28mm Wargames Foundry Macedonian Hypaspists

Edit, 10/12: These figures won a gold ribbon at my local IMPS show.

I'm going to sell these off, but first I wanted to get some shots on the blog. These are Foundry Hypaspists from pack WG 9/5 "Hypaspists Attacking" with command from WG 9/1 "Macedonian Command." I used Delta Ceramcoats. The spears are from North Star, and the bases are Litko.

As always, you can click on the pictures to get larger images. I tried to get some really good close ups on these figures, so you'll see them with warts and all, but keep in mind that these figures are only 1.25 inches tall!

Group shot showing off the hand painted shields

I wanted a uniformed look to my troops, so I followed a regular painting scheme. All figures got blue tunics and helmets, all the linothorax armor is "maple sugar tan" except for one officer (I figure the officers would be likely to provide their own armor), and all the shields are the same.

Front view

I'm skeptical that Macedonian troops were really so brightly colored, but hey . . . it's the wargaming convention, and it does make the unit visually interesting.

Side view

The linothorax skirts got some variations in color. Some I did in red, some in purple. I painted edging on the shoulders of some soldiers.

Command group, front

The command figures are beautiful, but a real challenge to do well. I based the unit's standard on the painted example on Foundry's website.

Command group, side

Those breastplates require a careful touch, but they look awfully good once done. Both officers wear boots rather than sandals.

Command group, rear

Command group, side

Standard bearer

The standard pole got a wood grain treatment, but on the raw lead it's completely smooth.

Senior officer

I used two different shades for my flesh base tone. The arms and legs got Delta's "dark flesh," but the faces got a slightly darker tone that I blend myself from dark brown, territorial brown, and medium flesh.

Junior officer

This is the one set of linothorax armor that got a lighter shade, "lichen grey."

Hypaspists, front

Each hypaspist has a different head, but there are only two basic poses. Of the seven figures in the pack (and yes, this pack had seven figures rather than eight), I got five of one pose and two of the other.

Hypaspists, rear

The shields ensure that the figures look very striking from the front. I think the colorful armor makes them equally interesting from the rear.

Hypaspists, side

Here you can really see the variation I did within the limits of the overall color scheme. Everyone has the same basic color of leather, the tunics and helemts are the same, and the shields are identical. But I was able to add enough various touches to armor and helmet to make each figure an individual.

Hypaspist close up

Hypaspist close up

Hypaspist close up

These were a lot of fun to paint, but they took a looong time. I've been spoiled by painting all those Romans. I can crank out a hundred Romans in a few days. These 10 figures took me a week!

Historical Gaming Club Games

Today the Coeur d'Alene Charter Academy Historical Gaming Club met to fight two battles using Warhammer Ancient Battles. Our first fight pitted 850 point Indian and Carthaginian armies against each other. Our second fight saw a 2000 point Carthaginian army and 1000 point Parthian army take on a 2000 point republican Roman army with 1000 points of early imperial Roman allies.

Of course the battles were not based on any historical fights, but gave the kids a chance to field some of their painted armies. Click on any pictures to view larger images.

We have about 20 students in the club, but not that many show up for any one event. Today nine students attended (one didn't make it into this picture).


We spilt up the commands so that every student got to push around some soldiers.


The Carthaginians began the first battle by pushing forward a strong skirmish line of javelinmen.



This was the first time that Caleb fielded his newly painted ancient Indian army.


Their main Carthaginian battle line followed the skirmishers.



The Carthaginians maneuvered a cavalry unit away from the Indian elephant and toward the Indian left flank.


The Indians awaited the Carthaginian advance, planning to break up the attack with arrow fire.


Once the Carthaginians were in range, the Indians destroyed their skrimishers with a hail of arrows.

Then the Indians took the main Carthaginian line under fire.


But the Carthaginians shrugged off their losses and closed to melee the Indians.


Once the cavalry got around the Indian flank, the battle was decided.


The second game was much larger: 3000 points per side!


Most of the troops were mine, but Matt fielded the Parthians and the early imperial Romans.


The republican Romans were forced to abandon their neat apex triplex and extend their line to the right.


The Carthaginian skirmishers and Roman velites fought a sharp action in front of the main lines.


The Parthians moved heavy cavalry and archers against the imperial Romans.


These are Matt's imperial Romans, the first figures he ever painted.


In the center, the skirmishers gave way to lines of heavy infantry. The Carthaginians drew first blood.


The Carthaginian battle line was very heavy, but the Roman infantry held.


A unit of Roman velites tore up the Spanish cavalry on the Carthaginian left, and Roman horsemen moved up to deliver the coup de grace.


The Parthians were inflicting heavy losses on the Roman left. What to do?


Charge! The Roman infantry closed with the heavy Parthian cavalry.



At the same time, the Romans pushed back the Carthaginian center. The Roman manipular system allowed them to constantly feed fresh troops into the fray.


With their lines pinned, the Parthians struggled to contain the imperial Romans. The Parthian camels lost heavily to Roman cavalry.


Having crushed the Spanish cavalry, the Roman equites chased Carthage's skirmishers deep into the Carthaginian rear.




With both their flanks turned and their center getting pushed back, the Carthaginian/Parthian army decided to retreat.

EIR for Correus

Correus asked about EIR figures on TMP. Here are some pictures of Old Glory and Crusader legionaries. The Old Glory were the first 28s I ever painted, and the Crusader are some of the more recent, but hopefully you can see past the paint jobs and tell how they would look under your brush.

OG Pose 1

OG Pose 2

OG Pose 3

OG Pose 4

OG Pose 5

OG Command

Sole Crusader Pose

Crusader Command

OG/Crusader Size Comparison