Keith, from Aventine Miniatures, has just sent me a padded envelope containing thirty assorted Macedonian Pikemen. They are beautiful figures. Adam's sculpting goes from strength to strength. By now he must be one of the very best sculptors of 28mm wargames figures working today. Keith's casting is proper 'top end' too - even taking my glasses off and peering at the figures from 3" away, I'm struggling to see any mould lines. I can hardly wait to see what they're going to look like once they're painted, but I'm not going to be able to start on them until next week at the earliest. I'm away all weekend, and have packing to do. I also need a fresh pot of 'dip'. Oh and some shield transfers.
I'm pondering colours and the like. Recently I saw some very attractive Macedonians which had been painted very simply - off-white tunics, all the helmets in bronze, plus the wood and leather, and just the shields giving the figures colour. I was quite impressed. I had been wondering about doing something similar - or doing something similar but using red tunics. On the other hand, I could 'go the whole hog' as Keith has done.
I remain confused over the shields used by Pyrrhus' Macedonian pikemen - rims or no rims? The books all seem to say different things. Connolly's version - rimless, supported by a shoulder strap and a strap on the arm (which arrangement also serves to transfers some of the weight of the sarissa from the arm to the shoulder) - seems logical, but ancient peoples weren't always logical. And some of the contemporary sculpture seems to show rims. Anyone with any definitive answers (preferably with references, though I realise that beggars can't be choosers!) is more than welcome to leave a comment - please!