Triumph Renovation part 1: Greek, Thracian, Macedonian, and Persian

I’ve started playing Triumph. After building a few armies out of my existing DBA figures, I decided to build up my armies to better work with Triumph. Depending on the army, this means either rebasing elements or painting new ones to increase the size of the force.  I’ve had to do a little of both, to get my Classical armies up to date.  Clearly I need to adjust my depth of field  and get some better lighting before I take too many more pictures.

I started with figures I had on hand that extend the armies I already have painted. My first batch was enough Greeks and Thracians to at least be able to field single armies.

Now that Greek Hoplite armies are mostly Heavy foot but with some Elite Foot, I need both more elements in total and some different elements to distinguish between Heavy and Elite.  I painted up some Essex Later Hoplite Greek figures wearing metal breast plates to represent Elite Foot, as well as a dedicated general and a few more linen armored units.  Everything is hand painted including the shields, but my decreasing eyesight is becoming apparent.  Along with my 12 Spartan Hoplites this is more than enough to field most Hoplite-heavy Greek armies or a Persian triple army mercenary Hoplite contigent.

Newly painted Essex Later Greek Hoplites, 15mm

The other major change in Greek armies was reclassification of light troops from Psiloi to Rabble.  I had 2 elements of Greek Psiloi that I rebased as Rabble, and eventually I painted some more to bring it up to 4 rabble. The paint jobs were close enough that none of the figures stand out, once they’re based consistently.  I also painted 3 elements of Thracian Light Foot to augment my Thracian army.

Thracian light foot in the front; Essex figures with maybe a few Old Glory? Rebased Greek Rabble in the rear; Essex 15mm
A combination of rebased and newly painted Greek Rabble: mostly Essex, some Old Glory.

Along with the Greek Rabble, I also painted a bunch of Javelin Cavalry for my Alexandrian Macedonian army. Most of these represent Thessalian Cavalry, but there’s also an element that is more plausibly Thracian.  This is a mix of Magister Militum (Chariot) figures and Essex 15mm. The size difference is apparent if you’re looking for it, but not so bad when they’re based consistently and with only two horses per element.

Newly painted Greek and Thracian cavalry for Alexander the Great. Essex and Magister Militum 15mm

Thinking a bit harder, I don’t remember what order I painted all these in, so I might’ve gotten some of it wrong.  In any case, I also needed way more Hypaspists for a triple Alexander the Great army, and my existing Hypaspist needed to be rebased as Raiders.  I could’ve chosen Pike, but I don’t yet have a full set of Alexandrian pike yet, so I decided to make the Hypaspists Raiders for variety.  These were Old Glory figures I got from JM unpainted.  I declined to paint even more Alexandrians looking like clowns, and chose more straightforward colors for their armor.  The shields and plumes are enough color for these elements. I also had a few elements that were previously “4Ax,” but the closest equivalent in Triumph is Greek Mercenary Peltasts (Light Foot); so, more rebasing…

Newly painted Alexandrian Hypaspists: Raiders; Old Glory 15mm
Rebased Hypaspists (Raiders) and Greek Peltasts (Light Foot); 15mm Essex

Next are some mostly rebased Persians, augmented with newly painted Light Foot. I had 4 stands of Persian 3Ax with identical figures on each set of 2 stands, as well as 6 more identical unpainted peltasts.  I painted the 6 remaining guys and rebased everything with different figures on each base for variety.  You can find the newly painted figures if you look hard enough, but the paint jobs are close enough to match well.  I also rebased a bunch of DBA 3Cv stands as Javelin Cavalry, including the general, who is no longer allowed to go into battle on a chariot.  Good for morale, bad for King Darius’ hemorrhoids.

Persian Light Foot; Essex 15mm. Mostly rebased, with the guy sticking his arm out to the right on each stand newly painted.
Rebased Persian Javelin Cavalry; 15mm Magister Militum (Chariot) and Essex.

At this point I have a lot of options for an Alexandrian Macedonian triple army in Triumph, and limited choices for Later Achaemenid Persians. I may pick up some more Light Foot figures for the Persians, but I have enough mounted troops for now.

Rebasing figures that were originally based on metal bases, attached with either super glue or epoxy, is basically not a problem at all. The figures can be removed easily with an X-acto chisel blade, and it gives me an opportunity to update my basing. I’m not sure how difficult it will be to remove figures from wooden bases.

Running tally of Triumph Conversions

  • Newly Painted: 22 elements; 73 figures
  • Painted/Rebased: 7 elements; 8 figures painted
  • Rebased Elements: 12 elements