Tuesday 7 September 2021

The Rise of Macedon

One of the attractions of doing my Successor armies is that once you've got a core of Phalangites (the guys with big pointy pikes) that form the centre of the army, you can easily morph the force into many different variations on the theme.

That also means that my Macedonian Successors can, with a little adjustment, become an Alexandrian army, or (as in this case) go a little further back and be a Philippian army. I decided that for future WAB games, especially against Andy's Greeks, a more appropriate army might be that of The Rise of Macedon - headed up by Philip of Macedon, with Prince Alexander in the early part of his career, before he started to believe his own PR too much and became all megalomaniac and god-like (although many would say that he was always like that, but that's another discussion).

The core phalanx troops remain the same, but what of the likes of the  particularly elusive Hypaspists? There are so many options for these troops with reports of them performing many roles.

I decided to depict them as an elite peltast unit, taking on a role supporting the Companion cavalry, rather than being formed up with the phalanx.

I also decided to have their shields with a simple Macedonian star, rather than fancy parade-ground shield designs, or even the image of AtG himself on as is so often shown. 

For Philip of Macedon, I used the Foundry figure (the Hypaspists are also from the Foundry range). Philip was keen to fight at the head of his phalangites, in the thick of the action, wielding a pike. It was all 'butch and manly and stuff' (If you're getting an image of Brian Blessed, or King Robert Baratheon in Game of Thrones series 1, that's about right)

So... here are Philip and the Hypaspists (sounds like some sort of Macedonian punk rock band... or maybe it's true Classic Rock!):









Next up, young Alexander, and his Companion Cavalry...

And there's another game booked in the diary, providing a valuable deadline for getting this army table-ready.

I hope all readers and visitors to the blog are well... and thank you to those who continually comment on this stuff. I know many readers are dyed-in-the-wool 18C wargamers, but having a 'side interest' in all things ancient is a lovely distraction sometimes. And I'm finding that, just now, the promise of the odd game, for a few hours, on a 6x4 table, with a hundred or so figures per side, using some fun rules (WAB 1.5), is a massive tonic.


12 comments:

  1. Beautiful paint jobs, Phil. I look forward to meeting them!

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  2. They look wonderful, Phil! Ancients are a guilty pleasure of mine that I have yet to indulge myself, but it is fun to look carefully over yours. More a New Wave name for a band. For some reason The Dickies keep coming to mind.

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  3. It's always good to have a game in the diary and a deadline to work towards. Try not to get bumped off at the same time Philip does!
    Stephen

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  4. They look superb, excellent paint job!

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  5. Very nice - a game on a 6'x4' with 100 or so figures per side is a sweet spot for me and fits perfectly with what I can do at home.

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  6. Hi Phil, your blog & the recent resurgence of WAB anongst a "certain" age group is indeed a welcome & once again all consuming passion for we Marauders - we're all collecting Ancients again. The Napoleoncs are still rumbling along in the back ground though. It would be excellent to "cross pikes" if you're ever near Bath. Curry & a beer thrown in on me!
    Very best wishes,
    Jeremy

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  7. Very nice work Phil. Not a Val Kilmer inspired version of Philip then?

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  8. Although I had got past my Ancient phase by the time (thanks mainly to you)I got the 18th Century bug it is still a delight to see things like this. Everything you do is to a consistently high standard and example to us all, thank you. CG http://notjustoldschool.blogspot.com/

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  9. I must be catching the ancients vibe from you because I just started a 2nd Punic War side project using 54mm plastic figures. I’ll keep visiting your blog for inspiration.

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  10. Phil, I really enjoy your Ancients postings, especially for the wonderful figures. It is nice to see WAB still being played as they are a fun set of rules, especially for Ancients. Cheers, Rohan.

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  11. The 'flexibility' of phalangites is wonderful, as you say--you could even use them for Pontus, I reckon. Even more so when you read of tales of troops using grandfather's armour 'cause the stuff was expensive and valued/valuable.
    Regards, James

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