Victrix 28mm Plastic Spartan Hoplites Now on Release

unknown member writes:

These are nice looking figures.

There seems to be a trend now to make hoplite shields look scarred. I want my phalanx to be shiny new and untouched, however! I can picture a hoplite pleading with his opponent, "Don't scratch my shield, it took me [or my servant] ages to paint!"

I am not too concerned about the mustache or not debate, but I would have also liked some non-pilos helmet types in this box (point taken that other types can be used for these -- but will the hair be long?). I'm not sure how common the pilos helmet truly was, it certainly wouldn't have been as protective in the phalanx clashes that still were the rule of thumb. And Spartan shields in the late classical era at least seem to have been entirely bronze faced, not painted except for the lambda blazon (color unknown). What also interests me is how the transverse crest has been accepted, on the basis of scanty evidence that I'm aware of, mainly conjecture based on a few figurines, as a badge of rank when there is no literary evidence of this AFAIK. More a matter of concern to hellenic academics than toy soldier collectors, however. A nice box of figures!

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unknown member of Victrix Limited writes:

Following on the heels of the Athenian Hoplites, we are really pleased to announce the release of our latest 28mm hard-plastic boxed set.

VXA002 - SPARTAN ARMOURED HOPLITES 5TH TO 3RD CENTURY BCE

This boxed set contains 48 superbly detailed Spartan hoplites in 28mm hard plastic. There are arm options for thrusting or at rest, sword arms, cloaks, various separate heads, and a plethora of other parts to make some really dynamic Spartan hoplite units.

The spears in the set are separate to the hands, as some people prefer to use metal spears. However, you will find these spears are very flexible and durable, and will be quite difficult to break.

In the box, you will find an insert from the guys at Great Escape Games, with a brief history of the Spartans and the conflicts they fought in, plus unit stats for their great set of Ancients rules, Clash of Empires.

We (well, LBMS, actually) have also produced some new Spartan shield transfers, which you can see being used on the wonderful painted figures done by Artmaster Studio. The white-background transfers work in the normal LBMS way of priming the shield white and then applying. However, the bronze-backed transfers work on a different background color. You should paint the shield a light gold, and then apply the Bronze effect transfer. As the transfer has a slight translucent quality, the metal shows through and creates a lovely, rich and realistic bronze effect to the shield. The rims can be easily blended to the transfer with some brown ink.

We have all the test sprues of the next two sets, Thebans and Mercenaries. We will show you some images of them next week. The Thebans go into production in about three weeks' time, and will be added to the multi-box deal options, as will the Mercenaries when they go into production.