Review: Forged in Battle 15mm Later Seleucid Elephants

 (This review was originally written for Slingshot, the Society of Ancients' Journal, after a review pack of elephants was passed my way. For whatever reason, the review was never published. I happened upon it while going through some old files and thought I would post it here)

Forged in Battle 15mm LATER SELEUCID ELEPHANTS (code MS05) review.

Contents

The pack comes in ten pieces: two identical elephant models with attached towers – the towers are filled in, not hollow – two elephant heads, one with armoured trunk, one without; two identical mahouts in tunic wearing crested Attic helmets (though there may be variations – the website image shows a differently-attired mahout in what appears to be tunic and headband), and six crew figures modelled from the torso up, to be attached to the top surface of the tower. The crew figures are comprised of two archers, two javelinmen and two pike-bearers. They are in various combinations of linen armour, breastplate, and tunic, and wear Boiotian, Attic or Phrygian helmets. In my pack the two sarissa bearers are in different poses, but the archers and javelinmen are not.

Assembly

The pieces required a bit of filing to fit, but that is to be expected. The head of the elephant is attached to the body by means of a male/female joint, but the mahouts had to be filed thinner, their legs positioned carefully and glued to the front of the tower to allow the heads and bodies to meet. I used epoxy putty to fill in the gaps and ensure a strong bond.

The towers are cramped and I could only fit two crewmen per tower, but others may have better skills and more patience at fitting the third figures in than me. I also attached pikes before checking the crew positioning, which resulted in one pike being angled too steeply and the figure thus unusable. Lesson learned.

Modelling

After assembly it became apparent that there was a modelling oversight: the left-hand side of the elephant has the covering cloth right up to the elephant's front shoulder, but the right-hand side does not, so that when viewing from the left the mahout is sitting on the cloth, but from the right he isn't. Ideally you would want to use putty or green stuff to give the impression that the coverings meet, and do it before the mahout is attached. Unfortunately, I didn't notice this until too late, so I have used paint to try to do the same job. Otherwise, the sculpting is crisp, the details are good, and the proportions are attractive.

In terms of dimensions, the elephants are taller and slimmer than the other Seleucid or Indian elephants in my 15mm collection but they are still within the possible size range of the breed so they make for good variety.

Comparison with Chariot elephants (two in centre)

There are no straps across the elephants' rear ends, so people wanting those will need to add them in with putty or paint.

Comparison from the rear

Summary

They are a little tricky to put together, but they look grand. The folds in the cloth, the elephant armour, and the ridges on the elephant skin are very nice to work with and respond well to dry-brushing and washes. They are a very good addition to the current 15mm Successor elephant options, and the sculptor should be commended for going for a slightly different look. These models will work alongside Chariot elephants, for example, and the army will look much the better for their presence. I would certainly recommend this set and am now considering putting in a Christmas order with Forged in Battle, even though I shouldn't really be buying up even more lead…