Spartan Wargames Armies

Some more plastic hoplites

2011-08-23T20:04:00.003-01:00

The three legged symbol is that of the Alcmaeonid clan

I have just finished four more Immortal Miniatures plastic hoplites which, as usual, were pretty easy to paint. I am not entirely convinced by these, mainly due to the fact that the sword scabbards cannot possibly hang down vertically because they get in the way of the shield arm. Someone at Immortal actually claimed that recent research showed that this was the way they were in fact carried. Hmm. I'm not convinced. Having looked at some examples of warriors on Greek pottery what is more noticeable is that hardly any warriors have swords at all so maybe I am better just to leave them off.

I've got some more from the new late Spartans box under way but I have some issues with those too which I will discuss when I have finished some.

This time my experience of Immortal's shield transfers was somewhat better as I invested in some gloss varnish for the shield surfaces which helped adhesion considerably. I still got some frosting and rough edges however but, on the whole, I think they look nice.

Immortal plastic Hoplite painted

2010-12-30T19:31:00.000-01:00

Foundry Greek (left) and Immortal Greek (right)

I just finished a very quick paint job on one of my Immortal miniatures plastic hoplites. They were pretty quick to paint, except the shield, which took ages due to the fact that the shield transfers only stick to a gloss surface (Airfix decals don't give this problem). On a matt finish, as they dry they just fall off. So I had to paint the shield gloss, apply the transfer, then over-paint with matt to cover some "frosting" which got under the surface of the decal then varnish. A pain, but it looks OK.

Foundry (l) Immortal (r)

The interesting thing is that although the proportions (particularly the head size) are different from my Foundry figures they don't look bad together at all.

One thing I learnt is that I need to leave the shield with the arm off until I have painted it!

Immortal have now released a box of Spartan hoplites with pilos helmets but I have dozens of the Foundry ones which come with some great chracter figures so don't know if I want to go over to these. I am also waiting to see what the new Victrix figures will look like.

I have some more plastics based up and ready to start.

New Immortal plastic hoplites: size comparison

2010-04-29T05:45:00.007-01:00

L to R: Artizan/Gorgon, Immortal and Foundry

Here are some pictures of a new plastic Immortal hoplite v my normal Artizan/Gorgon and Foundry ones. He is about the same height but much slimmer as he is better proportioned. The heads, especially are much smaller. Until I assembled one I thought they wouldn't work with my existing figures at all but now that I have put one together I have decided I would definitely have no problem putting them in the same army and maybe even in the same unit. Their historical accuracy and utter gorgeousness overwhelms any (slight) reservation I had about size compatability. Quite simply the best 28mm Ancient Greeks ever made.

You can clearly see the head size difference here

A couple more Spartans...and more on the way.

2010-03-31T15:49:00.006-01:00

No more hand painted shield designs after these!

I've been desperately trying to clear my workbench of half finished figures and these two Spartans were lurking at the back so I decided to finish them off. I enjoyed painting them so much that I have started another six to form the basis of my second classical Spartan unit.

For the first unit of knights I kept their hoplons bronze and painted motifs on the metal. For the second unit, who are slightly lower status, I will be using coloured backgrounds. For these two I had to paint the motifs but everything should be much easier now I have taken delivery of a sheet of Immortal Miniatures new waterslide shield transfers.

Brilliant idea!

Hoplons are a problem for the LBM type of transfer as the curvature can cause problems but having waterslide transfers should make this a lot easier. I hope to try some out over Easter.

I am also looking forward to seeing Immortals new plastic Hoplites, which they are intending to have ready for Salute next month (not long now!).

I suspect they will be considearbly smaller than the Aritzan/Gorgon Spartans but you never know; they have said they will be bigger than their metals. I have some of their metal Persians and they are quite slight, so we shall see. I may have to take a Saleh Spartan with me in my pocket to compare them. Almost the best thing about them are the accurately modelled spears. Currently, I use the Gripping Beast cast spears and carve a rudimentary butt spike on the end. I'd love to just buy a sprue of spears but I don't expect it will work like that!

Return of the Spartans: Gorgon Studios

2009-05-17T13:41:00.004-01:00

Recently the Steve Saleh sculpted classical Spartans have disappeared from the Artizan Website. I searched on the Artizan Yahoo group and apparently Steve has taken the figures to his new venture which will be launching soon.

Yesterday I received a note from Gorgon Studios which is the new venture concerned (launching imminently but they already have a website http://www.gorgon-studios.com/ ). Hooray the figures will be back shortly (although it appears that Gorgon are US based so I hope they get a UK agent soon). There is also an announcement about a new range of Etruscans from Saleh from them. Hooray, again! Steve is my favourite Ancients sculptor and to see a new firm letting him concentrate on these is very good news indeed.

Crusader Thracians

2008-10-30T10:06:00.003-01:00

I've always been keen on fielding a Thracian Army against my Spartans as it would be more interesting than a hoplite v hoplite encounter. I bought a Foundry deal a few years ago and painted a number of figures for the Society of Ancients Cynoscephalae battle day. However, the Foundry Thracians were, crucially, missing skirmishers (archers in particular). Now however, Crusader miniatres have come to the rescue with some lovely new Thracians sculpted in a very similar style to Steve Saleh. I have put in a pre-order for these as they look perfect.

Another file of knights

2008-08-31T19:14:00.005-01:00

During my holiday I managed to paint another file of Spartan knights to complete my first phalanx. This takes the unit up to 20 figures and a hefty 550 points: much better for wargaming purposes.

I have bought some light troops and will do those next, along with starting the next unit of hoplites. I also need to start work on Leonidas.

First unit of Spartan Knights completed..sort of.

2008-07-06T20:02:00.007-01:00

Well, encouraged by the fact that we have a new recruit at Guildford who is interested in Classical Greek wargaming in 28mm for WAB, I have finished the figures I needed to complete my first unit of classical period Spartan hoplites.

Here they are all, 16 of them!

They are a very small unit of 16 men, so one casualty would destroy their phalanx ability straight away. I probably need to make them 2o at least but for the Thermopylae scenario I am looking at that would probably be too many, but 16 isn't really viable in WAB. Or is it? If I use the sacred band rule, which would be appropriate for Leonidas' bodyguard then they become immune to psychology and never break. I think I may test this out in the next few weeks by pitting them against a bigger unit of Peltasts, standing in for Persians and see how they do.

A Spartan Hoplite sacred band member is an astonishing 27 points so this unit is 442 points! So they better hold!

I have now started work on two more figures who may make another file to bring them up to 20. I may now also paint my Leonidas figure and move the officer to the second unit.

Spartan Musician and later Spartan Hoplites.

2008-05-21T09:14:00.004-01:00

I recently bought the new Artizan Spartan musicians and high command set. The two musicians included are a pipe and a trumpet player. I painted the pipe player and he can be used in any period Spartan army.

This sort of Greek Pipe is called an Aulos and is not a double ended instrument but rather two auloi played at the same time. It was a simple double reed instrument (like an oboe) and had only five holes. It came in a variety of sizes from quite small (parthenios-maiden type) to large (hyperteleios -extra complete). Auloi players (and certainly the Artizan one) are often depicted wearing a phorbeia, a cloth or leather bandage worn around the mouth which contained two holes to help keep the instruments in place. It was Thucydides who noted that the Spartans marched into battle to the tune of the aulos. It is theorised, not unreasonably, that the aulos players formed a separate unit behind the Hoplite phalanxes but the Warhammer rules require you to put your musician in the unit so in he will go.

I also finished another two later Spartans to go with the General and other hoplite I painted some time ago. With their pilos helmets and lambda devices on their shields they are from a later period than the Artizan Spartans.

There has been much argument over the level of armour that hoplites wore in the Peloponnesian Wars. In the Nicolas Sekunda Osprey he argued (and the illustrations reflect) that by this period, and the later Xenophon period of the 10,000, armour had fallen from use. Others do not agree, however. For my armies I have to take a view on this. It was interesting to hear Phil Sabin say, at last years SOA battle day, that wargamers often had to think about things like this and make choices in a way historians don't. My feeling is that although the nature of Hoplite fighting changed, with looser and more flexible formations needed because of the increase in importance of lighter troops on the battlefield, people would still wear armour. Maybe too, armour would not be worn in battle if the terrain was unsuitable. Classical Greek battles tended to take place on pre-agreed flat terrain. However, if you were up in the mountains of Thrace trying to beat off ambushing tribesemen with one of Xenophon's mercenary units you might discard your armour in favour of better manoeuvreability. I am going to go for a mix of armoured and unarmoured units for the later period, therefore.

The figures from this particular Foundry pack are odd in a number of ways:

Firstly, unlike the Artizan figures, they are fully bearded but with mustaches. Under the laws of Lykurgus Spartans were banned from having mustaches. On the latter two figures a bit of judicious filing has dealt with this problem (oddly the Foundry general is correctly bearded and with no mustache).

Secondly, the Foundry shields are a bit small, certainly smaller than the Artizan ones. Although I am using bigger shields for the Foundry non-Spartan Greeks (taken from an Argonauts deal I bought a few years ago with the sheep's head filed off) I decided to leave these as some of the chracters have non-separate shields.

Thirdly, the hand positions mean that when you glue the spears on the spear is, oddly, always in contact with the head. Maybe this is designed to offer another attachment point.

Finally, the figures' breastplates appear to be for bronze armour, they are not the squared off linothorox form you find on the Artizan figures. I suspect that bronze breastplates with pilos helmets really would have been anachronistic (although I painted my first figure in this way as that is the way the figures on the Foundry website are painted). For the most recent two I simply painted on the lines of a linothorax. I didn't bother to fill the line on the casting meant to represent the join between the front and back of the bronze breastplate but maybe I will on future figures.

Anyway, now I have a front rank for my later Spartan force and can finish my first unit of Classical Thermopylae period Spartans (the final figures are underway).

New Thermopylae blog

2008-03-17T05:38:00.003-01:00

Quadratus from The Miniatures Page has started a blog about a project to re-create Thermoplyae with some schoolchildren. A great idea to get them interested in learning about the real story behind the film 300. It looks like a very interesting project which I will follow closely.

http://300revisited.blogspot.com/

Three more Spartan knights

2007-11-25T23:03:00.000-01:00

I finished another three Spartan hoplies today so now I have 12 for my first unit. I'm looking at a unit of 20 I think so I will order some more once I have painted the last five I have. Then I think I will order some light infantry to go with them. I'm not short of Greek light infantry but the Artizan ones look particularly nice. I just wish that they would release a musician as I can't finish the unit without one.

Gates of Fire

2007-11-20T11:57:00.000-01:00

I am about half way through Steven Pressfield's Gates of Fire which I picked up very cheap in Los Angeles last month. Oddly, I hadn't read this before because I read a couple of reviews that indicated that it's structure (with a lot of flashbacks) made it a difficult read. There was an implication that it was literature and rather indegestible by the casual reader. This is patently nonsense, as I am discovering. It is a well written historical novel, a grade or two above Bernard Cornwell but not in the same league as Patrick O'Brian or even Allan Mallinson. For some reason the many discourses about courage and the nature of war remind me of Heinlen's Starship Troopers.

Whatever, after a rather slow start, I am now in the first day at Thermopylae and it is just tremedous at depicting the battle.

So, suitably inspired, I have got a nother trio of Artizan Spartans ready to go. I do wish they would issue the other packs, though, as I need a musician for my first unit.

I also picked up a copy of the new Osprey on Thermopylae today so need to have a look at that. The only comment I would make at present is the very garish nature of the art. Whether this is down to the original artwork or the printing I don't know. It just shows how much Angus McBride is sorely missed.

New Osprey on Thermopylae

2007-10-17T07:44:00.000-01:00

I got my forthcoming publications catalogue from Osprey yesterday and there is a new book on Thermopylae coming out in November! Excellent! This will keep me focussed!

http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=S180X

Wish I knew how to paint that nice chequered effect on the helmet crests!

More Spartans

2007-10-16T19:50:00.000-01:00

I've just finished another three Artizan Spartans. These are the four from pack SPA002: spearmen underarm. They work well as ranks behind the overarm poses. I have carried on painting the shield blazons but switched to red for what's supposed to be a boar, a crab and a galley. Quite tempted to do the man who had a life sized fly painted on his shield!

I have now painted one each of the eight hoplite poses available (there are two of each pose per pack). Armoured Spartan hippeis (equivalent of Sacred Band) hoplites are a staggering 29 points each in WAB. So the points value of the 9 I have painted (with the officer) is 266! If you include the army general, which you are supposed to do in the key guard unit, you can add another 157 points to that. Over 400 points for 10 figures!

I've easily got enough Spartans to finish a unit of 16 but a unit of 20 would be nicer. Just think how many Persians I'd have to paint to balance them out, though. Maybe it's time to do a few generic City State hoplites to oppose them or be allies!

Another Spartan Officer

2007-10-14T19:40:00.000-01:00

I've finished another Spartan officer and this picture gives a better idea of the new Vallejo Bronze colour I am using instead of the Games Workshop Golds. It is much closer to the ancient bronze weapons I have seen in museums.

New bronze Hoplite

2007-09-24T19:31:00.001-01:00

Dashed off another Spartan hoplite but I used a new colour for the bronze work. This is Vallejo model colour Bronze 70998. It is a much browner looking colour than the Games Workshop gold colours I have been using so far. In the comparison photo the new colour is the one on the right. You can't tell in these pictures because of the flash but it certainly looks much better. I will be repainting my existing figures with this duller colour.

WAB Thermopylae Scenario in Wargaming Soldiers and Strategy

2007-09-09T19:30:00.000-01:00

WSS is a magazine I can only get intermittently as they only seem to sell it at the larger branches of WH Smith. I picked up the September issue today and it has a WAB scenario for Thermopylae in it.

The good news is that you only need 1000 points of Spartans: which totals Leonidas, 20 Spartan bodyguard, 21 Thespian hoplites and 9 peltasts. Hooray only 51 figures! I've already got 15 of them done! Actually these proportions are rather puzzling. If you take the figures in the accompanying article of 300 Spartans, 700 Thespians and 900 Pereoeci then I would make up the 1000 points as follows.

Leonidas 185 points

12 Spartan Hoplites with light armour 293 points
24 Thesbian Hoplites with light armour 293 points

33 light infantry 231 points

That makes the proportions better but pushes the number of figures up to 70. But because I painted so many light infantry for Cynoscephalea I would then have 39 figures of the force painted. Perhaps a 12 man unit (even of Spartans) would just not hold. You would also not get the full rank bonus. Some experimentation would be needed. No wonder Thermopylae is considered so hard to game satisfactorily! Anyway, it has encouraged me to finish my unit of Spartans so I can test them out against a larger force made up of peltasts (standing in for Persians) to see what happens.

Then the bad news: 2000 points of Persians. That's 221 figures! Unlike Greek light infantry Persians had all those ornate tunics so they will take ages to paint. There is a "hordes" option where you only need 1000 points and keep recycling broken units. 110 figures seems a bit more achievable. At least Persians can be used for other conflicts, such as against Macedonians.

I don't know if Steve Saleh is planning to do any Persians for Artizan (there have been comments to that effect). Otherwise, I bought some Vendel figures and they seem pretty compatible. Perhaps I will paint one or two to see how they come out.

First Athenian

2007-07-26T20:29:00.000-01:00

I started this figure about two years ago and then gave up on it so it is nice to have finished it now. This is my first Athenian (or any other city state) hoplite and is one of the Foundry ones. I probably shouldn't have painted him with a red tunic as he looks rather similar to the Spartans. Blue for the next one I think.

Spartan Unit Officer

2007-07-26T20:09:00.000-01:00

I have painted an officer to go with the first four hoplites. He is armed with a sword rather than a spear as he would have been in the phalanx but it's as good a way to distinguish officers as any. The sword is rather over-large and even after some filing is still out of scale but I suppose it will look alright in a unit.

I am now waiting for the next Spartans release from Artizan as that will provide some musicians; although it is annoying that they are going to package those with King Leonidas. There will be an awful of lot of Leonidas on eBay, I suspect.

Bettany Hughes: would look nice in a peplos

I have just picked up the Bettany Hughes fronted series The Spartans which was written by Paul Cartledge whose new book on Thermopylae I have also just purchased. Hopefully this will keep me engaged enough to keep painting them. If Bettany Hughes can't, nothing can! Bettany's recitation in Ancient Greek of the famous inscription on the monument at Thermopylae ("Go, tell the Spartans..") was one of the sexiest moments ever in history TV!

Bettany decribes racy Spartan women:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpXeWBDcOGo

First Four Hoplites

2007-06-28T07:23:00.000-01:00

I have now painted four of the new Artizan Hoplites; one each of the overarm spear set (you get two of each). I am working on a command figure and then I will stop for a bit as I am doing some Darkest Africa stuff. I have decided to paint the shield devices rather than use transfers as I want my Spartans to have plain bronze surfaced, rather than painted, shields. There will just be some painted devices on the metal. I think that this is more "spartan" and slightly more primitive given that I would like to think that Spartan Hoplites spent more time on their drill than on what was on their shields. I will reserve the painted shields for the more effete Athenians.

Artizan v Vendel

2007-06-18T20:56:00.000-01:00

Here is one of the new Artizan Spartans with a Vendel Persian command.

Another Spartan

2007-06-17T20:57:00.000-01:00

I've decided to paint one of each of the new Artizan Spartans I ordered so now have two hoplites finished and two more nearly ready.

These are Persian Wars era Spartans so I have decided to paint them with plain bronze shields and simple shield blazons. I've decided to paint these rather than use transfers as I want the backgrounds of the shields to reamain bronze rather than painted. I will use the painted backgrounds and, therefore, transfers, for other Greek city states.

The spears are Gripping Beast. They are a little fat but I like the way I can carve the end to form the bronze butt at the base of the spear.

These really are very easy figures to paint, even for me!

Spartan Officer

2007-06-13T18:46:00.000-01:00

Here is the first figure I have painted from the Artizan Spartan command pack. The figure is what Artizan refer to as "Command Staff" as opposed to the "unit command".

He carries the typical Lakedaimonian staff, the bakteμrion. More likely to be carried by envoys travelling abroad on diplomatic missions than in battle, nevertheless, it is as typically Spartan as the triboμn cloak which, again, was unlikely to have been worn in battle. So what role this lovely figure will have in my classical Spartan army I am not yet sure!

Arizan Spartan Part 2

2007-06-12T20:17:00.000-01:00

Well, I've finished my first one and I'm reasonably happy with it. Pretty easy to paint although maybe the arms and legs are lacking in a little muscular definition compared with some of his Foundry Greeks.

The comparison photos show that they match with the Foundry Spartans perfectly and hence with their other Greeks (I'm sure I have a part completed Athenian hoplite somewhere!). Nearly finished an officer so hope to have him up in a day or too.

Artizan Spartan Part 1

2007-06-10T21:12:00.000-01:00

I ordered my Artizan Spartans (the first two sets of armoured hoplites and the command pack) on Wednesday evening and they arrived Friday morning! First impression are very good indeed.

Unlike most of the later Spartans he did for Foundry Mike Owen has sculpted these figures with beards but no moustache, which is quite correct. Also the shields are that little bit bigger: also correct.

Size-wise they are completely compatible with the Foundry Greek figures (not always the case when a sculptor works for another manufacturer).

I will do a proper review when I have actually finished a figure; which will hopefully be later this week as I have started one as a test.

Artizan Spartans..

2007-06-07T04:35:00.000-01:00

..re out!

http://www.artizandesigns.com/catalogue.asp?sub_range=22

Just ordered 2 packs of hoplites and the command pack. I was sorting through my Foundry Greeks last weekend and those Steve Saleh figures are just wonderful so really looking forward to these. They have officially announced the Persians too, although I think that 12 packs of Persians will barely cover the main troop types. There are always the Vendel ones as well, though.

I will try to paint at least one as soon as they arrive!

Thracian Unit

2007-05-09T20:42:00.000-01:00

I painted another six Thracians so we could field a unit of 12 using the same sized figures. Dave's are old Minifigs and are small 25s.

I really like painting these even if all the patterns are a pain. I didn't go mad on these but when I do the next lot will get more patterns on. I have included a female Thracian as I often try to sneak a girlie into my armies.

So, that's it for Greeks for the time being. Now all I have to do is wait for the Artizan Spartans!

Last Greek skirmishers

2007-05-08T18:35:00.000-01:00

This is my third and final unit of Greek skirmishers for Cynoscephale this Saturday. Thirty six skirmishers painted in just over six weeks (all except one which I painted in January). I still seem to have quite a few in my drawers so I'd better work out how many I would ever need for an army. One day I will have to resolve the "are they spears or javelins?" issue and add a spare javelin if the latter.

For Cynoscephale, with the Thracians that I should finish tomorrow, I will have painted:

36 Greek skirmishers
12 Cretan Archers
12 Thracian Peltasts
6 Italian javelin men
8 Greek Light Cavalry
16 Greek/Macedonian Heavy Cavalry
2 Macedonian Generals

There are also all the Punic Romans I painted as well, thinking they might be needed. In fact, I think I am just taking 24 Velites.

Even so, that's 92 figures plus the Romans. They will nearly all be useful for the Spartan Mercenary Army, earlier Greek armies and Macedonian armies.

More Greek Skirmishers

2007-04-22T20:21:00.000-01:00

This is the second unit of Greek skirmishers finished. The whole lot in a week. I have deliberately made it unclear as to whether they have spears or javelins so I can use them as both peltasts or javelinmen. The spears I picked up at Salute and they are nice steel ones with a leaf blade, so they shouldn't bend like the soft metal ones.

I have another 12 based and maybe have even another 12 after that. In the meantime I need to do the two Macedonian generals and maybe get the last six Greek light horse done. It's going to be tight!

Classical Spartans!

2007-04-21T20:06:00.000-01:00

Artizan designs have announced a new range of Spartans with Corinthian (or possibly Chalcidian-it's hard to tell from these shots whether they leave the ears exposed or not) rather than Pylos Helmets. Most other manufactureres depict Spartans in Pylos helmets so this is a welcome addition.

http://www.artizandesigns.com/catalogue.asp?sub_range=22

The whole issue of how to represent a Spartan Army has exercised me since I started this project. The figures I have decided to use are the Foundry ones also by Steve Saleh.

Now there are a number of distinct periods I would want to model and really it is not that easy to overlap the models used.

THERMOPYLAE 480BC AND THE PERSIAN WARS

The Spartans at the time of Thermopylae would have probably worn Corinthian Helmets with front to back crests (maybe even with elevated crests like this example from about the time of Thermopylae). One of the figures in the Artizan picture above (third from the left, top row) is wearing the more open faced Illyrian type helmet, which certainly continued into use in the 4th century

They could also have worn the so-called bell bronze cuirass. The illustrations in Nick Sekunda's Osprey The Spartan Army show the Spartans at Thermopylae wearing bell cuirasses. Actually, Foundry do produce some figures like this but only in their one pose army builder packs See above figure).

However, Peter Connolly in his Greece and Rome at War show Spartan troops at Thermopylae wearing the linen covered cuirass. The Artizan figures seem to be based on this interpretation.

Also, there doesn't seem to be any evidence that the Spartans were using the famous Greek lambda symbol on their shields at this time and had individual designs. The earliest mention is from a poet likely to have been writing around 412 BC.

Greek Heavy Cavalry

2007-04-16T21:16:00.000-01:00

This is the unit of 16 heavy cavalry we need for Cynoscephalae. Technically they should be half Greek and half Macedonians but only one of them is carrying a Xyston. I will replace the Xyston carrying Macedonian with another heavy cavalryman and build a seperate unit of Companion cavalry when I get to work on the Macedonians. The only problem with contemplating a Macedonian force is all the Persians I would have to paint as well. Grim!

Next 12 more javelinmen and six more light cavalry. Never mind the light mornings are helping. Today I managed to finish the tunics on 12 javelinmen. I'll try to do the flesh shading tomorrow.

More Greeks

2007-04-10T21:18:00.000-01:00

Bought some more Greeks today. 9 packs of Foundry figures on top of the 7 packs which arrived two days ago. I managed to get the former at £5.00 per pack reduced in a shop I visited today. Bargain. One pack I did get was the Mercenary Generals which also contained the two mercenary commander figures that you used to only be able to get as a give away with the Foundry mercenary deal and which seem to have been unavailable for some time. One of these is a really nice Spartan figure.

Unfortunately, quite a few of the figures I bought today are Macedonians: Hypaspists and phalangites. It looks like I am going down the road of starting a Macedonian army. Oh dear!

First Thracians

2007-04-06T12:34:00.000-01:00

Here are the six Thracians we need to make up numbers for Cynoscephalae.

These ones are wearing the black tunic mentioned by Plutarch and worn at Pydna (168 BC), so there is a reasonable argument to say they could have worn them at Cynoscephalae (197BC). They are certainly quicker to paint than the classical ones!

This is a WAB command unit of Classical period Thracians wearing the patterned tunics. I bought a Foundry deal of these (80 figures) a couple of years ago to pitch against my classical Greeks. They are lovely to paint but take rather a long time because of all the patterns.

I'd like to paint an army, or at least a couple of big units of these as there are a couple of interesting actions involving Thracians against Romans (and Numidians) following Magnesia (190). Useful figures, therefore.

Cretan Archers

2007-04-02T05:16:00.000-01:00

I finished them last night. 12 figures in a week, must be a record! Next I will finish the 6 Thracians and do the first four Macedonian Heavy cavalry. Good job I have some time off over Easter.

A couple more Greeks

2007-04-01T18:47:00.000-01:00

I finished another light cavalryman and an archer in the last week. I may have enough time to do some more before Cynoscephalae in May. Currently I am seeing if I can paint 12 Cretan archers in a week. I'll have to finish them tonight to succeed. Looks like I will just miss it..

Unit of Javelinmen

2007-04-01T18:36:00.000-01:00

I needed to do some javelinmen for Cynoscephalae and they will be useful for my Greek Mercenary army anyway. I painted all 12 (the Tony Bath rules we are using put light infantry in units of 12) at the same time, unusually, rather than in sixes. They didn't take too long and look OK. I used cut down Gripping Beast spears for these but I will try to get some of the Perry Miniatures spears as they make better javelins in this scale.

First cavalryman

2007-02-14T21:12:00.000-01:00

Here is my first Greek light cavalryman, painted to serve as Greek allied cavalry for Cynoscephalae. He is a Steve Saleh Foundry Greek.

Peltast

2007-02-11T08:46:00.000-01:00

I have to paint some Greek light troops for the Cynoscephalae battle we are running for the Society of Ancients battle day. Here is the first one. These will be useful for my Greek mercenary force. I'll try to finish another couple today although I have just got back from Canada and may not feel up to it.

A New Direction?

2007-01-15T16:19:00.000-01:00

I haven't painted anything for months as I have been too busy on Punic War Romans. However, a couple of things have got me thinking about the Spartans again. Firstly, I am painting some Greek light infantry for Cynoscephalae and so have been rooting about in my drawers of Foundry Greeks. Lots of lovely Steve Saleh Spartans and others in there.

Secondly, I am trying to finish all the half read novels I have. One of these is The Ten Thousand by Michael Curtis Ford. I started it and read the first half quickly but seemed to lose interest (something that some reviewers have mentioned). I must give it a go, maybe backing up a bit instead of trying to remember what happened.

Thirdly, I have just picked up Robin Waterfield's Xenophon's Retreat which aims to fill in the gaps left by Xenophon's own narrative (which Waterfield has recently newly translated).

My issue with a Spartan Army for WAB is just that it looks too tough and that historically it rarely suffered defeat. The solution is to morph my Spartan army into a Spartan led mercenary army. This will give me the opportunity to field a lot more troop types including some which I already have unpainted such as Thracians and Athenians. If I do end up getting Macedonians then I can get some Persians (Vendel's look nice) as well.

The final part of the puzzle was finding this excellent WAB Greek Mercenary List:

http://www.ancientbattles.com/AtG_GreekMercs.htm

Hooray!

2006-08-11T20:29:00.000-01:00

First Hoplite

I finished the first Hoplite just before I went on holiday. I am now enthused again and have started another four. Let's see if I can get them done in a week!

A new start

2006-07-04T05:29:00.000-01:00

Right, having realised that I haven't done an entry for six months I have got one of my Spartans out of the box and put him back on the workbench. Lets see if I can finish him by the weekend!

2006-02-09T21:06:00.000-01:00

The workbench today.

The Spartans have drifted to the middle as its all Perry Sudan at the moment. Meanwhile Monica Bellucci looks on..

2006-01-07T14:22:00.000-01:00

The General

Quite pleased with my Foundry General. Mixing the bronze colour was a bit of a fiddle and don't know about the painted Lambda symbol. Maybe I should try to find some transfers as getting the angle consistent could be a problem.

A Hoplite next!

..and stops.

2005-11-17T15:37:00.000-01:00

No work on my figures over the last few days as I have been busy at work and, worse than that, I got an iPod for the first time. So I have been spending my time working out how it works and trying to put some tunes on it before a business trip next week.

I have been reading the 3 Ospreys on ancient Greek armies however:

Spartan Army, Greek Hoplite and The Ancient Greeks. A few things are becoming clear. The nature of Greek warriors' equipment changed somewhat between the Persian Wars at the time of Marathon and Thermopylae (beginning of 5th Century) and the Peloponnesian Wars (late 5th century). While not being a complete accuracy fanatic (this all was 2,500 years ago and so what we know is fragmentary anyway) I have ascertained that change related to three key areas which effect the look of the troops enough to make a difference to the appearance of a Spartan wargames unit.

Helmets Spartan troops at the time of Thermopylae wore helmets that were largely indistinguishable from those worn by other Greek city states except, perhaps for the transverse crests on some (officers?) helmets. At some point, certainly by the Peloponnesian War, the so called Pylos helmet became the standard helmet in Sparta. The transverse crests seemed to remain.

Armour Early period troops seemed to have a mixture of bronze and linen armour but, again, by the later period armour was becoming less common due, it is though, to the more mobile tactics of opponents.

Shield Blazons The familiar Spartan Lambda device was not in use at the time of Thermopylae but again seems to have been introduced later, although earlier than some other city states devices. I remember the illustations in the book The War Game I received in the early 70s had the Spartan troops with the lambda device and I think that the film The 300 Spartans did the same. However, it now looks as if this was unlikly.

Looking at the Foundry Figures they are a mixture of armoured and unarmoured but all wear the Pylos helmet except for a few figures with transverse crests on their helmets who wear normal Greek helmets (modelled on a couple of surviving Greek sculptures from the earlier Persian Wars period). Given the distinctive long hair of the Spartans there are no Foundry figures with regular helmets and long hair.

So I have, therefore, made the decision to model an early Peloponnesian war Spartan Army, as this suiots the available figures: Pylos helmets, some armoured and some unarmoured hoplites. I need to decide whether to mix these in units or have separate ones. I am starting with the armoured hoplites.

Spartan troops wore crimson for most of the period but given that I use Humbrol Enamels their crimson looks a bit dark for ancient dyes and I think I will go for Humbrol 153, a sort of dark red closer to the illustrations in the Osprey book.

Work begins..

2005-11-13T21:13:00.000-01:00

Sitting through the "X Factor" on Saturday with the family gave me the chance to clean up and base my first group of Spartans. I have chosen 8 armoured hoplites to start with and a number of officers. I haven't been able to start earlier as I was finishing a unit of Foundry Early Imperial Romans for a game at Warfare in Reading next weekend. These are the large Foundry Romans sculpted by Steve Saleh who also did the Greeks. Its a shame he never got to finish the Foundry Range.

The problem so far is that I picked up the new Warhammer Historical Hannibal supplement this week with some of the new Renegade Republican Romans. This means that I am getting distracted already. I am just going to try to paint both Spartans and Romans at the same time as they have a lot in common painting wise.

Anyway here they are, optimistically on the front rank! Behind are the Rengade Punic Romans, then some 3rd Century Romans and a jumble of Sudan British, Somalis, Lord of the Rings Dwarves and Trojans. I do find it difficult to concentrate on one period! Also visible is the first of my Spartans to actually have some paint on him-I think he is going to be my general.

Flash! AH-AH! It's annoying!

2005-11-09T10:27:00.000-01:00

Most of the figures for the new army came from one of Foundry's "3 deals for £100" offers. This is the second time I have ordered one of these and found that at least one deal has suffered from excess flash (unusual for Foundry normally). I can only think that they are flogging off their second rate stock cheap in these deals. It would be nice if they admitted this up front. The price works out at about 50% of normal but is the saving worth all the extra filing? Although it's something to do when watching The X Factor with the family on Saturdays, I suppose.

Here are three typical examples:

My first entry.

2005-11-08T10:09:00.000-01:00

This is my first attempt to put together a blog. I have just taken delivery of some Foundry Spartans and in order to ensure that I get on and paint them I have decided to record my progress here.