"28mm figures for Jewish Revolt" Topic

Just as the heading says:

What would be good 28mm figures to represent the Jewish side of the 1st Jewish-Roman War, 66-73 CE?

Also, would there be any obvious difference between Sadducees, Pharisees, Adiabene, and Zealots? Thanks for any help.

Several years ago, Wargames Factory had a deal going where you would buy a set of Numidian light infantry, and ancient Germans. Stick the shaggy German heads on the LI bodies, and you had a fair representation of what the Jewish fighters would have looked like. I think Warlord Games carries the figures now.

Castaway Arts has Hebrew's from the biblical period which would probably work.

There is a real lack of figures for the Jewish revolt- a sad gap. I had a lot of happy chats with the late, lamented Allen Curtis about possible conversions. At the end of the day I couldn't find a range that would work- and one would need a great many miniatures!

Problems included getting a tunic of the correct length, having tzitzit* fringes on garments and wanting heads with features that look sufficiently Jewish- one would want strong features and many with curly hair. Allen said that some of the minis should be bearded (rural), others not (townsmen, perhaps).

If there's a really good sculptor out there who wants to tackle it, I'll have an army off you. A big one. :-)

*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tzitzit

PS Old thread link TMP link

But what did the Jewish troops look like anyway, does anyone know for sure.

You could try the Baleric slingers from Wargames Foundry Roman line.

But what did the Jewish troops look like anyway, does anyone know for sure.

We don't let that stop us with most other armies! ;-)

If you can be a little flexible on the 28mm there is RAFM

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" we don't let that stop us with most other armies"
Unless you are a manufacturer who spends a good deal of time and money to produce them and then all the " experts" surface pointing out all the flaws to everyone and why the figures are incorrect because the tunic is not the correct length.

Russ Dunaway

BigRedBat, that is exactly what I was referring to.

Well if you want top stick a German head on a Numidian and call him a Zealot, I, for one, will not criticise you. In the past have gamed with far more dubious representations.

If I was to model a Jewish Revolt army, though, I would want them to look my own vision of such an army, tzitzits and all. That's the reason I've never done it- lack of suitable figures. TBH with some many great figure ranges out there for other periods, jockeying to be painted, it'd need to be well researched and sculpted.

The two Osprey "campaign" series books on the Jewish rebellions, plus the MAA that covers Herod's army, aren't enough to go on to find suitable figures?

Hordes of men with long hair, beards, and sometimes funny hats in longish dresses

Do you want the Judaean People's Front or the…? No, let us not go there, for it is a very silly place!

In all seriousness, I always imagined they would have similarities to the very large states around for near them?
Assyria, Babylon, Egypt, Hittites, Philistines, etc -- only not quite as uniformed with some variations from warrior to warrior?
Did not Hebrews have chariots? I do not believe I have ever read any mention of it? It is hard to imagine that they would not? We do know they had slingers and at least one of them was elite so they may have been very proficient with that weapon?
With so little evidence you could let your imagination have at it?
You could even add an element of the supernatural such as pillars of fire, earthquakes, water, blinding light,etc?

Russ Dunaway

It's all barbarian gladius fodder from the Roman point of view:)

Hi Russ, it's the Jewish Revolt of 66/67 CE, so no chariots, Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Hittites or Philistines. Mostly Romans, Judeans and some Syrians. Luckily Flavius Josephus wrote a great book about it, heck of a good read; possibly my favourite ancient historian.

BRB, Honestly I have thought about doing a Hebrew army -- I will think about this if you will think about being the organizer-- how many packs needed -- remember -- the longer the list the smaller the chances, reasonable research, etc.
If you look at our early Persian list I made 5 packs of "exotic Persians."
I did these specifically for me because I wanted some really cool looking " eastern looking guys and shields" that you see in the movies. I have no evidence that they existed -- however the detractors have no evidence that they didn't.
Half my army is made up of these cool colorful fellas.
They sell pretty good through the years.

I thought about this army in 25/28mm a while ago in a moment of wishful thinking too. The best I could come up with was similar to the thoughts already mentioned here, plus maybe a mixture of thureophoroi types and maybe some of the lovely generic freedom fighters from the Old Glory range for the Spartacus rebellion.

My RAFM old 25mm figures seem to be the last stand of figures that specifically work for Maccabean/Hasmonian/Revolt troops. Some troops would have captured gear, some troops would be frontier troops that probably still looked like thureophoroi. The issue about heads, features, hair and beard styles are important details as are the robe length and sleeves.

WE know that at Jerusalem there were antagonistic factions- it would take a work of scholarship to dig into the visual differences. The other drawback to the general lack of info is that the army is not a 'winning' force for tabletop rules. However all these skirmish games coming out- now that is the Jewish revolt is the perfect venue for Romans to skirmish in their shiny armor- so maybe somebody will try?

I agree that there are many figures in the Old Glory ranges that are head swap candidates. Also the Footsore folks have been making resin head variants for Victrix figures, so that is a simpler option for some conversions.

Sad that Allen Curtis is gone and cannot weigh in, but in his spirit I add in my lofty 2 cents.

Thanks JJ. The point about the sleeve length is a good one- I'd forgotten that- didn't they have full-length sleeves? IIRC there was some sort of quasi-religious dress code.

Some of the RAFM's missed the sleeves.

auction

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Head swaps on these Newline Design Israelites and other thureophoroi are a bit of work but can add some flavor to units of zealots.

Newline Designs used to offer Maccabeans (sleeveless) but they have some tzitzit. I have some (unpainted) seems like a project! There are many Old Glory figures that can be altered as well.

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Part Two-
The Maccabees only solve the Hellenistic era void. The types of garments during the period of Hellenism may have been different under the Roman Empire- probably a mix of all types. But that is a total guess.

This figure really is evocative of Judas Maccabeus.

I found this to be a useful book- but limited in that it mostly just rehashes stuff form other references- mainly because that seems to be the limit of scholarship:

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Peter Dennis tries his best:

A nice symbol rather than the anachronistic star of David:

Then there is Connelly's work:

I like the Zinnfigur chap, a lot.

The symbol at the bottom, what's that from? Looks like a flower.

It is a measuring weight.

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Bar Kochba Administration Weight (by Nick Thompson, CC BY-NC-SA)

Thanks JJ!

Would the same figures work for the First Revolt as well as 70 odd years later for the Second (Bar Kokhba War) Revolt? If we could come to consensus on what figures to use?????

Tzitzit fringes would be difficult to pull off in 28mm but here's a couple of ancient statues showing something similar:

Germanic/Gallic warrior/auxiliary (tunic edge under chainmail):

Gallo-Roman Sucellos:

Tzitzit fringes would be difficult to pull off in 28mm…

So, then, just not worry about it???

In that case, am thinking about using a couple vendors' "Successor" light infantry-types for the bulk of the troops; javelinmen, archers, and slingers. Then, do a few head-swaps to give a few of them "captured" Roman helmets. Use a mix of non-descript round and oblong shields, with some "captured" Roman shields mixed in. Finally, add in a few Roman Auxiliary figures --- hinting at either warriors or leaders nearly fully equipped with a Roman panoply…

I would say for the soldiers a mix of early Roman Auxilliaries and Late Hellenistic Theurophori/Thorakites, probably with some beards added on. Maybe some Carthaginian Militia with belts added on (they've got the beards and pointed helmets).

For the masses of civilian troops, rural militia, and Zealot Warbands, I think I might have a solution: head swapping Thracians. They've got cloaks, they've got boots, they've got tunics, just don't use any of the guys with big rhomphias. I would say Dacians, as they'e from a similar era, but they wear trousers and that's not really a part of Jewish dress.

As for differences in the factions, Sadduucees at least were ruling class and religious, so they would be well dressed and bearded, and probably wear the purple or blue and white.

Minifigs 25 mm