Pontic Chalkaspides

Description

These men are Pontos’ crack phalangites: the Chalkaspides. Equipped with a sarissa as well as a sword for close combat, these men have been named after their iconic ‘bronze shields’, a round pelte. Protected by sturdy linothorax armour, offering a good compromise between protection and flexibility, as well as lavishly coloured Phrygian, Thracian and Pilos helmets, these men will form the solid core of your main infantry line.

Historical background

Hellenistic infantry regiments often received a name inspired by the colour of their shields. The Chalkaspides, which appear in Antigonid, Seleucid and Pontic armies, therefore thank their name to the bronze shields with which they had been equipped (Hunt, ‘Military Forces’ (2008), pp. 338-339). Foulon (Revue des Études Anciennes 98 1-2 (1996), pp. 53-63) distinguishes professional crack ‘infantry guard’ regiments, such as the Chalkaspides, from the mass of temporarily raised ‘levy’ phalangites. They would not have differed from the latter in heaviness of equipment as much as in their incomparable mobility and level of experience. This resulted from the permanence of the corps, which allowed for intensive training and ensured immediate availability. On march, Chalkaspides would be positioned on the vulnerable front and back of the phalangites’ column, just as they would be positioned on its left and right sides in battle.

Even though during the First Mithridatic War (89-85 BC), the Pontic army partially copied Roman military tactics and equipped part of its men as ‘imitation legions’, it also retained the phalanx. Plutarch (Sull. 16.7) describes how leading up to the Battle of Chaironeia in 86 BC, a regiment of Chalkaspides pushed forward to occupy the deserted acropolis of Parapotamii against Sulla’s army. They were under the command of Taxiles (Plut. Sull. 19.2), one of Mithridates VI’s most senior and trusted commanders. While the Pontic army was ultimately defeated, the Bronze-shields seem to have put up a valiant fight until the routing of the entire allied army forced them to run.

Even though the Pontic kingdom reached its greatest extent and military capacity under Mithridates VI, a bronze shield from the reign of Parnakes I (ca. 185-155 BC), bearing the name of this monarch, strongly suggests that Chalkaspides will have formed part of the Pontic army from at least the 2nd century BC (Getty Villa, 80.AC.60). In RIS, the Pontic Chalkaspides are represented as a reform unit, becoming available to a monarch who dares to display some of Parnakes’ ‘arrogant and violent character’ (Pol. XXVII.17).

Stats

Weapons

Defence

Condition and terrain

In battle: Can sap · Good stamina

Who can recruit it

A core roster unit for one faction, which can raise it anywhere it holds the right building:

Pontus