Best 15mm Hoplites?

[Harry Faversham]

Thinking of going down this road for my Hoplite army...
who makes the best figures?

 

[meninobesta]

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Xyston/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20

[Atheling]

http://www.scotiagrendel.com/Xyston/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=20

Yep, Xyston all the way- no competition for Ancients in that scale IMHO

They're about 18mm.

Darrell.

[Jeff965]

I've got a Macedonian and Hoplite army from Xyston Harry, they are the best in this scale IMO. However be prepared to have to do drilling with a tiny drill for the spears and get some green stuff to use when attaching the shields.

[Harry Faversham]

Thanks chaps, do them 15mm shield transfers fit the Hoplons?

[Jeff965]

Well their made for them, but they don't fit perfectly and I had to paint the edges to blend it all in. I,ll dig some photos up if you like.

[Harry Faversham]

Please Jeff, if it's not too much trouble, any idea as to why you need 'greenstuff' when attaching the shields to the figures?

[Steam Flunky]

I am also a big fan of Xyston and can recommend them.
Some of their figures tend to be alot bigger than others such as the republican romans and celts.
The new War and Empire range from Westwind is also worth taking a look at. I do not have any of these yet but the photos look great.
http://www.forgedinbattle.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=86_66

[Atheling]

I am also a big fan of Xyston and can recommend them.
Some of their figures tend to be alot bigger than others such as the republican romans and celts.
The new War and Empire range from Westwind is also worth taking a look at. I do not have any of these yet but the photos look great.
http://www.forgedinbattle.co.uk/index.php?route=product/category&path=86_66

Thanks for that Steam Flunky, i wasn't aware that Westwind did an Ancients range at all 

I wonder does LBM or anyone else do shield transfers for them?

Darrell.

[julesav]

I have a big mix of figures in my Thracian warbands (Essex, Museum, minifigs, Gladiator, Irregular plus others) and my Xyston Macedonian Hypaspists dwarf them all! Xyston have lovely detail and may be worth doing if you are starting a project afresh.

I had a look at the new West Wind ancients in blisters in my FLGS and they appeared (I didn't have any 15mm ancients to compare them with) to be quite petite/slender, rather like the peltasts I have from PeterPig. Again not a significant problem if you are starting out. The detail looked great.

[Jeff965]

There you go Harry, a good mix of Hoplites, Peltasts, light and heavy Cavalry and Skirmishers. These were painted years ago so no laughing at the back there 
Every single spear and javelin requires the hand drilling out if you split the hand you will have to use green stuff to form a complete grip around the spear (something I haven't done on all of these). There is a small lug on the back of the shield that fits over the forearm of the figure I glued the shields on after painting the figures and used a very small blob of GS to help hold the shield in place while the super glue did its work and when the GS dries it also gives a bit more rigidity to the join between the shield and the shield arm.
I've noticed over the years the figures that I haven't used GS on tend to have their shield fall off more often, in fact it hasn't happened to the figures I used GS on. I'm not suggesting people I play with are particularly heavy handed but even through the normal wear and tear of gaming the odd shield will come away which is annoying. I also use GS to secure riders to horses as well as glue.
Right on to the shields, I like the transfers their bloody marvellous but they don't fit the shields perfectly and cutting them all out will drive you bonkers. However stick with it because I think its worth the work. You will have to paint around the outside rim of the shield or leave it bronze as the transfers fit on to the central part of the shield leaving the rim uncovered.
Anyhoo I hope this as been of some help, I suppose the overall point I'm making is the Xyston figures require a fair amount of work in my opinion but are worth it.

[Harry Faversham]

Thanks Jeff, you've done a great job there... something for me to aspire to when I start mine.

[Bunny]

Xyston are great figures, I have Macedonian and Persian, however more 18mm than 15mm

The only other company I would recommend is War and Empire.  I bought into their Kickstarter and they are fantastic and more 15mm than 18mm

Either range is very well sculpted and cast.  Both are quite exstensiv and I'd recommend both.

[Littlearmies]

You might ant to try AB - although better known for his Napoleonics Mr Barton produced some rather nice Greeks: http://www.fighting15sshop.co.uk/greek-city-states-926-c.asp as well as some Sassanids and Romans.

[Harry Faversham]

After much cogitating I've decided to go with 'Forged in Battle' for my Greeks, and now Persians. Don't really fancy dicking about doing Victrixess type separate spear and shield construction in munchkin scale if I'm on honest.  
FinB seems a decent halfway compromise, allowing relatively easy shield transferring and a good selection of nice figures. I'm thinking the Leonidas set will provide some good eye candy for casualty markers as well?
But the single and most important factor bringing me to this command decision... the kids have decided to club to and buy the figures for Daddios' Birfday!