28mm Spartan Vignettes

As promised and somewhat a little later than I had anticipated are some Spartan vignettes I finished a while ago. All miniatures are 'Wargames Foundry' with a few commanders from Gorgon Studios ancient range.

Starting with the Command vignette of Spartiate leading class commanders of the Peloponnesian Wars.

 One of these minis is 'Foundry' the others are 'Gorgon Studios' minis.

 One of the shield designs (the red gate symbol with white snakes) represents the 'dokana' δόκανα of the twin brothers Castor and Pollux.

 The shield with the inverted V is a typical Spartan Lambda symbol.

And the third of course represents the legendary Gorgon's head. I've noticed that many ancient representations of the Gorgon's face seem the be almost Indian in style.

Next we have the pre-battle sacrifice of a goat,

Before battle was brought, Spartan priests divined whether it would be auspicious to bring battle by studying the entails of sacrificed birds, pragmatic Spartan commanders on the other hand could continue to let the priest sacrifice a number of animals until the 'Good' omen was found and only then 'give battle'.

The battle-line draws up

 Doughty Spartans ready for battle with their Lambda emblazoned shields, famous for their old fashioned beards and long hair.

 The battle-line draws up, these are wearing the pilos helmet used during the Peloponnesian Wars.

And then!....oh....the enemy appear to have scarpered!

ENDEX, time for tea and biscuits, the Spartans break for camp,

 Some cotton wool dyed with black enamel paint thinned with white spirit provides black and grey smoke for the camp fire. I suppose I could have added some red sparks painted on the smoke, I will experiment with that idea in the future.

Anyhow some Thirty Years War Generals are next up on the blog.

I have been painting a variety of stuff this month such as: 1/3000th WW1 and WW2 naval, 1/1200th Anglo-Dutch naval, Warhammer 40k, 15mm Marlburians. 15mm medievals, 28mm Wars of the Roses, 28mm Napoleonics some for Ebay, 28mm Fantasy and 20mm Napoleonics for customers, so I've been a bit busy.

All the Best
Peter.