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. 

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!

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).

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!

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!

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.

Victrix Armoured Gallic Warriors w/Shields, Finally

Looking at my blog history - the figures here were completed back in May, but the LBMS transfers only just arrived yesterday to complete them. I ordered the transfers when I started on the figures, and they were supposedly mailed out on the 11th of May. Realizing how Covid had dramatically slowed shipping, especially from overseas, I waited until early July before contacting Victrix about the transfers not arriving. Rory at Victirx kindly offered to send a replacement set and they arrived in about a week and a half (yesterday).

The Gallic Warriors set comes with 30 figures, but I chose not to use the 6 in linothorax cuirass - thinking they may look a bit too old-fashioned for 1st C. The remaining 24 are broken down into two 12-man "elite" warbands. The Victrix shields are slightly larger than the ones from Warlord Games. I filed down the edges to make them thinner and appear a bit smaller - not sure if it was worth the effort, but it wasn't difficult.

There are now 6 warbands - 4 with Warlord Games figures in 18-man units, and now the 2 smaller 12-man "elite" units with Victrix figures. This should be enough foot for 2 to 3 Hail Caesar "divisions" along with cavalry, chariots and skirmishers. On my normal 6 x 7.5' gaming area (3 x Costco folding tables), units these sizes seemed to work well.

Thanks again for dropping by and wishing you all good health and happy gaming and painting.

Victrix Polish Lancers

Finally got around to painting these up. Interestingly, I had ordered these well before the EIR and Celts I recently worked on. In fact, I order the EIR mainly because I got a discount coupon from Victrix when these Polish Lancers were delayed due to the Covid stuff. Funny how one can get side tracked into other projects.

It's a 12 figure set, but only I use 8-man units for standard sized cavalry units in Black Powder. On my usual 5 x 8' table, slightly smaller units allow for more maneuvering...and the units paint up quicker too!

Victrix are a little more specific with their multi-parts than Perry. That is, most of the left arms are unique to each figure. The right arms are interchangeable - including sword options.

The horses are really nicely sculpted, and the trumpeter's and officer's have very lively poses.

Below is a gratuitous photo with a Verlinden 120mm resin figure painted many years ago.

I may paint up the remaining 4 figures in either campaign dress or as another unit, possibly Lancers of Berg. Until next time, best wishes to all of you and happy gaming and painting endeavors!

Victrix Celtic Chariots Featuring Boudica

Here are the 3 chariots from the set - which includes parts for two variants of the chariot (side panels), and also two variants for the drivers.

The set comes with three chariot sprues - with the two variants mentioned and also one each figures of Boudica and a wizard...er...I mean a Druid dude with head on a spear, etc. I'll be working on him later. It also comes with a sprue from the Armoured Warriors set.

In fact, I used two of the previously painted figures from the Armoured Warriors set - since I haven't based them yet as I'm still waiting for their shield transfers. It actually worked out nicely as I used metal shields from the Warlord Games Ancient Britons set.

The chariots themselves go together very easily - only a few parts. The drivers' hands are separate from their forearms - with the hands holding a length of reins. The two drivers on the left need to have their arms positioned with the reins aligned properly prior to gluing them to the shoulders. The driver on the right has his arms molded onto the body, so easier to line up his hand and reins.  Even the instructions say the build is "slightly complex." Still, it wasn't too difficult, and the end result looks nice.

Thanks for visiting, and wishing you all good health and happy hobby endeavors!

Victrix EIR Command Stands And The Army To Date

Apologies for back to back posts - I probably should've waited until the the command stands were done, but wasn't sure when, or if, I would've gotten around to them. In any case, I did get them done using the previously painted mounted "generals" along with a few spare foot figures. Also added shields to the standard bearers.

The officer on the rearing white horse is flanked by a Praetorian eagle bearer and signifer. The mounted centurion has a legionary signifer and the other officer has a legionary from Legio II Augusta.

I may add another command stand using the other figures from the Mounted Generals spure - three left.

Below is the EIR army to date. A detachment (or two) of Praetorians, four units of Legionaries (12-man units), two units of Auxiliaries (also 12-man units), and two units of cavalry (8-men each). Plan to use them with Hail Caesar, but could be used for other rules as the Legionaries and cavalry are individually based.

Taking a break from EIR's for now and need to finish up the Celtic Chariots - and maybe someday get started on the Polish Lancers. Thanks again for dropping by and wishing you all good health and hobby endeavors!

Victrix EIR Legionaries - Ready for Action Against Celts...

...or Germans, or Dacians, or any other unwashed barbarian hordes that may need subjugating. These are the figures from the Advancing and Attacking sets, as well as 16 additional Attacking figures my buddy kindly donated to me. They're individually based on 20mm Litko rounds and mounted on 6-figure movement trays. The 6 figures that aren't based yet may be used for command stands. The first unit is a 12-man detachment of Praetorians; behind them is Legio II Augusta; and in the rear Legio VI Victrix. Shield and standard decals are from Battle Flag.

Below are the recently painted figures from the Advancing and Attacking sets - 50 total.

Still waiting on the LBMS transfers for the Armoured Gallic set - also need to get back to the Celtic Chariots - or maybe get started on the Polish Lancers. May need work on some Napoleonics for a change up again. Thank you very much for stopping by and wishing you good health and happy hobby pursuits.

Victrix EIR Legionaries - WIP +1

Rank and file are done - just need to add their shields. Standards and musicians need their animal skins worked on. Started with a black base coat, followed by dry-brushing the metal areas, then the flesh wash painted. Minimal colors used as the previous 16 Legionaries. Ink washes were applied over the block painting and then highlighted.

Along with the previous 16, they'll be in two 24-man Legionary units and a smaller detachment of Praetorians (the guys with white crested helmets).

Above image shows them prior to the staining and highlighting. No figures were "injured" by Minwax in the process - just Vallejo ink/stain.

Thanks for stopping by this brief update. Wishing you all the very best in health and hobby happiness.