Archaic hoplites in bronze armor - pre linen cuirass

Skullzgrinda · Post by **Skullzgrinda** » Mon Nov 22, 2010 8:11 pm

What manufacturer makes older style, classical hoplites in bronze bell cuirass or other old armor styles? It looks like Old Glory, and the Mirliton hoplites in their Roman range are the best available, perhaps Xyston if they can be mixed.

Minifigs make a single pose where the armor is perfect, but it is a single pose and it is Minifig.

Have I missed any? It has been 20 years since I have shopped hoplites, and may have missed some bets.

berthier · Post by **berthier** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:03 pm

The difference in sizes between Old Glory and Xyston are extremely noticable and I am not sure if they would mix well. Xyston, however, has quite a mix of hoplites and you might do well to go that route. it depends on what you are going to use for the supporting cast.

Have not seen the Mirliton so cannot make a guess. If I can get some pics of Xyston next to OG, I will send them to you directly.

Christopher Anders

Skullzgrinda · Post by **Skullzgrinda** » Tue Nov 23, 2010 9:59 pm

Hello Chris.

If the Xyston are incompatible in scale I would probably go with OG and Mirliton then. The Xyston hoplites are on the verge of the Hellenistic look, and I want bronze armored hoplites rather than the linen thorakites types. The Mitlitons that I have are tall, very similar to Museum. Compatible with OG - just. I would just be building Greek allies for the Scythians, so they need to be compatible with the Donnington and Essex Scyths that I've got.

I've always been surprised that no one has ever done a good line of 6th - 5th century hoplites, or Geometric Greeks. In the past they were a wretched army, so it made sense. Now I would think they would be more competitive.

expendablecinc · Post by **expendablecinc** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 2:42 am

Skullzgrinda wrote:Hello Chris.

If the Xyston are incompatible in scale I would probably go with OG and Mirliton then. The Xyston hoplites are on the verge of the Hellenistic look, and I want bronze armored hoplites rather than the linen thorakites types. The Mitlitons that I have are tall, very similar to Museum. Compatible with OG - just. I would just be building Greek allies for the Scythians, so they need to be compatible with the Donnington and Essex Scyths that I've got.

I've always been surprised that no one has ever done a good line of 6th - 5th century hoplites, or Geometric Greeks. In the past they were a wretched army, so it made sense. Now I would think they would be more competitive.

I have a full 800 point hoplite army based on the armourd period ie before any decent mounted.

The Battlegroups are:
- 1 BG of AB miniatures for the superior spartiates
- 5 BGs of Xyston miniatures for the other spartan and allied hoplites (use a mix of the codes for armoured and unarpoured hoplites (ie jsut exclude linen armour)
- 1 BG of Mirliton Hoplites from the etruscan range

All mix well on table and I have never had a comment relating to the size imbalance. (I also mix AB and Xyston on the same bases for command figures.

All three ranges are outstanding so long as you arent trying to mix them with the other mid/small size ranges essex etc...

I hand made cloaks for every spartiate, respeared every hoplite and hand painted the shields - well worth the effort IMO if you can afford the time. The thing is if I am going to invest that much time in a fig then I want the modelling to be worthy - hence settling for the best figures available.

Anthony

PS AB are slightly taller than xyston but slightly less chunky so better proportioned so perfect for well-fed well-formed spartiates.

Strategos69 · Post by **Strategos69** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 6:42 pm

With a little bit of imagination everything can be mixed. In my opinion, Xyston and OG mix well, but it depends on which Xyston and OG range we are talking about. I do not own OG hoplites so I can't tell, but I have done so with pikemen, so I guess it is feasible. I post here a stept by stept of how to mix Essex and Xyston hoplites. Now I have improved it a little bit by getting the larger Xyston shileds for the hoplites, as the earlier ranges of Xyston were too small

http://misminis.blogspot.com/2010/11/pa ... iegos.html

Skullzgrinda · Post by **Skullzgrinda** » Wed Nov 24, 2010 9:07 pm

Strategos69 wrote:With a little bit of imagination everything can be mixed.

http://misminis.blogspot.com/2010/11/pa ... iegos.html

I agree with you in principle, but I find that I am far less patient than I used to be, and less willing to massage the effort. Your mix of Essex with Xyston is impressive however, and is a much more difficult reach than the larger OG + Xyston + Mirliton blend. Thank you for that link.

Thanks to all for the replies. These manufacturers will accomplish what I need, which is a more old fashioned, armored hoplite ally force for my Skythians.

berthier · Post by **berthier** » Thu Nov 25, 2010 12:41 am

William,

This code might be what you are looking for and OG has a pic of them in their Classical Greece range:

http://oldglory15s.com/catalog/product_ ... ts_id=4286

I have been thinking of using them for use with a Bosporan List as well.

Christopher Anders

DasSheep · Post by **DasSheep** » Wed Nov 02, 2011 10:40 am

http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/Produc ... =&M=XYSTON

They have cheap, I mean REALLY cheap Xyston.

http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/Produc ... 0%A0&N=100 - Thebens in Metal

http://www.brookhursthobbies.com/Produc ... 0003&N=100 - Generic Hoplites in metal, look a bit later though.

Xyston as a whole looks really good, and they pack a ton of detail into their guys.