Indian elephant crews

We decided to take a small diversion and do some Indian Crew for the elephants, we have no intention of expanding this to include infantry or cavalry.

There are 2 crews which can be mixed, the archers are 2 part and have their bows cast separately. The legs have been carefully crafted to fit in either the front, middle or back position on the elephants.

Adam’s Sassanids

Adam has painted some of the Sassanids. The elephant is an Indian with armour, he removed the crest on the heads(easy he said as the resin is easy to work). The crew are the ELSC2. The cavalry are a mix from the range. The falling horse is another of his converts, he removed the support on the front legs and lowered it down.

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Astride crew figures now in store

The production moulds have been completed. We now offer 6 figures from which you can make up the crews. There are 2 pikemen, 2 javelin armed and an archer. The mahout is an Indian. We decided to offer them separately as there are too many combinations if we tried to list them as 2 or 3 figure sets. The figures are 2 part(except the mahout) and have separate heads. The heads will have pilos helmets by default given they are the Macedonian and Carthaginian crews rather than later successors. We will of course pack whichever head you want, so for example if you think Attic helmets are better suited to Carthaginians then just add a note in the comments section or drop us an email. We will pack a pelt with the figures so you can make that choice yourself. I have managed to get 2 crew with the mahout on the back of an elephant and when I get the chance I will paint up some and post them here.

Astride elephant crews nearing completion

We have the master moulds done and are working on producing the production stage moulds. Once finished they will be suitable for all the armies that used astride elephant crews, Macedonian, Ptolemaic, Carthaginian etc. The crew figures will have separate heads so you can tailor them to suit your needs. There will be a choice of pikeman, archer and javelinman with the mahouts. The one in the photos is a resin elephant and a couple of the figures from the master mould so there might be small changes between them and the production versions. The riders are also 2 part bodies so you can alter the angle of the weapons to fit your bases, We just used this as an example of what is possible.

New Hellenistic period elephant crews

Having added upgraded elephants to our store we decided to revisit the crews for them. Adam created completely new figures for the two basic crews which should cover all the sets for this period including the Carthaginians. The figures have no bases to help fit them into the howdahs, they have separate heads and a new feature in the store allows you to pick from 7 different head sets in a drop down menu. The heads are also available in a pack of 28 (HS1 in the successor section). We found that it is better to fit the mahout to the elephant before the howdah as it can be tricky to get him in place once the head and howdah are glued. The packs come with a small sheet of alloy to use(or not) as a base on which to mount the crew figures, this is best dropped into the howdah and the figures then glued to it, this allows you to be able to remove the crew when transporting or to exchange for a different set. Photos show the figures on the base and in a howdah.

Aventine Miniatures New Catalog

As the last stage of the server move/upgrade we have added an updated shop/catalog system to the site with all the latest features. It is also now optimised for mobile devices in case you wish to place orders using your phone or tablet. The functionality and categories are the same as before and we will be updating these further with images and descriptions where appropriate to make it easier to navigate. We have tested the main features without any issues but as always if there are any problems or you need any help with it just contact us!

The shop is live at https://aventineminiatures.co.uk/catalog as usual.