Asteropaios, Lord of the Paionians for Ilium: A Game of Heroes

Ah yes, Asteropaios, son of Pelagon, grandson of the mighty Axios River, and lord of the Paionians. For many (most?), Asteropaios may not be a household name, but for me, he is a favourite minor character in the Iliad. Admittedly, that's more to do with a fascination with the later Classical and Hellenistic kingdom of Paionia on which I have published a few articles in the past, but it is great to go back and see where it all began. 

As a possible southern extension of the central European Lausitz culture, I wanted my Bronze Age Paionians to be visually distinct from the other contingents on the table. I've also been looking for an excuse for years to pick up a couple of packs of Wargames Foundry Bronze Age northern Europeans - so that's what I did. Now, they may be a little too Danish for the Balkans, but I'll fight for the right to put them on the table!

Asteropaios was the second named hero to lead the Paionians. His uncle, Pyraichmes, being named in Book 2 of the Iliad was killed soon after and be succeeded by Asteropaios. Alone among the 'Trojans', Asteropaios was the only hero capable of wounding Achilles.

Asteropaios is described as a leader of spearmen, so half of his contingent are made up of warriors or shield-bearers (dealers choice). To make them slightly more Aegean in flavour, these promachoi have adopted Mediterranean studded shields.

When first introduced, the Paionian contingent are described as carrying curved bows, so the remaining promachoi are archers. The Foundry pack only has two archer sculpts - and the detail on their faces especially is not aging well. To add variety I did a simple head-swap on one of them, giving him a Mycenaean helmet.

And that is all the Trojan contingents to date (Asteropaios, Sarpedon, Helenos, Aeneas and Penthesileia), mixing Wargames Foundry, Eureka Miniatures and Lucid Eye - along with Old Glory casualties. The 40mm sabot base is to 'upgrade' a promachos if one of the gods descends to the table to take on their form.