Early Imperial Roman Army

Well, with a minimal fanfare of trumpets, the clatter of pots and pans and the sound of hobnails on cobbles I can finally announce I have completed painting my Early Imperial Roman Army. 

At this point it is worth while doing a little recap of the main elements that make it up:

We have three legions of  legionnaires making up the main force. These legions are made up of six bases apiece but obviously could be configured in to more flexible four base battle groups.

Supporting the legions are two battle groups of Roman Auxiliary who are classified as medium foot. They can fulfil a number of roles in addition to dealing with broken ground but also they can offer rear support.

In addition to the Roman Auxiliary I have included some archers units despite never having used before. Nevertheless, I have given myself  some extra options including using them on high ground or interspersed in a line to fire and withdraw.

Rocking up behind the Auxiliaries are the noble Roman Cavalry  who in my experience die quite easily no doubt due to my own poor handling. However I have promised myself not to squander the lives of the sons of Roman by charging it to all and sundry.

Next up are the light elements which comprise of a load of blokes who throw a load of rocks at the oncoming enemy and then get out of the way just in time for the next battle group of Equites Satgitti to sweep in and unleshing a volley of arrows before charging off on a heroic flanking mission of some description. 

On to the one of my favourite units the Numidian Light Horse who can case no end of mayhem to the enemy ranks by racing up and throwing pointy sticks at them. 

The final battle group is the light bolt shooters who can sit on an hill getting drunk waiting for anyone to stray into their field off fire and then they can unleash a couple of larger pointy sticks at  them before getting back their picnic.

One must not for get the illustrious command stands whose job it is to lead this army around the fields of felt and over the plywood hills to Elysium.

A Few More Romans or Shiny Romans Holding Bows

As regular readers will have noticed the picture I posted of my newly painted slingers  on the last post was rubbish, so here an other slightly better shot which gives a impression of a few of them. 

 

Over the weekend I completed a couple of bolt shooters these are a mix and match battle group using one Corvus Belli set and the other is a Donnington miniatures set kitted out in a the earlier style of Roman uniform dating from the period of the Marius reforms.

This mix and match approach appeals to my sense of non uniformity in uniforms. Although it  is most likely highly inaccurate to mix the uniforms from two different periods. Nevertheless the concept of non uniformity is explored in part in a useful article, albeit relating to 20th century conflict, entitled “Why Was the Red Baron's Fokker Painted Red? Decoding the Way Aeroplanes Were Painted in the First World War” War History July 2001 vol. 8. 

As well as these additions I finished off my battle groups archers eight stands in total. I am pleased with the way these guys have turned out, never having fielded archers before I wonder how they fair once I get them into battle?  

Auxilliary Romans

Although judging from my general sloth-like behaviour illustrated in some previous blog posts that I have made little or no impact in the pile of figures I am current working on. Nevertheless I have made a modicum of progress in the last couple of months. Illustrated here are some pictures of Auxiliary Roman battle groups by Corvus Belli.

There are the first 15mm figures I've painted so I am learning the techniques that are best suited with my painting style at that scale.

One criticism I can leave at myself is the pallet I use is to dark. This is compounded by the addition of an acrylic varnish which appears to darken the finish further.