"Preview of some Parthian Cataphracts - Aventine" Topic

We are at the master mould stage with the latest range ie Parthians. The production figures will be ready next week. The following are just bits put together to give a feel of what might arrive.

We still need to assemble them, add swords and perfect the fit.

Cheers

Keith
Aventine Miniatures

WANT

These. are late Parthians then, 50-230AD?

What scale will these be? They look like great possibilities for fantasy Human Heavy Cavalry. Looking forward to their release. Cheers!

Sorry, 28mm in metal.

Yes late Parthian/early Sassanids. We have more heads etc. that will push the date range both ways.

Keith

Oh my… And to think that I was trying to save money!

Very nice, Keith. I like the way the legs on the top chap, grip the rearing horse.

Some with maces to follow? I do like a cataphract with a mace.

Cheers, Simon

Simon

I was hoping to have this one done in short time, mace armed will add to it…lol We have the mace ready and it is a simple one to do so I see no reason not to add them as well.
Cheers

keith

Great! Carrhae on, Keith. ;-) Simon

Very exciting to see. I look forward to the release.

Will there be an option for cloth barded or unbarded horses? Probably based on Firuzabad some feel that Parthians rode mostly unbarded horses, while early Sassanids rode mostly cloth/leather barded horses.

If you do cloth barding it might be helpful to keep the folds on the barding to a minimum. This might allow the possibity to apply the badges as a transfer. LBMS has done this for some Medeival heraldry.

An example of the transfer:

BTW, is that a mask on the rider of the rearing horse?

Very nice.

I have seen some of Adams horses in barding, not sure what he has in mind for them at present.

The rider has a face mask.

The armour for the horses is based on finds from Dura Europos. Bronze scale.

Cheers

Keith

Keith, I wasn't implying that there was was anything wrong with the horse barding. I was just noting it is possible it was in the minority with the Parthians and early Sassanids. An alternate intrepretaion is that the some of the scale barding may have been worn under the cloth.

I really like that musician figure. It really would be nice if the instrument was seperate.

Please understand I love what you and Adam are doing with Aventine. My comments are intended to be be constructive, not critical. – especially when it comes to the Sassanids , who are probably my favorite army.

"is that a mask on the rider of the rearing horse?" :)
Nice to have Wallace (as in Gromit) leading the army.

If you look closely at a good photograph, you can see that the Parthian horses at Firuzabad are in fact armoured. The lower edge of the barding is visible along the belly. It looks to be leather or textile, though.

Delbruck

I understand you comments and did not take any negative aspect but rather encouragement from them.

We will just have to wait and see where Adam goes with them, a set of cloth barded horses isn't out of the question either.

Thanks all for the positive feedback.

Cheers

Keith

Simon gets nice new Maces,I'm still waiting for a Sarmatian or two!

Looks like my painting apathy might just be about to come to an end…

Can we expect some horse archers (armoured and unarmoured :-)) as well?

Regards,
Craig

Hi Craig

Yes to both armoured and unarmoured.

Looks like we will be adding mace and sword armed as well…lol

Cheers
Keith

"For Surena had veiled his main force behind his advance guard, and concealed the gleam of their armour by ordering them to cover themselves with robes and skins."

"While the Romans were in consternation at this din, suddenly their enemies dropped the coverings of their armour, and were seen to be themselves blazing in helmets and breastplates, their Margianian steel glittering keen and bright, and their horses clad in plates of bronze and steel."

Plutarch, on Carrhae. .

It appears that by covering up their glinting armour, the Surena was able to conceal the location of his relatively small number of cataphracts, until he was ready to charge with them.

If accurate, it's interesting that the metal armour of riders and horses both had coverings, although perhaps of an improvised nature. These were taken off partly for dramatic effect, but also presumably to stop them getting in the way during the charge that started shortly after they disrobed.

I am quite taken with the idea of units of camouflaged cataphracts cantering unseen around the Roman square, keeping the players guessing as to where they are.

Cheers, Simon

I'm not sure them Roman boys could see to much anyway, with 9,000 to 10,000 horse archers riding all around them and filling the skies with arrows!

I imagine the covers would help keeping the Sun off the armour -it would get pretty hot out there.

Phwaaar nice!

I painted them quickly today. Bit rough even for me but was fun to do.

Cheers
Keith

Very nice, Keith! Love 'em. Simon

Keith, looking work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Mike Adams P.S. Hi Simon and oldbob

Very impressive painted cataphracts.

"While the Romans were in consternation at this din, suddenly their enemies dropped the coverings of their armour, and were seen to be themselves blazing in helmets and breastplates, their Margianian steel glittering keen and bright, and their horses clad in plates of bronze and steel."

Personally, I would take anything a Roman says with a grain of salt. Polybius says most of the cataphract armor was covered. But this probably had more to do with heat (and fashion) than concealement.

Hi Delbruck, Plutarch was a Greek (from Chaeronea). :-) He wasn't there, of course, and wrote rather over a century after the event, so a salt pinch is certainly in order. However he is a pretty reliable historian.

What's the Polybius source, please? I'd be very interested to read it.

I meant Plutarch, not Polybius (who was already dead).

Excellent figures Keith/Adam

While perhaps not quite right I think Mithridates will acquire another unit of allied Armenian cataphracts!

Textile barding for the Sasanids would be a nice touch. As Oldbob noted, Sarmatians would be great as well.

Garry

Keith, I met to say good looking work on the figures! Sorry I was kind of tired from work! Also, when will Adam start on the Samnites or Successorss? Thanks Mike Adams

Hi Mike

Samnites after the PArthians then the successors.

Cheers

Keith

Damn, I knew they would do this! Just after I've largely finished my Parthians…I suppose another command wont hurt…

Keith, is the range likely to extend to some Cataphract camels? I know they were most likely Hatrene but still would look nice…

dragonfan79

We did talk about them but at present the answer is no. A&A have some nice ones.

Chers

Keith

Thanks Keith, yes the A&A ones do look good.I think size wise they would fit in with your Parthians too.

cheers

Keith, thanks Mike Adams

"We did talk about them but at present the answer is no. A&A have some nice ones."

That was some fine sculptor who did the A&A figures.•

They look fab. I have been busy painting some A&A Palmyran Cataphracts today to get me in the mood. They will probably sit alongside my (soon to be) Aventine Parthian Army as Armenian allies, or similar. And yes, the A&A camels are excellent, will fit alongside these very we'll.

The first pack has reached our store. PAR01 is the Parthian Cataphract command set.

There are more photos on our facebok page
link

The next 3 packs will appear later this week along with the 12 figure unit deal. The unit will have the above command, 3 lancers with weapons lowered and 6 rear rank figures with lance upright.

Cheers
Keith

Keith, will the cataphract packs be generic or might they be divided up by period or nationality?

As an example, this is Osprey's representation of an early Parthian cataphract:

We don't think there is much of a difference in the range time span, we will list the earlier scale armour types as Late Parthian and the more Sassanid helmeted ones in mail as early Sassanids. But we think that you can safely mix them together. The Later Sassanids are different in that they have straps that these don't along with later helmets etc.

To that end we will list two unit deals with appropiate packs selected. We will also add swordsmen, macemen and archers firing as separate packs. Once we have them done then its the light cavalry.

Cheers

keith

We added the first 4 packs and a unit deal. Hobby news submitted with details.

Cheers

Keith

Very impressive.••••

I am a little curious why the musician was the only one who got hand armor. It seems a little odd.