Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

[cloppdave]

Hi All
I am looking for a good line of 25mm Greeks (Thebans) that are not too hard to get and paint up well as I was spoiled by my Xyston 15mm Thebans (almost re-done).
Also is there any good ranges of 15 or 25mm of Chinese, the new army bug has bitten.

[Kelly Wilkinson]

Dave,

I'd look into lines that Little Big Men studios support and use those lines with their awesome Shield decals. Certainly there are the old standbys such as Essex but I certainly like First Corps Greeks quite a lot for their poses and some of their vignettes make for some great camp scenes. And as usual there is Foundry. . . But I'd give first corp a look, I think there is a company in Fla. that sells them. Check out the album where there are two pic of my essex Hoplites taken by todd kaeser. The shield decals are LBM Studios and they Rock!

Kelly

[Bill Chriss]

Now here is a question for me!!!! I just "moved on up" from 15mm Greeks to 25mm, and I have surveyed, I believe, just about every Greek figure out there to be had (including BTW, Napoleonic era, and yes even the one manufacturer that used to cast 1821-25 Greek revolution figures!).

In 25mm, there is no contest, IMHO. You must go with Foundry, although I do mix in some Essex and old Glory, who particularly make nice generals. Although it does cost money-wise, I very strongly recommend you look at Foundry. Another advantage is that you can see every dadgum casting in every pack before buying. Just go to the wargames foundry website and you'll be there for hours looking through the available choices. And, by the way, don't feel constrained to buy only Boetian helmeted figures. I think it is a gross exaggeration, unsupported by solid proof, that ALL Thebans wore them. There were prrobably some old-school guys like me still wearing the Corinthian or even a Thracian or Attic style helmet.

In fact, having built my Hellenistics, one of my next projects (after terrain) is to build Later Greek Hoplites in 25mm, the army of Epaminondas of Thebes. Never mind that the Spartans with Spanish and Syracusan mercenaries is a far more powerful tournament army. They are, after all, Spartans, and oppressed my Messenian ancestors, whom Epaminondas and Pelopidas liberated. If you have other questions, feel free to post and I'll gladly share my meagre knowledge. Good painting!

[Noel White]

I'd agree wholeheartedly with "Greek" on this one.

I'd order my classical greeks 100% from Wargames Foundry.
They look the best -- and they are the easiest to paint well.
They are expensive, but it is worth the money. I have 32 figures for mercenary use.

My 2nd choice would be Vendel Miniatures for the same reasons as above.

I live in Canada (so this could be different for you, wherever you are) and I find that the British companies ship faster and more reliably than the USA ones. I've received packages from Wargames Foundry in less than 7 days from ordering!

I'll try to upload some pictures of mine ... check the "Album" section.

Noel.

[cloppdave]

Hi Guys
Thanks I will use my lunch hour to do some shopping.

And Bill, how did you know my early life heros were Sam Huston and Pelopidas (whom I still hold a high esteem for) as far as tournaments go I just do the local Kansas City one know I hope to make H'con next year (depends on youngest teen and her antics).
Thank You All Dave Clopp

[Bill Chriss]

Great, Dave. One of the subjects I teach is Texas history, and I, too, am a huge fan of Houston's, and he has long been one of my scholarly interests. A little known fact you might appreciate: Houston's first speech on the floor of Congress after being elected from Tennessee in 1823 was on January 22, 1824. It's subject: Houston's wholehearted support for the Greek Revolution. he remarked to his biographer, C. Edwards Lester, that the main reason he had run off to live with the Cherokees at age 16 was so that he could "read Pope's translation of the Iliad in peace."

[Kelly Wilkinson]

Dave,

Check out this website http://www.1stcorps.com/RANGE.aspx?Range=9 for 1st Corps miniatures, it should take you straight to the Greek line with pic of painted 1st Corps lead. I especially like the Vignette of the "Gift of the Gods." Enjoy,

Kelly

[Michael Bard]

I'm going to go out on a limb here and say Ral Partha...

Yes, the Foundry figures are nice, but NONE OF THEM ARE IN THE PHALANX! Virtually NONE of the figures hold their shield in the proper guard position! A bloody phalanx of Foundry figures looks like a bunch of new recruits who think their shields are frisbees. Old Glory aren't any better in their shield poses. I've started bending the heads 45 degrees to try and make the shield at least be to the figure's front.

Ral Partha has a standing Athenian hoplite which, when you base them, you end up seeing a row of shields rim to rim, with a helmeted head peaking out over the rim of the shield. What the enemy SHOULD see when facing a hoplite phalanx.

[machiavelli]

I believe these mix in well with the Ral Partha line. But you are limited to about 5 poses, I believe.

[cloppdave]

Hi Guys
I would like to appologise for the slow responce but I use my PC at work and I have been training 3 new Kids this week in optical repair and extreamly basic optical Theory so my brains are leaking out at this point.
This is not a real excuse just what it is (i guess age has caught up to me). I think the figure suggestions were all great and I have ordered from Foundry,Vendel and 1st Corps samples to check out. I have not made up my mind on the Ral Partha yet as I have allready ordered alot of figures to try out (and some other cool stuff hey honey Ive had those figure for years) So again my Friend's once more into the Breach for John and Todd to use me for a practice Dummy while a stup like myself tries to learn a great game in 25mm as well as 15mm.
Again THANK YOU!

[Michael Bard]

Sadly the standing Ral Partha figures don't mix with any of the other companies. Ral Partha is true 25mm, the rest are 28mm-30mm.

Now, Ral Partha does make a KNEELING hoplite that works quite well. Take a look at the pictures in the rulebook -- the front rank are all Ral Partha, the rear rank (as I recall) are all Old Glory. For the record, the Velites are Ral Partha, the Greek Javelinmen are primarily Old Glory, the artillery crew are Essex, Old Glory and Corvus, and the artillery is scratch built with some bits from Old Glory.

If I was starting a hoplite army now, I would be tempted to go pure Ral Partha for the appearance of the Phalanx (except for Spartans of course -- they're Foundry all the way). I'd use just two poses, one standing, one kneeling, likely with some head swaps for variety. Yea, it would look a bit boring, but I want my Phalanx to look like an inhuman machine of bronze advancing towards the enemy in perfect step and formation. If I wanted the 28mm-30mm I'd likely go with Old Glory as those are easily to turn heads to get a better pose than the Foundry.

[Rhoxolani]

FF

[Rhoxolani]

fs

[Rhoxolani]

I have got some ESSEX 25mm ancients figures and I must admit they are not bad. I have some hoplites they might not be the best figures in the world but I like them. Also got some other ancient figures from Essex thracians, peltasts and selucids among them. Overall I´m satisfied with them

regards Friso

[Rhoxolani]

FF