35-102 Crouching Hoplite

This has been one of my favorite poses from the Ral Partha "Hoplites" range. It is historically correct according to the sources concerned with Greeks receiving a chariot or cavalry charge. I also fell in love with the sculpting and the detail given this figure. I like to keep a unit of these bad boys off board and when the enemy declares a mounted charge out they come-I replace the entire standing unit (the Taxis) with these crouching figures. Sometimes I am lucky and the shield patterns match. But there are always ooohs and aaahs in delight from the enemy.

35-110 Spartan in Reserve

Why is it that the enemy always get to have the best uniforms? Being pro-Athenian, these Spartans scare the heck out of my less than motivated Athenian Taxis. What appeals to me about this figure is their uniform stance with their spear upright. Always a pleasure to put away into their carry case and always easy to maneuver on the table top with their weapons pointing straight to Zeus. As a note the Spartans called their regiments Mora while the Athenians used the term Taxis [...and by inference the rest of the Greek city states]. The Athenians could field 10 such regiments while the Spartans mustered only 6 regiments (Thycydides calls the Spartan or Laconian (the word for the Spartans and their allies) taxis, a lochos which he says would number about 600 men including supernumeraries. Xenophon in his history says that Lochos numbered 29 officers, 576 rank and file, and calls these Mora.] Each regiment numbered from 600 to a 1000 men each. The best figure scale selection for hoplite Classical Hack Armies is either 1:30 or 1:60.

35-140 The Corinthian Hoplite

I enjoy the look of these finely sculpted true twenty fives! True is the perfect word. They are true in every detail as they are true in scale. From the great looking helmet to the shield decoration that identifies these men as file leaders. I try to have these in the front rank of each unit. Also their arms and armor are appropriate for any of the early city state armies of the archaic or hoplite period Circa 600 B.C. to 380 B.C. (they are nicely detailed but I would not call them Corinthian). That is why I use them as a general type figure and, oddly enough, I use them in demos as citizens of the imaginary Ionian city states of Ral and Partha!

[The closest thing that I think this guy represents is a Ionian Hoplite from the Persian Rebellion of 500 BC. He's wearing a scale cuirass, more prevalent in Asia Minor, his shield is not the rimmed Hoplon, but more the rimless aspis, and he has a apron attached to it. Herodotos mentions this as an anti arrow device for hoplites too poor to buy shin guards (Greeves) The helmet he is wearing is a Corinthian style but one we called the "bucket." It's more from the dark ages of Greece rather then the classical period. However since we know (thanks to Aristophanes) armor was very expensive, and panoply was passed from generation to generation, the helmet is possible in period. Because of the hearing and breathing problem though, I wouldn't want to fight in it.] This is Period One in Classical Hack.

35-150 Attic Hoplite in Reserve

Like the Spartan in Reserve this figure adds a lot to a Mora or Taxis of which he is a member.The neat thing about this figure is that his tunic is different than the Spartan's - notice the folds.This figure will mix nicely with the Spartan figures in the range. The city states were generally well armed but not uniformly attired. Each unit whether Taxis or Mora would have its own cut of tunics and styles of armor reflective of its locale. In lengthy city state wars, of which there were many, the hoplites would probably have been pretty free to press into service what they could afford or find. The hoplites utilized many military items of dress often within the same unit. If their tunics were the same color it was because that dye was common to their locale more than a matter of choice. Imagine a group of citizen hoplites in their agora or market picking colored cloth, "Well let's see. We have light blue, dark blue, Persian blue, sea blue, sky blue... There are so many choices to decide on and I just can't decide. You pick, Zeno." "Let's just vote on it, Xenophon."

35-151 Attic Hoplite

I cannot do as good a job as Steve Phenow so I will quote him exclusively: "My favorite hoplite fig(ure) 35-151 by Ral Partha was not described. He has a late Corinthian helmet with the reversed 'J' crest, wearing a Kopas, protected by a scale reinforced linen cuirass. He is in the 'overhead' stabbing position, with a large hoplon. He is perfect for Italio/Greek. If you want to use him on the mainland, he has to have the J crest removed, and the stalk cut away. Then the crest can be glued to the helmet itself to make a Persian War hoplite."