DBA I/27 Early Hebrew

This list covers a confederation of hill tribes on the eastern fringe of the Canaanite territories, toward the end of the second millenium BC. The source for this list is the Old Testament of the Bible, to quote Phil Barker (in fact I’ve pinched a couple his Bible quotes as well) “unreliable history but the best available”.

The Early Hebrew army arrayed

This army is one of a very few with an auxilia general. The figures are from Venexia Miniatures. They are a little lanky but they fit well with the descriptions and illustrations in Ancient Armies of the Near East. Venexia supplies a Star of David standard with the figures but I understand this is anachronistic and I wanted to undo the work of the Deuteronomists to some extent by giving the army an Asherah standard. Not wanting to attempt a wooden statue of a woman I went with this stylised tree, based on a design on the Canaanite Lachish Ewer.

The Hebrew chief discusses his deployment

Two warband elements represent the Simeonites and Ephraimites: “mighty men of valour”. These are Venexia figures.

Hard-charging Simeonites and Ephraimites

Five more auxillia mean this army should rule any rough terrain they come across. The bare chested figures are Old Glory Amorites, while the rest are Venexia figures.

Other tribesmen – rated as auxillia

To round off the army there are four psiloi. The javelinmen are Gadites (“swift as roes upon the mountain”) and Issacharians. They are Old Glory Amorites again. The archers (Benjamites) are more Old Glory Amorites, and the slingers (the guys waving the salamis) are Museum Miniatures.

‘Swift as roes’ – Hebrew skirmishers

For the camp I’ve used the obligatory Falcon Figures Uk Ark of the Covenant. I bought some Xyston rabbis to add to it but they are giants. The levite guards’ iron helmets would be pretty rare in the period covered by this list, so they might get a repaint.

The Ark of the Covenant and friends

With absolutely no mounted troops at all this army seems doomed to failure, but it’s fast moving and at least the auxillia will be well supported, so we’ll have to see.

4 responses to “DBA I/27 Early Hebrew

  1. Pingback: Two new army pages and some progress | Small Sagas·

  2. Just had a look at these. Very neat looking figures. Great job. They’re similar to the Norse Irish, but with Wb instead of Bd, which are probably more useful, as the Bd sit in the open looking lost for the Irish. Still I imagine that against their historical opponents some mounted would be good.

  3. Great looking figs. I am looking to recreate the Exodus narrative and am looking for something to that would work for Hebrew hordes of regular folks. Any ideas?

What do you think?