Hi Folks

2 questions please, for those more knowledgable than me... 

1- What kind of glue do you recommend to stick the strips of infantry to the MDF base? 

2 - Did late successor Phalangites (I'm thinking Seleucid) start wearing metal armour on their torso? (e.g. cuirass).  Or did they typically stick with the linen linothorax? I'm considering paint colour scheme options. 

Cheers!

I can answer the first - I use wood glue.  It's plenty sticky enough for 6 mm figures and holds them in place.  It has the advantage of if you ever want to rebase (shudder) then you can just soak your figures knee deep in water to loosen them.

I'm no expert but my understanding of it was that the phalangites were a significant change in combat because they were light infantry that fought as well as a heavy.  They weren't hugely encumbered with armour except a small shielf and a helmet but the hedgehog effect of the extra long pikes provided a screen to missiles and prevented other stabby things approaching.  So the sarrisas themselves were the protection - even against arrmows (think pick up sticks).  I don't think the underlying technique changed in the successor period so why would they have encumbered themselves with armour?  They would lose their mobility and what purpose would the extra armour have had?

Duncan Head's book "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars" suggests they did not wear metal armour for the torso.

This book was published in 1982 and so there may be more recent findings but it is still the main reference book for wargamers (as far as I know).

The latest research suggests that there were two types of late Macedonian pikemen. The main force of phalangites in Macedon were divided into two regiments: the bronze shields and the white shield. These regiments were each at least 8,000 men strong. They actually carried quite a large shield - 80cm. Most would wear linen armour but file leaders and closers plus officers might have a metal cuirass. The second element was the peltasts (also in the Ptolomaic army - 3,000). These had shorter pikes and smaller shields (60cm). At Pydna there were 5,000 of these troops including 'The Conquerers' who were an elite regiment of 2,000. There may have been more in garrisons. These troops may or may not have worn armour perhaps dependent on battlefield role. Again it is unlikely that all would have had metal armour if worn at all. It is possible that the Boiotian league of this period equipped all their close order troops like Macedonian peltasts.

Sorry, I missed your interest in the Seleucid phalanx specifically.

This was divided, for the most part, into two regiments, the Silver Shields and the ‘Macedonians.’ The Silver shields were the picked men of the phalanx and numbered about 10,000 men including perhaps 2,000 of the guard – the Hypaspists – the best of the best. Bar-Kochva ‘Seleucid Army’ argues that metal cuirasses may have been made available to these troops because of their status and centralised barracking.

The rest of the empire could  approximately supply a further 34,000 phalangites. These almost certainly did not have metal cuirasses and their shields were not a plain metal colour. We know this because the review at Daphne in 166 BCE mentions a regiment of bronze shields that may have been Macedonian refugees after Pydna therefore not local troops. The Seleucid ‘Macedonian’ phalanx was composed of Macedonian and Greek settlers and were almost certainly not drawn from any native population according to Bar-Kochva, therefore, trousered pantodapoi may be out of place unless some settlers went native (see Duncan Head fig. 37). Shields must have been coloured with perhaps Seleucid iconography of anchors, elephants or the head of their king. Macedonian stars and concentric circular designs are a further possibility.

Other armoured troops include the mail-clad Romanised infantry and perhaps cuirassed Galatian infantry ( Sekunda – ‘The Seleucid Army’ , plate 7).

Great, thanks for the info gentlemen. 

Furthermore, I'm using clipped dressmaker pins for the sarissa (long spear). In terms of sequencing which will lead to easier painting, am I better off supergluing the sarissa to the figures first, then painting everything? 

Wnenever I use seperate pikes, I always attach first with superglue then prime and paint.

There is a suggestion that Alexander rearmed the phalanx with metal armour after the indian campaign. If true and this was a response to the vulnerability of the phalangite to massed missile fire, then it is quite possible that early successsor phalanxes might wear metal armour. Later only those in the east would probably contine to be issued with it as they faced the swarms of horse archers from the steppe. Even then only when the professional (bronze shields) phalanx or bodyguard (agema). The white shields were the macedonian equivalent of the TA or reservists. It requires considerable practice and drill to maintain order in a large body when advancing which might explain their performance at Cynocesphalae where they were caught deploying. Later on the pontic and later greek city states raised pike phalanxes from slaves and light infantry to bolster the heavy infantry line, but these usually fought stationary behind walls or ditches.  

The phalanx also used the 60cm telemon shield, not the 80-100cm aspis/hoplon as suggested above.

The pike (sarissa) was carried in 2 parts on the march and had a bronze sleeve holding the 2 parts together when in use. Anyone know how they kept the 2 parts together when stuck in a shield or opponent? Or was it a close action pilum and you then hit them with the butt end.

I disagree with Pausanius when he says that all phalangites carried a 60cm shield. I also did not promote the idea that they carried the hoplite aspis. From recent finds there seems to have been two sizes, a 66cm diameter shield used by the Peltasts and a larger 73 to 75cm (not 80cm) shield used by the heavier part of the phalanx (see ‘Macedonian Armies after Alexander’, Secunda). The Staro Bonce shield, when reconstructed, has a diameter of about 75cm, similar to the remains from the sculpture found at Oropus. A good idea of their quite large size can be seen on the Aemilius Paulus monument at Delphi, which I’ve seen close up, where a phalangite can be seen peering over his shield rim.. Modern ideas on shield size have not benefited from some modern artists’ reconstructions which often show Macedonian pikemen with little targes which conveniently tallies with theories on why Roman infantry massacred them so easily, but at Kynoskephalai, they were taken in the rear and likely in the flank at Pydna. There is even a suggestion that they might have ‘raised pikes’ in surrender at Pydna, which the Romans misunderstood and who then took advantage of their defenceless stance. Incidentally, it is only a theory that the White Shields were reservists. Sekunda doesn’t think they existed at all and that the white shield part of the battle line was in fact Thracians with thureoi. I prefer the reservist option in equal size to the bronze shields because the triumph waggons of the Romans contained equal amounts of both tyre – white and bronze.