Page 1 of 1

Bosporan Figures

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 11:07 am
by titanu
I am looking to build a Bosporan army but am finding sources for figures information a bit difficult to come by. I have a light infantryman in Armies of the Macedonain and Punic Wars on page 132. The infantry look like Scythians.
Also on another forun a post which went:
"The citizens of the Bosporas were very rich; in early times the citizens, when they went to war, fought in full bronze hoplite regalia; later they would be an effective medium-heavy cavalry force, equipped much like Sarmatian nobles, though their equipment would be of higher quality."
Can anybody point me to other aother site and better still and pictures on the have and light cavalry?

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 12:38 pm
by johno
The Bosporans are often described as having a Hellenised Skythian aristocracy, later coming under Sarmatian influence.

The figures I use are Tabletop Games Sarmatians, but only because I already had over 30 elements of them.

If I was starting again, I would probably use some of the nice Falcon Skythians, which include some nice figures with Hellenistic cuirasses and/or helmets.

For the Armoured City Militia, I bought some Thorakitai from Essex, and painted them with trousers

The hillmen javelins and archers are all Skythian foot, mixed with oddments from my bits box that were suitable, just to increase the variety.

Posted: Sun Nov 20, 2011 2:40 pm
by batesmotel
The Army of the Bosporan Kingdom by Mariusz Mielczarek is the best reference for the Bosporan army and should be available from http://www.oxbowbooks.com/. I also have an extra copy (a long story) so PM me if you'd be interested.

Early on the mounted would normally be Skythian style cavalary with GReek influence and later would be more Sarmatian style still with Greek influence. The Sarmatian style would become more predominant as the mounted evolved from horse archers to a larger percentage of lancers. I would expect that transition would be mostly complete by the time of Roman domination (1st Century A.D.) if not some what earlier.

Chris