Philistine chariots

The Philistines are one army I've long wanted. Over the years I've acquired enough infantry and cavalry to put one together, what I've always been short of are the ox carts - somehow, these seem to be an essential component for any Sea People or Philistine force I put together. At the moment I have 2 ox carts in Dettol, though only 4 oxen, as well as most of the infantry force,  but finally decided it was time paint up the 'conventional' chariot force.

I didn't really feel that I needed many and settled for 1 chariot for the general plus 2 others. The intention was to find chariots that looked as though they were based on Egyptian models but with a distinctive 'Philistine' look.

 

I had a few Pharaoh's chariot horses plus a late 'S' Range Egyptian 'Heavy' chariot. These looked perfect for the job of providing the General with transportation. Rather than Egyptian style artwork I've gone for a 'leopard' look

 For the 'line' chariots I also wanted an Egyptian look without using Egyptian chariots. Stuck amongst a job lot of chariots I just bought were some that seem to be old Minifigs Bactrian chariots. However, they did have a sort of 'Egyptiany' look about them, so...

 

I still have a couple more Pharaoh's chariot horses so they are down to be used on an 'S' Range Kushite Pharaoh's chariot. I intend using the leopard pattern for that as well.

Alexandrian Phalangites

Having spent time on the Successors, I thought I would keep the momentum going and get on with finishing basing the Alexandrian phalangites.

The officer doesn't belong here. He's just an odd one that was lying around but I thought he deserved to be used.

This unit is probably the poorest of the 4 Alexandrian phalanx units I've now based from 'the mass', though there is still another one to do that will need a fair bit of work doing. On the other hand, I did base all 40 rather than 32 or 36 of them.

4 units massed together look quite good...

And this is them with Alexander and a few added  Companion cavalry and Hypaspists.

Still a lot of figures to base for both the Successors and Alexandrians, but I'm getting there.

A few Kushite archers

Actually PB Range Blemye. Ex-Harry, took part in some of his battles, and rebased now because they were lying around when I did the Syrians. They don't fit in with my own Kushite army but will do nicely in my Achaemenid Persian army.

I went with LMI/3Bw...

For my Syrians...

Which gives 16 bases, 48 figures. Pity they weren't as impressive in wargaming reality.

1 shot wonders - the Syrian archers

Every Seleucid army army in the 70s had them - Syrian archers in large numbers. At different times they would be MI (Medium Infantry) , LMI (Light Medium Infantry), LI (Light Infantry) or Hordes.

So naturally I had a load. Since then I seem to have acquired a few more here and there...

So starting to put them together - relatively smallish units of LI, LMI and Hordes , but still got more to base.

These are my own 70s 'originals'. I picked them up quite late - my first levies were a load of long-gone 'S' Range Medes. As such they are not the first production models  - see the more delicate bows and dagger on the belt. Not sure, but don't remember if I've every repainted them, think this is the original scheme.

 

The ones I've picked up  since seem to be mostly the first production figures - thicker, cruder bows. I've so far mounted six bases each of LI and LMI. They represent figures bought from two different sources - some have darker brown bows and more decorated bowcases, but they mix well together.

 

 

 

At the moment I'm not sure which set to build up with my remaining figures - I could make the LMI contingent up to 48 strong, that would probably be the best option, but both LI and MI are 'good' options as well.

Successor Phalangites

So, being on a Seleucid thing, I've rebased a load of the Successor phalangites I got a couple of years ago. Being 40 man units, they don't really fit in with DBX units - 4x4 means multiples of 16 so they are being reduced to 32 figures.

 Having said that, 4 32 figure units still makes quite a good force.

The first two units make a useful combination of 'Bronze Shields' and 'Siver Shields'. 

I always quite like the use of Hollywood  black for  armour. Not very good shields, but I don't think I'll ever repaint them.

This unit aren't Minfigs phalangites, they're Garrison conversions. Nice figures, technically they're pirates of course as they have been home cast by someone. Still, they look good, so as far as I'm concerned this unit is now 'officially' Garrison...

 

Seleucid Scythed chariots

It's all the fault of those armoured elephants. I'm back on Seleucids...

Back in the 70s my Seleucids and late Achaemenid Persians had to make do with a couple of Atlantic plastic chariots to act as scythed chariots.

Since then, I have produced a few cardboard bodied 2 and 4 horse scythed chariots, but having lots of Minifigs chariot bits lying around I thought I'd do a couple more substantial versions.

This chassis and wheels don't have the large round globe at the front of the shaft so I assume it to be a PB chariot body. Horses are the standard early Minfigs chariot horse and the scythe is from the Garrison 25mm Persian chariot. As I was basically using substandard bits for these, the horses used were all the ones that had been 'bent' over to one side and needed straightening. In one case a couple of legs snapped - this horse is now a superglued inner chariot horse, though can't remember which chariot it's on. The charioteer is a converted Garrison 20mm Greek - none of my Minifigs figures seemed to fit the model as well.

This one is the 'S' Range chassis. Wheels are Garrison ACW artillery wheels, again with Garrison scythes.

Considering that these were made from what amounted to the scrap box, a quick pleasing result all round.

Can't have enough elephants...

That's my story, so when a few Minifigs armoured elephants came up on ebay I thought: haven't got any armoured elephants, need them for Seleucids...

 Not exactly collector's standard paintwork - took about 3 (shortish) sessions excluding spray undercoat and varnish.

Wasn't sure about cloth for the head but thought: they're armoured, surely the heads deserve some protection.