15mm Xyston Miniatures Light Infantry

My so called or flexible "Light Division" of mercenary Successors contingent - 2 units of Hellenistic Thracians with 2 units of Cretan Archers and 1 Greek Slingers. I use these units for Impetvs and Command Colors Ancients & for DBA DBMM

Below tables, is how I see these specific units translated between playing ancient wargaming rules sets... :o)

Unit Role & Conversion Table

Unit	Impetvs	Commands & Colors: Ancients	DBA / DBMM
Thracians	FL (Light Infantry) or W (Warband)	Auxiliary (A) or Warrior (W)	4Ax (Auxilia) or 3Ax
Cretan Archers	S (Skirmishers) or T (Archers)	Bowmen (B)	Ps (Psiloi) or Bw (Bow)
Greek Slingers	S (Skirmishers)	Slingers (S)	Ps (Psiloi)

Impetvs

Thracians are often classified as FL (Light Infantry) because of their mobility in difficult terrain.

• Thracians: Can be fielded as "Thracian Peltasts." They usually have a high "V" (Movement) value but low "D" (Discipline).
• Cretans/Slingers: These are almost always S (Skirmishers). In Basic Impetvs, they act as screens to soften the enemy before your Thracians charge.
• Tactical Tip: Use the Cretans' range to force the enemy to close in, then counter-charge with Thracians who gain bonuses in "broken" terrain.

Commands & Colors: Ancients (CCA)

Successor scenarios in CCA frequently feature these units as high-utility light troops.

• Thracians: Best represented as Auxilia (Green circle) for their ability to move and still battle effectively, or Warriors if you want to emphasize their fierce charge with the rhomphaia.
• Cretan Archers: These are Bowmen (B). They typically have a range of 3 hexes and are vital for checking enemy Light Cavalry.
• Greek Slingers: Standard Slingers (S). While they lack the range of the Cretans, they are efficient "hit-and-run" units.

DBA & DBMM

In the DBA 3.0 "Successor" lists (like II/16 or II/18), these units fill the mandatory light infantry slots.

• Thracians: Classified as 4Ax (Auxilia). They are "fast" foot that ignore movement penalties in bad going (woods/hills)
• Cretans & Slingers: Both are classed as Ps (Psiloi). In DBA, Psiloi are essential for supporting your Phalanx or seizing difficult terrain.
• DBMM Specifics: In DBMM, Thracians might be Irr Ax (S) (Superior Auxilia) to reflect their deadly weaponry, while Cretans are often Irr Ps (O) (Ordinary Psiloi) or Bw (O) if grouped

My miniatures are mounted on 40mm x 20mm stands. This is the standard for DBA and DBMM. For Impetvs, you can simply place two or three of these stands on a larger movement tray (120mm frontage for 28mm or 80mm for 15mm) to match that wargaming rules "Large Unit block" appearance.......... :o) 

Movement Trays

Movement trays have been around since..umm...guessing.. during the 1990s? There a dozens of wargaming bloggers use movement trays. DeanM WAB Corner , Christopher Bunker Hill , Cyrus Bucellarii and Rob Hawkins hobby blog are all influential...well to me anyway :o)

Movement trays are a game-changer for large-scale wargaming, drastically cutting down the time spent pushing individual models and keeping your ranks crisp. They are especially useful for "horde" armies or "rank and flank" systems like Warhammer and maybe DBMM?I use DBA-DBMM elements with my movement trays for Command Colors Ancients and Impetvs army units. Also I think, is one of the best ways to maximize your collection of miniatures without the nightmare of rebasing figures! :o)

Movement trays for De Bellis Multitudinis (DBMM) are a practical way to manage large groups of elements, especially during the early stages of a battle when moving in coherent lines or columns is more PIP-efficient. The DBMM system is element-based, not figure-based, battle groups are always chaning frontages during games so it may be impossible to have and difficult swapping different frontages trays just to move your grouped elements.

Impetvs 15mm frontages are 80mm one can use DBA/DBMM army elements to form up Impetvs battle groups depending on unit type i.e. Pikes I would use as a typical full strength Macedonian Pike block 2 by 4 (total 8 elements) The elements are removed during Command colors ancients and Impetvs games as casualties.

Left to Right of picture

80mm x 30mm, 80mm x 40mm, 80mm x 45mm, 80mm x 60mm

Pikes 2 Ranks Museum Miniatures "Z"Sculpts

Pikes 3 Ranks

Pikes 4 Ranks

Republican Romans 2 ranks Old Glory Miniatures

Republican Romans 3 ranks

Skirmishers 2 Ranks Xyston Miniatures

Auxiliary Light Infantry 2 Ranks

Bowmen 2 Ranks Essex Miniatures Goths

Warband 2 Ranks

Warband 3 Ranks

Warband 4 Ranks

15mm Xyston Miniatures Successors Cavalry

I had so many Macedonian Prodromoi  (light Horse) Xyston packs (about 11 packs) So...I removed the swords to most of the sword armed figures and added lances/wire instead, and painted/mounted the figures as medium "Mercenary" Successor Cavalry which I needed... also painted 3 packs of Persian Xystophoroi and 2 packs of Paionian Light Cavalry.

1st Successor Cavalry ANC20080

2nd Successor Cavalry

non-conversion figures :o)

Persian Xystophoroi ANC20125

Paionian Light Cavalry ANC20079

15mm Republican Romans

 

DBA 2.2/3.0

15mm Essex Miniatures

Three painted DBA Republican Roman Armies

3.0/II/10 Camilian Romans
2.2/II/33 Polybian Romans
2.2/II/49 Marian Romans

Umm... to avoid "going insane" :oP while painting my 15mm Romans, I should have aimed for roughly about 100 to 200 figures. This number of figures would cover a standard "full" army for most popular ancient wargaming rulesets without reaching the level of a multi-year "megaproject" but!.. how much is too much painting and deploying your minis on the tabletop - not enough! :o))