6mm Macdonian Elephants

When Pyrrhus of Epirus deployed his Elephants against Roman Cavalry in 275 BCE it came as a terrible shock to the Republicans. The use of Elephants changed the course of the battle and arguably won the day for Pyrrhus. The Romans did eventually adapt to fighting these beasts but the fact that Hannibal was still using them nearly 75 years later showed that they were not entirely the one use shock weapon that some historians describe them as.

Having painted these I am now convinced that I have used the wrong Elephant models for my Pyrrhic army. The models I have used don't have towers and I think they are actually the type used by earlier Macedonian armies. By the time of the Successor armies elephant crews rode into war inside wooden Howdahs, much like the later war pachyderms that I painted for my Carthaginians. Its entirely my mistake but these are what I have and these will have to do for now! I have found the right models and have ordered them, so expect to see even more Elephants at some point in the near future!

I have again resorted to dressmakers pins to make the Sarisa or long spear carried by the crew.

Two war elephants and four crew earned me a massive 7 points (wooo!) but every point counts.

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After three weeks I am on just over 200 points which puts me comfortably ahead of my target for this point of the Painting Challenge and 40% of the way to my overall target. Things may slow down a little over coming weeks as I work through lots of small projects like these Elephants but I can afford to relax a little and enjoy the remaining 10 weeks.