Basing 6mm Romans Part 2

Thanks to Dr Mike's (aka Cranium27) suggestion I've added a third rank which really does make the unit look a whole lot better:









I was planning to add a black 10mm thick strip at the back for unit details somewhat like this.

I'll see if I can complete this base this week then I can see if it's a worthwhile project.

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Basing 6mm Romans

I've been playing around a bit with the basing for my 6mm Romans and came up with an idea that sort of shows a unit in motion (based on the fact that no straight line of men can stay straight as it moves cross country) and thought I'd blog some pictures of the mock up I've done to see what other people thought of the idea?

I'm afraid that you'll have to use your imagination somewhat as I haven't done anything to the base yet and I didn't have a spare Optio (the chap at the back with the yellow shield) available with the right shield colour:









My thinking is that Roman units wouldn't be solid ranks of men (except perhaps if attacked by cavalry) as the Roman historian Polybius (writing in the 2nd Century BC) tells us that a legionary occupies about 6' of space. Being primarily a swordsman a legionary would need this space to move around in to fight effectively. That's some of my reasoning anyway.

Each of these bases would represent a 480 man cohort, and there would be 10 per Legion (with the first cohort being 800 strong).

All figures are Baccus and are from pack AIR1. The mdf base is from Minibits.

Any comments positive or negative would be welcome.

Thanks

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Book Review: Rome and the Arabs Before the Rise of Islam

This is a kindle book I picked up on Amazon recently. Admittedly its not a very long book (138 pages) but it does give you a good overview of whats known about Arab relations with Rome from the 3rd Century through to the Islamic Conquest of the Roman East. It was interesting to read about how the administrative structures the Arabs developed because of this relationship may have aided the Islamic take over of these previously Roman or Roman influenced areas.
It was also interesting to read of the development of written Arabic and how that might of occurred (though, according to the book, there is no definitive proof for any theory) - poetry or the recording needed for administrating an area were suggested as quite plausible reasons for the development of a written form of Arabic.
For those interested in this period this is a book worth reading.
Full Title: Rome and the Arabs Before the Rise of Islam: A Brief Introduction
Author: Greg Fisher
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (3 Feb 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1482311453
ISBN-13: 978-1482311457
Price: £3.34(Kindle ebook) or £7.38 ("real" book)
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1:1 Scale 6mm Romans

These haven't been finished that recently but I thought that I ought to put the pictures up on my blog as they do illustrate the really good mass effect you get from 6mm.

First up we have half of a Roman Cohort (3 Centuries - note that they are modelled understrength as most of the data we do have for Roman unit strength returns suggest that most units were understrength though cavalry Ala do seem to be an exception to that):




Next up we have a cavalry squadron (latin Turma), this unit is at full strength (32 figures). I deliberately based these to try and give them a sense of movement:


And finally here's a close up of the cavalry:


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A New Year a New Army

Happy New Year to everyone.

Just before Christmas I finally gave in to temptation and brought a selection of Aventine Miniatures very nicely sculpted figures from their Pyrrhic range. I have to say that the service I got from Aventine was very good and quick plus they were able to tailor my order to suit my requirements.

These 16 archers (codes SK03-06) are my first batch, they are Cretans in mercenary service (which appears to have been a common occupation for Cretans in the Classical, Hellenistic and Roman periods) which is evidenced by the bull motif shown on the standard.
















I really like these figures and have started the next batch of Thureophoroi. The next batch will take somewhat longer than the archers as there are more parts to them and assembling them ready for undercoating is more time consuming.

All bases are from Minibits who very kindly produced a series of movement trays for me (more on them another day). Minibits service was also very good and very quick.

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Roman Cohort

I rebased the first of my Romans this evening, they seem to look better now I've increased the number of figures from 16 to 24 per base. Overall I'm pleased with the way they've turned out:

Should I choose to model a full legion it will have 9 of these bases plus a "double sized" 1st cohort which will be modelled slightly understrength at 36 figures as that fits nicely on to the same width base as the other cohorts. Now it's a case of deciding whether to add a "barbarian" opponent or build forces for the Year of Four Emperors (69AD) which has been in the back of my mind for years as a potential project? All figures are Baccus.

6mm Ancient Thoughts

For a while now I have been thinking of a way to get back to using my 6mm Ancient Armies using Dr Phil Hendry's Avgvstvs to Avrelian. Finally this morning I cracked how I was going to base the figures up as I have struggled to find a satisfactory method of doing it that either looks right with a small number of figures or doesn't commit me to painting 1000's of Ancient Britons/Parthians/Ancient Germans because my Roman Cohorts are too big. Initially I based the Romans in Cohorts 64 figures strong but the amount of "barbarians" I'd have to do to make a decent opponent for the Romans would of been well beyond my abilities in painting irregularly dressed figures.

Having progressed with the Zulu Project I had realised that by separating the figures from the strips they are cast in made painting them far far easier. Its only necessary to do this with strips based in ranks, those in file have enough separation between them. However I would separate the strips in file if the figures will be painted with different clothing colours for each one. I would then paint batches of similarly clothed figures to speed things up then mix them in with the other figures when basing them up. Why I didn't think of doing this years ago I don't know especially as I use this method for larger scale figures.

I have three ideas for ancients, which are:

A project based around Pyrrhus' invasion of Italy in 280BC

A project continuing with with Early Imperial Romans (EIR) of which have in substantial numbers I would then need to add an appropriate opponent.

A project based around the Wars of the Roses - I might pick a particular battle or series of battles in the war and recreate the forces fielded there not necessarily with the intention of refighting a particular battle but just to give me some rough troop type ratios to work from. However details are rather sketchy around some of the battles so it may be a bit of a challenge to work out who was there and in what numbers.

The figure to man ratio would be about 1:20 for the 2nd two ideas and 1:30 for the armies in the 1st idea. Basing wise each period may well end up different as I do not like doing battles between unhistorical opponents (e.g. EIR vs Medieval Germans or New Kingdom Egyptian vs Vikings). Any figures for the ancient period would be taken from Baccus' ranges.

I think this weekend I will try out some basing ideas with my EIR figures and take things from there. I also have loads of Biblicals in 6mm (Baccus New Kingdom Egyptians and Hittites) though I haven't quite worked out exactly how to put the 6 part chariots together.

AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN

Just a quick post to give my friend Dr Phil Hendry's new AVGVSTVS to AVRELIAN ancients rules a plug:

 Along with a few others we have been helping Phil develop these new rules for the Roman Principate (approx. 27BC-287BC). Phil has put a large amount of effort in to them which comes through very strongly in terms of period flavour, simple to use mechanics and comprehensive guides to the armies of Roman and her enemies. Phil has written a guide to what the rules are about and what you get for your money, this is available here http://www.philhendry.me.uk/avgvstvs-to-avrelian/the-avgvstvs-to-avrelian/welcome.html and the actual rules are available here http://toofatlardies.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=22. Please give them a try.