Wargrunt: Hoplite Hijinx

Here’s my HOTT Persian Wars Greek army.

The fantastical elements are based on characters that Herodotus and others record as having appeared to aid the brave Greeks in their struggles against the evil Persians at Marathon and later during Xerxes’ invasion.

The Army List combines the elements for Marathon and Xerxes’ invasion. The accompanying notes indicate which era they belong to.

I’ve added more detailed comments with the pictures.

The List:

HOTT Greeks of the Persian Wars

Spear General (Miltiades* or Pausanias**) @ 2AP
Spears (Spartan***, Athenian & other hoplites) @ 2AP x 4-9
Hero (Echetlaeus*, Theseus* OR the 60 Heroes**) @ 4AP x 1
Shooters** (Athenian archers) @ 2AP x 0-1
God* (Philippides and Pan) @ 4AP x 0-1
Behemoths** (The Giants) @ 4AP x 0-2

*From the battle of Marathon

** From the Plataea campaign

*** Feel free to include a couple of Spartan elements in any Marathon themed army. This is a game of fantasy and they MIGHT have turned up!

Philippides and Pan - God element.

These guys are from the Battle of Marathon. The famed and original, Marathon runner, Philippides met with the god Pan on the road home from seeking Spartan aid. Pan promised to continue to support Athens.

Pan is from Eureka miniatures and Philippides is a converted Tin Soldier figure.

Echetlaeus - a Hero element.

Also from the Battle of Marathon. Pausanias writes that there happened to be present in the battle a man of rustic appearance and dress.

Having killed many of the Persians with a plough, he became invisible after the job was done.

The god Apollo via the oracle at Delphi ordered the Athenians to honour Echetlaeus as a hero. A trophy of white marble was erected.

Echetlaeus is again a converted Tin Soldier figure. The dead Persian is an old Minifigs model.

The Heroic 60 - Hero element.

According to Herodotus, the famed Delphi Temple of Apollo was about to be sacked by the Persians. It had been deserted except by one priest & 60 warriors.

As the Persians approached, weaponry that normal men could not wield magically left the temple and was found on the ground for the 60 heroes to don. These guys, accompanied by two giants (see the next set of photos) fought off the Persian invaders.

I’ve painted the warriors’ shields with a lyre and a laurel, both symbols linked to Apollo. The warriors are old Asgard figures. The priest is from Xyston.

Although I haven't modelled him, another hero option would have been Theseus. Many of those who fought at Marathon believed they saw an apparition of Theseus (Athens’ greatest hero) in arms rushing on in front of them against the foreigners.

The Giants - 2 Behemoth elements.

As mentioned in the last section, two giants appeared appeared to help defend the Delphi Temple of Apollo from the Persian invaders.

These are both 3D printed models that I bought through Jester Prints on Etsy. They’re 32mm scale and were both a treat to and a challenge to paint. I rarely paint 28/32 miniatures these days and those I do are usually pretty straight forward, like the Pan model. They’re very Hollywood fantasy in style but what the hey!

Hoplites - Spears

Being the backbone of any hoplite army, these guys make up the bulk of the army's elements. Since this is a morph of my DBA Spartan army, there are quite a few Spartans.

Pausanias, the Spartan general at Plataea.

The rest of the Spartans.

The Athenians and other hoplites.

All these figures are, as far as I can remember, old minifigs minis.

Athenian Archers

At the Battle of Plataea, the Megarians, being hard pressed by Persian cavalry, sent out the call for urgent help . The Athenian archer contingent of three hundred picked men answered the call.

They rushed to battle and saved the day when an arrow struck the horse of the Persian cavalry commander, Masistius. The horse threw Masistius and the Athenians rushed up and despatched him.

Tin Soldier minis.

Last, but not least, here's my Greek temple Stronghold.