Hello,

I am starting to prepare my Macedonian pikemen for Age of Hannibal, and I have decided to use th open handed pikemen (my previous experience with casts Pikes shows the extra work could be worth it).

Peter recommends dressmaker pins with the heads chopped off, this sounds good, but the only ones I can fins are stainless steel! How would I chops the heads off?

I have see the alternate 'yardbrush stalks' idea, but that seems a little to flimsy for my liking.

I use these frequently. I have found the best way to do this is with a sturdy pair of pliers that has a cutting section integral to it. Word of warning - wear a cheap pair of safety glasses - the pin heads can sometimes take off at a remarkable velocity.

Kk, I'll fork out the pennies for some good pliers.

I'd be wearing googles anyway (not THAT stupid), but it's good that you mention it! It makes sure anyone else who reads this thinks about it!

I'd agree with everything that Dourpuritan says.   It's a bit of a chore, but the end result is worth it and it does earn your finsihed units a lot of respect!

If you do the chopping with the head pointing into a bin (lined with something soft) you should avoid most of the incoming fire.

Hmmm, tried that but it got awfuly claustraphobic and I couldn't see what I was cutting. The wife said I looked better for it though, result!

Ha, ha, ha!!

Stalks, not that flimsy...

Wondering if you could affix them to a piece of scrap wood with some masking tape and then decapitate the lot of them with a Dremel in one pass.  Been thinking about this pike question myself as I’ve got some GNW troops on the way.

Priapus, that was my initial plan. But it just takes to long to set up.

I needed 300 pikes for twelve 24 figure Phalanxes, (yes 12 to many, but allow for wastage).

It took about 60-70 mins to do them all manually, I felt it was a better option than the Dremel, but if it was 600 or so, I'd certianly use the Dremel.