From the Warlord Games Website
Our latest releases from Cutting Edge Miniatures are the first exclusive models for the Neo-Sumerian and Successor States.
2 wheel Platform Carts were still being used at the very beginning of
the Middle Bronze Age and pulled by 4 equids. However, the spoked wheel
was now used replacing the solid wheel of the Early Bronze Age and
making it an altogether faster vehicle.
As an alternative, this Cart can be used with just 2 equids, by
cutting down the yoke pole to cover the necks of only 2 equids. Equids
of this period were the same size as the Horses used to pull the early
chariots proper.
The vehicle was still crewed by either a single javelinman or commander.
Such a vehicle was used in armies of the early Neo-Sumerian & Successor States, the early Amorite Kingdoms and early Elamites of the first half of the Middle Bronze Age.
These figures are appropriate as the main battle-line spearmen of the
Akkadian and Neo-Sumerian Successor State armies at the end of the
Early Bronze Age. They can also be used in Early Elamite and Early
Highlander armies as household troops or mercenaries. It is possible
that the front rank spearmen did not carry a spear, but rather carried
only an axe and large body shield to protect the rear ranks of the
phalanx. This is dependant on how the earlier Sumerian Stele of Vultures is
interpreted. Akkadian practice is taken to follow this precedent, as
there is no pictorial evidence of Akkadians using shields. However, as
some wargames rules only provide for 2 actual ranks of spearmen to
represent the body of spearmen, the visual impact of a phalanx of spears
would be lost if only the rear rank had a spear. Hence, these figures
have the front rank with a shield and a spear and the rear ranks with a
spear only.
Following on from earlier Sumerian practice it is possible therefore
that the weight of the shield was taken by a strap attached to the
shield and which hung over the shoulder. Indeed there is possible
evidence of large wicker shields from an Akkadian stela from Nasriyah,
and which show shoulder straps. It seems logical that shields would
start to become smaller before the eventual adoption of the Amorite
shield at the beginning of the Middle Bronze Age.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Warlord Games Press Release - New: Bronze Age Platform Cart and City-State Spearmen
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