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Greetings All,

One of my goals for 2019 was to complete some more armies for Men of Bronze and other Ancient games. I have three in the works, a Corinthian, a Spartan, and a Macedonian. A friend of mine is working on the Spartans and I am working on the Macedonians.

For Men of Bronze, I am using 28mm Victrix Plastic models. I purchased a box of Macedonian Phalangites, a box of Successor Phalangites, a pack of Hypaspists, and a pack of Macedonina Cavalry for the bulk of my force. I was hoping to use these models for the Macedonain army for the Battle of Charonea historical scenario in the Men of Bronze book.

My friend initially painted this unit of Pikeman to be the heart of the army....



That is the standard I am going to try to paint up to. Sadly, I am not a great painter.

With that standard in mind, I put together the models I had to form the bulk of the army.....



Seeing them all lined up like that..... well it is intimidating to say the least. Wish me luck! I will be chronicling my progress here as we move forward.

Looking forward to seeing how you get on! Did you purchase Victrix for all of it?

Side note but did you see this;
https://wargamesatlantic.com/blogs/news/halflings-and-persians-and-paint
Not sure if you are still in the hunt for some Persians.

That's a lot of long spears! They'll look really impressive all painted up together.

I did see the murmurs of Plastic Persians, but I will believe it when they hit retail.

As for the long spears, they cause all sorts of pain when you try to reach over them to grab some paints, a brush, or water and misjudge the distance.

To help me prepare, I started out with a set a Corinthians..... huh? I was actually checking to see if my current paint supply was up to the task....



They were clearly not. I mean, they were only 50 cent acrylics from a large discount retailer...... what did I expect? They had done a good enough job on my Blood Bowl teams, but those were supposed to look dirty and messy. They were not up snuff for this project.... so I ordered a bunch of new army painter paints.

On the bright side, I only broke one spear! Which one do you think it was?

Wargames Factory had plastic persians - a box that made infantry and/or archers. They also had a box of plastic persian cavalry that was quite nice.

The Wargames Atlantic persians in that pic look similar to the Wargames Factory, I wonder if they picked up those molds (if Warlord didn't grab them, though I haven't seen the Persians through Warlord yet).

So there are Plastic Persians out in the wild. Of course, not to the quality that Victrix would do, but serviceable.

Wargames Atlantic Persians are all new. I have a huge box of the Wargames Factory figures, and though somewhat simple, they're OK. The Wargames Atlantic ones look much better.

The WF ones are better served in using the parts for Seleucid troops.


@OP: Nice work so far! I'm starting out on an Antigonid Successor army for KOW, but intend to use some for Mortal Gods and SPQR.

The great thing about ancients is that they can be used with all sorts of Rule sets. I plan on using these in Men of Bronze, Broken Legions, and Hail Caesar. I might also use them in the rumored Lion Rampant- Ancients book.

I got a bunch of new army painter paints from Miniature Market, and started work on the next batch of Hypaspists. I have to a admit that the two blocks of 15 Pikeman frightens and intimidates me. I am reluctant to start on them first, so Hypaspists it is!



I undercoated them by brush with cheap big box retailer Acrylic paint. The name escapes me, but you can tell it was a bit of an off-tan/flesh looking color. From there, the colors are all army painter paints. So far, they are looking way better than the Corinthians with Big Box Retailer acrylics.

Still plugging along with these guys over the weekend. Made a bit more progress.



Eventually, I will put a decal on the officer's banner.... but it is not this day! In truth I have never used transfers before so I am a bit nervous about it for when the time comes. I have some for the shields as well. Oh well, that's for future me to worry about!

I hope you are just saving best for last and are planning on a significant Cavalry add to your Macedonian army.

I have some Macedonian Cavalry from Victrix that I still need to build, but infantry first....

Therefore, I made a bit more progress on the Hypaspists....



Eventually, that banner will get a decal, but for now it is staying blank. I also have Little Big Man transfers for the shields. I have never really used transfers before so we will all have to wait and see when that comes.

Okay, I think the "painting" phase of the Hypasists is done now. I still need to add the decal to the banner and the basing. I am not sure how I want to do that yet so more to come......



This was my first time using Little Big Man transfers and I think they turned out OKish. I had some wrinkling around the edges, but at arm's length it looks fine. I also only had 1 total misfire that required me to redone the shield completely. Not bad for a first attempt and I look forward to using them on the Pikeman as well. The shield emblems add a lot of flair to ranks of ancient units.

Definitely good progress!

I'm a big fan of the Hypaspist kit. I mix those with the Successor Pike's to get a lot more head variation. They also scale nicely with Warlord's Macedonians, so when they do their sprue sales I always pick up a few.

After undercoating all of my Blood Bowl Teams, 20 Greeks, and about 20 Gangsters (about 120+ models) by brush I decided I did NOT want to do it again for my Macedonian Pikeman. I wanted something quicker, easier, and with a flatter layer. I also couldn't just run down to the FLGS and get a specialty miniature primer spray.... geography simply did not want to cooperate. Therefore, I had to go out and find an alternative.

At the local hardware store, I think I found what I was looking for. I took it home and hit up a test mini to see what it looked like.....




I think I am good. Next up 30 Pikeman.

Baby steps as I move forward on this project. I managed to get 30 Pikemen undercoated in white.

Flesh!

@Arklite- I am pretty happy with the Phalangite and Hypaspists kits as well. They have a nice level of detail but are still bulk paint friendly with good definition and cuts for easy painting.

I have been happy with the Successor pikeman head mix for the most part. Plus, you can even kit them out with pants as opposed to Greaves if you want. Though that seemed a bit challenging to my unskilled eyes.

Anyway, I got all the Bronze and the red sashes on all 30, plus finished all the Pike points and pike butts. Big progress over the weekend!



Now, it is touch-ups, then shields, and the final wash. Then painting will be done. I think I will hold off on basing until I get the Heavy cavalry done painted as well.

Hopefully, I can have the Macedonians done by the end of the year!

Down to the basing on these guys.

Are these pictures showing up for anyone?

I started working on the Macedonian Cavalry arm of this army. Again, i am using Victrix models. The horses and riders are still separate at this point for painting.

[img]I started putting together the Cavalry arm of the Macedonian army.

[/img]

Nice army so far! And that cavalry kit looks like great fun to assembel/ paint

I have painted the horses for my Companion Cavalry....



I do not like painting horses, but had a good time with these. It was fun playing with the different colors.

Just in time for the New Year! I finished this force for the Battle of Charoneae in the Men of Bronze Historical Scenario section.

5 Units and 60 models. 2 Pikeman units, 1 Hypaspists Light Hoplite unit, 1 Psiloi unit, and 1 Heavy cavalry unit.

Crisp and nice and nice colorchoices on the horses. Victrix makes some cool sets.