Slitherine

Hello
Just recived my 1000pt xyston Indian army (great figures) and am happily painting bowmen. My question to every one is what were the colors of the chariots? I have also seen photos of elephants painted in all sorts of colors, was this also common way back BC something? So any help would be great, I am just a bit annal retetive so I dont want hippie looking elephants if it is a more modern thing.
Thanks
William Keyser

I've seen painted elephants in John Warry's "Warfare in the Classic World". Check relevant Osprey titles as well on Alexander. I haven't looked in primary sources for Alexander's campaigns recently -- that would be another place to check. And this is just the Hydapses campaign. I'm sure other posters will have more specific info.

Cheers,

Dale

Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars (Duncan Head, Ian Heath) mentions that elephants may have been painted with flower patterns at this time. I don't think it's certain. I keep the flowers to a minimum, using more geometric patterns which are also in current use, mostly in white-- asterisk for stars, crescent moons and serpentine lines in white. I like outlining the eyes, which also shows up in modern photos.

http://www.natashatynes.com/photos/unca ... ephant.jpg
http://picasaweb.google.com/scrivin/Koc ... 4108334834
http://www.traveljournals.net/pictures/86851.html

While not the case in the photos in some of the links, I have noticed that there is often a line across the face above the eyes above which painting is not done.

For blankets, I did some searching for fabric & design patterns and found several interesting websites: http://www.textilemuseum.org/ and http://www.indian-embroidery.com/indian ... tyles.html This book also looks interesting: http://www.exoticindiaart.com/book/details/IDG856/

Veni Vidi Vici makes a decal sheet specifically for war elephants.