The Big L on hoplite shields

[Tamur]

My son, being the history buff that he is, was absolutely devastated that the Spartan Hoplites you can get in multiplayer do not have the Greek 'L' on their shields for Lakedaimon.

I know I've seen game-engine pictures of them, though. Where do they come from?

[Quillan]

Macedon

[lars573]

Also the Macodonian symbol on their shields is Lambda not L. You can tell your boy that the greek cities have Zeuses lightning bolt as their banner symbol.

[metatron]

Lambda = L, more or less.

[Tamur]

ermm... where are these guys? I used all the phalanx units the Macedonians have available in multiplayer, and they were either lacking a symbol on their shields, or they had four dots on them -- no lambda. The lambda is on the banners they carry, it is true, but that won't do for this particular young man, who has been raised on the Illiad and stories about Thermopylae

Help? Are they a specialty unit that's unavailable except in the campaign?

[Akka]

There is no lambda symbol in the game on the shield.
There is (somehow absurdly) the Macedon faction which have this very Spartan symbol as faction banner ( ), but that's all.

There is, though, Spartan hoplites mods that manage to get the lambda on their shield (usually by removing their sword). You can check this on http://www.twcenter.net/ if you like, but most of these mods aren't finished yet (though some look INCREDIBLY good).

[Tamur]

OK thanks Akka. Guess we'll wait and watch for re-skins...

[Quillan]

I thought someone did a reskin of the spartans that used the lambda on the shields? Perhaps I was mistaken.

[Sin Qua Non]

There is no lambda symbol in the game on the shield.
There is (somehow absurdly) the Macedon faction which have this very Spartan symbol as faction banner ( ), but that's all.

That symbol: Λ is an upper case lambda in both ancient and modern Greek. I think it's only present on the faction banner, as said before. I'm not certain why they chose that for Macedon, other than it looks cool. Maybe I'll pester my Greek ex-girlfriend and see if she knows.

[Akka]

That symbol: Λ is an upper case lambda in both ancient and modern Greek. I think it's only present on the faction banner, as said before. I'm not certain why they chose that for Macedon, other than it looks cool. Maybe I'll pester my Greek ex-girlfriend and see if she knows.

Well, it's a question that has no answer, I'm afraid.
The red lambda is a Spartan symbol, which stands for Lakedemona (or Lakaidemona, or some other close spelling), which is an alternative name for Sparta. It was displayed on the shield of Spartan hoplites, and the mere view of this was sometime sufficient to make their foes rout.

I agree that it looks cool, and it's a good idea to have made it the symbol of a faction, but then, why Macedonia and not the Greek Cities ?

I mean, Sparta is even the CAPITAL of the Greek Cities, so it would have made sense if the faction had the Spartan symbol as a banner. But Macedon ?

Even more, Macedon has a very cool symbol itself, the 16-radiants sun.

So...

[Ellesthyan]

It might be that they aimed for the Alpha, representing the Antigonid dynasty that IIRC ruled Macedonia for some time. However, the Alpha is exactly the same A as we use today, so that symbol is missing something

[Sin Qua Non]

Even more, Macedon has a very cool symbol itself, the 16-radiants sun.

Now that you mention it, that is much cooler than a silly lambda. It may just be a graphic simplicity issue. Some of the faction symbols are kind of hokey, although understandably so. I chuckle when I see a Gallic army approach with that green and red boar battle standard. Some of them look like college mascots gone terribly wrong. I'm trying to research what iconography was used in that age, and maybe make some new faction standards.