Old Glory Trojans
Fine Figures Still at Fine Prices
by Phil Viverito
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Anyway, I really enjoy my Old Glory Trojans and Achaeans. They are easy to paint and as you can see are really nice figures. I wish my painting were up to the quality of the figures.
Especially nice are the command groups. There are several different officers and standardbearers. Then too there are horn players who can always be converted from that one extra musician figure that becomes the one guy for when you are a figure short of a full unit. The musical instruments are easy to cut off and replace with a weapon and shield. No one will be the wiser. Of all the gamers who see my figures, not one has yet to say, “What’s that supposed to be a musical spear man?”
As the Aristoi advanced forward to engage the enemy behind them would be units of foot soldiers in shield wall formations. If the chariot fighters were bested they would remount their chariots and seek shelter behind the shield wall units to rally. Here is a shield wall unit. I like to use casualty figures here too (center back rank). More drama.
These may also have rear ranks of archers. Against chariots they are powerful. Woe to the chariot unit that hits a shield wall. Back to Table of Contents -- Classical Hack Newsletter # 2 Back to Classical Hack Newsletter List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by Phil Viverito. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com |
While nothing ever seems to go down in price I must say that Old Glory Trojans and Achaeans are still a good deal. Like everyone else I buy my figures and you have to admit that even with the price increases the Homerics from Old Glory are still fine figures at fine prices. It’s a darn a shame that companies cannot just give stuff away but then who would produce, package and ship things for nothing. Who would want to ask someone to work for nothing? I sure don’t like not getting paid, I’ll tell you that for nothing.
The figures have a lot of different poses and this makes for a handsome unit where uniformity is completely up to the collector’s choice. You can create units like Sackers of Cities. A unit of Heroic killers which used their shields like a plough, to push into shield wall units with the hope of breaking through or into a shield wall. Or if you like you can take the same figures and use them in a more regular organization. In either case these figures are quite versatile.
The main strike force of Homeric armies is generally believed to have been Aristoi or best men who rode to battle and not into it on chariots. Once in position to strike these best men would dismount and charge the enemy. This of course a complete matter of inter-pretation. It is the one I happen to hold. Old Glory chariots are ideal for using as they are easy to convert into various positions. It shows the drama of war regardless of the period. What you do is simply figure out a really interesting mounting of your vehicle and then create something of a one stand vignette. Here I have used a piece of thin wire and using it as a support have shown the vehicle in almost mid-air. To increase the drama of the moment I used a casualty figure who is flailing his arms in horror. Who says “Only TNT knows drama.”?
The shield wall is a powerful unit in Homeric Hack however, its morale value (MV) is relatively low as units go.