First off, the javelinmen. These are a base each of Illyrians, Kappadokians, and the Agrianians. The shield designs are all hand painted, and the Kappadokians are headswapped. All figures are from Forged in Battle's 15mm War and Empire range.
| Kappadokians |
| Illyrians |
| Agrianians |
Next, its a horde of Thracians. These are a ubiquitous mercenary unit which served the Persians, Macedonians, Successors, and others. While the shield patterns on this lot are the excellent LBMS offerings, the geometric patterns on the cloaks are hand painted. These are seen often in Greek pottery and funerary paintings, as well as being described by Herodotus. The armoured lot are armed with the terrifying rhomphaia, a mix between a war axe, spear, and sword. As mercenaries, Thracian troops would often look after themselves, betraying their employer when unpaid.
| Thracians with Rhomphaia |
| Thracian Peltasts |
Next, it's the last bits of my Late Achaemenid Persian host, the infantry. These took me a long time to get the nerve up to attempt, not only because of the ornately decorated pyjamas, but also because they are, shall we say, not the highest quality troops you would find on an ancient battlefield. First the Kardakes and Takabara, light foot, the Takabara appear to possibly have been some kind of imitation hoplite, armed with javelins. To represent them, I ground the peltast shields of some Kardakes and added hoplite shields with LBMS decals.
The Kardakes were more akin to Greek peltasts, though they may have been some kind of cadet corps of light infantry. I hand painted the shield designs on these as LBMS don't make any decals for the peltast shields. Very pretty in the end, but the slingers are probably the most effective warriors of the lot of them!
| Takabara. |
| Kardakes |
| Slingers |
Finally, it's a bevvy of Greek and Macedonians. The cavalry are Greek mediums, which can serve as Thessalians, though when I painted them I was inspired by the Hippeis of Kineas of Athens. This is the mercenary cavalry formation of Greek outcasts and warriors commanded by the Athenian exile, Kineas, to whom they owe absolute loyalty. Kineas is the protagonist for the first two of Christian Cameron's excellent Tyrant series.
The books describe their blue cloaks and some silvered armour, so here you are. I also drilled out and replaced the short javelins on the Forged in Battle figures with longer spears to represent the kontos used by Greek and Macedonian cavary during the period. I've also painted up a generic Macedonian command stand, perhaps representing Alexander's doomed general Zopyrion who was defeated by the Skythians and Olbians. I've also created a command base for Antigonos I Monopthalmus, or 'One-Eye', one of the greatest of Alexander's successors. I sculpted the eye patch on to represent this old war hound. One-Eye lived a remarkably long life filled with a remarkable amount of violence, and when he finally died in combat at the Battle of Ipsus in 301BC, he was 81 years old!
| The Hippeis, led by Kineas of Athens. |
| The unfortunate Zopyrion |
| Antigonos I Monopthalmus. Annoyingly, I just noticed the flock on the standing commanders face! |
That's it for the Ancients this entry. Next challenge I aim to focus on building up my 15mm Ancient forces more, most likely either on Carthaginians, or to make a start on my Nikephorian Byzantines.
Grand total is 164points for this lot by my calculations
15mm foot = 52 @ 2 pts
15mm mounted = 10 @ 4 pts
Istvaan V bonus (betrayal for the Thracians, or Loyalty for the Hippeis) = 20 pts
From Millsy:
Another utterly amazing addition to your Ancients efforts this challenge Ben.
Everything is so wonderfully colourful and at the same time cohesive. Your bold colour choices, composition and complimentary basing style make your work so tempting to try and replicate.
As a fan of Carthaginians myself I'm putting in an early request for some of them next challenge please mate!
Wonderful work once again. Kudos.