Pedantic Soldiers Review finally got hold of some ROSPAKS Greek Hoplites (only 36 years late !).
The box/bag is rather cheaply produced.
It contains 24 figures, 12 standing to attention and 12 attacking with an overarm thrust. All have to be fitted with their shield, provided on separate sprues, and the attackers need their spear-arms gluing in place.
First is the initial disappointment that there were not 100 individually posed and sculpted figures in this pack which cost 50 pence. How manufacturers can justify not giving many hundreds of hours of sculpting work away almost free we fail to understand. Why don't we just give in and also discuss plastic 28mm? We have no answer for that other than we only review figures we think are OK and are about 1/72 scale and 28mm manufacturers may shoot back.
We are presented with two different 'hoplites' . The Classical Greek warriors known for wearing so little that they could hop around all over the place and their opponents. These look just the job with their lack of water bottles, cigarette pouches and other field kit.
We were disappointed that none of the spears were sufficiently sharp to pierce a scaled-down shield or corselet. An omission easily corrected in future sets. The sprues were sufficiently sharp to give a nasty wound as we removed the figures, though.
Imagine our horror when we discovered that under their chitons the figures are not equipped with standard underpants as depicted in Fishing Eagle Publications 'Cool Twats No.37 '300 Spartans (Leatherwear edition)'. Rospaks should step up their game with the next productions.
The helmets seem to be Atheno-Thracian rather than the more prevalent Sparto-Dorian. But buyers can live with this as they tend to be less fussy than us.
