Sunday, October 07, 2012

Pikes?  Yikes!  --    

The armies that I have for my "Alpian Wars" were purchased pre-painted many years ago (at less than lead cost I might add).  And while I'm not thrilled with the color palette that the painter used, I'm not about to re-paint them.

However I am concerned about their current "pikes".  The figure height is 30mm to the tops of their hats/helmets and the "pikes" are thin piano wire spears of 60mm.  They do not look like pikes to me.  They are too short and almost invisible.

So I am thinking of changing them.  That, of course will entail painting new pikes, removing the old ones and gluing in the new ones . . . all of which will delay any gaming.  I know, that doesn't sound like a lot but the chemotherapy doesn't leave me with much energy.

Now I have two obvious choices for new pikes.  Both are 100 mm in length and I have enough of both (I will need 72 of them).  I have some steel pikes and I have some wooden ones.  The steel ones are a bit thin for my taste and have very sharp points on them.  The wooden ones are perhaps a bit too thick but are less dangerous to the hand and will be more visible.

So right now I'm leaning toward the wooden ones . . . but also wondering if I should just accept the short "pikes" and not worry about it.

What do you think?

 -- Jeff


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6 comments:

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Jeff, my suggestion is Play 3 games with the short pikes then if you still have the urge you can start in.

MurdocK said...

I agree with Ross, get some time on the table with them, gauge the effects in your photos and aesthetic before eating up energy and time on more re-setting.

Game ON!

tidders2 said...

Jeff,

during english civil war pikes were supposed to be sixteen feet in length but often soldiers sawed a few feet off the ends to make them easier to carry - so probably the soldiers in your armies have done the same :)

so go with what you've got for now

-- Allan

tradgardmastare said...

The previous comments say it all- go with the status quo for now.
best wishes
Alan

David Morfitt said...

Absolutely agree.

Cheers,

David
http://nba-sywtemplates.blogspot.co.uk/

Archduke Piccolo said...

The thing about pikes is that if you are holding it in two hands, then it's a pike, even if it's only 8 foot long. Your 6cm pikes represent something like 11-12 foot, which might not have been that unusual in the early 17th century.

It's true that ends got cut off to reduce the weight of lugging this big stick around, but the cut-offs made reasonable fuel for the campfire as well. On the other hand, if you got caught shortening you pike, the hempen high jump might well have become a significant feature of what remained of your lifetime.

I'd go with what looks best coupled with what would be the most robust. I replaced the spears with pins (the squashed point technique) on my Byzantine Skoutatoi for the look of the thing, and left it to my opponents to discover the hazard they represented. Snh, snh, snh...

Cheers,
Ion