Monday, 12 July 2010

Phalanx Done(ish)

Here's the refurbed/extended phalanx I've been working on recently, finally complete(ish).  I say complete(ish) because I've decided that it ideally needs another 32 figures to bring it to 128, which is a much more Macedonian number, but they will have to wait a while for reinforcements as I'm working on another phalanx, now.


On the battlefield they will doubtless be formed up 4 deep, but 8 looks great. 


The rear view (above) shows that only the front 3-4 ranks have linen armour. 


All but one of the minis are Foundry (there's a solitary Bronze Goat in there somewhere).

Unusually for me, I did paint most of the figures in this unit, except for the first 2 dozen that were beautifully painted by Andy Bryant, whose style I have tried to imitate.  The last 30 minis were painted using the fast method I described in a recent post, using sprays and dips as much as possible.
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21 comments:

  1. jkklnjbjb12 July 2010 at 21:53

    This looks amazing! Well done! Go you buy the foundry figures out right from the site? Or from a dealer? I need some pike for my WAB early Macedonian army so if you have any connections let me know. Once again it looks very cool

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  2. Christopher(aka Axebreaker)12 July 2010 at 22:42

    Wow!That is a very impressive looking pike block!

    Cheers
    Christopher

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  3. BigRedBat12 July 2010 at 22:43

    Hi Lickwars, all the Foundry minis came from eBay or swaps, and not one from Foundry. Foundry don't get much business from me because of their silly postage charges and pricing.

    I think, in total, I must have the better part of 4000 Foundry minis and less than 10% came from them.

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  4. jkklnjbjb12 July 2010 at 23:44

    I figured, the prices are CRAZY

    -Aaron

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  5. AJ (Allan) Wright13 July 2010 at 02:11

    Fantastic work on these. I particularly like the color selection for the helmets and the way the raised detail on the shields looks when painted.

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  6. DeanM13 July 2010 at 03:34

    Awesome! Wow - what rules are you using for this 1:1 Syntagma! Now you need one with their pikes lowered (at least the front ranks

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  7. War Minister Crittumbo13 July 2010 at 05:40

    Those are great. I guess we can say the Bat's batty for pikes.
    (runs away)

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  8. Sire Godefroy13 July 2010 at 06:23

    Fantastic! That's what a syntagma should look like *looks sadly at his humble 25 men phalanx*.

    If you'll use this amount of miniatures per unit in a game, it's going to be one of the most impressive tables I can imagine.

    Cheers
    SG

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  9. Caliban13 July 2010 at 10:47

    I agree with AJ - the embossed shields and the helmet variations make for a great unit. I shall have to copy you at one point!

    Paul

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  10. Anonymous13 July 2010 at 17:39

    Noone can say 28mm does not capture the massed ranks now. Wow...

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  11. BigRedBat13 July 2010 at 18:26

    Thanks chaps- I've definitely not finished with this unit, yet! I'd love to think it will make it to 256, some day.

    The next one will be 128-strong, but that'll take months to do.

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  12. Counterpane13 July 2010 at 19:14

    Excellent, Simon, but I'll still think I'll stick to 6mm apart from HOTT!

    Richard C

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  13. BigRedBat13 July 2010 at 19:39

    Hey Richard! Didn't realise you were a feloow bloggista!

    Simon

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  14. Giles13 July 2010 at 22:42

    That is pretty amazing - the depth really works and makes it look like a "proper" phalanx. Very inspiring. I painted about 100-odd Foundry Macedonians about 8 years ago but haven't got around to basing them yet!

    Best wishes

    Giles

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  15. Keith14 July 2010 at 10:29

    Oh YES I love them, keep at it, I look forward to seeing the whole 10yards lol.

    Keith

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  16. Anonymous14 July 2010 at 15:48

    That is one Pike Block Bonanza there Simon. Before you know it you'll be skirmish wargaming?

    It is interesting that when you see a large number of figs like that, it does bring history to life and makes you realise just how effective the phalanx must have been in battle.

    Its inspired me to start painting my ECW Regt with 100 pikes.(notice I said start)
    Cheers Paul

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  17. BigRedBat14 July 2010 at 18:25

    Thanks chaps! Now I wish they were 16 deep.

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  18. Secundus18 July 2010 at 20:27

    Wow that looks amazing. I love the details you've put in with all the different poses going on, very nice.

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  19. Grégory Privat26 July 2010 at 22:03

    Excellent. I ve received the mat, by the way : thank you very much.

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  20. Grégory Privat26 July 2010 at 22:04

    Excellent !

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  21. BigRedBat26 July 2010 at 23:28

    Hope it's useful Greg! Scatter some Green flock on it and it'll look the biz.

    Simon

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Thanks for commenting. I will post this as soon as I am able to review it.