Seleucid Armoured Elephants and a Command and Colors Medieval Crusades Game

 

Here's a Warlord Games armoured Seleucid elephant and crew that I've just finished painting. The shield transfers are by LBM, Foundry and VVV. It's quite a hefty beast, nearly a match size wise, for the massive 1st Corps ellie to its right. In the elephant parade group shot above there are two Old Glory elephants (far left and far right), an Aventine one (second one from the left), Warlord (centre), and 1st Corps (second from the right). Of course these are all more armoured Seleucid elephants than I'll probably ever use in a game but it's nice to have some options! My favourite elephant is the Aventine one with a purple crest and blanket.

Last Tuesday afternoon Robert came over and we played a Command and Colors Medieval Crusades board game out in the shed. The scenario was Dorylaeum 1 July 1097 Phase 1 - Defendable Base Camp. This is the first of four scenarios, based on different phases, of this battle. There are twenty scenarios in total for this expansion, hours of fun gaming! Hopefully we will get in a game with figures over the Xmas break. We diced for sides and Robert had the Crusaders and I had the Seljuks. 

Robert cannily retreated with his cavalry who were a bit exposed with their initial deployment. He made good use of his infantry to support his cavalry in attacks and the medium crossbow infantry were particularly effective, shooting range of four hexes and hitting on colours and swords! I had quite a few inspired action tokens but squandered the opportunities they presented and failed to use most of them. Robert managed to kill two of my leaders and in the end won fairly easily 6-2 victory banners. We both enjoyed it so much that we have another game organised for next week, Dorylaeum Phase 2 - Attack on the Camp.

Initial deployment Crusaders' side

Dorylaeum Phase 1 scenario

Initial deployment Seljuks' side

End of game Seljuks' side

End of game Crusaders' side

Italian Cavalry

 

Here are some Italian cavalry from the archives. These are lovely Aventine Miniatures figures and are  a very useful and versatile unit indeed, that can be used as allied Italian cavalry for a Republican Roman army, or Tarentine cavalry for a Successor army, amongst other things.

Seleucus, Antigonus and Charioteer

 

Above is a guest post by Garry of two Successor command stands he has just painted. The first is of Seleucus, a Relic figure with an Essex officer and Aventine standard bearer. The second is Antigonus, a Relic figure with a Relic shield bearer and Aventine figures for the rest. The banners are by LBM with some VVV stars.

This week I received my copy of the new GMT Games, Roman chariot racing game, Charioteer, see photo below. This looks interesting, I've read the rules, they're only eleven pages, not overly complex but use a  mixture of cards and tokens to race the chariots. The game comes with six plastic counters for chariots  but I will use the Steve Barber quadrigae I've been painting for Circus Maximus. Hopefully I will get to try this out soon. 

Late Etruscan Command

 

Here are some Late Etruscan Command figures that I've just finished painting. The figures are by Aventine and Victrix with LBM and Victrix shield transfers. The Victrix figures are from the Republican Roman cavalry set which includes Etruscan helmets options and they have a lovely Etruscan shield transfer set as well. Garry has a really nice Etruscan army, that inspired me to start one of my own. You can see his Etruscans in action against my Samnites in a game we played at the club a few years ago:

https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2018/09/samnites-versus-etruscans-basic-impetus.html

I have quite a few spare plastic Greek hoplites, so I'm planning to use some of these for my first class Etruscan infantry and have used the Victrix Greek slingers and Roman leves with spare heads to make up fifth class Etruscan infantry as javelinmen and slingers. Agema Miniatures have a Kickstarter Etruscan range too, that should be available soon on their website. I just received in the mail an order from Gorgon Studios of second class spearmen and Lars Porsena in a chariot - can't wait to paint that!

Samnite Cavalry

 

Here's another post from the archives. These are armoured Samnite cavalry by Aventine Miniatures with LBM shield transfers. I still have more cavalry to paint for my Samnite army, mainly Crusader and A&A Miniatures.

Sassanid Cataphracts, Clibinarii and Infantry

 

Cataphracts

Cataphracts

Clibinarii

Clibinarii

Here are some Cataphracts, Clibinarii and more infantry for my Sassanid army. I now have enough painted units for a Dux Bellorum game (see group shot below) so will try that soon with my Late Romans as opponents. I have Middle Imperial and Early Byzantine armies to paint as well so there will be no shortage of armies to fight them. The figures are mainly a mix of A&A, Gripping Beast and Aventine with LBM shield transfers and banners.

Spearmen

Slingers

Shapur and Valerian

Group shot of all units to date

Sassanid Command - Shapur I and Valerian

 

Here's a Sassanid Command stand of Shapur I and Valerian that I've just finished painting. These are great figures by Aventine Miniatures, who have some fantastic ranges, including easily the best ancient elephants in 28mm.

Sassanid Elephant and Infantry

 

Here's a Sassanid elephant and infantry that I've just finished painting. The ellie and crew are by Aventine Miniatures, although the mahout is actually A&A as I couldn't find the original Aventine mahout. The shield transfers and ellie blanket are by LBM. The Sassanid spearmen are all A&A with replacement shields I bought from Phil Hendry years ago. The larger version of these shields is available from Aventine. The archers are a mix of Aventine and A&A with a single Vendel Mede archer with a globe hat.

Samnites

Victrix Armoured Samnites

Victrix Italian Allies

Crusader Linen Legion

Here is a unit of Samnite infantry that I've finally finished painting. They've been stuck in the painting queue for a very long time, so I'm glad to see the back of them! The figures are from the plastic Victrix set, Armoured Samnites with Victrix shield transfers. In this post I've added photos of other Samnite units I've painted to date, they're all labelled to avoid confusion. The Crusader figures are painted as the famous Linen Legion mentioned by Livy in his History of Rome (9.40 & 10.38).

Crusader and A&A Samnite Command Stand

Aventine Samnite Cavalry