Hoplimania 4: 15mm Labors...

Now that looks more like a phalanx!

First, time to repair spears that were knocked off. Trusty Dremel is at the ready!

repairing shields that were knocked off - they would have been fine if based on the magnetized ones like the batch of Panhellenic hoplites. These were just sliding around on the craft sticks in the tool box.

Cleaning and filing some more shields.

It's been hard to go from the massive GW "heroic 28mm" or whatever they are billed at this point to 15s again. Even the bigger one to left is pretty small to work with. I had to hold the shields still with a small piece of wire while I primed them.

Some more shield work - using Army Painter "Warpaints" metallic "Weapon Bronze".  It has a reddish hue to it, much like GW's "Dwarf Bronze".  I like that it has a mixing ball in it.  I gave it a good shaking then opened it up. However, it did leak a bit all over the top. Below pic you can see where I used the excess paint.

Another thing I didn't like is that despite the rattle pea, and a good mixing, the paint went on pretty thin over the black undercoat. You can see a lot of black from the first coat, and how thin the bronze layer is.

Below, you can see where the cap is cleaned off, and therefore how much paint was all over it.  Also, a second coat definitely made more of the bronze pigment show up. All I can say is from this initial first impression, is that there isn't a lot of pigment in Army Painter's "Warpaints" series, or at least not in the metallics.

Below, work continues on 32 more Panhellenic hoplites.  These are almost ready for decals and spears.

I did an experiment with black priming some of the Xyston figs, and white priming the other half - the two groups are identical, part of the command packs.

Confident that the armor will look better over the black, and the clothing on the white if it is bright colors.  Most of it is.

Their flesh is too pale.  Even with a wash, I think it will be too light for agriculturalists who are outside a lot.

The above are generic leaders for Greek hoplites. I plan to decorate their tunics and cloaks a bit to make them look "special".

The below are leaders for Spartans.  They are a lot easier to paint since they didn't wear much, and it is nearly all the same!  Crimson is the color.  I believe I can get away with painting their helmet crests in some different colors, not all red.  

The above were white primed. This meant I had to paint the bronze armor black.

The below were black primed.  With a light drybrushing over the black prime, I do feel like there's a noticeable effect on the top coat.  

The effect is a bit more noticeable here.  White prime left, black prime right.  You can see that there's a natural darkness in the folds over the black prime.  The white prime looks flat and consistently colored.

Won't know until I finish them up... but white v. black prime?  It all depends...

BASING

Yes, basing...the wargamer's quandary, and Ken Litko's success story! These fellows are on 40mm x 20mm bases, pretty much DBx sized. I believe they should be 40 x 15mm deep, but that won't fit them.  Issues to consider:

   a. The bases are not nearly deep enough or high enough to handle without picking the figs up by their heads or spears, which means too much scratching and damage from spears bending or popping off.

   b. I never will play DBA with single bases again. I'm double-basing all my 15mm ancients and putting them on thicker bases for easier handling. 40x40mm would work well for Age of Hannibal...

   c. Hoplites look good in groups of 16, 24, or 32. That's what a taxis should size out to be. Hoplomachia always uses two ranks of hoplites anyway, and Tearless Hoplite Battles is basing agnostic.

Another view without a lot of clutter. The bases underneath are 2" deep and 1.5" wide, so 50mm deep by not quite 40mm...uncertain about that depth, however...

...but the top-down view shows that the depth is just about right to keep the figs and their spears within the base edges and from getting scratched and banged together. The alternative is to remount the spears so fewer of them extend to the rear [which may be wrong, anyway, the grip point of balance was pretty far back].  Extra space will also make for the occasional diorama effect.  I wonder if 50x50 would work...45x45? My hoplite armies and their foes are a "closed project" in that I don't intend to play them in competitions using DBx, AOH, Triumph! or - Lord have mercy - ADLG.  I'm done with that sort of gaming.

Now the cavalry and light troops are not only smaller units, but they move as individual bases. So these may stay on single bases of 40mm by 30mm deep, and have 2-3 figs on them as appropriate.  Interestingly, DBA classed peltastes as psiloi (s), not Auxilia. This made them two figs a base. Thracians are Aux since they have big swinging choppers as well as javelins and a shield, so they are three per base.

Hoplomachia! Tearless Hoplite Battles, Men of Bronze, AMW, Tactica 2?  As long as the basing is consistent on both sides, it doesn't really matter.  Age of Hannibal does really need square bases for optimal play.

Project thoughts

To run a 4-player game, I want a lot of Hoplites, about double what I have. With proper basing they should be easily handled and therefore it can be possible to share with some friends.

44 lochoi  [double bases] total x 40mm = 176 cm, or 90cm of hoplite phalanx a side. At four lochoi a taxis, that will be 11 taxeis, each player managing some lights on their flank as well.  That will require 350 or so hoplites!

What could be better than the hoplites I have?  MORE HOPLITES!

There was a bit of a sale, so I picked up from Noble Knight three DBA army packs, one Spartan:

This has 44 hoplites altogether.

Two Theban:

For 32x2=64 more hoplites, all in Beoetion helmets, but...who cares?  I will likely use half as "Panhellenic" hoplites.  

Interestingly, the "Beoetion helmet" is a metal rendition of a cloth cap with two straps, front and back, which explains the unusual shape.

I also got 24 Phoenician Marines [look like everyday hoplites...what makes them "Phoenician" I dunno, but that's what it says on the label!] and about 24 more in three 8-packs of stray hoplites [command, early, late].  With some odds and ends, that will get me into the 300 realm for hoplites.

HOPLIMANIA TASK LIST 

1. Order more shield transfers / decals - Little Big Man?
2. Print out and assemble some Greek buildings - OHW scenario terrain.
3. Decide on the basing and double base the hoplites.
4. Corrections on 15mm figs: more darker hair, some gray, shield rims bronze or patterned, hat/helmet mold lines, clothing patterns, Thracian and other shield transfers, thin spray coat of matte varnish
5. Mix new miracle dip - thinner, with black tint [bright Med. sun effect].
6. Markers: Heroes, Strategoi, Sphagia, Couriers [running figs], Initiative, Defensive Stance Bonus, 

Well, it's nice to have a bit more time for gaming projects, and to be progressing.  Nothing quite as discouraging as boxes of dusty lead...!

Basic / Expert 1e D&D - Figs

Classic Sculpts for Classic Folks!

My mix of Grenadier and Heritage figs has survived these 40 years or so - amazingly!  No dry rot, etc.  Some were primed, some were painted and others just laying around in a box.  But, finally got motivated to go "old school" with my 1e Bas/Ex D&D and get some of these guys painted for a true Old School feel!

They are being used as Player Characters and their opposition.

These are half-painted Grenadier orcs from Mirliton in Italy.  They look better in real life.

Also, some of my pictures need better lighting and focus!

The below are Heritage, except for the guy kicking down a door, who - I believe - comes out of the Grenadier Fighters box set.

Fighter in back is a well-known classic from the Grenadier box set [I think], and a good sculpt.  The tree is nicely done and easy to paint up.

The above halflings are Grenadier, I think.  The bowman may be a Heritage...

These fellows are coming along nicely.  They are mostly done.  The thief is one of my favorite sculpts - lots of animation and personality.  The wizzo wasn't that interesting until I started to paint him, now I actually like him. He's definitely a traveling Wiz.

This fellow is a good sculpt.  Several things I like including the unusual helmet and the shield. Deserves a good paint job! I'd guess the tree is a Gondor reference?

This halfling archer has been getting more interesting as I've painted him.  I think he has a bit of a belligerent air about him, now that he's half painted!

This dwarf just has a great expression on his face.  Thoughtful?

And here he is, basically finished.

I may feel obliged to do the eyes, they seem pretty easy.

I think this halfling is picking a fight!

cloak is nicely sculpted, natural folds.

This fellow took some work, but he came out well.  It was easy to pick out the details.

These two have a lot of character.  The Wiz is clearly negotiating, while the thief appears to be stalking off with booty while telling someone else to piss off.

Gear on the back is nicely done, they look ready for a few weeks of adventuring!

Close-up of the thief.  He has a lot of charm and personality, IMHO. Especially now he's painted.

Well, there you have it. 

Boy, the sculpting style is like another planet compared to modern stuff, and these have great style and "character" despite being less realistic looking compared to modern sculpts.

But they also have charm, which many modern sculpts lack.

I hope you enjoy them and they inspire you to either paint your old lead or buy some new old lead!

Grenadier Figs Live on!

Great old-school boxes of awesome D&D figures arrive!

See these boxes at the Mirliton site  [CLICK].

When I started my retro nostalgic BasEx 1e D&D project, I knew I wanted to get my old figs painted up, and add some new figs to the few I had [about 30].  Some of them are Heritage and some Grenadier.  Heritage is gone, but Grenadier lives on!  It was taken over by an Italian group called Mirliton, SG, and clearly the whole thing is a labor of love for them. I eventually decided to purchase some from the line of "Fantasy 25-28mm Dragon Lords" as they look great in the pics and are true originals.  Prices were a little higher than for some figure lines, averaging around $5 a figure [or in figure equivalents for large figures] after all shipping, etc was paid.

Ordering process was painless, Mirliton has great communication, uses FEDEX and it all arrived in about 10 days.  The Purchase order came with it:

EDIT: great question on metal quality.  The metal can still be bent and shaped, but it is a lot less soft than the original lead of the old days.  I'd guess there is no lead in it, but it's a pewter - tin mix.

A few had mold lines running down the sides that were noticeable [some didn't]

And here are some pics of them cleaned and primed:

Mr. Molotov?

"Orcs - Dragon Lord" above and below

Hirelings and Specialists

Dragon Lord Monsters - the two biggest...

...and a smaller one - a Basilisk?  If so, very dangerous...

Can definitely recommend the figures and the seller.  In a gaming world where a lot of the sellers are part-time hobby projects themselves, it is refreshing to get great service at a reasonable price of around $5 a figure shipped to USA.

What are YOU waiting for??

😄