"Xyston Later Achaemenid - Really Full Option?" Topic

Hi,

Looking to create my first DBA 3.0 armies and attracted by the Xyston ready made packs.

Like the idea of the Macedonian and the Later Achaemenid.

Both these are described as 'Full Option'.

Looking at the DBA 3.0 Army List I can see that is true for the Macedonian but the Later Achaemenid seems to fall well short.

Unit options that don't seem to be covered to me are

Armoured Horse – 1x 3Kn
Kardakes – 1x 4Ax (there are 3x units covered but not the 4th
Takabara – 3x 3Ax
Saka Horse Archer – 3x LH
Conscript Masses – 1x 7Hd

The product description is here

link

Now I can certainly see that you can field a 12 unit army and there are a number of options but I can see it as a 'full option'.

But as a beginner I accept that I might be misunderstanding the DBA Army Lists.

Would appreciate to hear what you think.

Many thanks,

Nigel

Well, for one thing, I think those Xyston armies were put together for 2.2. Maybe they have been updated for 3.0, but I doubt it.

I think the "1x3Kn" may be the Xyston "General and guards". Looking at the photo on the box I think that might be part-armoured-horse cavalry with the standard in the back row (ANC20068).

The kardakes were Spear rather than "4Ax" in the old DBx lists, so they'd be included in the "16 spearmen" – though from the photo they look like half kardakes figures and half Egyptians. The takabara are the "12 peltasts", which would be 4x3 Ax.

They do seem to provide only 2x2 Saka or other LH, and no Hd. As Ivan says, this may be down to following an old version of the list.

Yes I guess that it could be for an earlier version but let's assume it isn't.

Starting with cavalry:

Unit 1 – General and Companions – 3Kn
Unit 2 and 3 – Persian/Median/Bactarian Cavalry – 2x Cv
Unit 4 – Armoured Horse

The set list 3 Command (General and Guards) and 6 Cavalry – that accounts for Units 1, 2 and 3 – but not for Unit 4 (Armoured Horse)

Now the Karkades, Hoplites and Takabara – need 2x(Sp), 4x(4Ax) and 3x(3Ax) – make that 33 figures in total. The set has 16 Spearman and 12 Peltasts – 28 figures in all, and not sure how they would be distributed.

The Saka Horse Archers (3xLH) are definitely missing as are the Conscript Masses (1x7Hd).

There are more Pisiloi than needed – 6 provided, and a maximum of 2 Units can be used.

Cheers,

Nigel