Lydians

DBM Army List Book 1, List 50

ca. 687-546 B.C.

Since I just finished the camp for my Lydian army it seemed that a few pics of the army itself were in order. Last year I decided that each year I'd pick a specific army to run at conventions in order to get a really good feel for it and, I hoped, develop a winning strategy for it. Last year I used my Kushites and managed to win the Bronze and Iron Age Theme at Historicon with them, so the plan worked once. Let's see how I do with the Lydians this year (2002-2003). So far I've come in 6th out of 18 at Cross Border Challenge II and 3rd out of 12 at MIGSCON, so improvement is being seen. 

I decided to paint up the Lydians as my ancient Near Eastern Kn(F) army. I'm slowly painting up examples of all the different types of Iron Age armies available. E.g. Skythians are my LH army, Kuhsites are massed Bw, Neo-Babylonians are Bw(X) and Kn(S). The Biblical world has probably the most variety of army choices of any region or time period.

Unfortunately little is known about the appearance of the Lydian army. Herodotus describes them as the best cavalry around, and that their garments were "flesh" colored. We don't have any reliefs which show their troops, nor burials of warriors.  Did the Lydian army look "Greek"? Did it look Near Eastern? Was it something in between, or unique to itself? I opted to represent it as "in between". The figures I used are mostly Chariot and Flacon UK. Types of figures used are those listed as Assyrians, Babylonians, Medes, Skythians, Thracians, Illyrians, Phrygians and Greeks. The Lydian king is, of course, Zornyattes :-)

The core of the Lydian army is its cavalry. This can include up to 15 Kn(F) which can be Reg or Irr (but unfortunately not a combination of the two), 4 Cv(O) chariots, 12 LH(O) and 4 LH(F) Skythians.

Hard Charging Lydian Cavalry

If you take the year 546 BC option an Asiatic Greek Ally for the Lydians you can actually turn them into an almost all Hoplite force. Useful for taking on massed Bw. I usually have one command of Sp(O). A shield wall can be a useful moving piece of terrain against some opponents.

Asiatic Greek Hoplite Allies: Sp(O) and Cv(O)

The Lydians can also field large numbers of Ax (O) which are useful for holding or assaulting through RGo, except against massed Bw. They get a few Thracian Ax(S). They can take up to 16 Ps(S) Mysians which can be backed by the 12 Ps(O) slingers against other skirmishers. This is rather costly way of taking on enemy LH and Ps, but since you have to take 6 Ps(S), they might as well be supported. You can also field 3 Wb(F) war dogs. I've never found a use for them, so use them as extra, slightly more exotic, Ax(O).

Lydian Light Infantry Deploying

The big choice with the Lydians is to field the Kn(F), including sub-generals as Irr or Reg. Different tactics are required for these. If you go Reg you can try to pin the enemy with LH and mass the Reg Kn(F) for a decisive charge at a week point. This lets you take some time. If you go Irr you know the Kn will go impetuous unless you put all of them under the c-in-c, or keep them with the subs and don't move the subs so you have the extra PIP to hold them. I think with the Irr version you have to get into the fight quick and use the impetuous charges to your benefit. I do recommend bulking any Kn command with lots of Ax(O). Try to have enough filler so that you can lose all the Kn without breaking the command. If you take Sp(O) it's a good idea to give them a fair number of Ps to try to drive away enemy skirmishers. The Sp can be useful against enemy Bw. They can also be strung out 1 deep against non-Kn based mounted armies to cover the field an anchor flanks.

When using two regular lists I tend to have two strike commands of Kn and filler and a third small command of LH and a couple Kn. Against a Bw type army I take the Asiatic Greek ally Sp command, a Lydian Sp command under the c-in-c, a single command of Kn and a small skirmishing command of LH.

The 400 AP lists I've been using the most lately are:

Reg Kn(F) c-in-c, 6 Reg Kn(F), 3 LH(O), 7 Irr Ax(O), 4 Ps(S), 3 Ps(O), 1 Irr LH(F); EEs = 21.5, BP = 7.5

Reg Kn(F) sub, 6 Reg Kn(F), 3 LH(O), 8 Irr Ax(O), 2 Ps(S), 3 Ps(O) 1 Irr LH(F); EEs = 21.5, BP = 7.5

Reg Kn(F) sub, 2 Reg Kn(F), 4 LH(O), 2 Irr Ax(O), 3 Ps(O), 2 Irr LH(F), 6 Bag; EEs = 12.5, BP = 4.5

Army BP = 28

 

Reg Kn(F) c-in-c, 3 Reg Kn(F), 1 Irr LH(O), 2 Irr Ax(O), 8 Irr Sp(O), 3 Irr Ps(S), 3 Irr Ps(O), 1 Irr LH(F), 8 Bag; EEs = 19, BP = 6.5

Reg Kn(F) sub, 6 Reg Kn(F), 2 Irr LH(O), 7 Irr Ax(O), 3 Irr Ps (S), 2 Irr Ps(O); EEs = 18.5, BP = 6.5

Reg Kn(F) sub, 3 Irr LH(O), 3 Irr LH(F); EEs = 7, BP = 3

Irr Cv(O) ally, 1 Irr Cv(O), 14 Irr Sp(O)

Army BP = 30.5