Macedonian phalangites - first two bases done

 

Not including the Greek hoplites already done (which I’ll use as allies/mercenaries for several different armies), this is the first of me painting some figures for the Alexandrian Macedonians. Phalangites seemed like a good place to start, seeing as they form the core of the army and I have a pile of them to do.

For the sarissas I used wire spears from Col Bills, cut down to about 60mm or so. The shields are smaller than the hoplite ones, so I wasn’t sure about suitable transfers to fit them, and in the end I just hand painted the Macedonian star symbol on some of them.

 

They did take a bit longer to paint up than most of the other ancients I’ve painted so far, mainly because of the details on the linen armour. I like how they look, but for the sake of speeding the project up I might try a different approach next time.

From what I’ve read about the Macedonian army, it’s likely that not all the phalangites would have worn body armour, so it would be good to add in some unarmoured ones to the rear ranks if possible. I don’t think Newline does unarmoured pikemen for the Macedonians, but I might find something suitable from their other ranges.

First of the Indian elephants

 

Another addition to my ancient Indian army, this time in the shape of an elephant, complete with general and parasol-bearer. It’s the first time I’ve painted an elephant in any miniature scale, and I wasn’t entirely sure how to tackle the skin colour, but I think it turned out ok. I went with a neutral gray, followed by a dark grey wash, then two light grey drybrush highights and a final stain of a very watered down yellowish colour just to warm everything up a bit.

I was initially unsure about what base width to choose for this, and in the end I opted for 40mm - the same as my infantry bases. I had thought about going for something wider and adding some skirmish figures to the base. This would have looked quite good, I think, but it would have meant a few more figures to paint, and I can always put skirmish bases beside it in future, if a game calls for it. On 40mm wide bases, two elephants together will look more impressive and will give the same unit width as the infantry.

It’s hard not to think about the suffering that these poor animals must have endured as war elephants. I’m sure they found the whole experience just as terrifying as their enemies did.

More Greek hoplites

 

Next to make it out of the lead pile were these two bases worth of Greek hoplites. I had been in the process of prepping a couple of elephants for my Indian army, but needed to wait for some filler to dry, so I grabbed these guys from the queue since they were all ready to go.

This now gives me four bases of hoplites, which I think will be a unit in most rules. There will be lots more hoplites to paint in future, but thankfully I like painting these guys.

As before, I used shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios which are meant for Foundry 28/25mm models, but their smaller size means they fit these Newline Designs shields perfectly. I’m hoping when I get round to starting on the Macedonians that I’ll be able to do the same with the shields for the phalangites and hypaspists. I’ll need to check if there are any LBMS transfers that would fit.

The Indian elephants will be the next for getting painted up. In fact, they’re already in progress. After that I might paint another chariot or two, and then move on to the first of the Macedonian units.

Some more progress with the ancient Indian army

I continued working on the classical Indian army this week and last, adding two more bases of swordsmen, two bases of skirmishers and the first of the chariots.

Again, I can’t say enough good things about these sculpts from Newline. I think they’re some of Sean’s best, and a real pleasure to paint. It should be a colourful army by the time it’s finished, especially once I add in more chariots and elephants.

Alongside the painting, I continue to read through various sets of ancients rules, which I seem to have quite a collection of now - even though I don’t (and have never had) enough ancients miniatures to game with! The only ancients gaming I’ve ever done has been with Commands & Colors, and converting that to miniatures is also a possibility.

Without going to my shelf to check, here’s what I can remember I have, in no particular order:

Ancient and Medieval Warfare (Neil Thomas)

Warhammer Ancient Battles

Clash of Empires

To the Strongest!

Pulse of Battle

DBA 3.0

L’art de la Guerre

Swordpoint 1st edition

Sword and Spear

Three Ages of Rome

Commands & Colors Ancients

I’m pretty sure I have the pdf version of Hail Caesar 1st edition as well, and an ebook version of Phil Sabin’s Lost Battles.

Too many rulesets by far, especially for an indecisive Libra like me, but it makes for interesting reading in the meantime. 

I’ll make a start on the Alexandrian Macedonians at some point soon, just for a change, but I do have the first two Indian elephants at the build/prep stage, so they’ll see they paint desk soon as well.

Here’s all the Indians that I’ve painted so far. Feels like a good start but still plenty to do.

Some more Indian archers

 

Two more bases done for the classical Indian army. These archers were a good way to get me back into the flow, being nice and straightforward to paint. I really should be knocking these out much more quickly than I do.

Two more bases gives me four in total. I think for some games the archers and swordsmen with be mixed together in units, but the archers on their own do look quite good as a single unit.

I’m sticking with the Indians for the moment, with several things in progress on the paint bench - more swordsmen and skirmishers, and the first of the chariots.

I also recently bought some Napoleonic Prussian Guard infantry that Sean from Newline Designs has newly released. I didn’t know these were in the pipeline, so it was a great surprise when I saw them on the website. My plan is to use them to represent grenadier battalions as well, which is something that’s been missing from my Prussian collection.

Speaking of Napoleonics, I enjoyed a few games earlier this year of Sam Mustafa’s Lasalle 2, played using my 20mm French and Prussians. It’s a great ruleset, and actually works quite well for solo play, so I really should get another game set up and do a battle report or two for the blog. It’s been too long since I rolled any dice!

So, hopefully more regular blog posts to come from me.
 

20mm Ancient Indian skirmishers

A small addition to my classical Indian army - two bases of javelin-armed skirmishers. Nice and easy to paint like the other figures from this range. Two figures to a base seems adequate for skirmishers.

I’ve no idea if their shields would have been painted like this, but I like the colours, so it works for me.

I swapped out the cast javelins for wire ones, so they should be more robust, although I may have cut them a smidge too long.

Not a lot of painting times this week or last, but I do have an Indian chariot all cleaned up and undercoated, ready to start at some point, hopefully soon, so that should be next.

20mm Ancient Indian swordsmen

 

Two bases of swordsmen now done for my classical Indian army. These will either form units of their own or could be mixed with the bases of bowmen. I decided to limit them to four figures per base since 5 or 6 just seemed too cramped. These lads must have needed a bit of space to wield those two-handed swords after all!

I'm quite pleased with how my bases are looking. I opted for Javis Desert Sand and Stone mix and Javis Light Green Fine Turf. In particular, the fine turf seems to stick to the sand and stone mix much better than static grass. I might go back at some point and add a few small tufts here and there, but they're fine for now.

Not sure yet what I'll paint next, but it'll probably be some Indian javelinemen, and then maybe a chariot or two after that, or an elephant. I've no definite plan on how big the final collection will be, either for this army or any of the other ones I’m working on. Progress will probably be slow and erratic sometimes, but hopefully without too many long gaps between painting. The main thing for me these days is just to enjoy a spot of painting whenever I have the time.

20mm Ancient Indian bowmen

 

Still aiming to keep things interesting for myself, I decided to pick a few packs of classical Indians from the lead pile to paint next. These are the first two bases of bowmen, including command. As with the other units I've finished so far, there will probably be four bases in total per unit, but I'm finding that painting just two bases at a time is better for keeping up the momentum.

These are some of the newest models from Newline Designs (although, not necessarily 'new' as such - a few years now, I think, since they were released), and I think they are some of the best sculpts I've painted so far. Really great figures, and very easy to paint.

I'll paint some Indian swordsmen next, which could form a mixed unit with the bowmen, and possibly some javelinmen and chariots after that, but it's tempting to skip across to the Alexandrian Macedonians to start on some phalangites. Summer always sees me outside a lot more in my free time, so I never get as much painting done this time of year, but if I can get two bases done every week or thereabouts, I'll be very happy with that, and the collections should make steady progress this year.

20mm Greek hoplites

 

I've always enjoyed painting Greek hoplites, but until now they've always been 28mm figures. I'm happy to say that painting these 20mm ones from Newline has been just as fun - if not more so, because they don't take nearly so long, and are really nice figures.

I was a bit worried at first about how I was going to tackle the shields, but by a stroke of good fortune I realised that I had some transfer sheets from Little Big Men Studios that fitted perfectly. The transfers are actually meant for Foundry hoplites, but I'm guessing it must be for Foundry's older and smaller figures, because the transfers are only about 10mm wide - which is spot on for these Newline shields. All I needed to do was paint the rims.

Only two bases done so far, but as with the Scutarii I wanted to move on to something different to keep my painting enthusiasm fresh. I'll get back and finish the other two bases before long though. I expect there will be quite a few hoplite bases to do eventually, which is fine by me!

20mm Scutarii

 

If I'm collecting a Republican Roman army, then as a solo gamer it makes sense to also collect a Carthaginian army! So, first up are some Spanish Scutarii. Just two bases done for now, but the other two bases will follow later.

These were fun to paint, although definitely a bit more time-consuming to do compared to the Romans. Thankfully, Scutarii shield patterns are quite straightforward to paint, so they didn't take too long. I really like the variety of figures you get with these packs from Newline Designs. I saw that there is another code available for Scutarii advancing, so I'll probably add a unit of those at some point, once this unit is done.

Greek hoplites next!

20mm Republican Romans

 

At long last I'm able to get back to doing some painting for myself again. I have missed it! These are 20mm Republican Roman Principes from Newline Designs, and are the beginning of what will hopefully be several armies that I can use to play some ancients battles.

So far I've painted up two units of Principes and one unit of Hastati. It's a small start, but I'm pleased with the progress made.

I don't have any firm idea yet about what rules I'll use for games. No doubt I'll want to try a few, and I have a number of rulesets on the shelf. As such, I wasn't entirely sure what base sizes to go for, and after a couple of false starts I settled on something very similar to my Napoleonics, with 4 bases per unit. This should allow me enough flexibility to accommodate most rules, and I'll vary the number of figures per base depending on troop type. Six figures per base seems to look quite good for heavy infantry.

It'll be a while before I have enough figures painted to play anything, but for now I'm just enjoying the painting. And I plan to jump around a bit between the different armies in order to stop myself from getting bored.

Some Spanish Scutarii and Greek hoplites will be up next, and probably some Classical Indians after that.