Phigting with Phalanxes

[ochoin]

I've put a bit of effort into my Pyrrhus' army & I may get it finished by June-July & try them out on the field of battle.

The plan is to treat them like a developing heavy weight boxer - easy opponents, working up to the title match.
So Gauls for a bit, then Carthaginians before the Polybian Romans step up.

I've never used a phalanx before. I get the theory: they're not battle winners & tend to operate like the aliens in the old arcade game, "space Invaders". An inexorable & slow movement forward in the centre whilst cavalry & elephants do the real damage out on the flanks.

I'm thinking that my opponents (equally phalanx-virgins) may be awed by the sight & apart from throwing a few javelins at them (useless given I'll have 9 bases in the unit*) will simply retreat & look for a flank (mine'll be covered by Greek spearmen).

Am I missing something? Any helpful tips?

donald

* at some stage, I'll add a 6 base phalanx to the army

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

Am I missing something?

Let's see, unspectacular but fundamentally unbeatable army and dumb opponents. No, I'd say you've hit the motherlode.

[FreddBloggs]

Keep your flanks safe and you are one tough army.

Be wary of ancient british though, chariots can make a mess of your cohesion and then warbands streaming in gives you a headache.

[goat major]

Yeh the ancient British make a mess of Macedonians in the purple primer. An authoritative historical reference .

[Buff Redux]

I never use purple primer. It's a pig to get flesh tones looking right over purple. Rose pink is my go to shade at the moment.

[Jamanicus]

I find the same with a red primer...awful for a flesh-tone

[Norman D. Landings]

The citadel painting guide had an example army of orcs painted a pale blue-grey over a red basecoat. It was designed to give dramatic contrast at arm's length distances.

[Jamanicus]

It's as if the real question should have been about the colour of primer used for the phalanxes...as I'm assuming the original one was rhetorical??

The answer is "wrong....dettol and start again...aim for June 2022"

[ochoin]

Let's see, unspectacular but fundamentally unbeatable army and dumb opponents. No, I'd say you've hit the motherlode.

I wouldn't be so sure. My unerring ability to seize Defeat from the jaws etc etc is remarkable.

I dare say the Gauls will have something to say about terrain, whilst the Carthos are quite similar to the Pyrrhic Greeks, just not quite as good but more numerous in the inevitable trade-off.
The Romans are another thing, entirely. I'd just like a competitive army to face them, rather than a super-army.

And none of this takes into account my actual human opponents. In our little group, the several ex-military types, the lawyer & the engineer are all doughty opponents. I *may* get in an early victory or two but they have a dis-concerting ability to learn.

donald

I've recently moved from Vallejo white primer to Army Painter grey primer. I think it marginally better.

[Jamanicus]

Grey seems to work quite nicely across the board. I mostly use the Halfords larger can of grey primer, but I've got their white too...totally depends on what you're painting i guess. I do have a mix of allsorts though