Never Enough Marines: Seleucid: The Last Pikemen

A bit of time for painting recently after finally receiving several contract offers (yes - hopefully I won't have to sell myself for medical experiments!) and I I know I should have cracked on with the AWI stuff, but after the recent Seleucid Showcase I came over all nostalgic.

I went trolling through the box of remaining 15mm ancients and realised I had two pike blocks prepped and ready to go, and a handful of others left. Given TTS/QRF don't have listings for these guys in their Frei Korps range any longer and that these are probably the last Frei Korps pikemen left unpainted on the planet... ney, in the universe, I just had to finish them.

Original paint scheme from 20 years ago - 'red' team.

I decided to do at least one unit that was different from the others so chose the Antigonid/Later Macedonian Leukaspides (white shields) and some Chalkaspides (brazen shields - not bronze of course, as the Greek word for bronze meant blue - QI).

Leukaspides (white shields) and Chalkaspides (brazen shields), configured for WAB/FoG.

Realising that the total number of elements in my existing phalanx was already divisible/set for DBA (2 ranks deep), L'Art De La Guerre (3 ranks deep), and WAB/FoG (4 ranks deep), and that this was the end, my beautiful friend, for new phalanx elements, I decided to do a pike command element for WAB/ADLG/FoG as well as 9 pike elements.

3 rank configuration for the likelihood of playing L'Art De La Guerre (ADLG).

Pike Command

A command element for ADLG, FoG, or WAB.

Never actually made a command element with FK standards before. I sliced the bendy lead poles off of the standards and replaced it with piano wire. The Macedonian star ain't the best but the sheaf of wheat came out well.

Leukaspides

As I have a 20mm Carthegenian army with all spearmen having white shields, I avoided doing the Lukaspides, but glad I finally caved as makes for another easily identifiable unit on the field.

Chalkaspides

Had a wonderfully nestolgic time mixing up the rose, lavender, and yellows.

All the pikemen have been done in five lots: first back in the 90s, then a repaint in 2000(ish) for DBM, more circa 2006 for WAB, again in 2013 for FoG, and now finishing off in 2017 for the sake of nostalgia itself.

I remember each block took me ages back in 2000, now with improvement to paints and more techniques and experience, all these guys only took about 6 hours.

Facing Off
Also I decided to prep the figures as they would be 'out of the bag' and was warmed and heartened to realise that, if you model the pikes as per the angle of the figures themselves, they are at such an angle so as to not interfere with opposition forces on the table - well done Frei Korps sculptors!