One Hump or Two?

Dressing the Dromedary Detachment

Strictly speaking, I shouldn't really have a camel corps but there they were in the old Garrison catalogue and I've always had a secret thing for camels so when I discovered that they were available again, I indulged. Its been more than a year now since I glued them to their sticks and primed and started on them, then ground to a halt. Nothing stalls my painting like not being able to figure out out "I" want the figures to look like. Oh a simple matter for a young fellow, schooled to do what he's told, check your Osprey, order the right code from the right manufacturer and bin them if they don't match. Even easier for those who don't care, right 1 stand of camels. here are some old Ghaznavid camels, that'll do.  So here's what has been staring at me.

A Garrison unarmoured camel rider with bow, spear and shield, wearing an ankle length robe with long sleeved over tunic and a 3 lappet cap. But who are these guys? During Xerxes great invasion, Arab levies appear and most books and miniatures depict them as 1/2 naked, bareheaded savages with 2 archers perched upon their ride. Now whether or not any arab levies would have dressed up a bit when leaving the desert to campaign in the far northern reaches of Anatolian, its unlikely that there would have been Arab levies in a Persian army before the fall of Babylon.

Camels are, of course, not unknown on the steppes of Asia as witness the common name of Bactrian Camel.  A little early for a Bactrian contingent perhaps, but a bigger problem is that these, while smallish do appear to be dromedaries. I considered claiming that the blanket & saddle covered both humps but even I didn't buy it.

Now, as I said, I shouldn't really have camel's at all and I'm not talking about adhering to Army Lists. At the battle of Thymbra, which still lays in the future if you remember,  Cyrus will take advantage of the Lydian cavalry's never having encountered camels by dismounting pack camels in front of his infantry. The Lydian cavalry is thrown into disorder and Cyrus wins the day. I might field a unit of dismounted pack camels one day. They should probably be Bactrians but kneeling Dromedaries is what I have.

Garrison Scythian archer with Ral Partha kneeling camel.

BUT, that still doesn't solve the matter at hand, now that I have my camel corps, how should I paint it? Several volunteers popped off their group stick and some individual experimentation took place to see what felt right while I pondered the possibilities. First the hats, arabs of the day are usually shown bareheaded and several of the caps had not cast quite right. A few strokes of a knife were sufficient to produce acceptable long hair. That's easy, I also have a thing for 3 lappet caps, so a mix perhaps. Long white robes sound quite Arab-ish and possibly the edge of the over tunic could be disguised but while one test figure had possibilities, it just didn't 'feel' right. Well, these guys aren't levies straight from the desert and they don't look like conscripted pack animal drovers so what about a small contingent of free lance mercenary Arabs? The officers have perhaps adopted some facets of Median dress assuming they aren't Medes themselves. The rank and file, while not going all the way,  might have spent some of their hard earned pay on new clothes, bought local as they wandered abroad. Slowly a picture and a unit character emerges.

        

The camel corps experiments with various new clothes.

So there we are, the makings of my camel corps. I just need to finish up the 5 prototypes then get at the 2nd batch, aiming for an over all look of individuals with something in common. After all, Cyrus had to get the idea of using camels from somewhere!

Time flies like an arrow

We'll leave the fruit flies alone for today though. Hard to believ December has 1/2 slipped away without a post but still too much interference to have much to say. Hopefully soom I'll have time to talk about camels and Persian infantry, meanwhile Rob from Garrison has graciously scanned in the following illustrations of Phrygian weapons and armour for me. They are from the "1812 edition of Hope's Costume of the Ancients".

     

A Lull

Alas, life is interferring with hobbies again so not much time for gathering, plotting or painting.

I've been mulling how wrong it would be to scan in an image from Blandford's Warrior's and Weapons or Funcken's Arms & Uniforms since neither book is in print and I have had trouble finding web images of Phrygians to point people to, but someone else has already done it! So here we are see: http://www.scribd.com/doc/12721269/Laminas-BLANDFORD-Guerreros-y-Armas-3060-AC1559 particularly the Near East page with images 74,75,76.

I like the Funcken intreptation better, esp the helmet but they obviously use the same source, at least one of which I have seen a teeny picture of in a scan of an archeological article.
Not surprisngly, they look alot like the Garrison Phrygian spearmen from their Persian list......

Hordes of poor quality infantry

A commonly held view of the army that conquered most of the known world.


Rospak 25mm hard plastic Thracian peltasts and mercenary Scythian archers,
hurriedly paint-converted to late Persians during the 80's.




Well, 120 figures isn't really much of a horde and I don't consider the figures to be poor quality either though, the Thracian peltast pose is classic "early 25mm ancient" and I will admit to a certain vagueness of details, but they have a certain charm and the Rospak 25mm plastics were a god-send to me 30 years ago during tough economic times. The hoplites, were especially valuable and for years King Rosius depended on them to hold off the Spartans.


No, the problem is that unit of "Persian" peltast/archers I hurriedly paint-converted 1 night 25 years ago for a game. No time for proper conversions and or shading or considering colours and patterns, I just slapped some paint on some leftover Thracian peltasts and Scythian archers and the little blighters have been serving ever since. Now I'm not big on repainting and refitting so do I let them serve on in shame? repaint? or callously discard them after such stout service?

They are "Ros" packs, and they are here and they are a near perfect match for the Rose miniatures in terms of size and bulk if not in detail, but they don't look much like early Persians. Actually they don't look much like modern intrepretations of Thracians or Scythians either but then neither do the Garrison and Benassi figures. What they do look alot like, are some old Greek vase paintings, but those were probably based on Phyrgians....uhhh wait a minute, like those allied or subject to the Lydians? ...ok maybe a repaint is in order, I have a few more Rose archers without a home so perhaps a nice colourful unit of Phrygian archers?

After all, at the end of the day, a unit of colourful archers in pointy hats is a unit of colourful archers in pointy hats, Phrygians, Scythians, Saka, Bactrians?

Two units of Scythian foot archers, a mix of Garrison, Benassi, Rose and Rospak miniatures.

To ride, to shoot and to tell the truth

The 3 essential qualities of a Persian nobleman.

Late 5thC cavalry. RAFM conversions done 20 odd years ago

Cavalry was an important arm of the Mede and Persian armies even if not the most numerous part. I've decided on 5 regiments, now to select which ones and how to arm and equip them. There are 3 main considerations, historical plausibility, how I intend to employ them on the table and what figures I have or want to have.

Evidence on arms and armour is ambiguous but based largely on Herodotus and some vase paintings, early Mede cavalry seems to have been lightly armoured and relied on harassing the enemy with arrows and javelins but also seem to have been prepared to fight hand to hand when called upon. Herodotus describes them at Platea as coming forward by squadron to shower the Greeks with missiles before wheeling away, not surprising since Cyaxeres became King by leading the Medes to freedom after 25 years of subjugation to the Skythians.

The cavalry of Rosius would also have contained Saka or Scythian horsemen, whether allies, mercenaries or subjects and it is possible, though unlikely, that some of these might already have been armoured nobles on horses protected by partial fabric or metal bards. I would also expect some Cappadocian cavalry, probably lightly equipped with javelin.

4thC Persian Cavalry, RAFM conversions. I have about 30 of these, some with armour showing, some without.
On the table, the cavalry can be used to envelop the enemy's flanks or to pin and harass his spearmen. The bow armed ones are best for direct attacks as they can do so from a safe range. Since I'm deploying my troops in 1,000 man regiments not 100 man squadrons, I'll have to imagine the squadrons taking turns to ride forward to shoot at point blank range before wheeling back to the main body. They will also have to contain the enemy cavalry. Against an army like the Lydians, with a reputation for hard charging shock cavalry, this may be a challange (queue the camel corps!). The large units also have to be taken into consideration, they require a lot of room to maneuvre ao are not easily interspersed with infantry or used as a mobile reserve. It appears to be best to use them as a seperate force, oddly enough this seems to be how the Persians operated.

A unit or two of lighter skirmish cavalry, Sythians or Cappadocians would be useful on the extreme flank since they should have the agility to get around behind the enemy. It is tempting to add a unit of Guard cavalry or Saka nobles for the potential shock value but this might be a false temptation away from the army's strengths.

Comparing the 90 or so Persian and Skythian cavalry in 10 units that I have now vs how I want the army to look and act, I will be able to field the following in short order:

• The Medes. Unarmoured with bow, shield and javelin (Garrison and RAFM mixed). The 6 RAFM figures ought to be given bow & shield or be replaced. The Garrison spears look a little substantial for javelins but I am willing to live with that, especially as I am not fully convinced that spears are unreasonable.


An 18 man unit doesn't look so big on 20mmx40mm bases and formed deep!


• The Capadocians. Lightly armoured with javelin. This unit will be formed from the rest of my 4thC Persians, concentrating on those with tunics over their armour.
  
• The Armenians. A full regiment of 18 armoured cavalry with javelin converted from Minifig Seleucid Cataphracts. (all except the officer). All I need to do is rehorse a few who still ride 1/2 barded horses and put them all on some decent bases. This unit wasn't raised as Armenians and the story of how they camed to be named so, is shrouded in the mists of memory lost.


The "Armenians". Full points to anyone who can identify the origin of the officer in the middle.


• The Scythians: Light cavalry with bow, javelin and shield. I have about 30 nomad horse archers mostly various Scythians but also including figures like Garrison Tauron archers. I'll sort out 18 of the most Scythian types including a few armoured leaders.
  
  RAFM Skythian nobles.
  
  That will leave me with 1 unit to compose. Ideally I would like a unit of unarmoured Persians in long robes and head band , armed with bow & spear like the picture in funcken. It will also leave me with about 24 stray cavalry, some of which may be able to be reconfigures as Lydians, some of which may be incorporated into an alternate army unit.