Madness?  This is Sparta!

To be more specific: this is my newly renovated DBA army II/5a, Later Hoplite Greeks: Spartans.  I didn’t actually rebase them, I only redecorated the bases they were already mounted on.  Not very dramatic, I know; but I don’t have a bottomless pit handy, so it was the next best thing.

The army arrayed: DBA II/5a, Spartans. Essex DBA v1 army pack.

The left half of the line: 6x4Sp.

5x4Sp(Gen), 1x2Ps.  General is on the far left.

This was the first army I finished painting for DBA, and the first 15mm figures I ever painted.  It was around 2003, and I found a few DBA v1 army packs on discount.  For the most part, the Spartan army didn’t change at all for DBA 2.0 (at the time); though more options were available in the 2.0 list.  These 12 elements were the only options provided in the original Essex army pack: 11x4Sp, 1x2Ps.  I later augmented the list with the other options available in 2.0, with slightly better basing: 1x4Ax, 1x3Cv (not shown here).

By the time I came back to DBA years later, my basing standards had improved.  These guys were painted well enough, but they looked like they were standing in a pool of toxic waste.  I repainted the ground brown, and added flock and static grass.  It’s as close as I can come to my current basing technique without fully rebasing the figures.

I also took the opportunity to reattach spears and do some touchups.  They won’t be winning any painting contests, but I’ll feel better using them… and at least I don’t have to paint another 11 elements of hoplites any time soon.

Now that I know a bit more, I don’t like these figures (or any Essex hoplites) for a few reasons.  Essex hoplite shields are too small, aren’t as round as they could be, and have no rim.  The single pose doesn’t bother me, because I prefer a “toy soldier” look for heavy foot.  However, I absolutely cannot stand forward-facing spears: they’re unusable in practice on such shallow bases, even if they more or less accurately depict fighting hoplites.  In the future if I build any more hoplites, they’ll all be holding their spears upright.