The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt -First Impressions

 

More properly The Armies of Ptolemaic Egypt - Cleruchs, Mercenaries and Machimoi by Stéphane Thion. New and expanded and in English for the first time. A book then, from Helion.  Why First Impressions? Because there is an awful lot here. I cannot hope to review with justice the scholarship therein. Space prohibits it.

I can say if you fancy doing a Ptolemaic Army this book will see you alright  for the early, middle and last armies. The page count is 151, a paper back with 30 pages of full colour  illustrations by the author. 

The style is reminiscent of the old WRG books if your memory stretches that far. The illustrations are first rate and the product of diligent research. Mind you, conjecture finds its place too.  You see two plates from the book on this page.

For example we have a page showing the colours of soldiers chitons and chlamydes (tunics and cloaks) incredibly useful.

There are other photographs and black and white drawings of surviving depictions and reconstructions of the Ptolemaic soldiers. You can see some of mine on this page.

Here are the chapter headings ignoring the dedication (to Angus McBride) acknowledgements, sources and intro etc.

The Ptolemaic Dynasty

Main Components of the Ptolemaic Army

Organisation of the Ptolemaic Army in the Third Century BCE

Ptolemaic Army in Battle Gaza, Raphia and Panion

The Transformation of the Ptolemaic Army in the second century BCE

The Fall the first century BCE

Military and Civilian Dress

An opponent of the Ptolemaic Dynasty: The Jewish Army of the Second and First Century BCE

Conclusion and Appendix: Numbered and ethnic evidence of hipparchies.

I paid less than £20 for my copy including postage. Money well spent. If you are interested in the Diadochi or Ptolemaic Egypt this book will not disappoint.

We will be back at Balaclava next week.

Macedonians-The Shield Transfers 15mm

 

This post is really about VVV 15mm Shield Transfers. I have been using them on figures for my Macedonian and Punic Wars Project. I'm obliged to say that I am impressed. The transfers are cheap to buy, easy to use and quite transformative in their effect. 

Above what I like to think of as my Ptolemaic Phalanx. Such troops seem to have favoured white plumes and helmet decoration. Not universally of course, crimson plumes occur too. I intend to add another 3 bases of this unit. 

A side  view of the same unit. all from Donnington Old Era. Note helmet variants. Very pleasing. You can see the transfers nicely. The eagle eyed among you will spot a Macedonian star variant. I ran out of the simple star. 

The business end of the Macedonian phalanx a terrifying sight according to one of the Roman officers who faced one. I needed to do some mercenary phalangites. I imagine that to allow for a range of shield decoration. Suitable transfers have been bought.

The last of the Old Glory Phalangites with varied shield designs.

Uniformity is the watch word here. These are Forged in Battle Hypaspists. I intend to field them as Ptolemaic Ageama. An elite unit protecting one flank of the Phalanx. I chose the cup design as indictive of the advantages of service in a Guard unit.

Another view of the same unit divided as sub units. You can do that in Civitates Bellantes.

The last pic' note the officer with kopis sword. A figure from Donnington Hellenistic range. Not a bad fit.

What next on this? I think another couple of Macedonian posts and then on to the Punic wars. First up the Spanish. Then the Romans and Carthaginians. 

Persia- Last of the Achaemenids

 

This is my Achaemenid Persian Army. That of Darius, King of Kings, King of Aryans and Non Aryans etc and so forth.  Darius wasn't a bad General and the Army was a good one. Alexander though, was something else altogether. Not to mention the first rate army he inherited from Phillip.

We might note Mithridates of Pontus claimed Achaemenid and Seleucid descent. It was still politically useful in his day and in his case true enough.

Lots of Greeks didn't fancy Macedonian rule at all. For some fighting for the Great King was lucrative and principled. The golden combination. I'm right and I'm getting rich. Once again the basing follows Civitates Bellantes, saving skirmish cavalry on single bases. Essex ones above.

Here are the Hoplites arrayed.  

The best ones are from Forged in Battle. 

Gladiator are nice but the spears are too short. 

The Essex ones are lovely, but spears need gluing, and don't have the right shields. Luckily Geoff at QRF sent me shields to enable  replacement surgery. Fiddly, but a good result. I'll refrain from further knowing one's arse from one's aspis jokes. 

With Forged in Battle you just need to paint them. Lancashire Games below. Not a bad Darius at all.  Nice light infantry too. They can also appear for some Diadochi Armies.

The Persians had one of those martial shifts that surprise. They abandoned mass archery. These are Old Glory Cardaces carrying both spear and bow. 

The shield is a bit odd, nearly an aspis but with an under developed boss. I'm going to treat them as Light Spearmen under Civitates Bellantes.  Although they have a bow case no arrows are visible. They should be quite capable and have high morale comprised as they were of the youth of the Persian nobility.

Old Glory Scythian nobles below. I should manage another base worth of these.

A few shooters remained either able to close fight or accompanied by close fighters. A debate rumbles on about who was who and did what, how. I'm not up to date with it.

Above, QRF Asiatic Archers. These ones are good for Pontic Armies too.

Above Old Glory Persian Archers and Darius in chariot from Lancashire Games. Body guards from Xyston, I have another six to paint. 

Old Glory Persian heavy cavalry above. Essex Kinsmen Body Guard cavalry next.  Bill Lamming sold me these at a discount from his shop. He was about to retire. How time flies by. These were painted decades ago when I still did the eyes.

The obvious thing to do with all these fellows is to get the Hoplites to hold  the Macedonian Phalanx and swarm the flanks. History tells us that was easier said than done. Fun to try all the same.

The Gauls for Civitates Bellantes

 

Above, QRF Gallic archers and Essex Gallic Cavalry. 

The Gauls turned up in the Classical World sacking Delphi (recently disputed) and walloping various Successor Armies. That particular branch (3 Tribes) originated in what's now France and had migrated in a series of pulses before planting itself in present day Turkey. A lot of them hired out as mercenaries. 

They were in high demand. St. Paul in his time said they kept the language and even the accent of their Gallic home. 

Gaesatae above from Forged in Battle. The shields emulate those shown in the Montvert Ptolemaic Army book. I don't own a copy but would like one. Not enough to pay $100+ though. 

I did recently secure Johnsono's Ptolomaic Army for a very reasonable sum. That will have to do as I collect the Montvert images from online sources. I'm finding it a very interesting read.

Old favourites here. Essex cavalry and Minifigs slingers.

A mixture of Corvus Belli (Metal) and QRF Gauls above. Oh, there's an Essex in the back row.

The same fellows from a side view. Checks and stripes Gentlemen. It is all work.

Another mixed bunch from various suppliers. These are mailed warriors. Mail seems to have been a Gallic invention like the 4 horn saddle. Some add the Spatha. Certainly the thureos shield seems Celtic inspired. Not all Celtic shields were that  shape. Some were long and fairly narrow. Experimentation I suppose.

More Corvus Belli, Essex, QRF here. Proof positive that you can happily mix and match.

The Donnington Gaesatae. What's not to like? Multi pose, spikey hair, shield variants.

All fine I think. But here's the thing. I have loads more horse and foot to paint. Checks and stripes. I'm going to tackle it in bite sized chunks.

Next on this one we will look at the more Successor troops. Maybe Elephants too. I have some, painted decades ago. I have also made good use of VVV 15mm Shield Transfers. 

More Hellenistic Units

 

A look at the cavalry this time and some light troops too. All for Civitates Bellantes. Above Forged in Battle Thessalians. Below Old Glory Xystophoroi.

Essex Companions from the days of single pose. It just about works with the officer variants.

Below, Antigonid Companion Cavalry from Gladiator. An interesting evolution here. No more Xyston, instead spear, javelins and shield.  A different style of fighting less impact, more protection and a bit of missilery. Tarantine cavalry are usually credited as the inspiration although they were all skirmishers. The new look was pretty much identical to Celtic cavalry in role and equipment when you think about it.

These fellows could be Tarantines. No armour, javelins and shields. Once more from Gladiator. As you can see I have opted for single bases for skirmishing cavalry.

"Asiatic" horse archers who might be Persians, Bactrians Scythians or some such.

Now, to some light infantry.

Forged in Battle Agranians. Often deemed to be skirmishers. That's not the whole story. Alexander used then for shock and storm. I decided upon " Javelin Men" under Civitates Bellantes. That means they can skirmish or close fight.

True veterans below. Bought from Belfast in the days of brittle metal. Frei Korps 15 Cretan Archers. Amazing that they have survived.

Bought at Border Reiver I think. Xyston  Macedonian Archers, a bit bigger than most.

Shall we see another unit of Phalangites? This one is in trousers although you probably cannot see it. QRF figures from their old Frei Korps range.

Any phalanx needs flank guards. Here are two unit of Thureophoroi. 

Figures from Gladiator. If you happen to know who currently owns the Gladiator Ranges do drop a comment.

A mixed group of Thracians with figures from Frei Korps 15 and Donnington. 

That's it for the moment.