I've pretty much finished doing the verdigris effect on my skeletal phalanx, the core of my classical Greek army. The phalanx consists of six units of skeletal hoplites (one has yet to be assembled though as I am waiting on my pack of skeleton hoplites from Bronze Age miniatures).
All miniatures are based for the war-game Piquet following the typical infantry pattern of four stands to a unit, with three figures to a stand. In Piquet, the number of figures is the number of "hits" it takes to eliminate that stand, usually three for infantry (although heavy infantry might be four and light or skirmish infantry, two).
In the game, combat is resolved by competitive dice rolls between players modified by circumstances. So, for example, when all modifications are done to our base die values (BDV), I may be rolling a d8 against my opponent's d10. If he beats my roll by 3, I lose one stand. If he beats my roll by 6, I lose two stands, etc. If he beats my roll by 2 or less (or I beat his roll by 2 or less) - nothing happens. You don't keep track of "hits" on stands. That way, combat is more decisive, with either some sort of major effect - or no effect. It's not about attrition.
In Piquet: Archon (the ancients supplement for Piquet), Greek hoplite infantry is rated as "heavy" and therefore could take four hits per stand. But I've based them here three to a stand as a) for heavy infantry, I'd need 24 more figures and b) my Greeks are armed and armoured in bronze. If they were facing similarly equipped forces I would probably rate them as heavy. But most of the forces they will come up against (dwarves, elves, orcs) have medieval level technology and will be using steel. So I'm sort of downgrading their ability somewhat.
Four of the units are comprised completely of Skeletal Hoplites from the Australian miniatures company Eureka (100SKL02), shown all together on one movement stand along with some individual stands. The figures come with different variants of legs, torsos, arms and skulls, which allows them to be assembled with great variation. They are rather fiddly though, and I have to keep repairing them with green stuff and glue. In a weird way, their fiddly-ness is actually an asset because they keep bending different ways under their own weight, giving them an unnatural posture and gait.
The first unit of these that I bought many years ago I painted with a color more coppery than bronze. Since I added the verdigris, though, it's hard to tell the difference. So...win for Nihilakh Oxide (N.O.)! In my original paint scheme I painted all the armor metal. Only later did I realize that the boxy armor is not bronze, but rather linothorax. So I am in the process of repainting these properly, with a light grey prime and then a pure white base which I will then wash and shade. The first unit is painted using a black primer coat that also acts as the base coat. The bone was then painted individually over the base, along with that coppery coat for the armor and now finished with N.O. The other three units I spray primed with Bone White from Army Painter and then dipped the figures in strong tone Quickshade, also from Army Painter. I then painted the metal with bronze from GW and then finished off with N.O.
The other unit of hoplites shown is comprised of ten figures from the two "Children of the Hydra" packs from Foundry Miniatures (WG421 & WG422). The two skeletons in the front rank on either end are from the plastic Skeleton Warriors set from Wargames Factory (WGF ML-002). All these figures were primed with Krylon Almond primer/paint, which also acts as the base coat. I then washed the models with Agrax Earthshade from GW. The metal was painted with a basecoat of bronze from GW and then finished with N.O.
As I noted above, I am waiting to get my hands on the Skeleton Hoplite pack from Bronze Age Miniatures (32SKLS1) which is comprised of five models. I'll then finish out the unit with seven more of the plastic skeletons from the Wargames Factory set. Sadly, the Wargames Factory plastic skeletons are out of production. They were a great resource, with 30 to a box and could be used for many different things. However, since they were obviously going for the "Jason and the Argonauts" feel, the arms and armour were definitely Greek; with hoplons, dorys and xiphos.
I'll then be ready to field the full phalanx against those hated dwarves, along with the rest of my classical Greek force.
