More Baggage

It's been far too long since my last post so I thought I'd put up a few more photos of different types of baggage.

A while ago I made a version of de Montfort's carriage. At the time I wasn't entirely happy so I thought I'd have another go.

The draught horse is by Donnington. The rider and infantryman are Old Glory. The wheels are from Langley Models, a fantastic source for all sorts of size and type of wheel. Good service too!
For those who like such stuff, the rider bears the Lambton arms - possibly those of Sir John of Lambton Worm fame.

The lower body of the wagon is plastic card. I then bent some florists' wire to shape for tilt supports. I tried tissue but that was too porous. The original pictures also make the upper porion look quite rigid so I used thin card. I wasn't sure whether to have the ends rigid or open but I settled on making curtains out of Green Stuff. I then thought I could take advantage of the curtains and have a go at making a passenger out of Green Stuff too.

I was quite pleased with the result.

EDIT: See Schilling's Berne Chronicle for details of a similar but 15th century cart
http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bbb/Mss-hh-I0001 p.405

Some DBMM Medieval armies can have pack horses as baggage elements so I have these from Donnington. The various bits of cargo are separate so can be arranged as you wish.

The wagon behind is also Donnington and again the cargo which comes with it is separate, allowing a variety of loads.

Quite some time ago, I bought some Alain Touller Mongol Baggage. This is a nice little set with a rider, a family on foot and a few Bactrian camels.

The tent is from Baueda.

The pony and camels are pretty small compared to other companies' - not necessarily unrealistically sized but small enough to not mix well. The humans would mix pretty well with Essex and similar sized figures.

More recently, thanks to a post on TMP, I came across QR Miniatures. Most of the range is Renaissance although they also produce some Poles and Eastern Franks from the 11th century which aren't yet on the website.

I ordered some of their horses since a number of DBMM armies have pony herds for their baggage elements. There aren't many suitable horses lacking tack so I jumped at these. I was pleased with them though I'd still buy some shaggy steppe ponies if I could get them.

EDIT: Thanks to Geoff on TMP; another source of ponies are QRF's 'Yellow Ribbon' range. Some have a halter but no saddles or blankets.

Romans, they go the house?

'"Romanes eunt domus"? People called Romanes, they go, the house? '

Just a quick post.

At Newbury, I bought Magister Militum's new 10mm Roman buildings. I saw these on a flyer I received from them but as far as I can see they aren't yet on the website.

Roman - indeed most ancient - buildings are pretty hard to come by in most scales. I have picked up various examples in the past but most didn't really appeal. An option I've considered, and seen used to good effect, is to use the paper buildings from 'Roman Seas' . However, I wanted something with a bit more heft and which I'm less likely to squash. There is also Lurkio's Roman Villa. This looks nice though to be a bit hypercritical I think they could have used a better roof tile effect. It looks like theirs uses either Slater's or something similar. For scratchbuilding, you can get some very nice pantiles in various scales from Noch, though at something of a price. I have some sitting around waiting to be used one day.

So, here are the buildings:

Basically, a fairly high status but single range villa house with two outbuildings.

 
 
 
 

I've used the classic red and white look. I've seen a description of a very colourful villa exterior, but have lost the link! In the flesh the terracotta roof stands out more. I used GW terracotta paint for them with a lighter highlight. Walls are ivory highlighted in off-white to bring out the texture. The red band was, iirc, scab red with Foundry British red coat light as a highlight.

Final picture shows the 10mm buildings next to some 15mm Warmodelling Romans. While obviously the figures are out of scale the difference isn't too jarring and it allows sensibly sized buildings on the battlefield.
Hopefully the range will expand. A small shrine would be nice, or some lower class buildings suitable for a small town.

 

 
For more info,
http://www.romanbritain.freeserve.co.uk/villa.htm by Guy de la Bedoyere
This villa is quite near where I live.
Museum of London - possibly the inspiration for MM's model.
A nice overview of Roman paints is here though most would have been for interior decoration.

The Marcher Lords and the Welsh

The English conquest of Wales was largely driven by the actions of the Marcher lords, those who held lands along the English-Welsh border. These were some of the most powerful subjects of the Kings of England at any time. They had far more independence than the majority of the barons with legal powers "like unto a king".  These powers are summaried in the Wikipedia article. One point I would disagree with is the opening staement that they were 'trusted'. That was the theory but in practice their power meant that they had to be carefully handled by the king.

 At the time of the 2nd Barons' War, the three Marcher Earls were those of Hereford, Pembroke and Gloucester. The Earldom of Shrewsbury had become extinct and the Earldom of Chester was held by Prince Edward. Another earldom, that of March, was created under Edward I and first held by Roger Mortimer.

I've already mentioned Hereford and Pembroke, so here is Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester and of
Hertford. 'Red' Gilbert (probably on account of his hair) had inherited the earldom at an early age - he wasn't actually knighted until de Montfort did so just before the Battle of Lewes. He threw in his lot with the Barons despite being married to the king's niece who was also daughter of the  Earl of Pembroke. His actions probably led to their estrangement so that they were legally separated after the war.

He led the central division of the Baronial army at Lewes. However, he fell out with de Montfort and began to aid the royalist party, joining Edward for Kenilworth and Evesham. He reaped the rewards, being given further lands in Wales. He had various disagreements with Llewellyn and led Edward's southern forces against the Welsh though without success.

He even engaged in a private war with de Bohun, Earl of Hereford. This was within the rights of a Marcher Lord but Edward stamped on it, prosecuting both parties and briefly imprisoning them to make the point.

 One feature of  Marcher warfare were the muntatores, the light cavalry known to have been used in Staffordshire and Shropshire from the late 11th century. They are described as having hauberk, iron helmet and lance. The lack of any mention of shields may not be significant - they are also not mentioned for the infantry the Assizes of arms and it is generally assumed that the infantry had them so the muntatores may also have done so. This article describes them and proposes a link between them and the hobelars which are often thought to have originated in Ireland. 

There may not have been any noticeable difference between the muntatores and the lesser equipped part of the Welsh cavalry. For my muntatores I have simply used some of the Legio Heroica sergeeants, mostly with no leg armour, on unbarded horses. However, for my Welsh cavalry I have used some Outpost cavalry and these may also be suitable for muntatores. Outpost's later sergeants are also suitable - they have kettle hats and cerveillieres. I don't have any comparison photos for Outpost yet but I would judge them pretty compatible with Mirliton and similar.

The English conquest of Wales relied to some extent on the fractious nature of Welsh politics. The Marcher lords and the King often involved themselves in a dispute between two Welsh parties and came away with gains from the loser. Some other gains were made through marriage and others through blatant annexation.

The Welsh also involved themselves in English politics - much of de Montfort's army at Evesham was composed of Welsh infantry and Llewellyn 'the last' was married to de Montfort's daughter.

By the mid-13th century, most of the south of Wales was under Marcher control and this seems to be the main area where archery was dominant.The north seems to have been fonder of spearmen and there were various occasions where they stood up to and defeated English knights, though often with the aid of favourable terrain.

The dress of these spearman is somewhat debateable.There is evidence that the standard form of dress found over most of Western Europe was becoming normal but there is other evidence that a more distinctive mode of dress remained in use. This has been dismissed as being English writers dismissing a more barbarous style of dress but the description seems no more outlandish or unsuitable than the broadly similar clothing worn in the Scottish highlands i.e. linen shirt and woolen cloak. Note - I don't think the overall appearance of these two forms of dress would have been similar, just the components. This article summarises the evidence. You can find Giraldus Cambrienensis' 12th century description here and some later depictions of Welsh soldiers here. This is one of the pictures from the National Archives of Wales.

There is a Flemish description which seems to confirm the appearance of the Welsh at the end of the 13th century. The Flemish version of van Velthem's Spiegel Historiael is here - the relevant section is around line 90. The link above has a translation into English.

One thing which I've pondered is the translation of 'roden rocke'. These are the red tunics which are mentioned in various books. I have absolutely no evidence for this, but I wonder if there is a Medieval Flemish equivalent of 'rude' (from the latin 'rudis') which this could represent. 'Rude garment' is a phrase which crops up in English to mean a simple or rough piece of clothing often used for something like St Francis's garb. The usual explanation however is that the king donated red cloth to them as an early form of livery. I have painted up some of my Welsh spearmen in red and the remainder in a motley collection using colours in the laws of Hywel Dda and here.

These are some of my Welsh spearmen.

From left to right they are from Lancashire, Donnington, Khurasan, Donnington, Khurasan and Lancashire.

Overall, my favourites are the Donnington figures. They have a proper hood and the proportions are IMHO the best. as can be seen, the three makes are very compatible in size. These are the first Lancashire figures I've used for a while and was largely as a result of them putting photos on their website. There is a third pose which I haven't used - it may well paint up well enough but I didn't like the figures as much. For the price it is affordable to discard the odd figure! Incidentally, their English foot such as these spearmen are very good figures - despite the number of feudal infantry I already have I shall have to find a home for them. I shall also probably use their Welsh archers as I seem to have accidentally found myself in possession of most of a Welsh army! I already have a few as samples but haven't painted them. They have a lot more action in the pose than Essex's Welsh.

Beasts of Burden

I have a bit of a weakness for getting baggage animals for my armies, especially when I see ones I haven't seen before. Here is a bit of background for some of the beasts used in ancient armies.

Donkeys

(Rather irrelevantly, the word 'donkey' wasn't used in English until a couple of hundred years ago and is one of those which seems to have appeared from nowhere to become the common name.  (Another is 'dog' which appears in late medieval times...) The older name, which is still used for a range of related animals is the 'Ass').

Several different species of ass are found in Asia and Africa (and a species in Europe may have survived into historical times). Studies show that the likely ancestors of modern domesticated asses lived in North Africa - probably the ancestor of the Nubian and Somali asses. The Asiatic asses seem to have been hard to domesticate though they may have been used to pull Sumerian chariots. These were known by the Romans as onagers, hence the name they gave to some catapults because of their kick. The Greek name - which in English is hemione - literally means 'half-ass'...

 There are various references to asses in Ancient texts and it isn't always clear which species is meant. Biblical references include dometicated asses. Pliny refers to Cappadocian mules which can bear young  - these are likely Asiatic (probably Syrian) Wild Asses.

Donkeys were commonly used as beasts of burden, especially where horses were in short supply for the breeding of mules. Other than the Egyptian painting at the start of this ramble, there are some Greek images of baggage donkeys such as here .

Despite their common use in Ancient times the number of 15mm donkeys available is very limited. I used some from Tin Soldier.  There is a single pose and no variation in load, though the heads and legs are fairly easy to bend as can be seen from my photo. If I hadn't been in a hurry to get these painted I might have put some green stuff baggage on some for variety. Tin Soldier figures can have a slight cartoony feel to them and these remind me a little of those in Disney's Pinocchio. I rather like them though :)  The drivers are from Xyston. Other bases use women and children from the Thracian range.

Mules 

Mules are of course a cross between a horse and a donkey - to be specific a female horse and male donkey. They are almost always infertile - so much so that the rare instances of a female mule bearing a foal was considered portentous. Mule use requires a decent number of breeding mares and some societies have not had the horses to spare. Egypt, for instance, seems to have used mules fairly rarely. (See here page 60) . The chariot pulling animals of Sumeria mentioned above may have been a similar hybrid though of domesticated donkeys and wild (Asiatic) asses.
  Mules have various advantages over donkeys and horses. They tend to be larger than donkeys though often not by much. The shape combines features of horse and donkey - in terms of figures the tail is like a horse's and the mane may not stick up as much.

Since I had no suitable figures at the time, I painted some of Essex's mules to look more like donkeys. These are much smaller than the Tin Soldier donkeys, and to me would be far too small against Xyston figures. [EDIT - Since posting this, Forged in Battle have released some Roman mules. I hope that Corvus Belli's mules are re-released as they looked good. I may end up getting some of AB's mules which are really nice but I fear they and the accompanying figures may be rather large].

Camels


Apadana Tribute - the BM

The Bactrian camel and the dromedary are both found being used as baggage animals in ancient times. Hybrids also found their place (see here). The most famous uses of baggage camels are when Cyrus the Great is supposed to have used his to scare Lydian horses and when the Surena carried plenty of spare arrows for shooting down Crassus's Romans. Plutarch says that Mithradates used them - he berates Sallust for saying that it was Lucullus's soldiers who first saw them and that they had previously been seen during the Pontic invasion of Greece (as well as a century earlier being used by Antiochus). These could have been either type of camel since,as in modern English, ancient usage can often refer to either form. Persian carvings show both types being brought in tribute.
Note, camels seems to have been known about in Egypt long before the Romans, since various terracotta and other images have been found there. However, these are likely to represent animals used by traders from the East rather than indicating wide use of the animal with Egypt proper. Camel drivers are mentioned in Ptolemaic documents and these do seem to have operated in the country itself rather than in Syria.

There is a nice image of a dromedary being used by Assyrians here. For my Persians, I have Bactrian camels. These are figures by Essex and have a lot of character. I think there are three variants in pose. The drivers are Xyston - various levy troops I had spare.
My pictures don't really do them justice  - there is a clearer one on Madaxeman - you'll also find some nicely done Essex dromedaries too

Alain Touller does some nice Bactrian camels with Mongol 'civilians'. They are quite a lot smaller
than other companies' offerings though I shall eventually paint them. If and when I do, I'll add them here. (EDIT - Here they are. Now OOP, unfortunately).

For my Islamic armies, I have a choice. I originally use Peter Pig's camels and drivers. Like most of their figures the drivers are small compared to other ranges. The camels are similar in size to other companies, including ones by Irregular and Tin Soldier which I haven't shown.

Though the Peter Pig beasts are decent enough figures, I got carried away and bought some of the
fairly new camels from Donnington. These have the baggage separate from the camels allowing a great deal of variety. They are the biggest of the camels I have though they don't dwarf other ranges.








Finally, here is a comparison shot of the three manufacturers:

Plutarch's Wars: The Shahenshah

The Persian Kings tend to be seen through the eyes of the Greek historians - generally as rather effete and luxury loving despots. Yet Xenophon praises many achievements and habits of the Persians which shows the rather ambivalent attitude which existed.

The 4th century saw the rule of four Persian Kings. Artaxerxes II and III ruled for most of the century. Artaxerxes II saw a challenge from his brother Cyrus at the start of his reign, details of which are covered in Xenophon's Anabasis. He had various further dealings with the Greeks with much playing off of one side against the other. The treaty which ended the Corinthian War was known as the King's Peace - Artaxerxes essentially threatened that he would aid those who wanted to accept the agreement against those who wouldn't.

There were various revolts by territories of the Empire against the central authority - the most successful being the Egyptians who maintained their independence through much of the century. One of Artaxerxes's attempts to regain control was led by Pharnabazus supported by the Greek Iphikrates, though the campaign failed due partly to disagreement by the two men.
 Artaxerxes III regained control of Egypt, taking two campaigns to do so. Diodorus says that he and most of his sons were murdered by the eunuch Bagoas. The sole survivor was elevated to the throne as Artaxerxes IV but he too was removed and replaced by the man who assumed the name Darius III.
 Darius was probably a case of a man having greatness thrust upon him and he doesn't seem to have been up to the job. Perhaps if he'd had time he might have made a better showing but he was up against Alexander the Great.

 It was traditional for Persian kings to be depicted in a chariot, such as this seal. Note the position of the axle. Some other depictions seem to indicate a further forward axle though there has been a lot of online discussion about this.

The studs on the wheels are very noticeable though the 'Alexander Mosaic' may  overexaggerate them, producing what this blog terms the marshmallow wheels.
The studs doubtless help traction but also help to fix the tyre in place. Sections of tyre have been found, including the nails, and could be bronze shaped around the wheel in a U shape rather than a shrunk on iron tyre.

I used the Xyston chariot. The wheels in the set are smooth - I tried to show the studs by using a blob of paint which was enough to show them but quick enough to do. I tried as much as possible to use the colour scheme from the mosaic.The purple tunic with broad white stripe may well have been a royal feature, as were the upright tiara with diadem tied around. The figure wears a cloak - I think it may have been likely that the king wwould have had a coat worn as a cloak, so I could have added some arms to it.

The reins were made from dental tape. This is a bit wider than floss but probably too wide - I ended up splitting each strand in two.

 This is a bit of baggage I put together. The Greek historians could be rather snearing about the finery and family which could accompany a Persian king so I thought I'd give them something to sneer at.

I had a pack of Xyston 'Eastern levies' and some of the same company's women. The younger women has had sleeves and a veil added to make her a bit more Persian. The men have been painted using some of the designs shown on the clothes of the Immortals on brickwork of the previous century. Since these chaps are defending the tents I'm letting them keep ceremonial gear.

The tent is from Baueda. It is quite small compared to these rather large Xyston figures but it nice all the same. If I played something like FoG where the camp is a single large base I might be tempted to build a single grand pavillion. Part of the booty of Plataea in the fifth century was the King's pavillion which is siad to have been the model for the original Odeon in Athens. This article gives the theory that since the Odeon and the Hall of a Hundred Columns at Persepolis were of such similar size that the pavillion would have been modelled after the one and used as the model for the other. It would have been at least partly wood. Alexander's tent could well have been a similar design, though with fifty columns.  

I still have a fair few unpainted 'Kardakes' who may yet find themselves forming a second arc of honour guard.

Plutarch's Wars: Thracians and Mercenary Peltasts

A quick post with some of my troops which can be used with Greek and Persian armies of the early to mid 4th century BC.

These are Xyston 15mm Thracians. I think they are possibly Xyston's best with a great deal of variety - you need to go to the website to see just what a large mix is available.
They wear the traditional dress with foxskin cap - some also wear a patterned claok. This fashion seems to have gone out of style in at least part of Thracian society going by the tombs of the late 4th century. For all sorts of links and discussion about Thrace, see the Thracians Yahoo group.
The shields are handpainted but you can buy transfers for the Xyston Thracians from LBMS.

These are my attempt at Iphikratean peltasts. They are used in the Thracian, Later Hoplite Greek and Later Achaemenid Persian DBMM lists and count as fast pike.
Iphikrates was an Athenian who served as general for his own polis as serving a variety of other employers including Pharnabazus and Seuthes and, later, hisThracian father-in-law. His career is covered by Diodorus Siculus (see p.34 especially) and in less detail by Cornelius Nepos.
He is credited with introducing a form of boot which became named after him (quite appropriate as Plutarch says he was thought to be a shoemaker's son). He is also said to have reformed the arms of his men, converting hoplites into a lighter form of troop, though presumably some time after using more conventional peltasts to defeat the Spartans. There is a theory that this may have been connected with shipbourne service. The spear and sword were lengthened and the shield reduced in size. The Loeb translation renders the shape of the shield as being oval though I have seen discussion that it may be round - this being in contrast to the traditional crescent shaped pelta. Nepos also says that they received linen armour rather than metal, though he may be mistaken.
I went with a simple star symbol for the shields as this is shown in a number of places including Persian contexts. The figures are a mixture of various 15mm Xyston Greek peltasts. Many have had arms bent to a better pose for holding the long spears.

Medieval Village

A while back, I posted about a model church I built. I used the same method to construct some vilage houses and have finally got them finished (more or less!).

I based the church with a small graveyard.

There are some crosses to mark the graves though they are so difficult to see that they are actaully more trouble than they are worth. The fence is from Hovels as part of their Dark Age range.

There are records of a bishop ordering the enclosure of the area around the churches in his diocese dating from this period. This was seemingly a twofold reason. It kept animals from wandering around the graves. It also helped to stake a claim to the land - there was often dispute between church and village over the rights to wood grown next to the church. When I took the photo I forgot to include a tree which I bought for the purpose. It is a Skale Scenics oak though it does a fair job of being a large yew.

These are two of the three houses I built. They are cruck houses as in this diagram
They were often quite standardised in size. This was due to various factors; many villages were planned by the local landowner so plots were of equal size. The building width was influenced by the size of the animals kept inside since they shared the dwelling with the humans. This continued in many areas of Europe until really quite recently. There is a diagram of a 19th century house - French I think - where the animals tails are tied strategically to avoid slurry being sprayed around the kitchen.
This article gives a table of house widths - they are pretty close to being 16' (around 5m) across. The length of houses is given by the number of bays - again, each bay is around 16' wide - with two or three bays being typical.
The pig sty is from Hovels. It comes with lengths of fencing. I used Donnington pigs though the ones from Hovels are fine. For England the pigs should probably be similar to Tamworths with upright ears and ginger hair. Those on the Luttrell Psalter are really quite lithe by modern standards.

I've based the buildings individually for convenience and to allow the village to be varied in size. The hight of the bases is actually an advantage since each house was built on a toft - a raised area. These would have been larger in proportion to the houses than I have shown. The raised area helped with drainage and would often have continued to rise with time compared to the roads due to erosion of the road and deposition on the toft. Much of the toft would be given over to vegetables and would often have been fenced to protect against wandering animals - for much of farming history fences etc. were for keeping animals out of an area rather than keeping them in.

While I'm discussing farming, there is a great site which is useful for the whole history of British farming. It shows a typical landscape at various points in history and discusses factors such as tree cover. One of the things which surprised me was that there was less tree cover in England at the beginning of the 14th century than there is now. More land had to be cleared for farming, partly because so much was left fallow, and many marginal areas were planted which were abandoned due to the various scourges of the 14th century. By the time the population had recovered, farming was more efficient so much of the marginal land was never recleared, despite the subsequent massive rise in population.

This is a place I must get round to visiting: Cosmeston Medieval Village.

More Spear comparisons

A while ago someone asked whether I had some comparison shots Donnington and Khurasan.

These are, from left to right - Khurasan, Donnington New Era, Old Glory (from Crusader range) and Black Hat (feudal range).

Plutarch's Wars: Successor Generals

There were a number of interesting characters in the Successor Wars. Some had held high office under Alexander whereas others made a meteoric rise in the confusion of shifting alliances or only attained maturity as the wars raged.

The careers of these men is covered in many places, so I won't go into detail. If you are interested, then reading the appropriate Lives by Plutarch is a good place to start although by his own admission he is interested in the moral aspects rather than straightforward history.

For my Successor armies, I painted a variety of generals. I wanted at least 6 so I can field two armies at once, plus some on foot. With so many theoretical elements, I decided to add a few details to give a bit of differentiation.

 This is one of the foot generals. Figures are by Xyston. For the phalangites shields I made some transfers. The general's aspis was inspired the the decoration in the Tomb of the Erotes. 










The picture at the beginning of this post shows some of the mounted generals I use. All figures are by Xyston.

The central figure wears a helmet as shown on some depictions of Alexander. He gets used as Alex and as various others of the Successors.

I use this as Eumenes of Kardia. He raised a large number of Kappadokian cavalry and some of these may have formed his personal agema. I have kept them on armoured horses as may have been used by Kappadokians at Gaugamela a decade earlier.
The Xyston Kappadokian figures are a little bigger than their Macedonians which makes Eumenes look quite young!

This rear view is the figure I use for Peukestes. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Alexander's move towards mixing the Persians and Macedonians and is noted for wearing Persian dress. For these figures I used the Xyston xystophoroi figures. These are larger than most others - the cloak and feathers add to this impression. As can be seen, I removed the feathers from all except the general. I also added some sleeves and a collar to turn his cloak into the distinctive Persian coat. This is shown in Achaemenid art, is worn by Easterners in Roman art and continues to show up in the area even today - Hamid Karzai frequently wears a coat in this fashion.

I know a lot of visitors to my blog are interested in the comparison shots. Here are some Xyston cavalry alongside Old Glory 15s Seleucids.

Here are, from left, Black Hat (ex-Gladiator) Kappadokians, Essex Companions and Xyston Companions.

Plutarch's Wars: A Successor Battle

The Wars of Alexander's Successors have interested me for a long time and make for good wargames. A number histories have quite a lot of detail about the battles and the troops who fought them. The various generals have armies which are similar enough for generalship to play an even larger part than normal while each having their own quirks to make them distinctive.
We recently fought a Successor battle with DBMM at our club. The armies were equal points - 500 apiece - one being based on Antigonus One-eyed's forces (Asiatic Early Successor) and the other being Seleucid. It was similar to the clash at Ipsos which resulted in Antigonus's death. It is possible to recreate the coalition force at Ipsos using the Lysimachid list but I was slightly short of some of the necessary troops, especially the eight elephants needed for one side.
I feel Successor battles work best at 500 points (or more) as it gives you enough points to have a sizeable phalanx while still having the troops to fight a good battle on the wings.
Here are a couple of pictures - the club lighting isn't up to much and using the flash didn't improve the pics much :(

Here is the Antigonid phalanx, flanked by a vineyard. The Seleucid elephants are advancing. They should be towerless at this point but I haven't finished the basing of the ones I have - it was a last minute decision to use these armies!

The whole field near the beginning of the game. Seleucids on the right.

The clash of pike. The Seleucid argyraspides initially killed a number of enemies but overall there was enough toing-and froing that the Antigonid's were beginning to threaten the Seleucid flank. Out of shot, the rest of the Seleucid pike were beginning to beat the rest of the Antigonid phalanx.

The situation on the Seleucid left. This was the major clash of cavalry as the right was partially covered by a marsh. The Seleucids moved their right flank general and his agema to this wing. This didn't create a superiority in numbers but did improve the command situation. We had a clash of elephants as well as a swirling cavalry battle. The Seleucids broke the Antigonids but it is unlikely that many of them could have avoided pursuing the enemy from the board.

We called time here. The Seleucids didn't need to inflict many more casualties to break the Antigonid phalanx but their own left was beginning to falter and this could have had a devastating impact on their own phalanx.

Next - some photos of some Successor generals.