In the March 98 issue of SAGA, Carl Stefanelli asks a profound philosophical question, "does anybody know of a good range for those kick- ass Judeans?" Although I'm not a very profound thinker, I feel compelled to attempt a response to Carl's challenge.

I have not yet found a set of commercially produced castings made specifically for the Late Hebrew army. However, the Chariot Miniatures catalogue has a number of elections from their "Biblical" armies list that do very nicely.

I used the WRG Army Lists Book 1 (1981 ed.) for my Late Hebrew army O.B., and have not yet found anything in my readings to indicate that any of the subsequently published lists offer any major improvement. The only exception to this point is that I have found some textual references indicating that the Gibborim, i.e., the "Mighty Men" of Judah, should be LHI, not LMI as per the WRG O.B. - a point with which M. Holland and C. Froud, The Book of Hosts: Chariot Warfare Army Lists for 3000 BC to 343 BC (1991 ed.), agrees (see p.53). My good buddy Oliver Silsby, who periodically trashes me with his 'killer' Assyrians, granted me this point after I bashed his shoulder with the textual evidence.

The Chariot Miniatures catalogue can be obtained from The Guardroom, 38 West Street, Dunstable, Beds, Enghnd, U.K. The phone number is (44 582) 606041. (Ask for David Deller, Proprietor, and tell him Dennis Leventhal from Hong Kong told you to call.)

This catalogue recommends speific items from their various army offerings to construct a Late Hebrew anny. This works very well considering that the Hebrews sat astride the caravan route (a-line-of-march) between the various Near Eastern empires and kingdoms of the Biblical period, and most certainly picked up ums and armour from all neighbors on all sides. Thus, for example, Chariot Miniatures recommends specifically the following selections for developing the various Late Hebrew army units:

1. From the "New Assyrian Empire" range, choose from (i.e., mix-and-match) ASS1 Heavy command chariot, parasol, general, 3 crew, 4 horses; ASS2 - Heavy chariot, 4 horses Jc 4 crew; AS64 - Medium cavalry J1S; ASS8 - Guardsman HI JLS , large round shield; ASS9 - Guardsman HI JLS, small concave shield; ASS10 - Guardsman HI JLS, tower shield; ASS11 - MI JLS, wicker tower shield; ASS12 - MI JLS, smll round Shield; ASS16 - Auxiliary Infantry JLS and shield.
2. From the "New Kingdom Egyplian" range, choose from ENK1- Two- horse chariot, crew of driver and choice of Pharaoh, bowman w/lamellae armor or bowman w/dendritic armour, 5c Choice of horses w/no armour, textile armour, or cloth armour.

3. From "Early Assyrian" range, choose from EAS15 - 2-horse light chariot w/driver, bowman; EAS5 - Chariot, 2 horses, driver 5c bowman; EAST - Asharittu spearman, round shield; EAS2 - Asharittu spearman, square shield; EAS12 - Hupshu irregular spearman.

4. From the "Babylonian 5c Allies" range, choose from BAB1- Chaldean guard with shield; BAB5 - Chaldean levy spearman, tower shield; and BAB8 - Elamite chariot 2 mules, driver and bowman. (I rejected this latter - mules ain't got no class!)

5. From the "Hittite and Neo-Hittite" range, choose from HNH3 - Syrian spearman, HNH5 - Hittite guardsman with JLS; HNH6 - Anatolian spearman; HNH8 Chariot runner MI, advancing, shielded.

They additionally recommend seeing the HNH list for other Light Infantry, i.e., for your various LMIs and LIs.

I didn't take all their recommendations. For example, I used only the Egyptian range for the elite Hebrew light chariots, i.e., the "Ne'arim." The Israelite chariot arm was begun using captured Egyptian vehicles and it seems reasonable that they became the standard when setting up an establishment for providing replacements and additions for this force. However, when it came to my Ararnaean allies' heavy chariots, I chose from the Neo-Hittite range (e.g., HNH-1 and HNH 2). I also varied the many Hebrew infantry units in terms of clothing and armour. For example, Assyrian helmets wicker shields seemed to go better for my Gibborim, while Babylonian robes suited well my tribal levy archers.

The point is that you can be very creative with this catalogue. For example, any Late Hebrew army must have a tribal levy unit of LI slingers from the tribe of Benjamin. (Great skirmishers!) The HOG8 - Slinger from their "Hoplite Greek" range is perfect for this.

What the Chariot Miniatures notation on Hebrews forgot to mention was how to get the Philistine mercenaries that are called for by both historical verity and every published army list. Since Philistia was actually a collection of small city-states peopled by several different tribes of the (former) Sea Peoples, including both Pelethites and Cherethites, I mixed together (from the "New Kingdom Egyptian" range) ENK16 - Sea peoples/Philistine with reed head dress and ENK15 - Sea people with horned helmet for my Philistine mercenary unit These paint up real well, look great on the table, and always go "crunch" when I send them in to clobber the enemy line.

Another unit they forgot to make a suggestion for is the Arab (Midianite) camel archers. I chose (from the "Assyrian" range) ASS21 - Arab Camelry, 2 riders (bowmen), for these "Irregular D" troops, who somehow always cause a lot of hvoc when released against enemy light horse.

I would note that both Essex and Donnington Miniatures have "ancient" ranges which include usable stuff from such ranges as Hykos, Early Canaanite, Syrian, Neo-Hittite Succes or States, New Kingdom Egyptian, etc. However, I used mostly Chariot Miniatures because I like the high articulation of detail in their castings, and their catalogue offered enough variations to allow for the construction of interesting look in units. But do take a look at the other offerings. Building the Hebrews gives you a great opporturuty to exercise some creativity.

Another thing I did with this army was to build every allowable unit in accordance with the published O.B. of my choice, including core army, supplementary units, and all allies. Ending up with 2,723 points (by WRG 7th). point system), I not only can challenge Assyrians, Babylonians, Egyptians, Neo- Hittites and Ararnaeans of whatever size my opponents prefer, but also I have enough "points" to divide into the armies of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and do a "Divided Kingdom" scenario that I find most enjoyable. (Note: Judah gets the Philistine mercenaries, but Israel gets the Aramaean heavy chariot allies.)

A note on insignia: Don't use the "Star of David" with this army! Back in those days, that design was first associated with Egyptian and Chaldean astrologers, later becoming known to the Greeks as the "Hexalpha of Pythagoras." To the best of my knowledge, Jews didn't start using this symbol on a regular basis until the late Dark Ages. For Jewish warriors from the 10th century BCE to the Maccabees of the Classical period, a sheaf of wheat or the 7-branched menorah would be more appropriate symbols.

Some of the books I've used to stimulate my thinking on how to style, paint and fight my Hebrews indude the following

(1) R. A. Gabriel and K. S. Metz, From Sumer to Rome: The Military Capabilities of Ancient Armies, New York and London: Greenwood Press, 1991;
(2) C. Herzog 5c M. Gichon, Battles of the Bible (1978 edition); Revised edition, London Greenhill Books, 1997;
(3) M. Rosenthal and I. Mozeson, Wars of the Jews, New York Hippocrene Books, 1990;
(4) T. Wise, Ancient Armies of the Middle East, London: Osprey Publishing 1981;
(5) N. Stillman and N. Tallis, Armies of the Ancient Near East, 3,000 BC to 539 BC, Sussex: Wargames Research Group, 1984;
(6) M. Healy, The Ancient Assyrians, London Osprey Publishing, 1991;
(7) M. Healy, Qadesh 1300BC: Clash of the Warrior Kings, London Osprey Publishing, 1993.
I also looked at every available book and pamphlet on ancient O.B.s, making comparisons until I found one that seemed most appropriate - to my own satisfaction.

While on this subject, I'd like to cast a vote of thanks to Angus McBride for his many artistic contributions to textural resources. His pictorial renditions of ancient warriors are superb.

A final note: The core army of the Late Hebrews is fundamentally a light weight, rough terrain army with units that need to be able to maneuver somewhat independently. (It is definitely NOT suited for the line-em-up-and- order-em-forward boredom of DBM.) You'll need some open space for the chariots, horse and camels, but with only two units of close order regular infantry, and many, many units of loose and open order irregular foot, armed variously with spears, bows and slings, picking a battlefield with some rocky ground, shrubbery, or any other kind of light-to-heavy cover scattered about will provide the equalizer you need to chop up such 'killer' armies as the Assyrians with all their heavy chariots and heavy infantry.

Of course, it's not all that bad fighting with "light-weights." When you win, the sideliners say to your opponent, HHa! You couldn't beat those light-weight Hebrewsl" And, when you lose, the sideliners say to your opponent, HSO, you beat those lightweight Hebrews. Big deal!"