Manda’s (Amachan) Ἕλληνες (Hellēnes)

My warlord will be Pyrrhus of Epirus. The model I use for him will be Pyrrhus (PYR31) from Aventine Miniatures. He will be joined on a 60mm base by the trumpeter and the banner bearer from the Command in Breastpaltes and cloaks (HCP04) from Aventine Miniatures as well. In terms of painting there will be some changes to his paint scheme. His cloak, tunic and the head crest will be painted with Vallejo Model Color Royal Purple (70.810). Any metal armour will be painted with Vallejo Model Air Steel (71.065) and any details will be painted with either Vallejo Model Color Bronze (70.998) and Scale 75 Metal N’ Alchemy Elven Gold (SC-74) which will all be drybrushed with Vallejo Model Air Silver RLM01 (71.063). And then we get to his horse. He will obviously be on a white horse (basically the leopard paint scheme without the dots) with reigns painted in Vallejo Panzer Aces Stencil (70.313). Now, he does a have a leopard skin over his horse, which will be a bitch to paint. I will be blending Vallejo Model Color Desert Yellow (70.977) on the top to Vallejo Model Color Ivory (70.918) on the edges with a bit of Vallejo Airbrush Flow Improver (71.262) as a medium. Once that is dry I will add little dots, I will try circles but I doubt I can do that, with Scale 75 Scalecolor Petroleum Grey (SC-57). Any other details will be done with whatever colour I find appropriate.

SAGA

In SAGA I will either use him as the legendary unit Pyrrhus I, King of Epirus or as a basic warlord mounted on a horse.

The Basilikon Agema (King’s Vanguard) will be very similarly equipped to Alexander’s Companions. They will be mounted on horses wielding a Xyston (long spear), no shield and wearing a bronze cuirass and a cloak. The models will be made using 3 sets of the Aventine Miniatures HCP05 and they will be based on 25x50mm pill shaped bases. All of their cloth, including any cloth on the horses and any linothorax if present, will be painted using Scale 75 Scalecolor Cantabric Blue (SC-53) with the last 1/3 to 1/4 of the cloak being painted with Vallejo Game Color Ghost Grey (72.046). Any detailing on the clothing or armour will be done with Scale 75 Metal N’ Alchemy Elven Gold (SC-74). The leather tack of the horses will be painted using Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (70.306) apart from the reigns, which will be painted Vallejo Panzer Aces Stencil (70.313). The rest of the colours will follow the earlier defined scheme.

SAGA

In SAGA they will be mounted hearthguard and I am planning on making 8 of them.

The Mollosian Phalangites will be equiped with a sarissa  and a small shield. They will mostly be wearing linothorax armour with some bronze cuirasses mixed in. These will be made from Aventine Miniatures PH001, PH09, PH11, PH21, PH22 and PH25 and will be on square 20x20mm bases to get them to form a tight formation. I will subdivide them into 3 groups of 8, each with their own different shield transfer and colour distinction on their shoulders and back. 1 group will have their shoulders painted Vallejo Model Color Old Rose (70.944), another Vallejo Game Color Scarlett Blood (72.106) and the last Vallejo Model Color Deep Sky Blue (70.844). All the piping/lining on the armour will be painted with Scale 75 Scalecolor Mediterranean Blue (SC-51).

SAGA

For SAGA they will be warriors with sarissas and I’m making 24 of them.

The Toxotai (Archers) and the Sphendonetai (Slingers) will be made from the Victrix Greek Archers (VXA017) and Greek Slingers (VXA018) respectively. They will be based on 25mm round bases.

SAGA

I will make 12 of each and they will be levies with bows/slings in SAGA.

The Peltastai or peltasts will be made from the Victrix Greek Peltasts, Javelin Men and Slingers. They will hold their crescent shaped shield the peltē from which they get their name. And they are armed with a set of javelins.

SAGA

In SAGA they will be levy with javelins and I will be making a total of 24 of them.

The war elephant will be made using the Unarmoured Indian Elephant Body 1 (EL01) with the Unarmoured Indian Elephant Head Trunk Up (EH01). On its back will be the Standard Three Man Howdah/Tower (EHW02) crewed by the Elephant Crew in Metal Armours (ELHC1), all from Aventine Miniatures. This will then go on a 60mm base.

SAGA

The war elephant will obviously count as an elephant. For those not familiar with Age of Hannibal, that is a unit of 1 costing 1 point, counting as 12 levy for victory points and activating as a unit of warriors.

For the Indian/Asian elephants used by Macedon and its successors (apart from Ptolemy) I will use a base of Vallejo Model Color Basalt Grey (70.869) followed by a drybrush of Vallejo Model Color Iraqui Sand (70.819) and then shaded with Citadel Shade Reikland Fleshshade (99189953027).

For the tusks and toes I will use a base of Vallejo Game Color Bonewhite (72.034) shaded with Vallejo Game Color Sepia Shade (73.200).

The eyes will be done with Vallejo Game Color Black (72.051) and then receive a gloss coat after all is sealed in.

For the gear of the elephant I will use colours I previously mentioned, but instead of rolling a die I may just pick what I want.

The crew will be done as listed earlier.

This will be the colour scheme used for my Epirote warband. Apart from the colours mentioned here I will be using a couple of others here and there as I feel I need them, but these are the main colours used. And for characters I may not keep to this scheme at all when it comes to clothing and colours.

Cloth & Dyes

During the 3rd century BC they didn’t have the colours available we have today, some would be more expensive than others. So here I made a list of various colours that would not have been overly expensive and that they had access to in the 3rd century BC. I will roll on a D10 using the following list to decide on a colour if one needs to be chosen.

1. Vallejo Model Air Aged White (71.132)
2. Vallejo Model Color Black Grey (70.862)
3. Vallejo Model Color German Cam. Med. Brown (70.826)
4. Scale 75 Fantasy & Games Goblin Flesh (SFG-24)
5. Vallejo Model Air Duck Egg Green (71.009)
6. Vallejo Model Color Yellow Ochre (70.913)
7. Scale 75 Scalecolor Sol Yellow (SC-40)
8. Vallejo Model Color Amaranth Red (70.829)
9. Scale 75 Scalecolor Cantabric Blue (SC-53)
10. Vallejo Model Color Flat Red (70.957)
11. Scale 75 Scalecolor Mediterranean Blue (SC-51)
12. Scale 75 Scalecolor Adriatic Blue (SC-15)

I found that Vallejo Model Air Aged White (71.132) is close to the natural colour of linen or wool, so it’s in there twice to represent non-dyed cloth.

Leather

For leather belts and straps I will use Vallejo Panzer Aces Leather Belt (70.312) or Vallejo Panzer Aces Dark Rubber (70.306). Larger surfaces of leather I will paint with either Vallejo Model Color Cavalry Brown (70.982) or Vallejo Model Color Red Leather (70.818). For decorated bits of leather I may use the previous 2 colours or use Vallejo Model Color Ivory (70.918) to represent white painted leather.

Wood

For wood I will use Vallejo Model Color Iraqui Sand (70.819) to represent the Cornell wood that was used for sarissas and other spears.

For the rest of the wood I will again use a die roll of a D6 this time with the results being:

• 1-2 Vallejo Panzer Aces Old Wood (70.310)
• 3-4 Vallejo Model Color Mahogany Brown (70.846)
• 5-6 Vallejo Panzer Aces New Wood (70.311)

Skin

For skin I will use a basecoat of Vallejo Game Color Cadnium Skin (72.099).

I will then add a drybrush over the whole model using Vallejo Model Color Ivory (70.918).

Old Bronze

For any old bronze work I will use a basecoat of Vallejo Game Color Tinny Tin (72.060) followed by a drybrush of Vallejo Model Color Bronze (70.998).

Polished Bronze

For polished bronze I will use a basecoat of Vallejo Model Color Bronze (70.998) and then a drybrush of Vallejo Model Air Silver RLM01 (71.063).

Iron

And then for the iron I will use a base coat of Vallejo Metal Color Burnt Iron (77.721) and a drybrush of Vallejo Model Air Steel (71.065).

Skin

For the skin I use a 50/50 mix of Vallejo Glaze Medium (70.596) and Citadel Shade Reikland Fleshshade (99189953027).

Metals

For both shades of bronze I use Citadel Shade Athonian Camoshade (99189953024) and for the iron I use Citadel Shade Nuln Oil (99189953017). After the washes I will apply a light drybrush of the metal colour used before to mimic a polished effect.

The Rest

For the rest I will use a wash that I find similar in colour to what the original colour was like.

For shields I will use the colours mention above apart from the area where I will use Little Big Men transfers. I will prime the shields with Vallejo Surface Primer White (74.600), paint the details and then fix up the areas where the transfers would go with Vallejo Model Color White (70.951).

When it comes to horses, I have done plenty of research on horses in history during my Order of Heimdallr project and thus I will link to that as I will be using the same colour schemes apart from one little thing, before I shade the model I will add a drybrush using Vallejo Model Air Aged White (71.132).

Since this is a different period to the Order of Heimdallr, I will be using this chart for the colours based on a D10.

• 1-2-3 Bay
• 4-5-6 Leopard
• 7-8 Tobiano
• 9 Black
• 10 Chestnut

This is my warband to represent the army of Pyrrhus of Epirus during the Pyrrhic war for use in SAGA Age of Hannibal.

I’ll be doing this project together with my Republican Roman warband and they will both share some similarities in colour schemes, basing etc. The Republican Roman warband will take priority so this warband will be slow going from the start.

You can find my Republican Roman warband here: