Yet More Romans

Auxilia from Ebay, with 3 command figures added.

More Late Romans

 Two more units of Late Roman Auxilia with bows cobbled together from some old units of Auxilia and archers with two newly painted officers added. These are for the Western Armies.

Even More Stuff

I spent most of my hobby time this week painting up these Late Roman infantry from Fighting 15s. They are the old Gladiator Games figures, but I believe they were originally from a German range. All that's needed now is flockage, tuftage and varnishage.

This Late Roman Legion has been rebased, but the trumpet and officer are new.

I need to replace the old paper chimneys with carved xps ones and put proper shingles on the roof of this War of 1812 building. It looks like some of the paint needs attention too. I've temporarily put the polystyrene blanks in 

The Late Roman project got more out of hand when I bought these from EBay. They are from the same painter as the last lot of Auxilia, and I have 12 light cavalry coming too. I've rebased them and they are also waiting for flock, etc.

More Stuff Finished

Finished

Duke of York and Sir Thomas Erpingham

[The edges of the flags have been painted!!]

Late Roman Legions for TTS and HC (Rebased)

Frankish Command for TTS and HC

Rebased a few single figures to complete this unit:

15th Dragoons

Blunders and Orders

I was going to order some figures to replace a couple of auxilia units for my Late Romans, when I spotted these rather nice old range Essex which match my other units on EBay. I would just need to rebase them and add three command figures to each unit. They arrived really quickly and I rebased them................

As well as the command figures I also needed some infantry to finish my Gothic contingent and some archers to complete a French unit for the HYW. I put the order into Essex and half an hour later realised that I had forgotten to add the command figures for the Auxilia. I believe this particular double six applies to all wargameers' orders and appears to be a fundamental law of nature like Relativity, and the disappearance of at least one sock in the wash.

Anyway, I've managed to get these Roman archers rebased.

They are on 40mm x 30mm bases and I've decided on the following system for basing for "Hail Caesar" and "To The Strongest":-

Infantry on 40mm x 30mm bases

Hoplites 8 figures

Heavy Infantry 6 figures

Medium Infantry 5 figures

Light Infantry 4 figures

Skirmisher Infantry 2 figures

Cavalry on 40mm x 40mm bases

Heavy and Medium Cavalry 3 figures

Light Cavalry and Horse Archers 2 figures.

I'm not sure whether I'm going to put 4 Cataphracts on a base or leave as 3

On the WIP front, the 15th Dragoons are still progressing but are a real pain, When I do the 25th I am going back to a black undercoat with a white drybrush and I believe the young, cool people call this method "slap chop". Us old farts have been doing it for years and calling it "dry brushing white over a black undercoat", because we didn't have to worry about snappy titles for YouTube videos.

 

Small Rant

I am getting really, really, really fed up with the wargames myth that Thebans had white shields!!!!!!
The latest version of this fantasy is Warlord Games "Sacred Band" advert. I really dont know where this idea comes from.
https://store.warlordgames.com/products/theban-sacred-band

Sword and Spear

I got these rules a few months ago from:
Polkovnik Productions

They have an innovative activation system using dice (almost but not quite unlike Bolt Action) which proves to be quite effectual in operation.

I'd got a bit hung up about the fact that I like to see melee "pushbacks" in ancient rules, but that they don't happen with these. Dave has pointed out that I probably have "Cannae Issues", and he's likely right.

So we are having a Hundred Year's War good Vs evil game  with Dave sportingly taking the side of evil. As it's a test game in the newly commissioned indoor winter arena it's a plain brown mat and no terrain.

The forces of evil have so far lost 2 units of crossbow and one of mounted knights, but I foresee disaster in the next few moves for the forces of good. As can be seen in the  pictures below, two units of archers were kept behind the line to protect the flanks. They have just got into line, but as yet have not been able to deploy their stakes and the French kniggets are now in charge range. The English captains have been moved to other units to make them easier to activate, but they should have stayed with the flanking bowmen to prepare them for the French assault. I suspect that a judicious application of activation dice by the French will see them ridden down next move. C'est la vie............or probably not in this case.


Vulnerable archers on the right flank. I've since found out that they've been moving too quickly as you lose movement when lugging stakes about:

French peasants "supporting" dismounted knights in the  centre. Knights move slowly and it is extremely difficult to get them moving as a cohesive line. You can get them moving quicker by not using group moves and allocating bonus dice, but this leads to a fragmented advance........subtle and realistic.

Squeaky bum time on the English left too:

Here Dave has hurried the advance by putting his general with a unit of heavy spearmen making it easier to activate, sacrificing cohesion for speed as they leave the knights behind.

To be continued..................................

"Impetus" Basing for 15mm Greeks - Theban Army

These will be used for "Hail Caesar" more than "Impetus" and the frontage is ideal for playing in Centimetres rather than Inches. They were previously based for DBX, but rebasing to this standard is going to get a playable army of two commands out of something that was was too small to use for a game.

Hoplites

Standard Unit

12 figures to an 80mm x 30mm base

This unit has the general attached. All the generals are going to be attached to units. In all honesty if your Greek Generals aren't part of units in this period you're playing fantasy games.

Skirmishers

Small Unit

4 figures to an 80mm x 30mm base.

Small skirmish units in "Hail Caesar" should have the same frontage as a standard unit.

Peltasts

Standard Unit

8 figures to an 80mm x 40mm base.

These units are theoretically capable of deploying in skirmish order in "Hail Caesar". I have enough figures to duplicate this unit as 2 bases as per the skirmishers above, but I'm not going to bother for the moment. They can also be deployed as small units. I would represent these as 4 figures on a 40mm square base and if I ever wanted to play "Impetus", 2 such bases would make a unit. The small unit would only need 1 base of skirmishers to represent it in skirmish order.

Medium Cavalry

Small Unit

4 Figures on a 40mm x 60mm base

In the "Hail Caesar" lists Greek cavalry are all small units which I think is fair enough. 

Two of these units would make a standard "Impetus" base

Light Cavalry

I've yet to decide whether I'm going to have duplicate small units in close and open order. At the moment I'm tempted not to bother and have them permanently in skirmish order. This would be:

4 figures on an 80mm x 60mm base.

Needless to say I have a shed load of unpainted Xyston figures to add another command and start in the opposition.