Warlord/Immortal Hoplites

This box set is an interesting one because it was originally produced by Immortal Miniatures which, sadly, went under and sold the molds for all of its range to Warlord Games. This is why they are often referred to as the "Warlord/Immortal" hoplites. I picked up the Spartan Hoplites set for use as Allied/League Hoplites in an Alexandrian army, and mercenaries in other armies.

However, I did not fully understand the way in which the Immortal Hoplites sets are laid out, and I've seen a lot of confusion online about this. The situation isn't helped by the fact that the Warlord Games website did not have very good pictures of the sprues in the Immortal Hoplites sets at the time that I purchased them, though they have better ones now.

The confusion arises from the fact that Immortal Miniatures designed one main sprue containing helmets and crests suitable for their "Ancient" set, intended to depict hoplites of the pre-Peloponnesian War eras (Perhaps "Archaic" would be more accurate than "Ancient"?). The heads provided here are Illyrian and Corinthian helmets, and both the typical horsehair crest and the "tall" crest. However, although the store page states that the set can depict hoplites into the early 4th century BC, strictly speaking the Illyrian helmet was mostly obsolete outside of Illyria by the early 5th century, and the tall crest also went out of style by at least the 4th century if not earlier (certainly I have seen no evidence that it was worn in the time of Alexander).

So, in the Ancient set is provided the base sprue (with "Ancient" helmets) and a command sprue, with more Ancient-style crests and conversion pieces, as well as a commander and flutist. The Spartan set has the same base sprue with the addition of a Spartan "upgrade" sprue, containing two hoplite bodies and nine heads wearing pilos helmets and with the characteristic Spartan beards-sans-mustache. The Classical set, however, contains an upgrade sprue with helmets much more suitable to the mid-to-late 4th century (pilos, Phrygian, and some more interesting and exotic types) and, possibly, even the early-to-mid 3rd century BC. This was the kit that I ought to have bought for my purposes, but live and learn!

Four of these come in the box, along with four command sprues

So, to review the Spartan set I'll start with the base sprue. It has eight figures, of which two are wearing bronze "muscle" cuirass, two unarmoured, and the rest in linothorax, which is an excellent proportion for representing a unit, for the most part (it should be noted that one of the bronze cuirasses is of a decidedly Archaic type). One might quibble that most hoplites are thought to have eschewed all armour after a certain point (around the time of Iphikrates, if I recall correctly), but this is an acceptable compromise.

Sheathed swords are either xiphos or kopis/makhaira, judging by their shape, the aspis shields are quite large (some have suggested too large, though I like their excessive size, personally) and fully detailed on the inside with antilabe (the rope handle around the rim) and porpax (the leather or bronze strap in the center) both depicted in excellent detail. The left arm being molded attached to the shield is a downside for kitbashing, however, as it makes shield swaps essentially impossible unless a new left arm of the same scale can be found.

The doru spear is depicted well, at an appropriate length and in both over-arm and under-arm grips, to suit individual preference. Shield aprons and some kind of extra abdominal armour provide even more bits to play with.

My picture of the upgrade sprue didn't come out well, so I'm using the one from the Warlord Games Store

The upgrade sprue includes an unarmoured body wearing exomis and another sporting a "bell" cuirass (like the "muscle" but more flared around the belly to enable freedom of movement), in addition to eight heads in pilos helmet (Spartan standard-issue beginning toward the end of the Peloponnesian War, and continuing throughout the Hellenistic era) and one in what appears to be the soft felt pilos cap (a nice touch), as well as eight scabbarded xiphos swords of the extra-short Spartan variety (again a nice touch of historicity).

I was initially puzzled by the three headless helmets and petasos hat, thinking perhaps they were meant for the helmet-less bearded head on the main sprue, but it turns out they are a holdover from the Classical kit, which includes several "bald" heads to which this headgear may be affixed. It seems that the Spartan "upgrade" sprue is actually identical to the Classical upgrade sprue, above the section with the row of heads. For whatever reason, Warlord do not have a picture of the Classical Phalanx upgrade sprue at their website.

A final note, the Spartan set includes 40 metal aspis shields of uniform size, to represent accurately the fact that Spartan shields were mass-manufactured and issued by the state, and notoriously constructed to a standard size. The plastic shields on the main sprue are varying sizes, so again this is a nice touch of historical accuracy. The hoplite sets all come with sheets of decals, thus the shields (metal or plastic) are smooth, allowing hand-painting of designs if desired.

Test Figure I painted up

So, concluding remarks: these Immortal hoplites sets are just shy of excellence. The detail is mostly fantastic, especially the musculature on the exomis-clad body, the detail of the linothorakes and cuirasses, folds of the cloth tunics, and interiors of the aspis shields.

One of the weak points of sculpting are the faces, which are quite hit or miss, in part due to the fact that these miniatures are on the small and slender end of the sculpting scale, making it difficult to depict much face detail. Another is wrists, which tend to blend seamlessly into the backs of hands, creating a blocky impression, and greaves tend to be a little too chunky as well—perhaps both design choices were made for structural integrity, as they might be prone to snapping if realistically slender.

Overall, the details paint up well (see test figure) but due to their fineness can be obscured very easily by a botched priming or paint that is not thinned properly.

The historical authenticity is a huge plus, perhaps the first and foremost reason to buy this set, but it is undermined by the somewhat sloppy lay-out of the sprues and box-sets as a whole. One has to do a significant bit of groundwork to puzzle out which kit to buy and which components to use in order to actually take advantage of the historicity.

The size of the figures can be a downside or an upside, as they rank up well with some ranges (Relic Miniatures in particular, from what I've seen online) but not well with taller ranges (such as Victrix). I will do a scale comparison of all the figures I have so far at a later date, but for now suffice it to say that Immortal heads can be swapped with the Warlord Phalangites and vice versa. I wouldn't mix them in the same unit, but in their own units they look fine in the same army on the tabletop.

Victrix's competing set is one of their oldest kits, and it shows; they have advanced greatly since this release

In closing, for $32 USD (£20) for 40 miniatures, the Immortal range of hoplites are a fantastic value for money, in my opinion they look far, far more aesthetically pleasing than Victrix's Spartan Hoplites (indeed, their whole early Hoplite range leaves a lot to be desired), and I'm not aware of any other options in plastic for 28mm Spartans. They are also quite easy to find discounted online for 20% off or more, which makes them one of the cheapest plastic infantry sets in the entire world of 28mm Ancients miniatures. 

In the next few posts, I will be demonstrating what these kits can do as I construct and paint them. 

Warlord Games Phalangites Review

 First off, the standard Macedonian Phalangites.

Warlord Games "Macedonian Phalangites"

For $35 USD (£22) you get 40 multipart plastic figures which is a very affordable pricing standard. These seem to be intended to build up large blocks of rank-and-file infantry quickly and affordably, which is quite useful to a wargamer looking to start or expand a Macedonian army.

The box contains ten identical sprues, each consisting of four Phalangites. No command sprue is included, but it is possible to rectify this without making further purchases as I will demonstrate in a later post. It does not include bases either, but does include 40 black Macedonian star transfers for the shields.

Warlord Phalangites Sprue: Front

There are four bodies, six heads, six arms holding Sarisas, and four Pelte shields on each sprue. Each of the bodies is posed to fit into a specific place in a 3- or 4-rank formation, but there is some flexibility here. Two of the bodies are designed to hold their Sarisas at an angle in an advancing pose, two are intended to hold them straight up in a marching pose.

The flexibility comes in here, because you can swap the arms for the 1st and 2nd rank figures, introducing some variety in panoply in the different ranks, and the two rear-rankers could reasonably be expected to reside in the same rank (this makes a three-rank Phalanx for something like WAB a little easier to form up, while still leaving a four-rank Hail Caesar Phalanx amply supplied).

There is no option for a pikes-lowered pose, which is a disappointment to me personally because that is my favorite pose for Phalangites, but a great many wargamers tend to disagree with me and prefer static poses that are easy to rank up and move around the battlefield.

It is also perfectly reasonable to, say, buy one pack of metal Phalangites from a manufacturer like Wargames Foundry in any desired pose, and use them to form a "fancier" front rank alongside the Warlord Phalangites, or to mix them into the formation for increased variety. This is also likely how I will solve the lack of unarmoured and/or hat-wearing rear-rank Phalangites.

Warlord Phalangites Sprue: Rear

As far as historical detail goes, the sculptor made some interesting choices. The bog-standard (but historically dubious) selection of the massive, leaf-shaped spear head and the flanged, mace-like buttspike (both copied verbatim from the Vergina Tomb finds) are at once a strength and a weakness, a strength because visually these details make the sarisai infinitely more interesting than the old-school brass rod, but a weakness because of the aforementioned historical dubiousness.

Although very little is certain in Hellenistic history, I personally found Sekunda's arguments in Macedonian Armies After Alexander pretty compelling, at least as far as ruling out the massive spearhead, buttspike, and bronze connector as in any way related to sarisai. Artistic depictions suggest a narrow buttspike with a plate-like catch near the top, to enable its being stuck in the ground for camp storage. Literary references also refer to small, projectile-like heads for the sarisai, allowing more penetrative capability (and also making it less likely to get stuck in a shield or corpse after thrusting). Presumably most wargamers will not be bothered by this, but it does annoy me slightly. Although I am not a complete purist (with the source material being so spotty, this would be impossible anyway) I do like to make my historical figures as authentic as I can.

A final complaint about the sarissai is that they are quite on the short side, relative to the figure probably about 12' in length (as opposed to 15'-18' in Alexander's day, and 20'-22' feet in the era of the later Successors). Doubtless this decision was made for convenience, as a properly scaled plastic sarisa would be extremely vulnerable to bending or snapping

Helmet styles seem to have been chosen as a temporal compromise, to allow the customer to depict Hellenistic phalangites from as many periods within the era as can reasonably be expected. The Chalcidian and two Phrygian helmets were most popular in the early Hellenistic era and the time of Alexander (and even his father), while the Thracian, Attic/Pseudo-Phrygian, and cheekguarded Pilos are typical of the Diadochi wars to early Successor era. All of these types were probably used to a greater or lesser extent throughout at least the first 150 years of the Hellenistic era (through to the first conflicts with Rome), however, so the selection is very versatile. It would be nice to see some of the more exotic helmet styles from the period represented, but again this is very much a rank-and-file box, and for the price it's hard to complain.

The Transfer Sheet included in the box

Also included are 40 shield-decals depicting a simple black Macedonian star on transparent background. A nice (optional) touch, these can be used as is or replaced with higher-quality decals or even hand-painted designs.

Overall, I am quite happy with this set as a means to quickly and cheaply fill out massive phalanxes, to which additional, more expensive figures might be added later on, as front-rankers or elite units or whatever.

Warlord Games' "Macedonian Royal Guard"

The Macedonian Royal Guard box set contains the exact same sprues as the Macedonian Phalangites set (6 instead of 10, for a total of 24 figures) but with the addition of metal heads and shields that are used to distinguish them from "standard" phalangites.

Front and Rear view of the shield sprues, and selection of extra heads

There are 24 embossed shields in three different designs, half with Macedonian stars, and two of the crescent/half-circle style patterns which are quite common in artwork and coinage, these examples very likely taken directly from Head's "Armies of the Macedonian and Punic Wars". The four unique head sculpts consist of two Phyrgian, one Attic/Pseudo-Phrygian, and one Thracian, all with horsetail crests on the sides (the primary different between these and the standard plastic heads).

Macedonian Shield-Designs re: Head's AMPW

The sculpting quality and detail of the shields is excellent, but the heads leave a bit to be desired, particularly the faces which tend toward the "frog-mouthed" style seen in many metal figures. The lack of feathered plumage is particularly disappointing, as these were likely just as popular as "horsetails" to denote rank and unit, if not more so.

And since the set is based on the same plastic figures as the standard box, there is no variation in body-armour which might indicate better-equipped, more prestigious troops (such as solid metal muscle cuirasses, for example).

At $32 (£20) for the box, you pay a significantly higher price for these metal components: $1.33 (83p) per figure, versus $0.88 (55p) per figure in the standard box set. Are these components worth the extra $10.80? Not really. If money is no issue and you really like working with the Warlord plastic figures, then this set is a nice variation on the rank and file one, but for that price the flaws of sculpting can't really be overlooked. The embossed shields are quite good, and I would happily equip the standard phalangites with them as well (painted bronze rather than silver) if it werent for the fact that Warlord does not sell these shields separately. 

My recommendation is to buy Victrix's Macedonian Phalangites for your Argyraspid/Agema/Hypaspist Phalangites, since they are cheaper and better sculpted than Warlord's Guard Phalangite set. But, the standard Macedonian box is cheaper than Victrix, and therefore perfectly commendable as an affordable, competently-sculpted and laid-out kit for building huge armies on a budget. Scale is not a concern as long as they aren't mixed in the same units, but I will be covering this in a later post.

 
One final thought: Warlord's Successor Starter Army is a great way to get as many rank and file phalangites as you are likely to need outside of a BigRedBat-style convention event, to which may be added Victrix or metal manufacturer's figures for variety and specialized units such as royal guard or native levy phalangites, with the added bonus of eight companion cavalry and an armoured elephant. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell the latter is really only suitable for a Seleucid army, and then only in the "High" Hellenistic era — mid-3rd to mid-2nd c. BC in the most generous historical interpretation; the company's marketing of the set as suitable for Pyrrhic armies is totally inaccurate, as the elephants of Pyrrhos' army would have been towered Indians but unarmoured. Likewise, Ptolemaic elephants were not Indian, and whether or how they were armoured is up for debate. 

All that said, it's still a cool model to have. I will probably find myself picking this set up eventually because I'm building two Hellenistic armies, especially since this "army-in-a-box" can be found discounted at many online distributors, in some cases to the point where the cavalry and elephant are essentially free add-ons. 

Next, a review of the Warlord/Immortal Hoplites, and then thoughts on construction and customization.