Pyrrhos Victories

[syrinx0]

Fantastic looking forces.  Those elephants are wonderful.
Welcome to LAF

[Pyrrhos]

Didn't Epirote cavalry convert to shields and shorter spears?

Pyrrhus changed the equipment of the cavalry only towards the end of his campaign in Italy or afterwards. This development arose from the experiences of this campaign. I have checked again, but so far I have not found any passage that states otherwise. However, I will look again.

[swiftnick]

Lovely stuff! A fascinating period and he was an interesting chap.
I like the colours you have used particularly the Companions in Black. Going to nick that idea as looks cool.

[Pyrrhos]

Perhaps some have already observed that certain horned helmets can be found among some manufacturers for Macedonians or Diadochi. Additionally, LBM also has decals depicting Alexander the Great with horns. I would like to briefly explain what these horns signify.

Alexander the Great has two lines of descent. His father was known to be the King of Macedonia from the family of the Argeads. This was, in turn, a branch of the Temenids, whose ancestor Temenos was considered a descendant of Heracles, who was also a son of Zeus. The family of Alexander's mother, Olympias, were the Aiakids, who traced their lineage back to Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles. Furthermore, Neoptolemus was nicknamed Pyrrhos, meaning "red-haired" or "fire-haired," which is why the Aiakids were also known as Pyrrhids. From this family also comes that Pyrrhos, who would later trouble the Romans. As mentioned, the Aiakids were descendants of Achilles, who was in turn a descendant of Aiakos, who was also a son of Zeus.

Alexander used these myths about his family's descent to present himself as a descendant of Zeus. This is reflected, among other things, in his political art and various coinage. Alexander especially revered Achilles and visited several locations on the Anatolian coast during his conquest of Persia that were associated with the Trojan War.
Finally, Alexander also conquered Egypt. There, the Egyptian fertility god Amun was equated by the Greeks with Zeus, under the name Ammon, also referred to as Zeus-Ammon. The Egyptians depicted Amun with a ram's head. In the merging of Zeus and Amun into Zeus-Ammon, the horns were also incorporated into Greek art. After Alexander's death, the Diadochi began to compete for power. Aligning oneself with Alexander's tradition was particularly advantageous, as he was quickly revered as a god after his death. For this reason, many of the Diadochi, such as the Ptolemies, had coins minted depicting Alexander with horns, symbolizing him as the son of Zeus-Ammon. These coin images also served as templates for the LBM decals.

Helmets with horns can also be found, not only in depictions of Alexander. Seleucus had a coin minted showing him wearing his helmet, which featured a stamped leopard pattern. As decoration, bull horns and ears were added. The panther skin references the god Dionysus, who had once conquered India—a feat later achieved by Alexander, and ultimately, Seleucus also claimed victory there. Panther skins are an attribute of Dionysus, and Seleucus cleverly alluded to his victory in this manner. The bull horns are also divine attributes, representing a variation of Alexander's horns.

My figure of Pyrrhos also wears a horned helmet, inspired by paintings by Peter Dennis. Since I am planning to create an army for the Seleucids in the future, I will attempt to paint the panther helmet on my Seleukos miniature.

As can be seen, seemingly small details of miniatures can tell great stories or inspire engagement with them.

The links direct you to examples:

https://www.victrixlimited.com/collections/macedonians/products/macedonian-hypaspists-shield-transfers-16?variant=33281999044707

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Alexander-Coin.jpg

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amun-Re#/media/Datei:Ashmolean_Museum_2022-05-06v.jpg

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seleucus_I_Nicator#/media/File:Seleukos_I_Nikator,_tetradrachm,_312-281_BC,_HGC_9-20.jpg

[Axebreaker]

Lovely thread! Elephants look really nice!

Christopher

[Pyrrhos]

I’m glad you like my thread, thank you!

I have been painting a bit more over the past few days. The phalangites are nearly complete and are just waiting for their shields, varnishing, and pigments. For that, I will need my airbrush, which I plan to use tomorrow. The Samnites are also taking shape and will be finished before the weekend. Afterwards, I will paint another 8 Samnites, bringing my total to 24. I plan to add another 48 phalangites and 24 Lucanians to the army in the coming months. However, next week I will start with my Macedonians. I can also use the Macedonian phalangites for Pyrrhus, but the plan is to represent Alexander and the Antigonids with them.

[Pyrrhos]

The next 8 Samnites will be completed shortly. Only the wash and highlights remain, after which the shields will be attached.

Meanwhile, the bases for the Macedonians are being prepared. I realized that I don't own a mounted figure of Alexander, so I ordered one from Studio Historia. I'm particularly pleased that it will be shipped via Hellenic Post and will arrive from Greece soon. It feels fitting for such a character model!

[Pyrrhos]

Whether one wants to believe it or not, it took me a month to find the time to seal the finished miniatures with the airbrush and add tufts.

Now, however, the 12 Phalangites and 8 Samnites could take their place in the display case. As can be seen, there is still room for Pyrrhos's army, which can only mean expanding from 48 Phalangites to 96 Phalangites and from 16 Samnites to 48 Samnites. Currently, though, I would like to take a break with Pyrrhos, as I plan to attend a SAGA tournament next month, where I want to play the Macedonians.

In addition to Phalangites for the Macedonians, I would like to build 12 Persian javelin cavalry, as well as the Silver Shields and, of course, Alexander the Great himself.

I also have some interesting things on my working space that I'm excited to show you.

Cheers

[Pyrrhos]

Details:

[Pyrrhos]

We often forget as miniature painters that, alongside the army, suitable mission objectives are also needed to tell a story. While looking into my display case, I noticed that I was missing heroes for the SAGA scenario "Old Feud." So, I sat down and used the Gangs of Rome miniatures from WGA and Footsore to create the six heroes that players can choose from at the beginning.

The new plastic set for Gangs of Rome is a goldmine. When you combine the parts in it with bits from other sets, you can really depict a lot from antiquity. For the princess, I had to use a lady from the Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire, while I utilized the Hades priest from Mortal Gods as the mystic.