Victrix Greek Hoplites.

 I ordered a pack of Victrix Greek Hoplites in the North Star Boxing Day sale, probably for the forthcoming Warriors of Athena skirmish game.

I will need to read up on the various armour types and helmets used by the Greek city states.

Victrix have dispensed with boxes, the eight identical sprues come in a ziplock bag with an instruction sheet (a nice touch)

First figure assembled.

Gamers Grass Ancient Columns

 Gamers Grass have added a new range of 3D printed items to add to your bases. One of them is a set of Ancient Columns in various states of disrepair.

The bits come in a robust box about the size of their tuft sets.

Inside is what I assume is a random assortment of complete and bits of column.

This set contains both Doric and Corinthian columns, whether other sets contain Ionic columns I do not know.

These will be very useful for the forthcoming Warriors of Athena game from Osprey Games.

Oathmark Odyssey part seven: North Star Gorgon

 So, while I summon up the enthusiasm to begin to undercoat the Hoplites, I bought some figures to provide some more mythical flavour to the armies.

This is a North Star Ghost Archipelago Gorgon.

Based on a Renedra 25mm round base.

The body is Humbrol acrylic 30 Dark Green. The belly and the face are Citadel Death Guard Green and Citadel Nurgling Green. Highlights were added to the body with a similar mix to the face and belly The bow is Vallejo Old Wood and the quiver Citadel Mournfang Brown.

The fletching is Army Painter Stone Golem, the arrow shafts Vallejo Old Wood.

The body and head were washed with Citadel Coelia Greenshade.

Now to work out some stats for Oathmark.

Oathmark Odyssey part six: More work In progress

 Small amount of progress on the army front.

The Elite Warriors are at full strength.

Okay, not quite full strength, I only have eight Muscle Cuirass bodies, there are two with Linen Cuirass and different helmets.

I also built two ranks of Hoplites with various headgear.

Oathmark Odyssey part five: Work In progress

So here are some work in progress shots of the Ancient Greeks and Spartans (which will be two of the  factions in my Oathmark Odyssey).

Faction One

Human Warriors 

Heavy Armour, hand weapon and shield. Bonus points if you spot the odd one out.

Human Spearmen

Light armour, spear and shield. there are a couple of interlopers.

Faction Two

Elite Spearmen

Light armour, spear and shield

Elite Warriors

Heavy armour, hand weapon and shield.

Oathmark Odyssey - part two: Ancient Greek Hoplites

Ancient Greek Hoplites are a form of infantry, comprising citizen soldiers traditionally armed with a spear and shield, and varying degrees of armour.

Over the centuries the armour changed, at one point only the head was armoured.

Immortal Miniatures brought out a box set of plastic Ancient Greek Hoplites in 2010.

Unlike later boxes from other manufacturers, these are two part boxes.

The box contains 34 figures, one command sprue and four identical Ancient Greek Hoplite sprues.

The command sprue has one body with the Muscle Cuirass and one body for a piper There are an assortment of ornate helmets two bare arms with Kopis and one armoured arm with a Kopis. There are two Diplylon shields with integral arms.

The main sprue has eight bodies. There is one Bell (Bronze) Cuirass, five linen armour bodies and two unarmored bodies.

There are enough Corinthian style helmets for all the figures, plus a number of different style helmets. There is one Xiphos arm and ten spear arms. There are eight Hoplite shields with integral arms (note they have two different shoulder types). There are four Xiphos scabbards and four Kopis scabbards, plus two shield curtains.

There is a sheet of transfers.

The box contains a small booklet covering the equipment of a hoplite.

Here is the first block of an Ancient Greek phalanx, five in linen cuirass and one in a Bell cuirass.

Two unarmoured hoplites.

Though traditionally Ancient Greeks fought with the spear and shield (Oathmark Spearmen), I wanted some armoured infantry (Oathmark Warriors) so used the Bell Cuirass. This is the command figure, using the Kopis with armoured arm, one of the ornamental heads and the Dipylon shield.

Armoured Warriors.

Armoured Warrior with Bell Cuirass.

Size comparison with an Oathmark Skeleton Soldier.

Size comparison with a Frostgrave Cultist.

Oathmark Odyssey part one

So there I was, watching the snow falling in lockdown 3.1, and I looked at the Oathmark/Frostgrave figures I had assembled (and occasionally painted) and thought “I need to get away from all this snow and cold”.

Prompted by a blog post by Joe McCullogh (Spoiler) I borrowed a time machine and went back to… 2010.

Immortal Miniatures introduced a range of injection moulded plastic Greek Hoplites at Salute 2010. At the time there were three boxes:

Ancient Greek Hoplites

Classical Greek Hoplites

Spartan Hoplites

I love the price on those old boxes.

At the time, injection moulded 28mm figures for wargaming (beyond Games Workshop) was very new (that is my only excuse for the Perry's SOTR boxes I bought). So I bought all three (possibly over a couple of Salutes). And then they languished in my plastic figures pile for ten years.

Warlord Games purchased the range and they are still available. Wargames Illustrated number 398 (February 2021) had an Ancient Greek Hoplite sprue on the cover.

Next - Ancient Greek Hoplites.