Grey Beasts - Hellenistic War Elephants

And once more I needed much time to update my blog again. I moved again because I finished my studies (just waiting for my last paper to be checked) and currently I try to find a job or something like that (isn't easy as political scientist and historian). Despite that I had some free time which I spend mostly on painting. Today I managed to make some pictures, so I decided to finally continue my blog and start the new year the right way!

I finished two hellenistic war elephants in december. They are made by Zvezda and are as usal very good looking. The box art indicates that they are fighting against each other, so maybe the battle of Raphia 217 BC is shown. They are both much to big for ancient elephants, but do look impressive on the battlefield. I'm also a big fan of these beasts, as they were a common feature of hellenistic warfare and despite other opinions had influence on the outcomes of battles (heraclea, ausculum, cynoscephalae, just to name a few). Two elephants make one FoG battlegroup and are enough to arm two DBA armies with them because all hellenistic DBA army lists only have one elephant maximum.

I painted the elephants and their crews in a bright and colourful way, to indicate their elite status in the army. Unfortunately the dip was very pasty, so it left some spots on larger surfaces (I diluted it afterwards).