Delays and Changes

The fourth phalanx of Spartans has been completed - save basing since last week, it has however been held up by indecision and changes to the initial layout for the finished figures on the base. This might sound strange but when painting the figures they are based on 20mm squares and give a very different visual appeal than when taken off these bases for the final basing.

There is normally a basic idea for each base which with a minimal amount of tweaking with the figures can be sorted out. This takes into consideration the ground space the figures take up and how they actually look when placed together on the base. Blu-tac is wonderful stuff for this, its so much easier to move than super glue...

The long and short of this is that the fourth Phalanx is finally glued down, but there are a few additions to the base including a casualty figure and a musician at the rear. These additional figures are about to be painted for the base prior to scenics being added.

The musician is from Gorgon Studio's Spartans "Gates of Fire" range and fits in perfectly. The comparison shot below shows the size and compatibility of the figures. To be honest there should be no problem as they both Steve Saleh sculpts but its always best to check. The centre figure is a Foundry Spartan whilst the other two are from Gorgon Studios, sorry about the quality of the image here.

The sword bearing figure is from the Gorgon Ekdromoi packs which are going to be used as Hoplites for the Brasideians. This decision has been based on creating a difference between the units visually, particularly in the styles of helmets depicted on the figures selected. There are no pilos helms in this unit but a mixture of more classical styles of helms. The full pack can be viewed at the link below:

Spartan Ekdromoi

A similar decision has been made with the Sciritae for this army, by using Peltasts figures from the Foundry range below instead of the more lightly clad Spartans from the Spartans:

Greek Peltasts

This may not be exactly historically correct, but however it does bring a degree of artistic licence into the creation of the army and its visual appeal on the table when complete.

Sorry for rambling on a bit, but thats all for now.

Cheers