Indians against Early Seleucids

Last night I ended up fighting with Simon's Indians against Billy and William, who were using my Early Seleucids. Simon chose the army and the deployment, which was a big change from the previous game two weeks ago: a long but rather fragile centre of small infantry units interspersed with elephants, and two powerful wing columns. The Seleucids had the usual strong central phalanx and a mix of elephants, light troops and cavalry on either side of the infantry. We both had various skirmishers out front, and in the event they just cancelled out. The relative deployments produced a situation in which the deeper phalanx easily crushed our centre, while our wings were victorious. The crisis came at the point of the two joins between our centre and flanks, where the end infantry units had been set up. On our right, Simon lost both of his units, while mine were successful in pushing forward in concert with the attack colum. We won (just) because I was able to feed one of my cavalry units into the centre, catching a phalanx in the flank before our centre collapsed completely. This match-up always seems to be very close...

Key to units, pretty much from left to right:
Ch1: 2 Chariots
Ch2: 2 Chariots
E1: 3 Elephants
C1: 18 Militia Cavalry in two ranks
C2: 18 Militia Cavalry in two ranks
I1: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
I2: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
E2: 2 Elephants
I3: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
I4: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
E3: 2 Elephants
I5: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
I6: 24 Massed Archers in two ranks
E4: 2 Elephants
Ch3: 3 Chariots
C3: 18 Militia Cavalry in three ranks

Unit C2 was the one that won us the game, wheeling in to the right behind our battered but victorious infantry (I1 and I2) as E2 barely held on against a phalanx to its front.

On the Painting Tray - July

This is the first of a new series of monthly posts. I won't use photos, but I'm hoping it will be a good way for me to keep track of my progress over time. At the start of July 2009, I have (at several stages of part completion) on the painting tray, 11 casualty figures of various kinds for the Callinicum game at Claymore on August 1st, and 24 Newline velites. The latter I picked up at last year's Claymore when the guys from Newline were selling off some end of line packs before the ancients were moved to another manufacturer. I knew I'd paint them some time; they'll do for the 12 velites I need for each of the Roman legions at Zama. The plan is to try to complete everything that is on the tray at the start of each month. Anything extra that I somehow manage will be a welcome bonus!

Generic Hoplites

These are some of the generic hoplites I was working on until I ended up doing the Society of Ancients Battle Day in Scotland.

They are mostly Old Glory, with some Foundry mixed in. I bought the latter from Eric, with most of the basic work already done on them.

The Foundry figures tend to be "at ease" in the rear ranks. In total, I have eight units, each of 36 figures.

More than enough to cover most hoplite armies...