Howdy Gunny
I was going to post this in your main thread announcing the big changes for the exciting 3.0 update, but I thought that I might lighten up your forum with a new thread
I'd just like to start with Makedonia and the Antigonidai, because that's what I'm currently doing a lot of research into:
You're right to remove the Thorax Swordsmen. When the classical hoplite adopted the thureos, they retained their spears, and their new shield allowed them to carry a small clutch of javelins, while keeping their sword by their side as a secondary weapon (as it always has been for Greek hoplite). So, any "Sword" unit that CA has given the Greeks, should be removed, including cavalry (Greek cavalry always used a spear or lance as their primary melee weapon).Macedon:
-Some losses, some gains.
-Thorax Swordsmen are removed (I have no references to them, welcome correction), in exchange they get Thracian Peltasts and Rhompania (light) in Thracia.
-Three ranks of Thureophoroi
-Three ranks of Hoplites
-Four ranks of pikemen (Levy, regular, mail-clad, elite)
-Royal Peltasts
-Thracian Spearmen, Thracian Rhompania infantry, Thracian Peltasts
-Light and Heavy Peltasts
-Possibly native access to Cretan Archers given their intensive use. Otherwise national mercenary access.
-Javelin cavalry, Tarantine Cavalry, Prdoromoi, Citizenry Cavalry, Thessalians, Aspis-Companions, Lance-Companions, Thracian Light Cavalry and Thracian Prodromoi
Adding in Thracian units to their roster (not just mercenaries, but also recruited from barracks) is also a neat idea, because native Thracians lived inside Makedonia for some time, and served their king. The native melee weapon was the rhomphaia, and the heavy infantry would also carry a shield (depending on the period, either pelte or thureos) and a few javelins. The light infantry would be equipped similarly, but without the rhomphaia, much lighter armour (probably none most the time), and their shield (again, depending on the period). Spear infantry definitely existed, but they weren't that common.
Something to note about the Makedonian army; in the period we're focusing on, and long before (up to the time of Alexander), Makedonian citizens that served in the foot, would only be in the phalanx. Thureophoroi and classical Hoplite would be recruited either from allied Hellenic cities in their kingdom, allied states fighting with them in the war, or mercenaries. Furthermore, I don't believe there should be 3 ranks of them; almost all warriors in this period were "levy" troops, and their equipment would chiefly be based off what the general practice was in that region. Greek city states would also usually have a "Picked" (Epilektoi) force of professional, full-time soldiers (both horse and foot usually), but they were very limited. So I'd suggest having 2 of these units; "Allied Thureophoroi", and "Picked Allied Thureophoroi" (a later Thorakitai variant of both too, if you'd like); "Allied Hoplitai", and "Picked Allied Hoplitai" (or Epilektoi), because that was probably the only difference, having so many different ranks of different troops seems a little pointless to me, but that's my view
About the classical Hoplite and the thureos Hoplite; the change came in during the Celtic invasion of Hellas, and it was a very rapid change. Almost all the Greek world had adopted this shield in a decade or 2, beginning in the 270's. So, you could make Thureophoroi unavailable at the beginning of the campaign, then make a very early tech to unlock them; or just make them unlocked from the start, either is a valid choice, but the former might add a bit more flavor to the game When the thureos came into use in a certain state though, it would completely replace the hoplon; they never co-existed in the same state.
Ok, moving onto the phalanx; the native Makedonians. Like I said, all troops in this period were levies, so I don't think it'd be proper to have a "Levy Phalangites" and "Regular Phalangites" unit. Also, there's no actual evidence of Makedonians using mail armour, but it is likely I suppose for the front rank men (hegemons; file leaders and officers). Finally, there was no "elite" unit in the Makedonian armies of our era that served chiefly as phalangites. I'll discuss the elite troops below Anyway, if it'd be represented properly, there'd only be 1 unit of the core phalanx, because that's how Hellenistic armies done it, with homogeneity. These men that formed the core phalanx were known as "Chalkaspides" by Polybius, as well as "Hoplitai".
The elite foot troops were the "Royal Peltasts" (basilikoi peltastai). They fought in the phalanx with a shortened sarisa, and outside of a pitched battled, they'd be equipped with javelins and spear (or their shortened sarisa, not sure). They were made for versatility, and that's what they done very well. It's unlikely that they wore any body armour at all, because an eye-witness of their elite regiment (the agema, probably the only professional soldiers of our period's Makedonian armies) remarks on their "newly died crimson tunics", which might be a little hard to see if they were wearing full body armour of any type. Also, whenever they are mentioned, no one mentions body armour, or even greaves. So perhaps they just used a helmet and shield for protection.
Like I said before, there was an elite regiment of the royal peltast, called the "Agema" (Peltastai Basilikoi Agematos; Royal Peltasts of the Agema); they were likely the only professional Makedonian citizens in the army, and probably were very uniformed in appearance (for the period). There was 2,000 of these, and 3,000 of the Royal Peltast, making 5,000 total. You can remove the "Foot Companion" unit in vanilla, because these guys replaced their role.
Your "Light and Heavy Peltasts" would also have to be either allied or mercenary, because like I said, all foot soldiers in the Makedonian army served in the phalanx. But another note to this; once the thureophoroi emerged, they combined both the classical hoplite and the peltasts into 1 unit (peltast also adopting this shield). So perhaps you could have Pre-Celtic infantry (Classical Hoplite, and Classical Peltasts), and Post-Celtic infantry (Thureos Hoplite) which would be unlock with a tech (replacing the former). Again though, with equipment; it was a regional thing, so in 1 place there'd likely only be heavy or light peltasts.
Cretans certainly are mentioned a lot in Makedonian armies (actually, all Hellenic armies). It's likely that "Cretan" denoted a certain type of unit, rather than their nationality, eventually (just like "Peltast" became a term for mercenary, and "Hoplite" for heavy trooper). It's been suggested that the Makedonians had a contract with allied Cretan cities that supplied a fix number of soldiers into their forces, which seems probable. It's also likely that there was a military settlement of them in their kingdom too. So you could make them Allied or Mercenary troops, or both
Cavalry time. There wasn't much cavalry in Antigonid armies of our period until later years, so having multiple different units may not be practical, but I'll tell you about their evolution. 1st we'd have the classic Alexander-style cavalry which used xyston (lance) and a shock charge. 2nd there was the shielded, skirmisher cavalry; this development took place sometime between Pyrrhus' (taking shielded cavalry back with him from Italy) or the Celt's invasion of Greece, and their wars with Rome (the development was valid only because of the reduced importance of cavalry in Makedonian armies during the period, not relying on shock cavalry any more). Their shield was of Tarantine style (Tarantines also denoting a certain class of troop at this period, like Cretans). But anyway, there was the regular cavalry (basilikoi hippeis; royal cavalry), and the elite, bodyguard unit (hiera ilai; sacred squadron); both Livy and Polybius confirm this. Makedonians wouldn't have served in the scouts (Prodromoi) at this time (which would fight with xyston, or javelins, depending on the situation, in Alexander's day anyway). Makedonian cavalry likely never used Aspis/Hoplon, but I can tell you Epirus and Ptolemy did, and maybe Boiotians too.
You could have the "Citizenry Cavalry" as allied units too, recruited from coastal polis' in the Makedonian kingdom. They'd likely fight in the native, classical Greek style; equipped with a long spear (not as long as a xyston) and several javelins; un-shielded, acting as a heavy skirmish/pursuit unit. You could also have a "Picked" unit of these allied cavalry units too. I'll get back to you on the Thracian and Thessalian cavalry soon, and artillery if you'd like? You might also like to add some Agrianes and Paeonians to the roster too? Both lived inside the Kingdom (now officially part of Makedonia, not just a client state).
Hope you enjoy this read, sorry about the wall of text, I got carried away Here's something I wrote for my mod, perhaps it'll be useful for you too (it's got every reference to the Makedonian armies under the Antigonidai that I could possibly find)?
Spoiler Alert, click show to read: