OK, Where are they hiding?

Looking through the Grant figures thought I might as well do the phalangite conversion as well. Thing is, I can only find 26 of them in their box.

 

 I know I've got 44 of them:

 So where are the rest hiding?

Charles Grant peltasts and cavalry

When I bought the Charles Grant figures that I call 'the Grant Collection' - which I would love to develop (ie, find and acquire ones like the Assyrians) - I originally decided to leave them well alone.

As time has gone on I've moderated that view. The figures themselves have been rebased and used since Charles Grant owned them anyway, plus some of them need to be refurbished a bit.

Currently I'm working on peltasts, and the collection included 110 Garrison G11. It seemed reasonable to rebase 24 of these as peltasts to give me a second unit. I'll probably rebase another peltast unit, not sure about some nice looking 10 man units as psiloi?

 After that, I'm looking at the cavalry.

 I've already got quite a few of these in my armies but it's a figure I really like - it would be nice to see this unit rebased and in action.

Another candidate is this mob. Some of the spears need a bit of attention, but the shields are superb. They'll be rebased as mediums/heavies rather than their current light bases.

One large group of figures are the Garrison Persian cavalry. I haven't started rebasing the 'S' Range Persians yet so might wait until then before I consider my options with the Grant figures.

Early days - a Greek Trireme.

My tealight ironclad concept for making cheap and cheerful warships in bulk can be carried over to other periods. This is a first rough draught of a Greekish(ish) Trireme(ish) for my summer campaign season. I'm still working on it - the holes in the deck are because I've recycled an old Warrior-type cruiser for the hull.

I'll probably jaz it up a bit, but basically it already does the main job and doesn't take long to make.  The hull could do with a few variations, each Nation will probably want their own sails, etc. Other than that, ready to go.

Peltasts and Psiloi

It's one thing to have masses of people with very long pointy sticks, but the phalangites need support.  As a result, I've been spending the time since the last post sorting and basing some of these.

Garrison only did two javelin armed Greek light infantry, so they are going to have to cover all the jobs. Actually, that's not strictly true, but I'll come to that later.

At the moment I've based 2 units of 'Regular' peltasts' 1 unit of 'Irregular' peltasts and a unit of 'Irregular' psiloi.

All of these figures are ones bought painted apart from the command figures. I admit I've rushed the paint jobs on these a bit.

 This is partly because the figures themselves are quite basic.

At the moment these act as my Thracians. This particular figure was originally a bit of a problem - I didn't have a master to use when trying to resurrect the range. Happily, I did have figures in my own army and these did the job quite well. Since then, I seem to have acquired hundreds of the things!

The Pantodapoi Phalangites weren't the only figures that 'stopped' when the deluge occurred. I was also looking at building up a force of peltasts and had reached the stage of producing test paint jobs. I prefer 'mine' to the ones I've just based and may later upgrade the units with ones I do myself. It is in a very long 'to do' list.

The Psiloi element did already have quite a few finished figures - these are a few I had finished earlier...

That Regular Peltast is, at the moment, going to have to cover as Alexandrian Hypaspists. However, I had produced an infantry version of this figure by the simple expedient of bending the feet forward and sticking it on a base. A mould was made, some have been produced and I think that the to do list will include a unit of these as Hypaspists. I think I've got enough hoplites already.

Also, one of the never-issued-by-Greenwood-and-Ball was this Dacian. I did actually release it but don't remember selling any...  anyway, by the simple expedient of painting the legs flesh they make decent Thracians with Rhompia.

I suppose the next thing I have to do is sort the archers and slingers.

Continuing with Macedonians

A few posts ago I mentioned that some of 'my' Macedonians and Egyptians were getting a bit neglected. Well, the Egyptians still are, but at least I'm doing something about the Macedonians...

Firstly, quick photos/poor lighting, sorry about the quality.

This shot shows the non-Harry phalanx units. The front row includes the main Garrison converted units. The back row includes rehashed Hinchliffe (1974ish?), early Minifigs from about 1970, the initial batch of Garrison conversions, then a couple of small units of (presumed) Warrior phalangites.

Until the madness of buying all Harry's figures, the three Garrison phalanx units were intended to be the main component of my 'modern' Macedonian/Successor force, and it was planned to have another 'line' unit. Back in the 70s I tended to cut down the length  of my pikes for easier use. That pike length has been retained for these figures. Thus the front figure, acting as a Successor/elite phalangite, is simply the G16 Boeotian hoplite with a slightly longer pike. Chances are I would have made more of these as Successors. The blue helmeted lot are the line phalangites, bringing up the rear the newly painted Asian Pantodapoi. I'll also probably use them as Egyptian phalangite though! This figure is quite basic but does the job - it's a conversion of G3, the hoplite wearing the Corinthian helmet.

The Elites have naturally been given a more ornate shield design than the rest.

One thing I'm trialling with the phalagites. Due to the sheer numbers of the things I have - about 300 here and probably about the same useable number from Harry - I'm trying out putting some figures 3 deep on 60mm deep bases. Should leave movement and setting up easier, meanwhile I still have more than enough on single depth bases for other small scale uses.

The Hinchliffe figures previously mentioned have been 'standardised' to a degree. Basically, the white pike unit has been slightly repainted to fit in with the others and put together as a 48 strong phalanx. As these originated the 'short' pike, probably should have appeared earlier.

The Division of Amun

May not have posted much recently, but I've been busy.

'S' Range Egyptians have seen quite a bit of work - archers and horse archers painted and quite a few figures rebased. I've also put a load of infantry in to soak in Dettol - they'll be the basis of the Pre Division. Meanwhile, Sutekh and Ptah are basically complete apart from basing. Amun is the 'Royal' Division and, as such, stronger than the others. Originally, each Division was going to have a four chariot squadron; in the event I decided that Amun would have two squadrons to support Pharaoh and the 'newcomer' Ptah (originally created by Rameses) would be a 'weak' Division so that only it's General will be chariot borne.

The Division in order of march. The Division itself consists of three components: Scouts, Chariots and Infantry bringing up the rear.

The scouts include a small unit of horse archers whose main function would be as messengers - all four of my Divisions has an attached unit. This lot were painted by Harry, I painted the rest, two units of which are mounted on Garrison horses. All the infantry came from Harry as painted figures apart from the unarmoured archers which I painted.

Pharaoh in the middle of his chariots.This seemed like a more logical way of setting up the march than having him in front! Actually, he probably would have been in front of the chariots to keep out of the  dust they would have produced. All of these chariots were painted by me, Harry's man the other Divisions.

The infantry have two components - armoured and unarmoured, each with a spear regiment and a bow regiment. If I ever get round to painting some of the Rose Sherden they might replace some of these.

Incidentally, as well as this lot I've also been sorting some of 'my' phalangites - the white Hinchliffe phalangites have been touched up to blend in with the green unit and I've finished painting the Garrison Pantodapi. Just got to get them based.

When I'm 64...

Well, I made it, but don't intend to rent a cottage on the Isle of Wight, nor do I have three grandchildren...