"Mixing 28mm Macedonians " Topic

So finally settled on a Macedonian army for WAB and am wondering which 28mm ranges mix well together ?

I am thinking of using the Foundry range for the core of the army , but will probably want to expand or mix in figures from different manufacturers in the same units for variety.

I know of the A&A , Crusader and Gripping Beast ranges – would they mix well ?

Also any manufacturers that people know of that would mix well with the above ?

Thanks

I'd mix Foundry and Polemarch, which would blend perfectly. Crusader would also mix in pretty well with them; not entirely sure about A&A which are a bit bulkier.

You could also think about Empire Models; they have a slightly different build (longer legs), but are nice in their own way.

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I gather VVV are selling them at the moment.

There's Vendel too; I don't have any of them, but some of the Macedonian figures look OK.

Simon

The Vendel figures are a bit on the bulkier side. I mix them happily with my Foundry figs but they might not meet everyone's tolerances as well as Crusader and Foundry would.

I have crusader, GB, and Foundry and side-by-side they look great.

I have Crusader, Polemarch (G.B.) and Foundry. I would suggest if you have the O.G. army card I would go with Crusader. Also the Macedonian cav and pikemen are not bad from O.G. either,but you will have to drill out the hands to fit the pikes. I would get the steel pikes from Northstar, or G.B. Mike Adams

I had A&A and Vendel, and now have mostly Foundry Macedonians. I think the A&A were okay height-wise with Foundry, but the style & bulk appeared more Vendel. Vendel was larger than both A&A & Foundry. I chose not to mix them with each other. In fact, I actually sold off the A&A and Vendel units I had. In retrospect, they would be fine on the table next to Foundry units, but in their own units (IMO). I don't have Crusader, but they look like they could go with Foundry (or the other two – again, in the eye of the beholder). Ha! I'm sure I confused you now. Get units of all of 'em and then have an Ipsus game – you'll never have enough phalangites. Dean

P.S. I don't have any OG either, but from what I've seen on their website and painted figures on private websites, they don't look too bad either – may have to replace their shields with the ones from Crusader, though. Also, I forgot who makes them now, but someone sells some 100mm pikes with nicely-formed tips.

It might depend in part on whether you want a Macedonian army or a Successor army, or you may not care about the differences.

Foundry's Macedonians are fine, although the separate shields are not lovely, and can benefit from replacement.

Foundry's one-piece Successors are not intrinsically bad, but the unlovely shields are cast on, and this can be a pain to correct. I am doing some, replacing them with Polemarch--GB--shields, but it is not super quick work; see here, third photo down:

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A&A: well, I have a lot. Probably some of them are Dean's! But the longer I have them, the less I like them. The unarmored phalangites aren't much bulkier than Foundry or Crusader; the ones in linothorax are, a bit; and the ones in bronze are very hefty.

Crusader: I only have command figures so far, as I haven't needed to add loads more to the overwhelming pile. A fair match for all the above.

Polemarch (GB): again, only command so far and the odd sample, to match the Foundry Successors, which they do admirably. But they might not be the best choices for Philip's or Alexander's armies. They are a bit period-specific.

Empire: unknown. The photos don't do anything for me.

Vendel: Inspired by Dean's photos a while back, I accumulated some. I don't think I've unloaded them all again yet! They weren't an awful match; I just didn't like the style as well.

Old Glory: Some people have done very nice units with these, for example, Tony E.'s Epirotes used OG for the rank and file in the blue- and red-helmeted phalanxes:

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But I've never seen anyone's OG Macedonian units that didn't have casting problems: mold misalignment right down the centerline. So if considering them, you might want to have a word with Old Glory about that before hand.

Allen

A&A: Older not as spiffy as the newer. Chunky is the word.

Crusader: Nice and clean, fit fine with many.

Polemarch (GB): The same as Foundry in size, but focused on Successor styled gear.

Empire: unknown.

Vendel: Largest sized, not bad but in a separate scale. The figures are cleanly cast.

Old Glory: Can make into nice units, here are some Polemach figures in the back matching with Old Glory units in the foreground.

picture

1st Corps: Has revised their range for Successors, however the basic phalangites are useful for earlier armies as well. The figures are more in line with Old Glory scale. Stay away from the drums in the command packs.

JJ

Oooooh, can we talk about Macedonian drums again? Pleeeeese?

Dang! Jeff has all my 1st Corps phalangites now, 'cept for the older Ptolemaic machimoi.

Allen

You may also wish to take a look at Essex Miniatures – they mix well with A&A for instance. Larger 28's and they make some useful light infantry and peltasts for some variety. Many are illustrated on their online catalogue (but not all).

I do like their General figures – especially the Later Hoplite character. Also make generals on foot.

I think I must be the only person in the world planning to replace my Polemarch successor shields with Foundry bottlecaps (not because they are better, but so that the Polemarchs match the Foundry figures that I can't be fagged to do surgery upon).

Next year I think we should all take a pledge to paint our phalangite mountains. Starting to paint a phalanx is an extremely daunting prospect.

Simon

Simon; "Crusader Miniatures" has a very nice shield pack with all the Macedonian phalanx patterns, I used them instead of the "Foundry" ones, with very good results!

Deanmoto, Northstar has those pikes 80 in a pack!!! Mike Adams HI Simon

Yes put I have one to two hundred of the Foundry figures with the cast on shields, won't be wanting to cut all those off. So instead I'll use other loose Foundry shields (provided by Allen) on some of my Polemarch/Crusaders, so that they match.

Cheers, and Merry Xmas! Simon

You know that Eureka has some assorted Macedonian pikemen and officers in 28mm. Not a full range but they may be useful.