Some more plastic hoplites

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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.