My interest in the Macedonian and Punic Wars dates back to the publication of Phil Barker's book of the same name. Back in those days 25mm metal Minifigs were standard but were supplemented by other manufacturers who did figures in 25mm scale.
My first armies are long gone (sadly). I've spent the last ten years giving the period new life with as many vintage figures as I could find, as long as they were compatible with the numerous plastic 1\72 sets appropriate to the period in question.
The intended rules are a fan-created variant drawn from Lion Rampant.
Back in the day, I had a number of Macedonian Brescia Miniatures. I was fortunate to find quite a few on eBay and they became the nucleus of my late Macedonian Army.
As you can see from the pictures below, they and the Polybian Romans have been supplemented by HAT and the excellent Newline figures in 20mm.
Brescia were always small, 25mm, compared to the chunkier Minifigs and Hinchcliffe, so they fit well with 20-22mm figures in separate units.
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| These were the standard Macedonian Phalanx by Brescia. They were not fancy, having a leather jerkin rather than metal. I always thought they were perfect for a late Macedonian army. |
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| These are Brescia Cretan archers. By today's standards a bit crude but I love them. |
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| I supplemented my phalanx with the excellent plastic set from HAT. With HAT you get a great assortment of styles. What I like about the HAT set is the ability to put armored phalangites in the front rank and lesser armored behind. |
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| These are Brescia Hypaspists. The Brescia Macedonian line was intended to be Alexander's army. In my army, I use the figure to represent the transition from a lightly armed peltast to a more heavily armed type capable of standing in the line of battle. They are painted up to represent an elite. |
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| Brescia also made an armored phalangite with a crested helmet. I got just enough to make an agema type unit. |
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| These figures are HAT cobbled together from Alexander's Companions and Thessalian sets. They represent standard heavy cavalry in a late Macedonian Army. |
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| Brescia peltasts. Based on Barker's book, I painted them up as Thracians. He recommended a black tunic for Thracians who served as mercenaries in a late Macedonian army. |
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| These are my "wild" Thracians, figures by Newline. When it comes to 20mm scale, Newline figures are simply excellent. I have an unpainted unit of Newline phalanx waiting in the wings! |
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| These are Minifigs given to me by a friend. I use them for a command unit. |
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| Newline Triarii for my Polybian Romans |
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| Newline Hastatus |
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| Newline Principes |
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| HAT Hastatus. I did these before I became aware of Newline. They are early HAT sculpts and not as good as other ancient figures done by HAT later. Still, they are pretty cool! |
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| HAT Principes |
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| HAT Triarii |
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| A HAT command stand and a Newline command stand. |
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| I thought the Strelets Velites were very cool, so I did a unit. |
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| HAT Velites |
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| Newline Roman Heavy Cavalry |
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| HAT Italian Allies |
I have more units that didn't make the photo shoot, but the pics are a pretty good sample of two armies.
