Almost There

As the title suggests, Tactica 2012 is just around the corner. And so preparations for our participation game are at the final stage. There's still some work to do, but hopefully the next few days will see us tying it all together.

The game itself will be all about visual impact – after all, it's the flamboyant Mycenaean age! And I've tried to support that with some graphic designing. Experienced users, let alone professionals would certainly smile at my humble efforts. However, being a creativity buff I enjoyed the proces.

So, like last year, here's a teaser, and again it's the famous "traffic stopper". Nothing set in stone yet, but you get the idea:

Click to enlarge

This time we finally have an English abstract for all those visitors from abroad. If you're going to be at the show, please come over and say "Hello". Looking forward to put faces to names and, of course, seeing familiar ones there as well.

Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy 58

A very quick 'n' dirty update, because I'm busy to get all the stuff ready for our participation game. Even with aims cut back to managable standards, there's a lot of work in it. A teaser will be up shortly.

This post, however, is to show you some shots of the vignette I did for the latest issue of Wargames, Soldiers & Strategy. Most certainly you have already seen the cover or even read my tutorial in there. (If not, I urge you to catch that up! :-D ) Since the magazine has been out for a while now, I thought it okay to give at least a few additional views that didn't make it into the printed version.

Despite my initial plans, I got a bit in a hurry to paint and stage the miniatures - as well as taking photos of them. Hence, if you want to enjoy them in a more convenient format, there's another reason to get the magazine. ;-)

As a result of this work, I'm planning to complement my French/Westphalian Napoleonic troops with some Austrians. Because, if nothing else, this vignette demonstrates the possibilities of just a single box of plastic miniatures nowadays.

If you have any questions that weren't covered in my article (e.g. my colour reference got lost), feel free to ask here. Other comments are welcome as well, of course!

Painted October 2011. Models by Victrix Miniatures (and a tiny piece from Perry Miniatures).

Middle Imperial Romans Review

Half a month into the new year, and I'm hoping you had a good start. Despite my desperate struggle to cope with the masses of stuff still to be finished for our Tactica 2012 presentation, I had a good one with issue 58 of the Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy magazine finally in print - more on that on another occasion, for now just have a look for yourselves. ;-)

Let's start here with a short review (or sorts of). That's been taken over from last year, when I promised Keith of Aventine Miniatures to have a look at their latest release of late 2nd century Romans. Keith very kindly sent me some samples, after we had discussed a few of my issues with the models, especially regarding their equipment. So I was able to base my opinion on the actual models - and could also compare them to my beloved 3rd century Armorum & Aquila miniatures. Both ranges are divided by a mere decade (at least by periodisation fetishists), so it's not too far a stretch using them side by side.

First off, an unassembled model by Aventine, just black-washed for the photo. As mentioned before, these models are set in the time frame of 160-190 AD. This, for example, is the period of the Marcomannic Wars, famously pictured in both the Column of Marcus Aurelius and Ridley Scott's Gladiator movie. Some figures sport segmented bracers (manicae) and greaves. They are all equipped with large rectangular shields, wearing Newstead patterned segmented armour and Niedermörmter type helmets. And that's whereupon I raised some questions to Keith, for I don't see Roman soldiers as uniformed as portrayed so often. Especially since it's rather futile to clearly assess Roman military equipment to a specific period of usage. There are quite a few other pieces, like the Niederbieber or the Imperial Italic G type helmets, which could be pre- or antedated with good reason as well.

The castings are of the highest quality, almost no cleaning required. The pila are to be clipped from a sprue, and I shortened the one pictured here a bit. (If you want to go mad, you could acuminate the end in order to get a ferrule.) The amount of detail on the armour is incredible, just look at those clasps and hinges! The shield features also good detail like spines on the back and an offset frame. Disappointingly its handle, actually a hole to plug the soldier's hand into, is too small. So the pieces won't fit easily, and you have to file down the hand a fair bit. That said, it's only a problem with certain models, others take the shields quite nicely.

Second, the same view on an A&A model. The soldier is also equipped with a heavy javelin of a different shape (bigger counterweight ball, no rivets). However, distinctive for a later period (c. 200-280 AD) are his long sword (spatha), the hinged plate to cover the neckline and the Heddernheim type helmet. The latter is often deemed to belong to cavalrymen - mainly due to the short neck peak and its decoration indicating elite status, but that classification is debatable. The fashion of long sleeves and trousers also sets this soldier apart from his slightly earlier comrade.

Again, the casting is clean, just beaten by Aventine's quality. The figure itself features good detail as well, but it's less defined than the Aventine one. Both armour and clothing look a bit 'puffy', especially compared to the sharp edges and slim appearance of the earlier model.

Here's the Aventine figure, readily painted and based. For this presentation I assigned it to one of the busiest Roman legions around, the legio XXX Ulpia Victrix (abbreviated leg XXX V V). From its formation under Emperor Trajan (98-117 AD), certainly in anticipation of the Dacian Wars, until the reign of Emperor Constantine (306-337 AD) this unit was involved in almost every major conflict.

In our given period the Tricesima fought in Lucius Verus' Parthian campaign (162-166 AD), before being designated to Marcus Aurelius' continuous wars on the Marcomanni in the West (165-180 AD). They were probably one of the units that had a devastating disease in their luggage which would haunt the Roman Empire for years. In 193 AD legio XXX immediately joined the usurper Septimius Severus, who would eventually end civil strife and become emperor (198-211 AD).

Their emblem was most likely a capricorn, but Jupiter and Neptune were also mentioned as the legion's patrons. So I opted for Neptune's trident here, a nod to the triple X as well. As a sidenote, one of the actual Niedermörmter helmets, found at Xanten, bears the inscription of a certain Lucius Sollionius Super, soldier of legio XXX.

Septimius Severus' ill-fated grandnephew Severus Alexander (emperor 222-235 AD) brought the Tricesima back to the Germanic provinces. Stout defenders of the Northern Rhine frontier, they became part of the EX(ercitus) GER(maniae) INF(erioris), the army of Lower Germany. This was some kind of "corporate identity" label, and it almost predicted that the legio XXX would join Postumus' Gallic Empire in the 260's in order to prevent being sent to far-off theatres again. In fact, the Tricesima would stay here for another 150 years until their disappearance from the records.

Once more, colour schemes and designs are purely conjectural. However, most of them are taken from artwork appearing in Osprey books or in the excellent issue II.6 of Ancient Warfare focussing on the "3rd century crisis". I fancied especially the blued metalwork on the helmet, some sort of rust prevention which, at the same time, looks quite impressive if combined with silver or gold. It was done here with GW's Asuremen Blue applied to a surface painted with dark silver.

Finally, a comparative shot of both miniatures side by side. As you can see they go together quite well - not the least since they are from the same sculptor. They are quite exactly 28 mm heigh models, measured from sole to the top of their head (or helmet for that matter). As said before, Aventine is the superior sculpt regarding proportions as well as animation. The poses appear to be more natural, and it gives a convincing sense of movement. However, I've seen one of my initial suspicions confirmed in that the Aventine models have elongated necks. That's in order to fit the helmet's huge neck peak onto plate-covered shoulders, and it probably supports my assumption that those pieces were never worn together. Otherwise, they are some of the best models I've seen in a while.

Eventually I might use both ranges to build up a party for "snack pot games", a term recently coined by Richard Clarke of Too Fat Lardies for a new trend towards large skirmish actions. The Roman Empire of the 3rd century has some advantages here: Not only can you choose from a wide variety of opponents - ranging from Parthians/Sassanids to Ancient Germans and civil war factions - without loosing too much the look of Early Imperial Romans. It is also a period of transformation that apparently enforced the use of light infantry and combined arms tactics. But that is, really, a theme for another posting.

Painted December 2011. Models by Aventine Miniatures & Armorum & Aquila Miniatures.

Guess who's coming for Christmas

As kind of a last dance to end our latest gaming weekend I brought out once again our beloved Argonauts. Instead of just another run of the four scenarios played at the Tactica show, I came up with a completely fictional encounter, loosely based on Greco-Roman mythology. As a matter of fact, this gave me an excuse as well to paint and deploy some miniatures I had owned for quite some time.
The general idea was to stage a 'contrafactual' or untold part of the myth by borrowing some elements from a surprisingly closely related story: Homer's Odyssey.

Hence, first off was a cyclops. It had been unexpectedly hard to find a model that wasn't too 'fanciful', i.e. nothing with horns, hooves, four arms etc. Just a big-sized humanoid with one single eye like featured in Ancient art. Then I hit on this DSA miniature, licensed by Ral Partha. For a mere tenner (that's GBP) you get there a massive model of about 7cm to the eye. And as you can see he stretches well beyond that.

Actually, the cyclopes were best known for their skills in architecture and smithing: They built the walls of Mycenae and were working in Hephaistos' forge. However, the most famous of them is arguably Polyphemos, portrayed as a half-barbaric herdsman in Homer's Odyssey. The model itself wears a sheepskin rug, so I emphasised this aspect by the addition of a she-goat from the now defunct Mega Miniatures range (unfortunately, no sheep model was at hand).

The cyclops named Brontes (after one of Polyphemos' brothers) featured as the end boss in my two-step scenario. Before he appeared the heroes had to face a few minor foes. One of them was a centaur called Abas.

According to Ancient mythology Abas was one of the few centaurs that escaped the wedding ceremony of Peirithoos, a party that went terribly wrong: Drunken centaurs tried to rape some female celebrants, even the bride herself. The male guests, among them heroes like Theseus, came to aid and slaughtered most centaurs. Therefore, in terms of our game, it would be quite hard to convince Abas of the Argonauts' noble intentions - the more since the player had included Theseus in his band…

In order to save the day heroes need something to rescue. Best someone. Even better: a lady in distress. This poor maid is clearly in an unfortunate position, and what self-respecting hero would literally let her down?

This model would fit many scenarios as an objective marker. In our game it represented Galatea, a nymph engaged or married to the aforementioned Polyphemos. As Ovid  tells us, she fell in love with Akis, a young human shepherd, who was then killed by the jealous cyclops. Most likely this caused some marital problems, and in our game Brontes had decided to sort this out for his bugged brother in a most definite way.

In the end the Argonauts rescued the fair lady. Driving off Brontes had been a costly affair with one man dead and most others severely wounded. However, Galatea's gratitude would be quite useful during the sea journey ahead.

Certainly, the beasts - and to a minor extend the beauty as well - are also suitable for my slowly gathering Beastmen army. This already has an Ancient mythology theme, and I'm always in search of new models fitting the bill. At least, now I don't have to bother about an alternative, yet appropriate giant model.

Painted June to December 2011. Models by Ral Partha (cyclops), Mega Miniatures (she-goat) Otherworld Miniatures (centaur) & Reaper Miniatures (lady in distress).


Post Scriptum
Since this may well be the last entry before the holidays, I want to wish all visitors, both regular and casual, a very happy Christmas and all the best for starting into the new year. The current year has seen ups and downs in regard of my hobby experience, but this place and all the feedback I get from you has been definitely a major encouragement. So thanks a lot for that!

American Militia

Just a few days left for 2011, it ultimately is time to solve another New Year's Resolution. Without further ado, here's the second unit of Patriots for the American War of Independence:

These are meant to represent a formation of militiamen. However, the summer dress shown on most figures makes them fit for service as a state regiment as well. Of course, when I selected the figures for the command stand, I had a certain image in mind: Benjamin Martin, also known as "The Patriot". I also added one lad carrying his father's rifle (taken from Conquest Miniatures' FIW colonists) to commemorate Mr Martin's unscrupulous recruitment of child soldiers.Despite this and further devastating shortcomings of the movie I wanted to honour it once for it sparked my initial interest in the 'real' AWI. At least, I passed on fielding a flamboyant Frenchman…

Once again the casting quality of the Perry models was poor. At least, I hope it's not down to the sculpting itself. Most noticeably the leader got a crumpled face, but also limbs and equipment showed washy detail. A shame since the older Foundry range shows quite well how Perry models could (and should) look.

Fortunately this unit got ready just in time for the "big game" I had planned with an old chum for 2011. At least, with a couple of 12 to 16 men units per side, it was big by our standards. After some consideration we wanted to give the British Grenadier! rules a try. In essence, they provided a good and fun game with decent period flavour. That said, there are issues in regard of the rules' structure and a confusing layout that worried us a lot. We spent quite some time leafing through the booklet to find certain, even elementary rules. Most of them seem to appear in a more 'intuitive' than logical order.That's probably fine if you are a native speaker or just more accustomed to similar rulesets than we are. However, for example an index or cross references with page numbers given would have enhanced the book greatly. One can only hope that such things were considered for the updated version that has been released this year (we used the original set).
Certainly one has to play a few more games to come to a reasonable judgement. And I am more than willing to dig them out again if opportunity arises.

Apart from poring over the rules, the mere nature of our test game kept us from collecting data for a dedicated AAR. We played kind of a rearguard action with the Americans trying to delay an advancing British force. Thus the American player had all his troops available from the start, whereas parts of the British marching column would appear on reserve rolls in subsequent turns. Since the American player would be outnumbered soon it was left to his discretion when to withdraw his entire force.
Our game opened with the British advance guard, consisting of Light Dragoons and a Jäger corps, rushing forward. Acting indecisively, the horsemen first came under artillery fire and were then repelled by musketry before they could make any impact. In contrast, the Jäger skirmished with their American counterparts for some time and drove them finally off in a fierce Hirschfänger attack. Still shocked by the rapid British advance (due to lucky dice rolling the main column arrived in the first few turns), the Americans couldn't bring their already brittle firing lines into effect. So, in the face of superior morale, command and numbers, their resistance faltered. However, it wasn't as decisive as it could be, since the British lost some time manoeuvring and getting rid of disruption points. Hence they didn't catch up with the Americans withdrawing in - overall - good order. At the time we finished, only the rearguard, i.e. the Hessian regulars, were in a position to pursuit the enemy by forced march.

To compensate for the lack of in-game photos, and because it is the parade time of the year, here is at least a shot from the general assembly staged on my sill prior to our game. Of course, the Americans got some reinforcements as my gaming partner contributed another two units and I lend some turncoats to the Patriots' cause. So next year will likely see further American units on the painting table.

On a final note: Weather is not very conducive to taking photos these days, hence I struggled a bit (again!) with quality. Apologies for that. Anyway, hopefully I'm able to come up with another posting before Christmas.

Painted December 2011. Miniatures by Perry Miniatures, Wargames Foundry and Conquest Miniatures, flag by GMB Designs.

Pollice Verso

Lo and behold, finally a sign of life. All I can say to excuse myself by now would be the usual "life's gone crazy"-nonsense. I'll leave that to the Mountaineer's Log.

In between various commitments I try to do something purely enjoyable, at times even something pretty useless, at least in gaming terms. From last year's experiences, that's absolutely mandatory to keep my enthusiasm for all this 'serious hobby-work'. Therefore, recently, I squeezed into my painting scheme some gladiators. Gladiators are one of the many subjects I always had some interest in (like in all things vaguely Roman, I admit), but never really cared to start a gaming project with. Years ago I bought a boxed set from em4 Miniatures, which included some - actually quite neatly - prepainted models. With no effort involved, I used them in one single game of Red Sand, Blue Sky (RSBS) - and was deeply bored. That said, it wasn't the rules' fault, for historical gladiatorial combat - like most sports games - doesn't really lend itself to a gripping tabletop gameplay.

Basso

In the end, RSBS went to the bookshelf, only recently to be rediscovered. In fact, I have quite a few sets in my collection, which I flicked through on a lazy afternoon lately. RSBS got me hooked with two aspects: the ability to play it solo and its campaign system.  These days there's a serious lack of regular gaming buddies round here - and of focus for my part. Playing solo and playing campaigns might solve both issues.

From the Northern Wastes

On the one hand, like all Two Hour Wargames rules, RSBS works as some sort of reaction test system, which eases the use of "NPCs" controlled by the game itself. The campaign, on the other hand, is simple enough to begin with and possibly amend it later on: You start as the owner of a gladiatorial school (ludus) somewhere in the outer rim of the Roman Empire. By fighting in the arena your successful gladiators will gain reputation for themselves - and you, as their owner, as well. Your ultimate goal is to provide fighters for the great Imperial games in Rome. By now I'm pondering the idea of managing two or three competing ludi myself, because there's very little paperwork involved.

Carassius Auratus

For a start, I acquired some additional gladiators from Crusader Miniatures. This is an excellent range of great historical accuracy (apart from their nod to the "Gladiator" movie). That's even more important, since I wanted to stick to history as much as possible. Therefore, as a first step, I wanted to complement the prepainted models I already own (not pictured here, since I didn't paint them) to get the most common historical pairings. Gladiatorial combat was quite a stylised affair with surprisingly many rules in place. Besides the gritty part, it's rather comparable to Japanese sumo than to a brainless hack'n'slay. Spiritual notions like Good vs. Evil or the representation of different virtues like Agility vs. Steadfastness weren't at least as much as important as a good show in general. Of course, spilling blood was essential as well, but we don't know how lethal a gladiator's job actually was. After all, unlike those poor souls who were sentenced to die in the arena, gladiators were trained professionals, mostly well-fed and medically cared for. Some historians estimate they were supposed to fight only in two or three serious combats a year, since games were expensive and gladiators quite an investment of time and money.

A notorious braggart

Arguably the most famous type of gladiator is the retiarius (net-man). He's lightly equipped, the only gladiator wearing no helmet. Instead his face was protected by a large shoulder guard. Net and trident were his offensive weapons, symbolically associating him with the sea and/or Neptune. The retiarius' usual opponent was the secutor (follower), equipped with helmet, medium-sized shield, an armguard (often made of scales resembling fish) and a sword. Better suited to close combat, the secutor had to catch his opponent (hence the name) without getting entangled in the retiarius' net. Actually it must have been a well-balanced pairing, since the event of a retiarius being defeated by an already 'caught' secutor was noteworthy enough to be eternised in a mosaic.

Encolpius

A variation on the secutor might have been the scissor (cleaver). There is no reliable evidence for this type of gladiator, although he's included in most miniatures ranges, presumably for his scary appearance. The scissor has been reconstructed by Marcus Junkelmann as a heavily armoured secutor with his shield replaced by "Roman scissors", a blade resembling a mincing knife, used in both offensive and defensive (e.g. cutting the net). Perhaps just fancy stuff, but in my games he could be spared for the more cultivated regions of the inner Empire or used as some sort of 'boss monster'.

A notorious womaniser

That's all for today. These chaps now have to earn some nicknames. So, next up are some games, and then perhaps some replacements for the prepainted figs (or even just pimping them).

 Painted in September to October 2011. Miniatures by Crusader Miniatures.

Centurionum Addendum II: Book Review

Almost kind of a companion to my centurion series, Osprey Publishing released a new book the other month, called Roman Centurions 753-31 BC. The Kingdom and the Age of Consuls. It's the first installment of a two-volume series, written by Raffaele D'Amato and illustrated by Giuseppe Rava, both well known among military history buffs.

The booklet (48 pages from cover to cover) could be divided into three parts: The opening one deals with a general overview over the development of both the Roman army and the centurions as institutions in the time frame given. The second part goes into some detail about the centurions' actual role, their social background and their military duties. The last chapter then is all about equipment, clothing and weapons, and that's certainly the meat of the book. Finally, a small bibliography has been added, and it struck me again that there's still no major academic paper covering the Roman centurion in particular.

Throughout, the volume is heavily illustrated - as one would expect from an Osprey -, mostly with black and white photographs and some drawings of archaeological material. Of course, most readers will flick through the book to feast their eyes upon the eight color plates in the centre. The overall printing quality is good. However, there are issues with some photos being a bit blurred, some even rendered useless since their focus is on evidence of colour! That said, all the more colour is used with the plates…

Here the cover art sets the tone, in that it shows some, let's say, interesting artistic interpretations of Roman centurions. Definitely, Graham Sumner's and Raffaele D'Amato's works have been a breeze of fresh air in the somewhat 'traditional' subjects of Ancient military dress and equipment. While I rate Sumner's and Rava's work equal (up to personal taste), Sumner seems to be superior in methods of research compared to D'Amato. Where Sumner in his "Roman Military Clothing"-series explains every source for his reconstruction in some detail, D'Amato uses a rather broad brush. The latter focusses heavily on literary and sculptural evidence, sometimes mixing together sources from very different periods, and he produces a lot of circular statements.

To give an example: Livy (quote) describes how king Tarquinius drew together the separate units of Romans and Latin allies by putting one half of each aside in new formations. These, in turn, were led by centurions. Livy calls the new units geminati manipuli, which bears the meaning of "twin" or "paired" troops and therefore indicates the blurring of differences between Romans and Latins. Indeed, as Livy tells us, by this act of integration the army made up of 'genuinely Roman' troops was "doubled". However, D'Amato misses the meaning here completely, in that he uses a rather technical translation (not his own!): Assuming that the new units were in fact each made up of two complete manipuli, and that each of these double-maniples was commanded by one centurion, D'Amato equalises them unashamedly with a centuria, consequently nominating the manipulus as its subunit, as a "company". Of course, that gets him into serious trouble when he has to explain the sudden reversal with the manipular system, where a maniple itself is obviously composed of two centuriae!
By the by, even if we accept the statement that one centurion was appointed over each maniple, it's perfectly in line with Livy's account of the Republican army. There the tribunes (derived from "tribe leaders", so kind of a Royal council perhaps) selected half of the army's centurions (priores) to command a maniple's first centuria. These themselves then nominated a 'wing-man' (posteriores) in charge of their maniple's second subunit. As with so many institutions of unclear origin, Livy could just have backdated this practice to the Kingdom era.

As a matter of fact, D'Amato's conclusions share the issues of those of old Livy himself: By connecting all available evidence, regardless of its true origin or inherent meaning, he tries to literally "make sense" in a way that ultimately shall lead to reputedly stringent and logical argument. That's not just pointless; it also casts a damning light on D'Amato's further interpretations - be it the almost ubiquitous "organic armour" or addressing each and every supposed depiction of a Roman (or Etruscan or Italic) officer as that of a centurion.

There are many more examples, but we've certainly got the point here. I fully appreciate the fact that reliable sources for the early Roman army - the more for a special subject like the centurion - are scarce at best. But then one should simply avoid a catchy subtitle or at least exercise more caution with his argument. If there is no evidence, do say so and do not fill the gaps with excessive interpretation.
As much as I embrace bold and thought-provoking theses as well as reinterpretations of well-known material, do sell it as such in an appropriate format. An Osprey booklet definitely isn't the right place, and so I consider this particular volume improper. Improper in its methods and results, and therefore improper for its intended audience, i.e. as an introductory book.

Thus, though I would like to recommend this book for the sheer joy of pretty pictures and for covering a neglected topic - I can not.