Hoplimania! Busting thru Painting Funk with Xyston...

This set of rules, and plentiful classical studies began the Hoplite Obsession. Especially the "Hoplomachia" rules by The Perfect Captain [website in the wayback machine, but the IO group is still chugging along]. They are a great example of what rules look like when they are tailored to a specific era, in this case the Peloponnesian War, or 460 BC to 360 BC -ish. 

I was led to them by fellow gamer Steve Turn, who may or may not still have his hoplite armies [worth checking]. We played a few times and tried to sell the concept to one of the local clubs, but that didn't take off.  Would've loved to see them in 25mm. Steve created the entire sanides and all the gaming widgets - I have yet to.

Below is most of the figures in various stages of near-completion, all Xyston. Just enough for some modest battles, perhaps a scuffle between two neighboring cities, or a small expedition.

Why has this project languished...??  I've no idea.  Partly, I forgot how far along it was - it is well over half finished at this stage. Partly, I was annoyed at how the Xyston figs got painted by a painting service. Some had excellent detail work, but the priming [I'm guessing] was too thick and obscured some of the lovely detail on the faces and such. At one point I sold all extra mint blisters and just stuck it in a closet. I've tried to revive it a few times, but not succeeded until now.

Maybe I shouldn't have used an opaque tool box to store it in?  My 15mm Romans have similarly disappeared in an odd box in the closet shelf of my office. They will be next...

Inevitably, I did a re-draft of the Hoplomachia rules which needed a bunch of editing, just for clarity and brevity's sake. Cut them down from 30+ pp to around 20. I am giving the rules a few days off and will face them again soon.

The research pile is very healthy, with some great new acquisitions or library loans [my new policy is that unless I will study and mark it up, if it is at the library I don't buy the book...I've noticed they don't like my notes and comments, erudite and insightful as they must be...]. 

- My copy of Thucydides is from high school [so 35 years old?] and just baring holding together. 

- Lost Battles and Legion rules by Prof. Phillip Sabin [very interesting read and the rules look good also - got a great review by my favorite BGG-er Marco Arnaudo]
- Kagan's "The Peloponnesian War" which is just great - I did buy it as it will be a great reference to mark up.

- "Men of Bronze", "Soldiers and Ghosts" both nice finds - MoB is very crunch history, S&G is a bit easier reading.

- "The Cambridge History of Greek and Roman Warfare" must surely be the present best work on the subject. Reading the Greek sections makes me feel like I am up to date on the latest revelations and latest thinking about ancient warfare. Shame these books are in the hundreds of dollars!  Grateful the library can get them!

- Hanson "The Wars of the Ancient Greeks" is a nice thematic overview.

- Ospreys, of course!  The Greek Hoplite - Elite is very helpful.

Also, I joined the "Lost Battles" IO group, and have found it a great place to discuss niggling questions about ancient warfare in general, and even some wargaming. Great bunch of smart chaps... why'd they let me join??

So, what's on the table? 

Six bases of Theban Hoplites:

Eight bases of Lakedaimonian hoplites [not Spartiates, necessarily, Spartan neighbors] - painted, need basing.

Another 10 bases of mercenary or panhellenic hoplites - need basing.

Another seven bases of mixed hoplites...need spears and transfers. They could be generic, or end up as Thebans or Lakedaimonians - maybe they will  finish a base or two here and there. 

14 more bases of Panhellenic or mercenary hoplites. Need re-basing...

They came out pretty well, however. Overall, lotsa variety from the Vedi Vidi Vici decals, altho there are no doubt much fancier ones out there by now.

There are several decals I like here, including the Green Man, the horse and the pegasus, and the running legs above. Below, the owl and the eye are nice.

Below, the Athenian face to far right is very nice, as is the stylized snake.

That's 45 bases of Hoplites total, plus another three with generals factored in, not to mention markers and independent general stands. Call it 48 stands altogether.

At two deep - my minimum - it's 24 stands of 8 Hoplite figs on a 40mm frontage. Two of them can be used for Ancient and Medieval Warfare games [12 Units], and three are a suitable frontage for One-Hour Wargames [8 Units]. In Hoplomachia, it is 24 lochoi which is 12 a side for 3-5 Units each, just enough.

In the steel tool box - which holds all the magnets, are families [baggage...no pun intended], Hellenic peltastes to the front, and I'm guessing Gepid archers for Athens behind?  Just four horsemen, not many.

Pretty sure the red-cloaked fellows are Spartan psiloi. In front, more peltastes.

Two units of Thracian peltastes backed up by Hellenic psiloi. Need to put some more transfers on - I have the faces and a few others I like.

On a side note - there's too many dudes with brown hair!  Need more with black hair. I don't think there were many fair-haired types in Ancient Greece.

Four stands of Thessalian light cavalry. The form rhomboids when lined up!

Two stands of heavy cav, two stands of Spartan or Lakedaimonian cavalry.

All in all, ten bases of cavalry, which is about 3-5 units, enough for any of my games - cavalry isn't a big part of most Greek armies.

The lights are more important: with 8 stands of psiloi [and another 8 of camp followers], I am a bit light on psiloi, will have to work on that. But there's plenty of peltasts, 12 bases and 8 of Thracians, who are a tribal sort of peltast. Overall, I have a reasonable amount of lights, especially since I'm more focused on the hoplites and the phalanx clash. While I enjoy working with lights, they are similar to almost any other period's lights.

With the 24 double-based hoplites 10 cavalry bases, and 36 bases of lights, I will be able to play the period in just about any of the rule sets I want to try out - but most of all Hoplomachia. 

The last 24 figs are cleaned, primed and ready for an experiment: White primer v. Black primer with White Drybrush. As they are generals and personalities of various kinds, they will also get the best treatment for clothing [well, not the Spartans]. It'll be interesting to see if there's any difference either in the process or final product.

Having obtained a few more books since I last worked on these seriously, I will probably do a little more painting of small details on the hoplites and fix up a few hair colors, work on some contrasts with various belts and other details. A bunch of the helmets have mold lines, which annoys the heck out of me, especially since the line gets emphasized by dry-brushing and dipping, two of my painting techniques! These will have to be filed down and re-painted.

One important thing - I painted a lot of the shield rims and left the shields bronze. I think it was that the rims were bronze and the shield was painted or not even bronze but leather!  Too late for a bunch of these guys - I'm not re-doing decals!  But I will need to read up on this and check again.

Finally, I have to mix up another batch of miracle dip - a bit thinner for these 15mm fellows, and with a black contrast to show the strong Mediterranean sun. Then I will have to dip the lot.

Soon as the order of bases arrives from Litko, I will need to spray those so they can thoroughly dry out, not to mention that they need ideal weather conditions.

Well, at least one more project is moving forward and will be game ready for this fall - very exciting!  Makes me think about my Republican Romans and Gauls...