Macedonians for Men of Bronze

[Easy E]

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.     

   

[Marine0846]

Good luck with the painting.
I know for me starting to paint new figures is the hardest.
Once I figure out the best way to paint the first figures I feel alot better.
Then I can start turning them out.

[Easy E]

Yes, I feel the same way.  To that end, I started out my Macedonian force by painting up a set of 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 to 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?

[Marine0846]

Front row, the one in the middle?
Don't worry, I did the same thing just the other day.

[Easy E]

The front middle guy is intended to be spearless as the leader.  There is someone else with a broken spear.  Just don;t say it to his face. 

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.   

[Easy E]

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! 

[Harry Faversham]

What sort of transfers are they?

 

[Easy E]

Little Big Men Studios I believe......

[Harry Faversham]

The LBMS instruction sheet tells you to cut out the shield and then peel the glossy plastic facing off to reveal the sticky on bit, right?
Try it that way and I'll guarantee you'll be demented within the hour. Peel off the glossy plastic facing from the entire sheet as your first job, right back to the last set of shields, then let it drop back into place to protect the shield artwok. You can then cut out the individual shield transfer out and remove the glossy plastic protective facing without sending yourself mental!
Another tip is to have a block of bluetac handy, encased in clingfilm. When you've stuck the shield transfer on the shield and removed the white backing paper push it firmly into the block and it'll stop 'orrible wrinkles on the edges of yer domed shields.
These tips have been kicking about on the LAF for awhile now, hope this helps.

[Easy E]

Thanks!  Will do.  After reading the directions I was curious how to keep the wrinkles out.

[Easy E]

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....

[Easy E]

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. 

[Harry Faversham]

Good man E, they look corking!

 

[Easy E]

Thanks Harry, your Spartan vs. Athens battle report has helped to inspire me!

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. 

[Easy E]

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