Hoplite I

The hoplite is the heavily armoured citizen-soldier of the Greek city-states — the backbone of the phalanx, the dense wall of bronze and spears that halted Persia at Marathon and Plataea. Clad in a bronze helmet, muscle cuirass and the round hoplon shield, he fought shoulder to shoulder, each shield covering half of the man to his left. His thrusting dory spear kept the enemy at bay while the locked front advanced all but unstoppably. The bronze tier of the line: solidly armoured and lethal in close formation.