Spartan finish, now with 100% more camp

I love the many choices we have in our fine hobby.  Baueda helped me across the finish line with my least favorite part of painting a new army; the camp.  Once I saw the Spartan Sacred Enclosure, I put in an order right away.

The kit is based on a dokana, preserved on a Spartan tombstone. I'm looking at my Osprey "The Spartan Army,"  page 55 and its spot on.  What the spider and two snakes mean is beyond me.  They do look bad ass, which matches the Spartans well.  Painted in red, the enclosure matches the theme color for the Spartan army as well.

I should mention that I used Army Painter brown primer for the whole Spartan army, including the camp.  Brown is a great base for all the bronze armor and with a good wash, its a great base for flesh as well.  

The cavalry for the Spartan army is not impressive at all.  They're average, undrilled and armed only with light spears. These fellows will be of limited use:

1) Put them in a single rank and delay on a wing, or 

2) Provide rear support to my hoplites, giving supported units a +1 on morale checks.  

Over the weekend, my friend Brandt met me at Fantasy Flight for beers and a game.  He ran Late Republican Romans, which are one of the toughest armies in period. The key for the Spartans is to survive the Roman impact phase without dropping morale. Brandt won up and down the line when his legions went in but I diced out of 3 of my 4 morale tests.  From there, the game swung my way.  I killed 2 of his 3 generals, including Caesar.  Brandt claimed it was merely a flesh wound but whatever the truth, his Inspired Commander could inspire no more.  

The Spartans were falling all over themselves in their eagerness to get stuck in.  

On the last turn, the Spartan citizens anchoring my right flank got charged in the rear.  They dropped a morale level from the charge but won the impact phase against very long odds. My blazing dice had our FoG group shaking their heads.  I shook my head too when I busted another legion and broke the Roman army. I can't remember the last time I beat the Romans. King Leonidas would be pleased, I think.  I know I am!

Spartan army continues

Painting an army for Field of Glory can be a bit of a slog as the figure requirement are fairly substantial in 15mm. Also, you want some options to keep the army interesting to run. With the Spartan hoplites painted, it was time for the whistles and bells.

Cretan Archers: In Field of Glory, these sharp eyed mercenaries are rated as Superior and reroll 1s.  If you're going to be the best mercenary bowmen on the field, you should try to look the part.

Javelinmen/Peltasts: These skirmishers are useful as filler or to challenge for terrain that I can't send my Spartan hoplites into.  Yes, they can shoot but it's generally not that effective.  

Thracian Medium Foot:  The Thracians give me one nonskirmish foot unit that can operate in bad terrain. That's a lot of responsibility!  I painted them in a Thureophoroi style so they can pull double duty and serve on my other ancients lists.  I really should have used a fleshwash over the white on these fellows instead of an earthwash.  Ah well...

Commanders:  In Field of Glory, a Spartan army can only field 3 commanders.  If I run a Spartans with allies list, I can field a 4th General for the allied troops.  I did sneak in a single Xyston figure to this Old Glory lineup.  He's the fellow with a helmet under his arm, reminding me of how nice Xyston figs are.  

For the Spartan project, I've been painting to the superb Great Courses "Pelopponesian War."  It's 36 half hour lectures led by the distinguished Professor Kenneth Harl at Tulane.  One of the great things about my audible membership is that an 18 hour Course counts as 1 book.  I just realized they also have Donald Kagan's superb "The Peloponnesian War" so that's in my cart and ready to go.  If there is a quiz show centered on the Pelopponesian War, I'll soon be ready for it!  

With lambdas gleaming

"All the Greeks know what is right to do, but only the Spartans do it."  Plutarch

When painting a Spartan army, the thorniest question you'll face is whether to paint them with lambda shields or without.  There was a time when every Spartan chose his shield design. This was superseded by a policy where all Spartan shields bore the Greek letter L (lambda) for Lacedaemon.  The Lexicon of Photius said Cleon was not the only Athenian terror struck when he saw the lambdas gleaming. From this, we conclude the Spartans were using lambda shields at the battle of Amphipolis in 422 BC.  It's possible the lambda came into earlier use as other Greek city-states were using common shield designs well before that date. Mantineians bore the trident of Poseidon by the mid 5th century.  Messenians bore the letter M, Thebans the club and so on.

Common shield designs may have started when states began providing the hoplite kit. If so, the lambda may have been first used by helots outfitted by the Spartans. From there, usage may have spread to the rest of the army. Common shield designs fit neatly into a narrative that shield bearers are not individual citizen but servants of the state.  And as Photius records, such was the Spartan reputation that enemies fled at the mere sight of their lambdas.  I greatly enjoy the freedom to paint in the broad space between what we know and our best guess. For my Classical Spartans, everyone gets the lambda.   

I got these in a blind trade and out of the box, I wasn't thrilled with the Old Glory poses.  Once I ranked them up, I saw they were sculpted to fit 4 figures per 15mm deep base.  I painted 32 bases with bronze shields, 8 in black shields and 8 in red. Once I saw how good black shields looked, I wished I'd painted more!

The mix of brass, black and red shields will help identify in game which units are Spartan citizens and which are the not quite as good perioikoi, free non-citizens who lived and served in the Spartan army.

I can't wait to finish and field the Spartans in our next Field of Glory campaign. My Galatian and Gallic armies are 0 wins and 2 losses in the current campaign.  A good craftsman doesn't blame his tools but I clearly need a bigger hammer.  Here's hoping the Spartans are it.