Greek Hoplites
This is my very first 15mm Ancients army.
All the models are from the Essex Miniatures range. While there are nicer Greek hoplite miniatures out there, I quite like the orderly look I can get from the Essex hoplites. Since the focus is on the shields, it is fine that they are all posed in the same way and only have different head sculpts.
I have hand painted all the shields, and almost all are unique.
Sparta kept a standing army of elite citizen hoplites and they have gone down in history for their courage and discipline. They filled their ranks with lower-classed citizens and slaves. Their equipment seemed to have been supplied by the state.
While the Spartans are described as all having the Lambda character on their shields, I thought that they could be painted with a certain level of variety. I used heavily armoured figures for the elite Spartans.
A small contingent of Boetians. Boetians are regarded as backwards by the rest of the Greeks. The spiked club is a feature of the Thebans, and the Bull and Serpent feature in their founding myths. These figures have the Boetian helmets that were used later by Macedonian pikemen.
Citizen hoplites from a variety of city-states. This was the beginnings of the first form of democracy. Middle-class citizens of Greek hoplite states received voting rights in exchange for serving in the military. Their equipment were self funded, and their shields were often painted with their own family symbol. Famous philosophers like Socrates and Aristotle have served in the ranks of the hoplites.
Many shield designs are featured in sculptures and pottery, so there are plenty of references. They are not boring to paint because of the sheer variety of designs for the shields. It is, however, a time consuming process, and I am quite happy with the results.
© 2004-2006 Michael Sng Woei Shyong. All Rights Reserved.