I/28 Sea People DBA army

The 13th century BC ushered in a Dark Age for the Eastern Mediterranean.  Established powers like the Mycenaeans and Hitties collapsed, even the Pharaohs struggled to preserve their kingdom.  One constant throughout this cauldron of violence were the Sea Peoples--tribes from the Aegean and Anatolia that ravaged the entire region.  Archeologists debate (JSTOR gated) whether they were a cause or a result of the general collapse, but either way, they fought against every army of the time.

The Vikings of 1200 BC

Most of the information I used painting these figures is from Nancy Sandar's The Sea Peoples: Warriors of the Eastern Mediterranean 1250-1150 BC.    They are based on matte board with adhesive magnet underneath (the thin black line visible at the bottom of each base) for safe storage.

According to Egyptian inscriptions--our main source of information on the Sea Peoples--the Shardana made up the largest portion.  Wearing heavy armor and their trademark horned helmets, they form the army's core.  We know their shoulder armor was bronze, but archeologists aren't sure whether their cuirasses were made of bronze or cloth; there is historical evidence for both, but not much for either.  I took the liberty of making them bronze as well.

1xLch (gen) and dismounted Bd (gen), 2x4Bd

The next largest group of Sea Peoples was the Peleset.  As Barker states in the 3.0 Army notes, the Peleset seem to have become the Philistines after being defeated by Egypt, but their origins (and that of other tribes) is not as certain as Barker implies.    One distinctive feature was the feathered headdress they wore.  Archaeologists have found bronze circlets that match the base ring of the headdresses, but don't know what color the feathers were, or even if they were feathers.

Another distinctive feature of these figures is the copper equipment. Interestingly, some of the Sea Peoples' swords and shield bosses seem to have been almost pure copper instead of the more golden bronze in most of the region.  I don't know if it's 100% historical, but for variety I've done most of the Peleset blade in copper and the rest of the army in bronze.

6xBd  All blades in the army are on 20mm bases, to allow their historically appropriate use as 3Bd raiders for players using 2.2+.

These lightly armored figures are Shasu, a smaller tribe that seems to have come overland to Egypt, from what is now Jordan.   Temple inscriptions show them as wearing their hair back in bags or turbans, which I've arbitrarily painted red in keeping with the general army palette.

3xAux

These figures are all from a Chariot Miniatures DBA 2.2 army pack.  The draft lists for DBA 3.0 are almost identical, except that they lose the distinction between 4Bd and 3Bd, so this is fine for 3.0, and the 3xBd units lend themselves to being played as "raiders" for 2.2+ players.  It works for everyone!