Monday, August 31, 2020

Victrix Macedonian Phalangites - Again

Finished the two additional sets. Now enough for 3 units of 24 and a separate command stand.
All shields have LBMS transfers.  The center unit with Pyrrhic designs and the flanking two, mercenaries with various Macedonian designs. 
Actually finished the figures a few days ago, but was waiting on some additional transfers from LBMS, which arrived today. I had ordered some Pyrrhic designs which are for Aventine shields and had hoped to use them with Victrix shields. Alas, they were a bit too small. Luckily, I had ordered enough from Victrix. See the size difference below. 
Well, I think there are enough Phalangites for now. Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all good health and hobby pursuits. 

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

Victrix Macedonian/Successor Heavy Cavalry

Just a quick blog update - Here are 10 of the 12 Victrix Macedonian Heavy Cav that came in the set - in wedge formation.
The standard is an LBMS transfer from an EIR cav set.
The bases are Litko with "steel" bottoms for the magnetized tray. I made the tray back in the day for WAB.
The xystons look a little long, but according to Wiki, they could be as long as about 14 feet. They certainly should give the appearance of "first strike" in games.
Another nice kit from Victrix with several arm/weapon options. They can be armed with javelins and swords as well.
Also started on the two sets of Macedonian Phalangites. Block painted and Minwaxed stained so far.
Just wanted to post a quick update to let you all know what I've been working on the past week or so. Take care and best wishes to you all!

Saturday, August 15, 2020

Victrix Boudica Command Stand

Since the Victrix Celtic Chariot set comes with three "Boudica" figures, went ahead and painted one more up for a foot command stand.
The Druid "wizard" also comes in threes, but so far, this is the only one I painted up.
They're mounted on a 50mm Litko plywood round base.
The same set comes with a sprue of Gallic Armoured Warriors too, and the standard bearer is one of these.
Boudica's shield is a metal one from the Warlord Games Ancient British Warriors set. I painted these up today to take my mind off of an order of Victrix Macedonians which arrived today per the USPS tracker. However, it is supposedly in our community parcel box, but our mail box didn't have the parcel box key. Hopefully, the USPS driver will get my note to let her know about this. The local office was closed today so I couldn't call about it. Otherwise, all is well and wishing all of you good health and happy painting (and gaming if you are able to).

Monday, August 10, 2020

Victrix Macedonian Phalangite Command

Sorry for the back to back posts, but I ended up working on these right after making the previous post. Interestingly, the Victrix set comes with 27 figures - which at first seems like an unusual number, but ended up okay for me with a 24-man phalanx formation and these 3 command on a separate base. This works okay for Hail Caesar, but for something like WAB, the command would be part of the formation-proper, front and center.
The standard and the officer's shield have LBMS transfers from the Phalangite set. The standard bearer and musician's shields are metal embossed ones from Crusader - which I've had for many years. For the record, the Crusader shields are a good alternative if you don't want to use decals or transfers - you just need to paint them bronze and give them a wash and highlights.
The figures themselves are nicely proportioned and cleanly sculpted. I don't recall seeing any mold lines.
As mentioned in the previous post, I would not hesitate picking up more of these if I were to create a larger Macedonian/Successor army.  The one cautionary note would be that they are slightly larger than many other makes, but not by much.
Thanks again for stopping by, and happy hobby endeavors to you all!
Farewell to Epirus!

Saturday, August 8, 2020

Victrix Macedonian Phalangites and Gallic Cavalry - Now With LBMS Shield Transfers!

The LBMS shield transfers arrived yesterday - about a day after the making the previous post.
The Macedonians are based on 50mm Litko squares as they have a bit of scale creep. I tried arranging them on 40mm squares, but they looked too squished together. I kind of like the lengthened frontage without needing more figures though.
The pikes are fairly sturdy and resilient as I've accidentally palmed them from the top a few times with no injury - to my hand or the pikes.
I managed not to screw up any of the shield transfers - mainly getting hem centered properly on the shields. As the transfer sheet only comes with enough for 24 there was no room for errors. That all said, LBMS transfers aren't that difficult to apply, and they do look the business. I almost don't feel bad selling off my old collection of Foundry Macedonians with hand-painted shields.
The nicely defined details and sculpting on the linothorax made painting them enjoyable. They take to washes or staining very well. I would not hesitate getting another set if I wanted to build a larger Macedonian/Successor army. Right now I'm planning to use this unit along with Samnites for a post-Heraclea Pyrrhic army.

Next up are the Gallic Cavalry with mostly LBMS shield transfers. The two leaders have Warlord Games "Ancient British" metal shields.
The skull/decapitated head standard is from the Victrix Celtic Chariots set.
They're based in pairs on 60mm Litko rounds. Plan to have them in two 6-man units for Hail Caesar.
Thanks for stopping by and wishing you all good health and hobby endeavors!

Wednesday, August 5, 2020

Blog Update - Victrix Ancients Works in Progress

Wow - I haven't been on Blogger for only about a week or so and it appears it has a new look - at least for creating new posts. Hopefully this one will work alright. Anyhow, here are some pics of what I have been working these past few days - off an on. A couple of Victrix Ancients sets - below is a shot of their Macedonian Phalangites after a Minwax staining over a basic block paint job.
Just some simple patterns on the linothorax - variations of red, purple and blue over white and yellow armor. The helmets also have red, purple and blue variations - as well as plain bronze.
Kind of sloppy block painting, but the nicely defined sculpting really made painting them enjoyable.

Next is a set of Gallic Cavalry which I painted last week - they still need their shields, which are awaiting the arrival of LBMS transfers. They're based in pairs on 60mm Litko plywood rounds.
Thanks again for stopping by and apologies for not visiting your blogs these past few days - I plan to be checking them out and see what I've been missing. Best to you all and happy painting and safe gaming.