Showing posts with label Khalkotaur. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Khalkotaur. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

The Rage of Achilles

Still some work needed but my undead Classical Greek (5th c. BCE) army is pretty much ready for play. Here's an overhead view of the army lined for battle. 



A line of psiloi light troops advancing in front of the phalanx. A mixture of skeletal human and cynocephale javlineers and skeletal satyr toxotai (archers).




In back of the psiloi marches the phalanx. Six units of skeletal hoplites. Mostly from the Australian company Eureka, but on the right flank are figures from Foundry, Bronze Age and plastics from the Wargames Factory Skeleton boxed set. Behind the phalanx are two giant hoplites, one a repainted skeleton warrior from Vitruvian Hacks, and the other from Ral Partha.


Attached to the phalanx is the hero Herakles, and behind him (with spear and hoplon) the warrior Achilles.



A unit of Hellas' ancient foes, Persian sparabara assembled from the Wargames Factory skeleton boxed set with Perisan wicker shields. Now fighting in service of their enemies!


A group of mythical beasts. From left to right: a Cerberus (Rackham), a chimera (Wyrd), a khalkotaur (Reaper), another Cerberus (Reaper) and another chimera (Wyrd). Behind them (between the Persian sparabara and the Khalkotaur) is a group of Thracian ogres! (Spartan Games)




In the foreground is the hero Jason, with a group of undead minotauroi behind.


A pair of skeletal Pegasi with riders (Mythic Articulations). Behind them are a Skeleton Hydra (Ral Partha) and the legendary first king of Athens, Cecrops I (converted from a Die Hard Miniatures skeleton snake man).



Cavalry on the right wing. There's a bit more cavalry here than you'd see in a hoplite army of the era (although the Thebans did maintain cavalry forces). But I can't resist using all these undead centaurs! In front, centaur missile troops. A mixture of Rackham undead centaurs and old Dark Horse skeleton centaurs. On the main line from left to right: Wyrd Miniatures Kentauroi, Dark Horse skeleton centaurs, Eureka skelton greek cavalry, Rackham undead centaurs and two undead centaurs from Cadwallon.


Cavalry can be a bit fragile so in support we have a group of undead cyclopes! Grenadier, Ral Partha, Wizkids, Grim Reaper Casting.


Magic user: Akhlys, the personification of death, or more specifically, the death mist that overtakes the dying. Converted from a banshee from GW's Mortis Engine.


Magic user: Hecate, the Greek goddess of witchcraft and necromancy (and crossroads!)


Hero: Echidna. I've been thinking of converting her into Medusa however. (Conversion from a Die Hard Miniatures snake man)





WIP: Reaper Brass Bull

Brass Bull
Reaper
#77256
Bob Olley
2015

A cool Khalkotaur for my undead Classical Greek army. The Khalkotauroi were two large bulls created for King Aeetes of Colchis (modern day Georgia) by the god Hephaestus. Originally, the Khalkotauroi were described as living bulls with bronze hooves and bronze mouths, out of which they breathed fire. Over the years, they've been depicted as fully bronze animated constructs or even clockwork-like machines.

When the hero Jason travelled to Colchis in search of the golden fleece, King Aeetes told him that if he could yoke the Khalkotauroi and plow a field, he could have the golden fleece - thinking the task impossible. But Aeetes' daughter Medea, who had fallen in love with the hero, gave him a magic ointment that would make him immune to the fiery breath of the Khalkotauroi. Jason successfully yoked the bulls and plowed the fields with dragon's teeth, creating a harvest of spartoi - who have now joined the ranks of the undead army!

Dead simple to paint. Black primer over the Reaper bonesium, then a coat of Scale Color Decayed Metal (bronze) and then a wash of GW's Nihilakh Oxide.