Slitherine

Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can find 15mm Hellenistic cavalry shields. I suspect round, flat, with no boss.

Thanks in advance for any information.

I am not certain if any manufacturer does them specifically. For example, Essex miniatures have the shields attached to them. Thus I would use a proxy. I think that there are three types you can consider from xyston. You can check them here

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Xyston/ind ... =2_3_16_55

You can use either the peltast round shields or the phalangite ones. Another option is using the thureos, if you follow the theory that they used that kind of shield after getting in touch with the Celts.





Don't be afraid to use infantry shileds as I think they can fit.

Thanks very much. This looks like just the thing.

viperofmilan wrote:Does anyone have any suggestions on where I can find 15mm Hellenistic cavalry shields. I suspect round, flat, with no boss.

Thanks in advance for any information.

I didnt think that hellenistic cavalry carried shields. Only pants-wearing barbarians (eg galatians, iranians etc...) had them and those figs shoudl coem with shields included.

anthony

It is an unclear thing. I have read in this book that even Greeks adopted the shield by the third century B.C. but you are right that I haven't found specific references and I don't know what they based on to support that statement. It would seem that contact with Celts and other Western peoples would have forced them to adapt to their fighting techniques, but I would also appreciate any intake on the subject. For example, I have read that Pyrrhus is credited with introducing the use of the shield among Hellenistic kingdoms, but I don't know in what sources it is based on.

I've read that about Pyrrhos too. The theory was that it was his heavy use of allied Tarentine cavalry that was the big influence on him. And over some period of time after 270BC(ish) the fashion was gradually transmitted to other Hellenistic states. I think it may well have been in Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars (the WRG book), but from what I remember it didn't say anything much about the evidence for this or where it was derived from.

The practical aspects would be: Hellenistic lancers would not carry shields (or at least, I've not seen it suggested that they did), since wielding the lance two-handed would mean that the shield was little use to them (unless they were planning to stand around under archery fire instead of charging the shooters). But shield use could be expected to catch on quickly amongst jav/light spear cavalry types. And the old style Hellenistic lancers either increasingly adopting increased levels of armour for man and horse (e.g. later Seleucids), or converting to jav/light spear and adding shield (e.g. later Macedonians).