Ancient Warfare volume V, issue 3 arrived yesterday. The theme of this issue is 'Rome and the Sassanid Empire' - a subject which those of you who've been following this blog for a while will know, is of great interest to me. There are lots of interesting articles - from a discussion about soldiers and Sassanid society through to a lovely photo-article of a re-enactor dressed as a Sassanid horseman. Highly recommended. Actually, if you're into the warfare of antiquity, a subscription to Ancient Warfare comes highly recommended.
All of this, naturally enough, had me looking through my boxes of Sassanids and third century Romans, and at my 'spares'. I don't really think I'm 'finished with' that particular project. There are things I'd definitely like to do. If anyone made any, I'd really, really, like some proper Sassanid heavy infantry - mail-clad, shielded. I'd also like some dismounted Savaran (nobles) - there's evidence for them fighting on foot at times, for instance during sieges. More elephants! More horse archers - though perhaps armoured ones... Maybe combining the horses of the light cavalry with selected 'Savaran' riders, to create the 'medium' cavalry that seems to be ignored in wargames. And, for the Romans... Slingers and more javelin-men (lanciarii?). For those I might need to do some conversion work. I've got, or can get, suitable figures, but need things like slings and bags of bullets for the slingers, and possibly javelin-cases for the 'lanciarii'. Some heavier cavalry for the Romans mightn't come amiss either - 'contarii' or perhaps - armoured men on unarmoured horses armed with the contus. I think A&A Miniatures may well be getting yet another order sometime soon!
But as well as that, I'm thinking about my Pyrrhic army, and trying to decide on composition, equipment, etc. There's a lot that's uncertain, and which requires decisions - for instance, were Pyrrhus' Tarentine levies Macedonian-style pikemen (with an Italian twist) or 'hoplites', armed with thrusting spear and a big shield. And how does a pike phalanx work? Goldsworthy seems to suggest that there must have been gaps in the formation, or else it would quickly become disordered during the advance, whilst I thought the whole bit about it needing level ground was for precisely the reason that it didn't have gaps and was therefore apt to become disordered by rough ground. All that impacts on how I build the 'units' of pikemen. I've got thirty lovely Aventine Miniatures pikemen sat on my bench to aid my thinking. I'm hoping for a little bit of quiet time in which to start painting them really soon.