Theban Sacred Band

[Sangennaru]

The lack of variants I supect is a function of an unfinished range.

I'm sure it is. Still, really not appealing for me, and slightly disappointing too.

[Orchomeno]

He’s done lots of variants of fantasy naked hoplites over the years. How many do you want?   

[NickNascati]

How many variants would make sense?  They are standing in phalanx formation with shield and spear.

[Sangennaru]

How many variants would make sense?  They are standing in phalanx formation with shield and spear.

Well, it's probably me being spoiled, but considering how detailed and characterful the models are i'd say that four poses are definitely too few. I'm generally used to have only unique poses in my skirmish games, but even in formation they would look weird. Especially when you have only two standing models and two attacking one: the variation on the first rank would be between two poses only.

Again, i'm probably not the target for this kind of product, but still.

[Coenus Scaldingus]

Selling packs of 8 figures with 4 poses is something Warlord has done pretty much from the beginning - certainly true for the metal Romans released some 10 years ago now - right until this day. As such, I don't think the sculptor in question has any particular relevance, nor is it a very novel strategy from the company itself. 

[Nevyen]

Well I like them and given the style of sculpt I'll probably convert some to add it some more variety.  I get the frustration of pose limitation but there are ways to overcome that.

[Orchomeno]

There’s very simple economics here. No one is going to make their money back on a large number of sculpts for a rather fantasy Theban sacred band. The number of completists who would field a unit is vanishingly small, and being button counters they’ll field normal hoplites with perhaps a club painted on the shield.

Thebans aren’t Spartans. They aren’t even Athenians. The demand isn’t there. And that’s before you get into Neanderthal territory about the particular esprit de Corp of the Sacred band, which isn’t going to help sales either, sad to say.

[Kommando_J]

Super frustrating isn't it. And there are fab looking greens in existence for Carthaginians, Mid Republic Romans, Early Spartans in bronze...

Link? Quite curious myself.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Link? Quite curious myself.

Apparently Steve Saleh is a rather fickle sculptor. His Greek ranges, which he did for Foundry, were continued or redone under changing lables: at Gorgon Studios (Spartans, Etruscans), Gripping Beast/Polemarch (Hellenistic), and Warlord (Hellenistic). He also did some hoplites and peltasts for his "Lucid Eye" venture, distributed by North Star. The range changed hands shortly after (and repeatedly since then?), but some models haven't resurfaced yet with the Greeks among those. Haven't seen any Carthaginians or Republican Romans from his – admittedly, very talented – hands, yet it's quite possible they are another abandoned and literally vanished project.

I'm not taken by his rendition of the Sacred Band. Like others before, I'm not convinced by their (lack of) equipment and stances. Their background, likely heavily distorted by our sources or simply misunderstood today, had no impact on their appearance. There's a dedicated piece in this issue of Ancient Warfare Magazine on Thebes, worth a read for anyone interested.

[delbruck]

I forgot about the Lucid Eye hoplites. They were very nice sculpts.

[markw]

Does anyone know what happened to the Lucid Eye Hoplites and Peltasts he did? I saw a few for sale on eBay lt year alas I did not buy them. They would have mixed well with the Thebans I think.

[jcspqr]

Yes, the Lucid Eye hoplites were nice, thought they look a bit heftier than the Warlord Sacred Band.    No idea where they ended up.  Steve may be holding onto them for a future venture.

Jim

[Nevyen]

I contacted Lucid eye a while back and was able to get a heap cast up.  I think you just need to ask these days.

[markw]

I recently went back to painting Foundry Greeks Steve designed. Even now they are better dynamically and they paint up better than most newer ranges.

[General Ballroom]

I confess I couldn't resist giving mine pink tunics.

A little bit homophobic....