Late Imperial Roman Army V2.0

Here's my Latest Late Imperial Roman Army. 

I sold off the Late Eastern Roman army I had posted previously, so this is its replacement and is definitely for keeps.

I've painted up all the elements for both Eastern and Western variants of the DBA II/78 army. I've also painted up a fast blade element in case I want to use the army as Middle Imperial Roman.

The units' shields come from the Notitia Dignitatum. The unit names are on the picture descriptions.

Most of the figures are from Essex Miniatures. The army is made up of a combination of completely new figures and fully refurbished old ones.

(Click on the pictures to enlarge them)

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Here we have all the figures from both the Eastern & Western armies arrayed:

The Eastern army:

The Western variant:

The CinC - Cv 

(Scola Gentilium Seniorum - Guards)

The Cavalry - Cv. 

This element is compulsory for the Western army but optional for the Eastern.

(Equites Batavia Iuniores)

The Clibanarii - 4Kn

Both element are compulsory for the Eastern army 

The Westerners only have an option for one.

The element on the right originally had horses with frontal armour only. I replaced them with fully armoured horses as there isn't any evidence for half armoured horses in this period.

 (L-R Equites Cataphractarii, Equites Persae Clibanarii)

The Cataphracarii - 3Kn

Only for the Western army.

I've gone for the regular Roman cataphracarii but they could have been more exotic barbarians

(Equites Armigeri - Velexalito Comitatensis)

The Legionaries - 4Bd

All three elements are compulsory for the Easterners 

while the westerners must have two with an option on the third.

(L-R Legiones Palatina: Undecimani, Daci & Scythae)

The Auxilia - 4Ax

The Eastern army has two compulsory elements of Auxilia

(Auxilia Palatina Tubantes)

While the Westerners must have three elements with a further two being optional)

(L-R Auxilia Palatina Falchovarii & Auxilia Palatina Regii)

 

The Archers - 4Bw

This lone archer element is only available to the Eastern army

(Auxiliarii Sagittarii)

The other Archers - Ps

These are the alternate bowmen for these armies

Two for the West and one for the East

(Auxiliarii Sagittarii)

The Warband - 4Wb

These Goths / Franks are only available as an option for the Western army.

The Light Horse - LH

The Western army must have both of these javelin armed riders, the Easterners just one

(L-R Equites Scutari Seniores, 

Equites Sexto Dalmatae Passerentiaci)

The Horse Archers - LH

One element of these is compulsory 

for the Eastern army and optional for the Western

(Comites Seniores)

The Bolt Shooter - Art

This element is optional for both armies

The Lanciarii - 3Bd

I painted up these guys in case I want to run the army as Middle Imperial Romans (II/64ab)

It's an optional element for both Eastern & Western armies

(Lanciarii Lauriacensis)

The Baggage Camps

The first baggage camp was inspired by these two pictures: 

A section of wall from Pompeii 

and a reconstructed Roman garden.

I look at it as being my 'Home' camp - appropriate when playing the defender.

This more bucolic scene of supplies being foraged while under armed escort is my 'Away' camp 

So, there we have my Imperial Roman army. I'm pretty happy with how they came up. Now it's on to the Visigoths.

Featherstone Factor: 55 - Holy crap they’re good! 

Or at least they used to be…

Donald says that the Roman armies of Marius, Caesar and Augustus were the bee's knees. However (there had to be one) by the end of the 4th century CE the barbarisation and deterioration of the legionary infantry - including the replacement of the pilum for a pike (!) and the forced, but logical, increase in cavalry numbers due to hordes of restless horsemen, meant it was down the gurgler for the legions.

What’s this Featherstone Factor all about?

Find out here.

Bloodbowl Big Buck$ Human Team

Big Buck$ Upgrade

Here’s my BrisVegas Big Buck$ Human Bloodbowl Team. I originally painted them in the mid 90s and maybe played a game or two with them. Since then they’ve sat unloved in their box. Now it’s time to bring them into the 21st century before saying goodbye to them.

The team is based around the Brisbane Broncos Rugby League team that won back to back Australian Rugby League Premierships in 1992-93. 

The Broncos are widely recognised as the greatest team in Rugby League in the world*, even opposing supporters love them**. Even now, they rarely lose a match***.

The team name derives from a mix of BrisVegas, a slightly disparaging nickname for Brisbane that Brisbanites have embraced, and Big Buck$, which comes from Buck the Bronco (the Broncos real-life horse mascot) combined with a $ sign because the Broncos are a well funded team.

* May not strictly be true.

** Or this

***You get the idea

The original 1992 Broncos jersey:

How they looked before the upgrade:

The team comprises the starting players from the team that won both 1992 & 1993 Grand Finals.

Gene Miles was the broncos' Captain from 1990-91. He was a big guy, standing some 193 cm / 6’4” and weighing 102 kg / 16 st. He started out as a destructive centre before consolidated his status as one of the best second row forwards in the game during the 1990-91 seasons. 

He was named as 'Dally M' Captain of the Year in 1990. He had left the Broncos before the 1992 season but I wanted a special player as my Bloodbowl Big Guy so Geeno got the call up.

Kevin Walters (below) is the current Broncos head coach.

Coach Wayne Bennett - The greatest NRL coach of all time? He’s played for Queensland and Australia. He’s coached Queensland, Australia, England and Great Britain. In club football, he’s won a record seven premierships from 10 grand final appearances. 

He took the Raiders to their first grand final in 1987 as a rookie coach. Benny then joined the Broncos and went six-for-six in grand finals wins between 1992 and 2006. He moved to the Dragons and coached them to the Premiership in 2010. 

Bennett returned to the Broncos in 2015 and they made it to the grand final in his first season back. He then switched to the Rabbitohs and took them to a Grand Final in 2021. Not a bad effort! 

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DBA II/39ab Ancient Spanish Army

Here’s my DBA Ancient Spanish army of the period 240BC - 20BC. It can represent either an Iberian army with the scutarii acting as 3Ax, or a Celtiberian one with the scutarii as 3Bd.  

I would have painted this army in the 90s or early 2000s, so it really does count as ancient! It also means the photos, which were taken back then, aren’t exactly hi-res.

The basic army list for either option is:

1 x Cavalry general

1 x Light horse element

6 x Scutarii elements 

- (3Ax for Iberians)

- (3Bd for Celtiberians)

4 x Caetrati light infantry

The Iberians with fast auxilia as their main troop type, aren’t well suited to standing toe to toe in the open. Neither are their support troops, in the form of cavalry, light horse (both in VERY limited numbers) and the four elements of light infantry (Ps). 

In fact the whole army must be used carefully to be successful. An Iberian general can’t expect to overwhelm its opponents through brute force. It is best suited to dominating from rough and difficult terrain.

The Celtiberian option with its fast blade scutarii, can be used more aggressively. A Celtiberian general needs to make best use the army’s combination of fast blade punch and support troop manoeuvrability to dictate where the battle takes place. Celtiberians still need a fair bit of terrain to play around - especially so the support troops can be effective.

Thankfully both options are Aggression 0, so are likely to defend and choose terrain.

The Army:

Spanish Cavalry (as CinC) - Cv x 1 element. Mini Figs:

Light Horse - LH x 1 element. Museum Miniatures:

Spanish Scutarii - 3Ax / 3Bd x 6 elements (+ 2 spare elements) - Essex Miniatures:

Spanish Caetrati - Ps x 4 elements. Irregular Miniatures with 

(I think) a stray guy from Essex Miniatures:

DBA I/61ab Early Carthaginian

Here we have my Early Carthaginian army of the period 550 - 275 BCE, that is, before the Hannibal era.  

At this time the Carthaginians used heavy, charging chariots. Their infantry was spearheaded by citizens forming the famous Sacred Band as well as less willing conscript spearmen.

As ever, the Carthaginian army was a polyglot of troop types with a range of mercenary, allied and subject troops including Numidian, Libyan, Spanish and Gallic warriors. 

All the shield work is hand painted. 

Most of the figures are Irregular Miniatures with a few Museum, Mini Figs and Essex thrown into the mix.

The version of the army emphasises the Sacred band

While this one shows off the Libyan spearmen

Above we have couple of different configurations of the army - not quite complying to the DBA 12 element army rule.

Chariots by Irregular Miniatures

At this time the Carthaginians used heavy, charging chariots.

CinC in the middle chariot. He is replaced by one of the other chariots if I don't use the chariot CinC option. 

Irregular Miniatures figures

Poeni cavalry - CinC on the left 

Irregular Miniatures Poeni cavalry. Museum Miniatures Numidians

More Poeni cavalry with some Numidian Light horse to the right. 

Irregular Miniatures Sacred Band

Sacred Band Spearmen with their famous white shields. 

I couldn’t resist adding a little black accent on the shield borders. 

Minifigs spearmen with Irregular command.

Liby-Phoenician spearmen.

Minifigs models

Libyan spearmen 

Museum Miniatures

Gallic Warband

A mix of Essex and Museum figures

Spanish Scutarii - 3 Ax. They should really be 4 to a base to comply with DBA 3.0 - Oh well!

Minifigs figurines

Libyan psiloi (light infantry) Javelinmen. 

Irregular Miniatures

Spanish Caetrati - Psiloi.

So, there we have my early Carthaginians. Hope you like them.