Seleucid Army Showcase

Seleucid war elephants, supported by light troops, flank the Phalanx.

Many, many... many years ago, before reading first year military history at university, before the Internet, before fame and fortune, there was a local bike and hobby shop which sold little bags of metal figures for $5.85.

Its long gone now and I can't even remember its name. I know I bought my first GW Epic figures from it back in '92 and tens of those little bags, 1 or 2 a week, until the turn of the century when the shop moved and stopped stocking miniatures.

The mighty Seleucid Phalanx.

I remember spending hours painting the figures up, I had no idea what they were and just block painted a 'blue' and 'red' army.

Turns out those figures were Frei Korps 15mm Macedonians and Seleucids, and come the turn of the century and a long foray into wargaming, they finally came out of the bag I'd stuffed them in.

Tarantine, Xystophoroi and Greek Cavalry take the right flank.

Even Frei Korps has disappeared now, being handed on to various miniatures producers until ending up with Total System Scenic/QRF, but at least most of the range is still on the market.

So influenced by local players I started a massive repaint and also commissioned out a good portion of the light troops and medium cavalry to le Chasseur... we were young and foolish, drunk on the ides of life.. maybe not...

The phalanx stretches out to the elephants and cavalry on the left flank.

I used Osprey's Men-At-Arms 148 the Army of Alexander the Great as a theme for the army, spending many hours mixing rose, yellows, crimsons, oranges and lavenders.

In its present form the army is nearly 20 years old... and still not really finished.

It's been through DBA and DBM iterations, been expanded into a WAB (Warmaster Ancient Battles) army, and ended its last life as a FoG army.

Seleucid elephants - can't have too many elephants! Moo!

It's come last at both DBM and FoG tournaments but met with great and continued success with WAB. Perhaps to make another appearance using DBA 3.0, Hail Caesar or L’Art de la Guerre.

But its sat in its box long enough and I realised that I don't have any pics of it up on this blog, so hence this showcase.

The Tarantine light horse rush forward on the flank to pelt the enemy cavalry before the Xyston armed lancers behind them get stuck in.

So this is the 'army' showcase and the links below are to posts which showcase particular units and types within the army.

I hope you enjoy, its one of my favourite armies and although many players don't like the 'oversized heads' of the FK figures, they lend themselves well to detailed painting for 15mm troops.

Another unit of Xystophoroi, led by Seleucus himself.

Army Units
Command and Heavy Cavalry
Elephants
The Phalanx
Asiatic Auxiliary Foot
Greek Auxiliary Foot


Artillery and camp.


Think these are actually Essex minis.


Made from cardboard and Das, these tents have stood the test of time.


The Phalanx was often screened by light troops, here Cretan and Asiatic archers fulfill that role.

The bendy lead spears have long gone and were replaced early on by piano wire - this has lead to many a bloody finger. The Sarisa (phalanx spears) are not to scale but long enough.

Another shot of the phalanx, think I've still got one or two more 'blocks' of four to do!


Camels protect the camp... yea right...


Seleucid elephants - flanked by more Asiatic bow (right) and Thureophoroi and Thorakitai (left).


Scythian horse archers lead the Xystophoroi on the left flank - still got some of these to do too!


Birds eye of the entire army... it just doesn't look big enough from this angle!