Slitherine

Hoping some of you history buffs could help me out here: I'm looking for suitable figures for Lydian heavy cavalry, but I'm having a hard time figuring out just how "greek" those cavalrymen would look, and hence what figures to use. At the moment I'm leaning towards Xyston armoured greek cavalry in boeotian and/or pilos helmets, but are those helmet types really suitable for the 6th century BC? If not, what would be the predominant greek cavalry helmet at that time?

I know Magister Militum produces a pack of Lydian cavalrymen but from experience I'm not too keen on MM's horses and the riders are a bit too spindly to fit in with with the rest of my miniatures (mainly Xyston and Corvus Belli).

Many thanks in advance!

Those helmet types come much later than 6th century BCE. Greek foot would be in Corinthian helmets and one or two similar styles. The Skythians converted Greek Corinthian helmets for cavalry use so perhaps the Lydians did similar. However the local cavalry (Persians etc) might provide a better guideline for the local look.

Many thanks! So maybe scythian heavy cavalry figures in greek-ish helmets would be about right(-ish)?

Check out OGs Skythian Heavy Cav...








Very nice IMO,

Madcam.

No shields for Lydians ...

nikgaukroger wrote:No shields for Lydians ...

Dang it, those OG scythians looked great!

Maybe Xyston armored cav with headswaps for doric helmet types then?

This is (to the best of my knowledge) pure speculation . . .

BUT

Some of the later Assyrians had what some describe as a "J" crest on their helmets, which rose vertically on the top of the helmet before curving forward towards the wearer's face: http://www.hat.com/Othr7/Vlad14P.html

A couple of cenuries later we see these in Greece: http://www.ancientreplicas.com.au/prod_ ... ml?sno=298

This sort of begs for the theory on an intermediate style between the passing of the Assyrians and the rise of the Hellenes.

While it would be a tedious thing to do for several units, I would start with Kappadokians for my base cavalry, and modify the helmets to some sort of hybrid of these two styles.

Again, this is pure conjecture.

Hi, just saw this discussion and I have been having this dilemma for years! I did buy some Magister Militum Lydian figures and was not happy with them. I decided to make my own by doing what someone else on this thread suggested and do some head swap conversions. I looked at the Xyston Skythians but they looked too nomadic for me with bow cases etc. I bought the Greek cavalry with Boetion helmets and the early Greek and Lydian infantry then swapped all the heads and put long spears on them. I did it progressively and finished the cavalry over about 2 weeks. I think they look great (even though do say so myself!) I put two elements on armoured horses to act as Generals bodyguards.
I have played one battle with them (DBM against Skythians) and they got shat on! They threw 1s and 2s all game. Go figure...! Now they have a bit of a reputation as show ponies!
I did the Skythians as well with some other Greek type heads from figures in my spare box - and they came up alright too.
I'm halfway painting the Boetion hoplites now - probably paint them up as Thebans or perhaps Early Carthaginians. They would really work as any generic mercenary hoplites really.
I tried to upload some pics but not able to add them as attachments unfortunately...

only problem with using Skythians for Lydian cavalry is that they have bows and bow cases, which the Lydians didn't have.

As I said - they look too nomadic for Lydians...but better with Greek style helmets. Greek cavalry with older style helmets and long spears look pretty realistic for Lydian heavy cavalry (or pretty close to the pic in "Armies of the Ancient Near East" (Stillman & Tallis) p115 - without the shield.

Here are the converted hoplites with new Theban helmet heads.

Nice