Having just fought at the Pompey Pillage I am now focusing on the Worlds at Derby in early October.
The key question is which army to take?
Not only which list, but which sub list. I have a hoplite army, that has worked reasonably well in WAB, but Swordpoint is not WAB!
My force is based on Spartans, small and elite (less models to paint). However, they are expensive (33pts with the light armour upgrade per base) and so would be a very small force and in Swordpoint your flanks are everything.
So how could I adapt this. Looking at the lists in the Early Hoplite list I have decided to go with a force from Magna Graecia. Most probably one of the colonies on the Southern Italian coast, founded by Sparta or at least allied to her.
Looking at the build I wanted I realised I was short of some models. The victrix mercenary hoplite box is a tempting addition and then I remembered that I had an unpainted Roman Republican army. This included a number of chaps without armour but lots of feathers in their hats who could be Southern Italian allies and some of the cavalry models could be added to my existing Greek horse to represent Oscan allies.
There were even a few with metal breast plates and a few spare hoplon shields. These could help bolster the numbers of the existing phalanxes. Perhaps the Victrix box will have to wait... The feathers in the helmet could represent some of the colonists going native!
So approximately 40 models needing to be painted by the 7 October. The race is on.
So tonight has been prepping a unit of Southern Italian warriors. The feathers kept on snapping off the helmets which was annoying, but when they are gone they are gone. Have to be careful. Not sure what make they are, some are Crusader, but not sure about the others. I noticed that some of the metal looked they had started to corrode, which I have never seen before. Quite a lot of work to clean them up and these were the better ones I had selected from the pile, well if you do pick up a bargain on ebay what do you expect.