Gorgon Etruscan Hoplites Part 1

I have been painting a series of Gorgon Studios Etruscans figures. These are meant to represent the Etruscan league's army of about 500BC, in the time of Lars Porsena and early Rome. Most of the army would be equipped in the local Italian style of armor, but the wealthiest Etruscans would purchase costly Greek-style equipment - sort of like buying an expensive foreign car?

These hoplite figures, however, could also stand in for any Greek-pattern infantry of this period - Italiots, Siciliots, etc. 

Fig. 1 Hoplite with Corinthian helmet and spolas armor.
Shield design is a transfer from Little Big Man Studios (click to enlarge).

I remember first reading about "linothorax" armor in the late Peter Connolley's Greece and Rome at War. A linothorax is supposed to be a sort of flak jacket composed of many layers of linen cloth glued together into a stiff corslet. The corslet could be left plain, or else additional armor, such as bronze scales, could be sewn to the midsection. There are certainly Greek vase paintings showing soldiers donning armor made of some stiff material, such that the shoulder pieces stuck straight up until they were tied down:

Fig. 2 Kind of like cardboard.

There is now a controversy about this theory - a few yards of linen cloth and some Elmer's glue is inexpensive to us in the machine age, but not 2500 years ago. Why bother growing acres of flax, weaving linen cloth, and gluing up layers of the cloth with water-soluble animal glue, when one could use thick leather instead? The "linothorax" may have actually been made of stiff leather that would not delaminate the first time you got caught out in the rain. Who knows.

Fig. 3 Some helmet crest holders had a zig-zag pattern at the base of the horsehair crest, which is much easier to paint than the checkerboard pattern that was also used.

The fibers of the horse hair crest are bound into a "crest box". The crest box may have simply been glued to the top of the bronze helmet with pine tar.

Although many people imagine Greek-style spear men displaying the uniform "lambda" shield designs of late Spartans, most Greek shield designs were a riot of heraldic variety. Even the Spartans did not use the "everyone shows a lambda" shtick at the time of Thermopylae. Sorry Frank Miller.

Fig. 4 A very simple hand-painted dolphin.

Fig. 5 Simple painted bird and shield rim pattern.

Fig. 6 Beginnings of a phalanx.

Fig. 7 I'm happy with how dolphin guy's tunic stripes came out.

Tiny Spears, Part 2

More examples of handmade spears made from 3/64" brass rod:

Fig. 1 Brass spear glued into place on an unprimed hoplite. This is a Gorgon Studios Etruscan hoplite (click to enlarge).

Fig. 2 These spears are about 1 3/4"(45mm) long. In 28mm scale (1:56), this translates into just over eight feet (2.5 meters).

Fig. 3 Burnished spear blade; a groove separates the spear head from the "wooden" shaft. This allows some dark wash to seep into the groove and distinguish the steel from the wood.

Fig. 3 This is meant to represent the spear's bronze butt spike. Actual spikes appear to have been thinner, longer, and had three or four sides, but this works for me.

Fig. 4 Painted spear in the hand of another hoplite figure from Gorgon.

Tiny Spears, Part 1

I've been painting a number of 25/28mm miniatures that require spears. Although very decent spears can be bought pre-made from companies such as North Star, I have instead been making spears mysef from brass rod.

Fig. 1 Start with 3/64" brass rod (1.19mm). Snip to taste with wire cutters (click to enlarge).

Fig. 2 A couple of examples of different length. 3/64" makes a good-sized haft for a 28mm figure. 1/32" rod (0.8mm) is suitable for a lighter weapon shaft such as a javelin.

Fig. 3 To give the spears a flat blade, I lay each rod on a hard surface and give the end a couple of strikes with a hammer. The regular claw hammer shown works well enough, but a smaller jeweler's hammer would be nice to have.

Fig. 4 A closer look at the flattened ends. This is called "planishing". Sometimes I'll snip the ends into a "^" point to speed up the filing process.

Fig. 5 Setting up for filing: the planished rod is placed in a three-jawed chuck of a Sherline lathe headstock that I have. This could also be done by hand, but spinning the rod in a chuck speeds up the process considerably.

Fig. 6 The spinning chuck. One must also take care that the handle end of the tool (in the case a needle file) is not caught by the spinning chuck and driven back into one's hand.

Fig. 7 The lathe chuck is separate from its lathe bed; I hold the assembly in my lap, turn the motor up to a few hundred rpm, and file and sandpaper the spearhead into shape. This is probably not the safest way to operate the lathe head. Do not try this at home, &c &c.

Fig.8 Running the motor very slowly - sometimes turning the motor off and just rotating the chuck by hand - I score beneath the spear blade to create the border between spearhead and shaft..

Fig. 9 Turning the spear over, I fasten it back in the chuck with the blade facing down. Now I can shape the bronze end-spike of the spear. Called a "sauroter" by the ancient greeks (lit. "lizard sticker").

Fig. 10 The finished spear. This is meant to be a short one - 33mm long overall, which is 1.8m (6 feet) in 28mm scale.

Fig. 11 A closer look.

Fig.12 The spear installed with superglue into the hand of a miniature, in this case a Tom Meier goblin.

Fig.13 Brass rod can be used to make other implements and weapons, with patient shaping and filing - I have made swords, polearms, maces, and axes.