Put out more pikes!

 

By the final stage of the Lamian War in 322BC the Macedonian Regent, Antipater, had at his disposal his own soldiers, the survivors of Leonnatus' army and the contingents brought by Craterus.  This allowed him to field around 40,000 men for the final battle with the Greek allies.  I am assuming that each of the three contingents had a core of pike armed infantry, so need three pike phalanx blocks for the battle.  Earlier posts have reported on work done to improve and rebase two Taxeis, each of six syntagma of 16 HäT figures, together with two syntagma of Zvezda figures.  Over the last couple of weeks I have painted up from scratch four more syntagma, three of HäT figures, one of Zvezda, to give a third Taxis.  These have all been given bronze shields, which stand out quite strikingly from the earlier batches.

A syntagma of Zvezda figures on the right, another of HäT figures to the left

The HäT figures have a plain shield, unlike the Zvezda shields which all come with a complex pattern.

The plain shields were given a pattern painted on using gesso before covering in bronze paint and using a wash to enhance the edges.  It is a lot simpler than the pattern on the Zvezda figures, but I think looks properly Macedonian.

I trust that the massed effect will demoralise the enemy

Although not needed for the Lamian War campaign, I have taken the opportunity to rebase my old Seleucid phalanx to the same arrangement as the new Macedonian Taxeis.  Some minor repairs were made and faded bronze paint redone to brighten up the appearance.  All of these figures are from Newline Designs.  The decals for the shields were from Little Big Man Studios.

Full Seleucid Taxis with two command bases

Three syntagma have silver shield rims

The other three syntagma have bronze shield rims

Looking beyond the Lamian War, things are coming together for the wars of the Successors.