Theban officers

These are some shots of Theban command figures. I've deliberately taken them at a distance, so that clicking on them will give a decent close-up:
I find that whether or not an image turns out to be clickable is rather random, but it's worth a go.

These two are on separate small circular bases, to represent notional command elements in Tactica II.

The next three photos are of a pair on a single larger base, to function as the overall army command stand:

Athenian Elite Hoplites

When our club's 25mm ancient gamers became one of the playtest groups for Tactica II, I decided to rationalise my rather haphazard collection by concentrating on standard 2,000 point armies. The plan was to be able to field any of the combinations permitted. I began with the various hoplite armies because I already had substantial numbers of them in various states of disrepair. I bought these particular guys from Michael. He had already done most of the work on them, in a more or less uniform manner. So I decided to keep them pretty much like that and use them as the unit of 24 elite Athenians permitted for the Marathon list:I gave them a wash, touched them up a bit, added transfers to the shields and the aprons on the front rank figures, and then varnished and based them.

Of course, after getting on reasonably well with this plan, I became more involved in the Society of Ancients Battle Days in Scotland, which put an end to it in the meantime. However, I'll post more of the army as and when I get the time to take pictures.

Early Seleucids against Indian

This was my (symmetrical) deployment for yesterday evening's game. It was Gordon and I against Billy, Simon and William as the Indians. In case anyone is wondering, Simon and I tend to be on opposite sides because we supply most of the club's 25mm ancient armies, bringing in one each most weeks. We always play historical opponents. My deployment was simple: phalanx in the middle, with the large units stiffened by elites; Light Infantry and elephants to either side of the infatry; and cavalry on the wings. The Indians set up with an interspersed mix of infantry and elephants across the centre, with cavalry and chariots on the wings. The fight was long and hard right across the board, with the cavalry wings of both sides knocking each other out. Eventually our left wing light troops ganged up on a lone Indian infantry unit with flank and rear wave attacks and this, combined with the central phalanx, won us the game. Another good fight.

Key to units
A: 24 Argyraspides in 3 ranks. Elite unit with pikes.
A1, A2: 10 skirmish archers in a single rank.
C1, C2: 18 Companion cavalry in 2 ranks. Elite lancers with Impetus.
E1, E2: 2 Elephants (Impetus).
J1, J2: 8 skirmish javelinmen in a single rank.
L1-4: 12 Peltast Light Infantry in two ranks.
M1, M2: 24 Veteran Macedonian Phalangites in 3 ranks. Elite units with pikes.
P1, P2: 36 Phalangites in 3 ranks. Pikemen.
Sk1, Sk2: 8 Skythian light horse archers in 2 ranks.
T1, T2: 8 Tarantine light horse with javelins in 2 ranks.