 BC. If Antipatros was the son of Seleukos III, he would (at this stage in the dynasty) be next in line to succeed him. Six years later, at the Battle of Raphia, Antipatros was old enough to command the Seleukid cavalry, (he was also present at Panion in 201 BC) so there is little reason to think he was passed over for the kinship because of his age. Perhaps he was the son of an illegitimate brother of Antiochos III or he may have been, in reality, a 'royal nephew', a close associate honoured with a familial title in the same way that the contemporary senior courtier, Zeuxis, was described in official correspondance as the 'father' of Antiochos III. After Magnesia, Antipatros was sent as one of Antiochos' ambassad...

Illustration from Ancient Warfare Magazine I have been mulling over the dispositions of the Seleukid army in the accounts of Livy (37.40) and Appian ( Syrian Wars 32-3) to try to establish both the initial army list for Project Seleukid, and also the shopping lists for Andrew and I.  The table below breaks down the deployments of each named unit according to Appian and Livy into left flank, centre and right flank commands. Units Left Centre Right Unallocated Companions Appian Livy 1,000       Agema Appian   Appian Livy 1,000   Argyraspid cavalry       Appian   Cataphracts Appian Livy 3,000   Livy 3,000   Galatian cavalry Appian Livy 2,500 ...