Pike versus Pike 2nd February 2023

[martin goddard]

Two Macedonian armies.
7 Fights and every assault failed.
Pike effect worked well. Averaging a  -2 off the opponents.
This does make pike masses  effective but not brilliant.

martin used his newly cast broom bristle pikemen. More of which soon.

Both armies had about 8 pike units (unarmoured), 4 auxiliary (unarmoured), 1 cavalry (armoured)  and 7 skirmishers.

martin  & Simon won a good victory versus Chris and Stewart.
It went wrong for Chris and Stewart in the table centre with their grand attack on the hill being repulsed. Simon continually saved his hits so that he held firm.


martin

[martin goddard]

I have based up 96 pikemen.
This is a new pack  from Peter Pig (soon).
The broom bristles were cut from a  plastic bristle head from a Wilkinsons broom (£6).
Probably about 600 bristles on a broom head. This is 6 armies worth.
The bristle glued on OK with superglue but it need some time to get full adhesion. 
This might get frustrating for those assembling a  lot of pikemen?

I think they look really nice and will post photos for comment.


martin

[martin goddard]

I then varnished the pikemen and all the shiny just went white (sad face). 



martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Oh no!

What sort of varnish were you using, Martin - and was it spray or brush?

Simon

[martin goddard]

Army painter spray.
I will try to get over it.....
Grrrrrr



martin

[Colonel Kilgore]

Not much help to you now, but I gave up some time ago on spraying my figures. I took Les's advice and now use Winsor & Newton's brush-on acrylic varnish. It comes in a 250ml pot and seems very forgiving - you can happily splash it on and it doesn't turn white or go waxy like some others have done in the past. And it's very matt.

Are you going to try brushing on some gloss varnish to see if you can recover your ghost force, Martin?

Simon

[John Watson]

I'm with Simon and Les. Artists' matt acrylic varnish. Not sure if it is W & N but it is good. I have been using the same 500ml pot for at least five years now and I'm just over half way through it. I recently noticed that it was not drying as matt as it used to so I just added some matt medium to it and it is fine. should last me at least another few years. I think I paid £12.50 for it back in the day, so a lot cheaper that lots of Citadel 12ml pots or Valejo 18ml pots.
John

[Sean Clark]

Spray varnishes are very temperamental and are affected by temperature (too cold is bad) and how close you spray to the figure (varnish dries before it reaches the figures if too far away).

Really helpful information I am sure 

I am thinking of going to brush on and will investigate John and Simon's advice. I'm doing this with undercoat too. Takes longer but is more predictable in the outcome.

[martin goddard]

I usually brush on varnish but this was a "hurry" job.
I may well re touch up the bronze bits and then do a  bit of sulking?

Because i have done the pikemen I may need to do a couple more ancient packs to go with it for the rules pictures.

ie.  some Nubians, some Macedonian command.
Priority is the WOTR bowmen though.


martin

[Smiley Miley 66]

I use Vallejo Premium Color 60 ml Paint - Matt Varnish as it is like a "plastic bag" once on. You can either brush it or spray it. But if you spray and and doing multiples then every so often you have to clean the nozzle. As you are spraying a liquid plastic out and it bungs up the nozzle.
But I do find it drys most times Matt, then any of the others I ve tried over the years.
Spraying on is the best way of using it. But I usually brush it on.
Miles

[simmo]

Wargame message boards seem to be full of Spray Varnish frosting misery. But for some folks it never happens. People offer solutions to cure usually by painting over with a matt varnish. But a mate of mine in frustration just ended up putting his figures in the bin. My go to matt varnish is Humbrol (not the acrylic) which is pretty tough, but not as tough as their gloss.