First Attempt at 6mm: Spartan Hoplites!
Here’s my first attempt at painting 6mm miniatures.
It’s actually been quite a number of months since I’ve bought this army of 6mm Ancient Greeks from Baccus, but only recently shrugged off my lethargy enough to get two units of them painted and based.
Once I set my mind to it, I was surprised at how easily and quickly I could paint these minuscule soldiers; it only took me a single weekend to complete 96 figures!
Oh, and I am aware that the accepted historical appearance of Spartan hoplites is of them carrying bronze shields with a red “lambda” painted on it… but I thought a red shield with white “lambda” would have better visual appeal, especially at such a small scale 
I’ve cut out two pieces of 1mm thick plasticard, measuring 60mm x 30mm and overlapped them together to serve as the base; I’m still undecided whether I want to continue using this method for the rest of the army. I’ve recently bought a bunch of 2mm thick hardboard, so I’ll probably experiment and see which I like best.
In any case I’m as yet only a beginning miniature painter, so please try to refrain from demoralizing comments! 
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Saw your pics on the Baccus forum. Some nice looking figures. Not all Spartans wore red though. eg. various black and white helmet crests were worn. Various shield designs and colours etc. As for bases I’d go for either 3mm MDF.
Keeep it up.
Cheers Nigel
Nigel said:
Thanks for your comments, Nigel.
I did come across of references that what we commonly know as the “classic” Spartan look (i.e. all red) is in fact historically inaccurate. But then I thought that a uniform red look would have more visual appeal at a scale as small as 6mm. Now, if I was painting 28mm, then it’d be a totally different story!
But I’ll try out some variety with my next batch of Spartans, and see how they look. One thing I’ve learnt about miniature painting is that what you “think” they’ll look like very often differs from what they “actually” look like when painted up!
Oh, and I also thought about MDF basing, but there aren’t any local shops in my country (Korea) that are willing to cut me such small dimensions (60×30). The minimum they’ll cut is something like 80×80, which is way too large for me. The other alternative will be to import them… but that case the international shipping charges are quite substantial.
Too much detail!
Good job, really. Have fun with 6mm. It really is a different gaming experience.
Hello Kraussian.
re cost of MDF bases.
I didn’t realise you lived in that part of the world. I’m in the UK and buy my mdf bases from http://www.principlesofwar.com. I had a quick look at their shipping charges. For 120 60×30 bases costing £27, .5kg, you pay an additional £14 in shipping, quite a lot. I’ve had a look at our Airmail postage rates to Korea and for me to send
the same weight would cost £6.51. This might be worth considering if you have Paypal. I could order and send them to you and then you pay me. have a think about it and send me an email.
All the best
Nigel
Nigel,
Thanks for the very generous offer.
But 120 60×30 bases at £27 seems costlier than buying from Baccus!
They charge £3.83 for 40 60×30 bases, and shipping is 25% of the total order value (minimum £3). So if I were to order 120 bases from them, it will cost (£3.83 * 3) + (£3.83 * 3 * 25 / 100), which will only be around £15.
Although their MDF bases are 2mm thick instead of 3mm, I think 2mm would be more suitable for 6mm figures. Maybe you should be switching your MDF supplier too?
120 bases for £15 (including shipping) is much cheaper than I initially assumed, and I’m seriously contemplating placing an order!
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