This unit is the start of a new fantasy army for me, as I've never had fantasy humans before.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510a.jpg)
These figures are from the DemonWorld line, in The Empire range, now manufactured by Ral Partha Europe.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510b.jpg)
I'll often come up with my own color schemes for fantasy units, but in the case of DemonWorld, I'm often impressed with the colors on the product label! That's what I did here – you can see the catalog picture and compare.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510c.jpg)
Note that these are the noble pikemen. There's also ordinary pikemen in the range. The nobles get fancy plumes on their helmets, and probably count as elite troops.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510d.jpg)
These figures were painted for us by our good friends in Sri Lanka, Fernando Enterprises. They painted to match the product picture.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510e.jpg)
When the painted figures arrived from Sri Lanka, I based them on Mighty Armies plastic bases (Rebel Minis).
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510f.jpg)
I lucked out with some bonus figures in my pack, enough to add an extra unit base.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510g.jpg)
I'm basing at three figures per stand, which is the 'new' standard for Mighty Armies.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510h.jpg)
I used spackle around the figure bases, to contour them in with the bases.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510i.jpg)
I then painted the base-tops muddy brown, as I find that flocking looks best if it has an earth color beneath. I like to color-code my armies, so I colored the base edges silver with a Sharpie marker. Then I applied glue to the bases, dipped them in flock, and sealed the bases with a matte clearcoat spray.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510o.jpg)
As you can see above, the pikemen come in two poses: pike at rest (vertical) and pike ready (slanted forward). I chose to keep the poses on different bases, so I can put 'fighting' pikemen in front and 'resting' pikemen in the rear. Of course, that's just for show. And one stand ended up with mixed pikes.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510m.jpg)
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510n.jpg)
These are the fighting pikemen, front and rear.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510p.jpg)
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510q.jpg)
And these are the resting pikemen, front and back.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510j.jpg)
I created a command stand using three figures in the pack: a leader pointing, a bugler, and a standardbearer. Note the nice job the painters did on the banner.
![Noble Pikemen Noble Pikemen](showcase/fanshowcase/2023/483510l.jpg)
That's one unit down, many more to go!