After finishing the Roman Allied Legion with their shiny helmets, I have turned to getting Macedonians ready for the Lamian War. Compared with the new Romans and also with the Greeks that they are going to fight the HäT phalangites are looking rather old and drab. The basing is an old, monotone green flock and the figures are on the same 60mm by 30mm bases that I use for other close order infantry, which spreads out the formation and makes the front with its lowered pikes hard to handle. I thought about using the same basing system as the Seleucid phalanx I did a couple of years back but I am also not satisfied with this. |
| Apart from the sabot protecting the lowered front rank pikes, these Seleucids still seem too far apart and the base mix really doesn't look right. (These are Newline Figures) |
So, all of the 'red' Taxis (not HK taxis but a Macedonian formation) have been taken off their old bases and are being repaired and repainted where needed.
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| Unbased figures awaiting treatment |
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| Revamped figures with toned flesh and shiny bronze work |
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| Testing out a new basing scheme. Deeper front base protects the lowered pikes, shallower rear base has clear space at the rear for unit record markers. |
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| New basing will save 25mm depth compared with the old system and gives the formation a much more compact appearance. |
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| Having 2 bases rather than mounting all the figures on one means that when fighting bigger battles where the figure to troop scale may increase from 1:16 to 1:32 or 1:64, the two bases can be put side by side, perhaps with a couple of sabots to even out the frontage and give the 'front' base a strip at the back for unit record counters if needed. |
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| Five syntagma at 1:16 scale (figures to men, not figures size) completed. |
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| A closer view |
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| Alternative arrangement : 10 syntagma at 1:32 scale |
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| Close up of extended deployment |
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The new basing scheme works. Basing leveled pikes is a challenge but your solution is the correct one.
ReplyDeleteIt works well - and I can now get 8 units instead of 6 into a drawer, so more efficient use of space. The remaining drawback is that I used rigid brass rod for the pikes which can rip off from the plastic figures very easily as none have ring hands. For future batches I'm going to use 1mm polystyrene rods which have some flex in them and so are more forgiving.
DeleteThey look great. I always find sprucing up and rebasing older figures to be very satisfying!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I agree about the pleasure of going back to old figures, not simply to bring them up to current standard but to bring to mind again the circumstances of their first painting and reflect on what became of the projects for which they were prepared.
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