Jon's New Blog

Another member of my wargaming group has started a blog here on blogger.  Check out http://palousewargamingjournal.blogspot.com/ to read Jon's accounts of our projects and games!

18mm Blue Moon Napoleonic French

I am painting a group of 120 French fusiliers.  This stick is my prototype paint job, and I am pleased with how these turned out.  I don't think I've seen pictures of painted Blue Moon French anywhere else (whoops -- my friend Jon did some).  They are not as elegant as AB, and not as rough as Old Glory.  These occupy a nice middle ground, and they should look spiffy in their units.

15mm Macedonian Army

Here is the whole army, arrayed for battle.  The skirmishers are out front (from left to right light horse, slingers, and javelinmen) with the line troops behind (companions, hypaspists, two units of phalangites, hoplites, and Thessalians).

Field of Glory Alexandrian Macedonian Army 

The Right: Companion Cavalry with Alexander at the Front,  Hypaspists on the Foot's Flank, Light Cavalry Screening

The Meat Grinder: Phalangites and Hoplites Screened by Light Foot 

The Left:  Hoplites and Thessalian Cavalry Screened by Javelinmen

I spent most of the past year painting one huge commission.  It was some of my best work, and I am proud of the end result, but it felt like work, not a hobby.  It was very nice to paint for myself again, and I enjoyed finishing my own project within a month of starting.

I bought the figures in one large box as a Field of Glory starter army, although I probably will not use the Field of Glory rules.  I have painted 15mm ancients from three manufacturers -- Old Glory, Essex, and Xyston -- and I find Old Glory the best relative to price.  Xyston are certainly the best 15mm ancients available, but they are pricey!  Foot figures cost $.65 each, and Xyston charges $45 shipping on top of the figure costs.  I bought this entire army from Old Glory for $60 with free shipping.  For that price I got 152 foot and 38 mounted figures.

Below I have posted some links to my previous efforts with Xyston figures.  I like them, and if anyone knows where I can get them for a good price, I would be happy to add to this army.  For now I am declaring this project done.

http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/2009/03/15mm-xyston-macedonian-phalangites.html

http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/2009/09/15mm-xyston-hypaspists.html

http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/2009/03/xyston-companion-cavalry.html

http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/2010/02/15mm-thracians.html

http://macpheesminiaturemen.blogspot.com/2010/02/15mm-gauls.html

As soon as I am in funds again, I will buy the Old Glory Persian army to face off against Alex and his boys.

15mm Macedonian Companion Cavalry

Here they are, the cream of Alexander's army.  The companion cavalry fought under Alexander's direct command, administering the killing blow to Greek, Thracian, Persian, and Indian armies.

Old Glory provides two poses, one attacking, and one advancing with xyston held high.  I mixed them up, but if I were to do it over again, I might put these poses in different units.

And here is Alex himself, leading his companions forward to victory.

15mm Thessalian Heavy Cavalry

The Thessalians may not get all the press, but they were excellent heavy cavalrymen who contributed a great deal to Alexander's victories.

All these figures are Old Glory.  They give you two very similar poses, so you can build a disciplined looking unit.

15mm Macedonian Generals

Old Glory packages their mounted commanders along with foot command.  Since they don't give you enough foot command for the various infantry units, and they don't give you enough mounted command for three bases, I combined them for my commanders.

Here's Alex himself, flanked by two standards.

15mm Macedonian Light Cavalry

Here are the latest off the painting bench, a unit of light cavalry.  Old Glory only provides two poses, so these horsemen have a pretty uniform look.

15mm Macedonian Skirmishers

Here are the skirmishers for Alexander's army, one unit of javelinmen and one unit of slingers.  I went for earth tones with these.

15mm Macedonian Hypaspists

Here is the last of the close order infantry for my Macedonian army.  The hypaspists were Philip and Alexander's elite foot soldiers, always stationed on the right of the infantry line.  They seem to have been more mobile than the pikemen, fluid enough to cover the gap between infantry and cavalry.  Some rules treat them as medium infantry, but I have always seen them as heavy.  The evidence does indicate that they were armed and equipped as hoplites.

These are Old Glory figures.  They came with cast on long spears which I was certain would bend and break, so I cut them away, drilled out their hands, and used .020" piano wire for spears.

15mm Macedonian Phalangites

I finished painting these figures a couple of weeks ago, but I only finished their basing today.  Here are two units of phalangites, based on the 40mm by 15mm bases that are pretty standard for ancient armies.

The figures are all from Old Glory (19th Century Miniatures), and I like them a lot.  Old Glory provides piano wire for the pikes, which I cut down to about 50mm.  This does scale out to 18 feet, so these pike lengths are accurate for Alexander's army.

I don't yet know what rules I will be using, but I will probably start by trying Might of Arms.