Recently I painted few dozen 25mm or 28mm Greek hoplites from 3 different manufacturers for a customer. It was a lot of fun as I could compare Black Tree, Molon Labe and Foundry Greeks. I was asked to leave the shields plain bronze.
Black Tree Design hoplites were probably most pleasurable to paint. Very well sculpted with no sharp features, easy to paint. There was some flash, but it was easy to remove. Shields were the only disappointment, looks like they had a button or a broach and casted a shield out of that. I threw away crappy wire that BTD provide for spears and used extra Gripping Beast or Molon Labe cast spears I have. BTD has a good variety of poses and I like their helmet choice. Figure with Corinthian helmet in the middle, holding spear upright is Molon Labe with BTD shield.
Next group of hoplite are from Foundry. It's only 1 pose, with shield being a part of the casting. All I had to do is to add a spear. Very nice casting from the company with good reputation for great sculpts, but the shield is too small, IMO.
Molon Labe hoplites have classic poses with hoplites thrusting overarm and underarm. Poses are stiff and chunky, but look just fine when painted. Details were sharp but not raised as I like it, wasn't a big deal. Easy enough to paint, highly recommend this company that has a good range. Note that I cut thrusting spears pretty short so it's easy to rank up the models. Shortened spears look just fine for thrusting poses, IMO.
Below is a comparison between 3 companies. Left to right: Molon Labe, Foundry, Black Tree. Easy to see slight difference in height, but all the figures fit well together. The main difference are the shields. Molon Labe has the best proportioned shield out of three, IMO. All figures will work well together with the same shields.
Gorgon Studios is a relatively new kid on the block. The sculpts are very good, cast with very little flash. Sculpted by an ex Foundry sculptor. The only complaint is that their riders don't really fit the horses very well with a large gap between a rider and a horse. Below are their Etruscan cavalry.
Black Tree Design hoplites were probably most pleasurable to paint. Very well sculpted with no sharp features, easy to paint. There was some flash, but it was easy to remove. Shields were the only disappointment, looks like they had a button or a broach and casted a shield out of that. I threw away crappy wire that BTD provide for spears and used extra Gripping Beast or Molon Labe cast spears I have. BTD has a good variety of poses and I like their helmet choice. Figure with Corinthian helmet in the middle, holding spear upright is Molon Labe with BTD shield.
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