Who makes a good 15mm elephant suitable for Phyrric?

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:24 pm

I bout a Corvus Belli carthaginian elephant and wasn't particularly happy with it. Anybody have a suggestion on who makes a good 15mm elephant suitable for Phyrric?

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 7:49 pm

I am afraid I cannot recommend a model maker as I haven't got around to building an army of Pyrrhus of Epirus yet so I will look forward to replies to this thread. However I should say that first of all make sure your elephant is Indian. The Carthaginians and "Ptolemaic" Egyptians (the after the first stages of the Wars of the Successors when Indian elephants were available) used the smaller variety of African elephants.

There is clear evidence that Pyrrhus' elephants used "towers" so it is important to use Indian elephants carrying towers on their backs. Many models of Macedonian-style "Successor" Indian elephants lack towers. Of those that have towers I would say you should avoid the ones intended for the "Seleucid" armies as these tend to be armoured and have particularly large turrets which seem to be a Seleucid speciality.

I have heard that Gladiator provide a figure described as "EQ 2 Indian elephant with driver and two crew in a howdah (E)" in their "Hellenistics" range. Museum and Essex apparently also provide elephants.

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 8:14 pm

What about these, would these work?
http://www.magistermilitum.com/product. ... &PT_ID=381

What constitutes a large tower? Do you mean an especially large height of tower or an especially wide one that holds several soldiers? Am I looking for an elephant with howdah that only holds two men?

Are the Seleucids the only ones that armored their elephants or is it that there is no evidence of anyone else doing it?

How noticeable would the size of an African elephant vs. an Indian elephant be in 15mm especially with the scale problems between different manufacturers?

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Sat Apr 19, 2008 10:39 pm

flameberge wrote:Am I looking for an elephant with howdah that only holds two men?

That's exactly the sort of model that I will be looking for.

Are the Seleucids the only ones that armored their elephants or is it that there is no evidence of anyone else doing it?

Like most things in the ancient world we can't be absolutely sure. I can only say that I haven't seem evidence of other Successors protecting elephants in this way, and these heavily-equipped war beasts come from a period later than King Pyrrhus.

Take a look at the following image. It denotes an elephant of King Pyrrhus.

(It is from the site: http://www.ancientbattles.com/Vendel_el ... nts_01.htm.)

How noticeable would the size of an African elephant vs. an Indian elephant be in 15mm especially with the scale problems between different manufacturers?

I couldn't really comment too much on the size but it's things like the size and shape of the ears, head and back (the Indian back is arched upwards whereas the African is a bit hollow).

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Sun Apr 20, 2008 2:49 am

I'm afraid I'll probably have to use either Carthaginian elephants because the towers seem to be more appropriate size or use Seleucid elephants because they are indian elephants because I just can't seem to find both together.

blackhatminis · Post by **blackhatminis** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 5:33 pm

flameberge wrote:I'm afraid I'll probably have to use either Carthaginian elephants because the towers seem to be more appropriate size or use Seleucid elephants because they are indian elephants because I just can't seem to find both together.

We provide, as mentioned above, an Indian Elephant with tower for this purpose:

http://blackhat.co.uk/catalog/product_i ... cts_id=571

Mike

Black Hat Miniatures

www.blackhat.co.uk

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 6:41 pm

We provide, as mentioned above, an Indian Elephant with tower for this purpose:

http://blackhat.co.uk/catalog/product_i ... cts_id=571

Mike

Black Hat Miniatures

http://www.blackhat.co.uk

That looks rather good, it fits the bill exactly and it should paint very nicely indeed.

I will bookmark that link for future reference.

Many thanks!

EDIT
I have just looked at the other Hellenistics that you do and funnily enough it helped me find just what I was looking for.

Many years ago I acquired a really good Alexander figure and it painted up beautifully but I sold it along with a Macedonian-style army and now that I will be starting again I wondered where I might find it again. The Alexander figure is the very one! I will definitely be buying one again (charging general...sword aloft...black horse....panther-skin shabraque.....can't wait).

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Sat Apr 26, 2008 4:18 am

Do you have any U.S. distributors?

blackhatminis · Post by **blackhatminis** » Tue Apr 29, 2008 11:42 am

flameberge wrote:Do you have any U.S. distributors?

Yes, Scale Creep Miniatures are our USA retailer.

www.scalecreep.com

Mike

Black Hat Miniatures

www.blackhat.co.uk