Somewhere in the Middle East, late 4th century BC

[Tonhel]

 
Very nice!

I really like blogs like this!

[Corso]

Thanks all

Finished the whole unit of hoplites, recruited mainly from the coastal western Anatolian cities. Their commander is an eccentric Ionian. He wears a corinthian helmet (obsolete in this period but he loves tradition) and his shield depicts the gorgon (a nod to Athena). They will be marching back to the Satrap's palace to defend his territory and get more gold in the process. The Satrap is informed of this, delighted to have a good number of heavies on the way, but not enough. So he sends another official to hire more hoplites, this time a bit north.......

[guitarheroandy]

Top stuff!!!

[Burnin Coal]

  truly magnificent to behold and wonderful brushwork

[Corso]

Thanks for your comments!

Started the second unit and also a command base (cannot do one thing at a time from start to finish.......)

[Fremitus Borealis]

I love this idea! Beautiful painting too, by the way

[Corso]

I love this idea! Beautiful painting too, by the way

Thanks 

I should have something ready this week, the first base of another hoplite unit but a difference from the previous unit.

[Atheling]

Lovely work 

[Fremitus Borealis]

Thanks 

I should have something ready this week, the first base of another hoplite unit but a difference from the previous unit.

Can't wait to see!

By the way, apologies for the n00b question, but as I'm still in my early days in the hobby: you mention you're basing these guys for Hail Caesar, which I thought was meant to be 160x80 for a unit of massed infantry, but I see you've done 180x40 for this unit. Just wondering how acceptable such variations are; does it really just come down to who you're playing against? I've dug through a couple rulesets and they tend to sound quite proscriptive when it comes to basing and unit size, but then there seems to be a great variety whenever I peruse others' work for inspiration.

[Corso]

Thanks Aetheling

Fremitus Borealis my basing is 180x60, basically 3 square bases 60x60 (on a depth of 40 models look crammed in my opinion). For cavalry I increase depth to 80. My opponents use a  frontage is 160 with a depth 60 to 80 since they use 40mm square bases or 20mm deep ones. My 20mm extra in frontage doesn't make a difference really - technically speaking it's a disadvantage but Hail Caesar is quite a relaxing game and my two opponents are very friendly so we never have issues on that few mm out of range and such like.

We leave the infantry depth of 80 for pike phalanx, which none of us have at the moment 

[Fremitus Borealis]

Thanks Aetheling

Fremitus Borealis my basing is 180x60, basically 3 square bases 60x60 (on a depth of 40 models look crammed in my opinion). For cavalry I increase depth to 80. My opponents use a  frontage is 160 with a depth 60 to 80 since they use 40mm square bases or 20mm deep ones. My 20mm extra in frontage doesn't make a difference really - technically speaking it's a disadvantage but Hail Caesar is quite a relaxing game and my two opponents are very friendly so we never have issues on that few mm out of range and such like.

We leave the infantry depth of 80 for pike phalanx, which none of us have at the moment 

Thanks for the clarification! I see now the extra 20mm is in front of your units; I had just quickly counted  the hoplites themselves

Anyway, I'm still learning how the basing stuff works. Thus far I've just been putting individual infantry on 20x20 bases and then massing them into units, but I've seen a ton of variation around the web, as I said. I've been mostly going off the Hail Caesar guidelines from https://www.warlordgames.com/hail-caesar-base-sizes/ , but even on there they kind of hedge a bit when it comes to base sizes and depth.

Basically I'm still in the "collecting units" phase while trying to figure out how to paint to a reasonable standard... but I am wary of shooting myself in the foot by either basing everything in a way that will lock me into one particular ruleset, or, on the other hand, end up with more soldiers per unit than I really need, and never progress because the painting takes me too long  I'm collecting Successors and oh my does a 160x80 unit of 32 individual phalangites take forever

[Corso]

Thanks for the clarification! I see now the extra 20mm is in front of your units; I had just quickly counted  the hoplites themselves

Anyway, I'm still learning how the basing stuff works. Thus far I've just been putting individual infantry on 20x20 bases and then massing them into units, but I've seen a ton of variation around the web, as I said. I've been mostly going off the Hail Caesar guidelines from https://www.warlordgames.com/hail-caesar-base-sizes/ , but even on there they kind of hedge a bit when it comes to base sizes and depth.

Basically I'm still in the "collecting units" phase while trying to figure out how to paint to a reasonable standard... but I am wary of shooting myself in the foot by either basing everything in a way that will lock me into one particular ruleset, or, on the other hand, end up with more soldiers per unit than I really need, and never progress because the painting takes me too long  I'm collecting Successors and oh my does a 160x80 unit of 32 individual phalangites take forever

Collecting minis on individual bases gives you flexibility if you want to use them for skirmish games. On the other hand, if you use large bases you can cheat - 32pikemen can be turned to 24 using 40x80 bases and leaving a gap.

I suggest you use contast paint from citadel for the linothorax to avoid using a lot of time on them. I also suggest doing 1 unit at a time -something I learned the hard way

[Tonhel]

Beautiful unit

[Fremitus Borealis]

Collecting minis on individual bases gives you flexibility if you want to use them for skirmish games. On the other hand, if you use large bases you can cheat - 32pikemen can be turned to 24 using 40x80 bases and leaving a gap.

I suggest you use contast paint from citadel for the linothorax to avoid using a lot of time on them. I also suggest doing 1 unit at a time -something I learned the hard way

Thanks for the tip re: Citadel contrast paints. What I did with my most recent unit of 32 phalangites was I primed them white, then washed everything in Army Painter soft tone before anything else. I was okay with how the "white" parts of the linothorax looked, so I left it. It actually saved a good bit of time, though picking out those narrow lines on the linothorax still took forever. And, of course, I couldn't help but paint the shoulders on a bunch, as well as the whole chest and back on others, as well. I'm conscious of avoiding the unrealistic "parade ground look", though I imagine things would go faster if I were just painting the exact same thing a couple dozen times 

[Corso]

Thanks for the tip re: Citadel contrast paints. What I did with my most recent unit of 32 phalangites was I primed them white, then washed everything in Army Painter soft tone before anything else. I was okay with how the "white" parts of the linothorax looked, so I left it. It actually saved a good bit of time, though picking out those narrow lines on the linothorax still took forever. And, of course, I couldn't help but paint the shoulders on a bunch, as well as the whole chest and back on others, as well. I'm conscious of avoiding the unrealistic "parade ground look", though I imagine things would go faster if I were just painting the exact same thing a couple dozen times 

Nothing wrong with doing them 'parade ground look' - nowadays there is a tendency to show everything drab, tv series and movies nearly always do that, which is a shame. Obviously I would avoid purples, leaving them for commanders/bodyguards/elite since it was associated with nobility due to the cost/time in making such cloth.

But always paint them the way you like

PS Thanks Tonhel