A Bit of A 'Round-Up'

 Two From Helion:

(1) Elephants & Gunpowder - SE Asian Warfare 1380-1700  by Stephen Turnbull (now there's a name I haven't heard for a while).

I have had this book for about 2 weeks but only just got around to looking at it.  

 

 (2) Kerns & Gallowglasses - Newly arrived - another one going into my reading pile.

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Saturday 1st March - DBA - Gt. Houghton

2.70a Burgundi                                v  2.78a  Late Imp Roman (W)               5:2 loss
2.80a Attalid Hunnic                       v  2.72d  Other Frankish                         4:2 loss
2.83a Visigothic                               v  2.81c  Amorican                                 4:3 loss
3.21b Lombard                                 v  3.65   Nikephorian Byzantine             4:3 loss

Near the end of the last game I was 3:2 up and in a good position.  Ian remarked that I was going to win but I managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory (thanks dice gods). 
 

Saturday 15th March - DBA Gt.Houghton

2.49   Marian Roman                    v 2.45c  Spartacus                    4:0 win
1.61b  Early Carthaginian             v 1.36c  Sicel                           4:3 loss
1.12   Sumerian Successor            v 1.6a   Early Bedouin             5:3 loss
1.25a  Middle Assyrian                 v 1.20b  Syro-Canaanite          5:2 win
 

Saturday 15th March - DBA - Gt.Houghton

3.78   Scots Isles & Highlands     v  3.46 Norse Irish                     4:2 loss  (CC)
4.47   Golden Horde                     v  2.58 Alan                               4:0 win   (CC)  *
1.53   Saitic Egyptian                   v  2.7  Achaemenid Persian       4:1 win
2.47b  Early German                    v  2.49 Marian Roman               4:2  win
4.49   Anatolian Turkoman           v  4.56 Order of St. John           4:0 loss

* neither of us got our third group onto the table.  CC = Collision Course

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Phoenicians

Making good progress but stuck on the Light Chariots and Artillery.  Need more MDF bases as well.

Breaking up the 'old' Carthaginians - Pt.1b - Phoenician infantry

 

 

Q) When is a Hoplite not a Hoplite?         A) When it's an Auxilia!

When creating one of these 'peripheral' armies I look to use up as many 'old' figures as possible and reduce the need to re-paint to a minimum. So what evidence has some googling brought to light?  [Thanks to Chris for his help with the research, although any errors are entirely my own].  Incidentally there is an article on the Phoenicians in Slingshot 261 but I cannot source it (and am unwilling to pay out £40 for the SoA CD).

According to the DBA list (1.35 a-d) Phoenician foot can be either 4Sp or 4Ax.  Presumably this is due to inconclusive evidence concerning their battlefield role!  However.....on the wargames table it will be necessary to differentiate.  

 

 

Duncan Head's book  for Montvert  on "The Achaemenid Persian Army" shows a drawing of a figure from a C7/6 ivory box from Carmona in Spain.  He says it matches Herodotus's description of Phoenician Marines: "...helmets of nearly Greek style and linen cuirasses...shields without rims, and javelins". "a" is the figure; "b" a reconstruction. Obviously the manner of holding the weapon is wrong; but it looks to me more like a typical "hoplite" way of holding a spear, rather than a javelin.  [Chris]

Elsewhere, Head says the Phoenician cities were low on manpower, and so recruited greek mercenaries. 4,000 of undisclosed type are referred to at one point.
[Chris]

Armies & Enemies of the Near East (AANE) p190 (fig 192) - an infantryman is shown, with a sort-of extruded round helmet with cheek pieces, but no neck guard. He has a man-sized spear, and a round shield with again an "extruded" point. A shield is described, round, with eight white petals, a red centre, and small red dots on the leaves. No other colouring is given. The background is black. He wears a round-necked 'T-shirt' with short sleeves; not clear whether he is wearing shorts, a skirt, or a tunic (partly under the T-shirt?). Fig 191 - 4h, 3c Chariot and warrior are both Mid 7thC. [Chris].

 

I found 6 x 4Sp Carthaginians (old 'strip' Minifigs) in the box and decided to re-paint them as Phoenician 4Ax.  I'm not good at shields so just tried to give just  a flavour of the AANE illustration.

For comparison the 6 x 4Sp (later Minifigs) are much bigger - completely out of scale with the earlier castings.  The photograph doesn't convey the disparity adequately.

So what about the spearmen/hoplites then!  I have a large Greek Hoplite DBM army with figures from many manufacturers.   Most of them are painted but the 'spares' bag had something to offer.   Upon investigation the count came to 24 (just what I needed). Some have paint and some not.

This motley crew will be co-opted into the 'mercenary' corps.  Where possible any bell cuirasses or other bronze will be painted over.  Sorry - No picture as my computer was feeling peckish.

The only foot still required are some Psiloi so I added them to my last Donnington order - Villanovans and early Italians.

All I have to do now is paint them.....Ho Hum!

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 February 2025 DBA results - Gt. Houghton

Saturday 8th February

3.78   Scots Highlands & Isles (DDBA)     v  3.45  Pre-Feudal Scots  (DDBA)         9:2 win
4.12a  Fijian                                                 v  4.12b Other Melanesian                      4:1 loss
2.40   Numidian                                           v  2.56 EIR                                              4:1 loss
4.47   Golden Horde                                    v  4.46 Ilkhanid                                       4:3 win

Saturday 15th February

3.79  Early Russian                                      v  3.40b Viking                                       4:0 loss
4.49  Anatolian Turkoman                           v  4.50  Palaiologan Byzant                    4:1 win
3.1a  Northern Slav                                      v  3.40 Viking                                         6:0 loss
3.63 Early Polish                                          v  3.53 East Frankish                             4:3 loss
4.4a Feudal French                                       v  4.23 Feudal English                           6:1 loss

Saturday  22nd February

2.11    Gallic                                                 v  2.10  Camillan Roman                      4:2 win
2.39a  Iberian                                               v  2.32a  Later Carthaginian                  4:1 win
2.80b  Sabir Hunnic                                     v  2.69b Sassanid                                   4:2 loss
2.7     Later Achaemenid                              v  2.12 Alex Mac                                  4:3 win

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6 wins to 7 losses

Breaking up the 'old' Carthaginians - Pt.1a - Phoenicians

 

15mm Carthaginians were amongst my earliest 15mm purchases (mostly Minifigs).  A few figures were added over the years but mostly these soldiers slept soundly in the loft.  Now that I am, largely, converting my DBM armies to DBA they will get some wargaming usage.  The first DBA armies to be split off are the Phoenicians.

1.35(a-d) Cypriot or Phoenician 1000 - 332 bc

Maxima:

1 x 2h,2c LCh (g); 1 x 2h,2c LCh;
1 x 4h,3c HCh (g); 1 x 4h,3c HCh;
1 x 3Cv(g); 1 x 3Cv;
1 x 4Sp(g); 8 x 4Sp (hoplites);
7 x 4Ax (spearmen)
4 x 2Ps (jav, sling or bow)
1 x Art (bolt-shooter)

The only models that I don't have (or cannot approximate) are the LCh.  Some research required methinks.  

According to AANE by Stillman & Tallis (p189-190 figs 191-192): "Earlier types [of Cypriot chariots] would closely resemble 9thC Neo-Hittite or and Assyrian vehicles.......for yet earlier chariots refer to [fig] 115."

pp151-152 - Levantine chariotry 12th to 10thC bc: "The chariot remained virtually unchanged from earlier Canaanite and Syrian types."

Well...I can find some of these early types in my 'biblicals' box.

So that's the figures sourced.  What about some re-painting?   

The Phoenicians derived a considerable income from the sale of their dyes (especially the Tyrian Purple - middle).  I'm guessing that only the generals could afford to wear that particular colour.  The top and bottom could be worn by the citizen 'gentry'.

The shield shown in AANE (fig 192b, p190) "has a red centre and small red dots on white petals against a black background...other shields could have long, pointed bronze bosses."  Helmets seem to have varied (fig 191a p190).

I have a number of old Minifigs citizen spearmen with flat round shields that are destined for this Phoenician army.  The more 'modern' Minifigs (hugely bigger than their predecessors) will be retained by the revised Carthaginians.

The only puzzle left is the 'hoplites'.  Chris has helped me on this one so I will put up another post specifically on that subject.

Just a Few Notes

 It's been very quiet on the wargaming front what with poor health, car troubles and the weather.

Doesn't help that we now have a petulant brat in the White House and billionaires playing a combination of Monopoly and Risk. 

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Books - seem to have purchased a number of them recently - when will I get the chance to actually read them? 

Rif War - one of my peripheral interests - two books on offer so I troubled the plastic.  The Spanish Foreign Legion were fighting from 1909 with the more famous French forces as 'Johnny Come Latelys'. 

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A useful resource discovered via another blogger:

MagWeb Master Magazine List

https://stefanov.no-ip.org/MagWeb/maglist.htm

A real treasure trove of articles on wargaming subjects.

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DBA 'Missing' 15mm Armies - the annual availability check has been carried out with somewhat predictable results: 18 - 10 - 25 - 54

Under Construction by me are:

Book 1 - Assyrians       
Book 2 - Armenians & Jewish
Book 3 - Slav, Spanish & Norse-Irish
Book 4 - French, Maori, Scots Common, Islamic Persian, Jalayrid, Portuguese & Spanish)

I have plenty more in the unpainted lead mountain but, for the time being, I am ignoring armies that Ian already has.

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DBA - Gt.Houghton - Mon 6th Jan

An odd day (of the week) and only 2 games:

1.44a    Babylonian v         1.34c Hebrew         4:2 win
2.25      Bosporan v            2.23 Arab                4:3 win

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Next posting - 3D Printing - examining this labyrinthine world.