The Waving Flag: 15 mm Macedonian Pike (1 of 4) (Essex Miniatures)

Wednesday, 14 August 2024

15 mm Macedonian Pike (1 of 4) (Essex Miniatures)

I'm on the final lap of my Later Macedonian army for "The King In The North", Art de la Guerre (ADLG) competition in mid-October this year.  All told I need four units of pike and this is the first I've finished.

The above is the first picture I've taken with my new camera phone.  I'm still getting the hang of it but it looks like it will be better than my old digital camera which has started to be a bit flakey.

I don't think I'll complete all four units in time, but I have borrowed some pike to fall back on.  They were not the easiest Essex figures I've painted.

ADLG basing
You are "allowed" to base pike in units of twelve and should, ideally, be on 40 by 40 mm bases.  However, the rules make allowances for elements "transferring" from other systems (mainly DBx).

I think 12 figures on a 40 mm square base would be too crowded.  It's not impossible, but doing the groundwork either side of the middle rank would be very awkward and best avoided.

I decided to use three 40 by 15 mm metal bases (of which I have lots) and will live with any problems the extra 5 mm creates.   Once again, my use of metal bases helps: a magnetic sabot base easily merges the three bases into one unit.

Painting notes
I cannot believe how awkward these were.  I usually enjoy painting Essex 15 mm figures, but not these.  The detail on the armoured skirt is there but it is really hard to paint.  It is both too fine and not deep enough: it won't take either a wash or a dry brush.  Even the great Steve Dean struggled.

Once again, the shield designs are home made transfers using my laser printer.  If you'd like a pdf to print your own get in touch.

List of all the project posts

4 comments :

TWR said...

Another excellent looking addition to your collection. I’m not familiar with ADLG but I am surprised by the 40mm deep requirement.

Vexillia said...

My understanding is that when ADLG was first developed all units were on 40 mm square bases. The thinking was that it would simply things like turns to the flank or rear.

Eventually, people pointed out they could significantly increase the pool of potential players by allowing players to use their DBx based figures without rebasing. Small changes were made to the basing requirements and the rest is history.

Vexillia said...

The figures are from the following packs:

MPA2a Macedonian, Greek or Thracian: Command: Foot Officers
MPA2b Macedonian, Greek or Thracian: Command: Standard Bearers
MPA18 Macedonian: Phalangites

Essex Miniatures

TWR said...

Interesting, I had incorrectly assumed that originally ADLG had been designed around DBx basing. Thanks for the background. I look forward to additional photos in future.

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