Gripping Beast slingers for my Late Romans

I didn't get these finished in time for my photos of my Romans, but I don't think that matters too much. They are Gripping Beast 28mm plastics again, from the Dark Age Warriors box set. I got them finished off yesterday while waiting for a parcel to be delivered, which didn't actually turn up. Annoyed was a mild word for my mood, but at least the day wasn't completely wasted.

The GB Dark Age Warriors box is a pretty useful set. You can make them up as spearmen, swordsmen or axemen, or arm them with javelins straight out of the box, but you also have the option of turning some of them into slingers. You do this by cutting off right hands that are holding other weapons and glueing on hands with slings, of which there are a huge number (32) on the sprues. This isn't exactly difficult and there is plenty of variety possible when it comes to poses. Because they aren't supposed to get into hand-to-hand combat, they don't really need shields, but I suppose you could stick some on if you wanted to. I think that they look better without, personally.

These slingers would do for pretty much any army from Late Antiquity and the Early Mediaeval, but for me, they are going to be levies for Saga and skirmishing light infantry for my Late Roman Sword and Spear project.

I decided to paint them with a fairly muted colour palette, after all these aren't elite troops, they are peasant levies, foederati or limitanei (i.e. defensive garrison troops, literally "the men on the limes" that is, the borders). There has been much discussion over the years about the difference between the limitanei and the comitatenses or field units, who are often referred to as being "mobile", which is a bit misleading because all armies were limited to movement at the speed of the slowest components, which were the foot troops and the baggage train. It is often also suggested that the limitanei were somehow inferior troops, less well trained or poorly equipped and somehow lacking in fighting spirit, but this is also misleading, certainly during the early Dominate period. At first, the only real difference between the two types was their role. The limitanei were there to defend the limes (borders) against incursions and were locally recruited (and therefore likely to fight doggedly to protect their homes and communities) whereas the comitatenses were units held centrally and used to create field armies designed to fight larger battles and act as a reserve. It is certainly the case that among the comitatenses there were more "elite" units, the scholae and auxilia palatina for example, but limitanei units could also be attached to field armies and these were then referred to as pseudocomitatenses. The Notitia Dignitatum lists out the names of many comitatensis units, as well as a huge number and range of imperial administrative offices from those associated with the imperial court to provincial ones.

However, the limitanei were apparently paid less than comitatenses and scholae units and their status certainly declined over time until they were pretty much just local militia by the 6th century, by which time the western provinces of the empire were gone, replaced by Romano-Germanic successor "kingdoms" across western mainland Europe and by a patchwork of competing small British and Germanic ones across the former Roman Britannia. When we look at post-Roman Britain we should consider that most, if not all units would have been classed as limitanei or, in the case of Germanic troops recruited to fight against Pictish and other incursions as foederati.

Late Roman unarmoured cavalry

Having completed the heavy cavalry, I went back and finished off the Late Roman light cavalry that I'd started a while ago. These are based on the Gripping Beast "Dark Age Cavalry" plastic box set, with a few head swaps to make them look a bit more Roman. Also, the majority have been given oval shields and all of them have Roman-style designs (from LBMS) on them.

The main thing that I wanted to do here was create some degree of standardisation in how the unit looks, but also keep some variation in their dress. I've discussed the lack of an absolute uniform appearance in Late Roman troops in a previous post, so I used a similar approach to the one I used on the infantry figures, i.e.using a range of fairly muted colours that suggest natural undyed wool or linen. However, I wanted to tie the troops together so I painted "Roman style" embellishments on the tunics in a mixture of red or light blue tunic edging and other designs such as the roundels and shoulder panels seen on Late Roman tunics.

I decided to use a standard red shield design with a yellow Chi Rho for eight of the riders, plus four riders with different shield designs. I did this so that I have a degree of flexibility in how I combine my various cavalry figures for tabletop deployment.

My main idea about these guys is that they can easily represent post-Roman British cavalry or also Germanic auxiliaries in the Roman army, such as those used in both the Eastern and Western halves of the empire from the late third century onwards.

Anyway, here are some more views of the latest recruits to my growing Late Roman army.

These last four figures, who I think of as the unit's "characters", really suggest post-Roman Britons to me. 

Late Roman armoured cavalry

I bought a box of the new Gripping Beast Late Roman armoured cavalry as soon as they were available. I was already working on a box of the Dark Ages cavalry to use as Roman light cavalry, but what I really wanted was some armoured riders to boost my Saga Late Roman warband, use as Romano-British "Arthurians" and also to enable me to field a warband as Last Romans as described in the Age of Vikings book for Saga 2. These guys would work as part of a warband from the 6th or 7th century, i.e. the period between Justinian the Great and Heraclius, but don't look right as troops from one of the Tagmata or Thematic units that made up later Roman armies from the 8th-10th centuries.

Anyway, although I'd started the light cavalry, these armoured riders jumped the queue and have been finished first. Here is the complete unit of 12 cavalrymen. Note that there is one rider with a different shield design (n.b. all the shield designs are LBMS transfers). More on him later.

There are six figures armed with spears;

And five with swords;

Now, here is the chap with the different shield design;

Notice that I've put him on a larger round base. This enables me to field him as the leader of my warband, as well as including him as just another member of a unit. Here he is from his open side;

I have to admit that when I was painting these I had a real crisis of confidence over how they would turn out, partly because I really do not like painting horses at all, but also because I was finding it hard to visualise how they would look once they were inked. This was because I wasn't sure that I'd picked the right colour scheme for them. However, I think that they have turned out fine.

Regarding the actual models, I am quite impressed with them. There are plenty of head variants, allowing you to create figures that are not all identical, plus the usual different weapons options. There is also a vexilla included, which I didn't use, but which would work fine, with a bit of cutting and glueing of one of the spear arms in the box. I did find, though, that once I'd assembled and undercoated the horses that the body halves hadn't gone together perfectly and needed a bit of Milliput to fill the rather visible gaps in the alignment. I expect that this was down to my assembly rather than any actual defects in the mouldings themselves. Anyway, I've already bought another box to paint up so that I have extra armoured cavalry for my Late Roman Sword and Spear army.

More Late Romans - the warband is finished

Thanks to the dreadful weather yesterday and on Friday, I was able to spend enough time to finish off the last groups of figures that I had previously  prepped for my Saga Late Roman warband. First was the last group of fighters, 12 Tirones (Levies) armed with javelins. These figures are all from the Gripping Beast "Dark Age Warriors" box.  

As an aside, I really dislike this whole "Dark Age" nonsense. It is historically inaccurate and incredibly misleading. What we are talking about is the end of Late Antiquity and the Early Mediaeval period. 

The concept of a lesser age following the so-called Fall of the western Roman empire originated in 14th and 15th century Italy, in the period known as the Renaissance, when, in many cases newly-available classical texts were being studied by humanist scholars. The concept allegedly began with Petrarch, who wanted to portray the Mediaeval Christian period as one of superstition and ignorance, compared to the pure rational light of the classical past. 

The actual Latin term saeculum obscurum was apparently coined by Cardinal Cesare Baronio at the beginning of the 17th century to refer to a period in 10th and 11th century Church history when the Papacy was dominated by Theophylact I, Count of Tusculum and his family and successors. 

Anyway, history lesson over, here are the figures. I wanted to unify the figures, who represent levies, maybe from the local peasantry or from some Germanic tribe settled inside the imperial borders, by giving them shields with an inherently Roman appearance, hence the Chi Rho and other Christian designs on them. At the same time, I didn't want the troops to look like they were "regulars", so they are dressed in a variety of colours which are mainly rustic shades.
               

I also had four Roman character figures to paint. My idea here was twofold. First to give me some figures who could act as optional extras in Saga games, e.g. the signifer or vexillarius with the banner (vexilla) showing the Virgin and Child who would make an excellent War Banner bearer, but also who might be useful for when I expand this Roman project for Sword & Spear.

 

I will admit to being really pleased how these have turned out and I really can't wait to see them in action soon.

The Late Romans are finished ...........

............. well, the first tranche of my Gripping Beast Romans are finished. There are plenty more left to work on, but these will be the core of my Late Roman Saga warband. They will also work for a post-Roman British warband too, and I am going to continue to add to the force over time to give me a Late Roman army for Sword & Spear, as I've already mentioned. 

Anyway, when I was thinking about a colour scheme for these, I knew that the last thing I wanted was a boring bunch of figures all wearing exactly the same colours. However, I did want to have something that tied them together so that they didn't end up looking like a random bunch of models. People often seem to have funny ideas about how the Roman Army looked, generally based upon what they have seen on the cinema screen or on TV. One of the big misunderstandings is the idea that there was a standardised "Roman uniform", because there wasn't, and that particularly applies to the period of these figures. Another misconception is that "the Romans always wore red tunics", because that is also an invention of the film industry.

So, on to the pictures, with some comments about the colours I've chosen. First, here is a group of eight archers, representing a bow-armed Pedites (Warrior) group for Saga. These are all wearing tunics, but I've chosen to paint those tunics in a variety of "natural" shades, representing unbleached or undyed wool or linen. To create a degree of unity, I've painted the trim on the tunics in a range of shades based upon Vallejo Blue Violet. You'll note also that they aren't all wearing the same colour breeches.

Next, here are a dozen armoured infantry. These were given reddish tunics, based upon Vallejo Burnt Red, but in a variety of blended tones. Their tunic trims are also based around tones derived from Blue Violet and Oxford Blue. The shields all feature LBMS Late Roman transfers. These figures are going to represent the Hearthguard (Equites in Arthur and Aetius) elements in my warband.

Here are some characters; a commander, who will be my band's Warlord, accompanied by a buccinator with the distinctive Roman horn, the cornu or buccina, a signifer (standard bearer) with a draco standard and a second command figure,  who will serve as a Hero if required.

Next,  a group of eight more Pedites. These are unarmoured, with the same idea behind their tunic colours as for the archers. Note that these troops' tunics have red trims, to link to their red shields.

Now, let's look at those Hearthguards again. I decided to make three distinct groups of four, one with swords, one with couched spears and the third with their spears held overarm. I think that this was important, because the one issue with plastic figures is the basic similarity in the poses. I wanted to create as much variation as possible, which is why they aren't all wearing the same helmets. I also wanted to give these chaps a variety of shield designs, so that when they are being used as post-Roman "Arthurians" they look more like individuals rather than just recruits to a standing army.

Of course, I could also use these troops for Dux Britanniarum, which is something that I am still keeping in mind for later.

So, that is the core of the warband finished. My final piece of the jigsaw is a group of 12 Tirones, or Levies armed with javelins. More on them in a later post. I also want to make up a dozen Levies with slings for when I am using these as post-Roman British.

Then, of course, there must be some mounted troops, and I have lots of ideas about how they are going to look. I just need to narrow that down a bit.

Late Romans WIP

I don't usually post any WIP pictures, but these Romans are such a lengthy and complex project that I thought it would be worth showing how far I've got with them.
               

I'm not going to say too much about what is there, because I will leave that for the finished figures, but they have been quite interesting to paint. I've not done any 28mm plastics for ages, and I'd forgotten that they always look a bit crude until the shading, dry-brushing and inking stages are over. Now that I've inked them (using Windsor & Newton Peat Brown drawing ink) I think that they are coming together nicely.

Apart from on my two original test figures, I've undercoated the shields separately, white on the outer side and brown on the inner.

I've also made up 12 Dark Age Warriors as javelin-armed Levies, and made up the four command figures from my second box of Roman Infantry to offer up a bit of variation to my Roman units, two as armoured swordsmen, one unarmoured swordsman and a vexilla bearer. I have undercoated these in brown because I am thinking of painting these levies up in fairly rustic dress, using a pretty restrained palette. For the four Romans, it doesn't really matter what colour they are undercoated, because they will end up looking very different once finished.

The reason I've done the shields separately in white is so I can apply these rather lovely shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios before I glue them onto the troops. The range of different designs is pretty wonderful, and I intend to use a few different patterns over the course of the project, not least on the recently announced Late Roman plastic cavalry from Gripping Beast. I also understand, because I emailed GB and asked about it, that later this year there will be some unarmoured plastic Roman cavalry too, with the option of making some horse archers. That please me greatly.

Now that I've broken the back of the work, I can start thinking about the Dark Age cavalry and how I want to use the rest of the foot figures still on their sprues.

My current project - Later Imperial Romans for Saga

This project has come as something to do while I am waiting to get my Bad Squiddo Freyja's Wrath Swordmaidens once they start shipping around the end of April.

I've always wanted an excuse to paint up some Late Romans, because the Roman Empire of Late Antiquity and the early mediaeval period has long been a major interest of mine. A while ago, I bought some Gripping Beast plastic Romans and Dark Age cavalry and more recently. I bought the Aetius and Arthur Saga handbook to go with the Saga 2 rules and the Age of Vikings handbook.

So, with my new knowledge of what is required, I've started out on a new plastic mountain. In addition to the plastics I'd already bought, I bought some more Romans and Dark Age cavalry, plus a box of the Gripping Beast Dark Age warriors. I bought the latter mainly so that I could make up 12 slingers and 12 javelinmen to give me some Levy variants for both the Romans and the post-Roman British. Of course, I'll also be able to make up a load of generic spearmen too, which I'm sure will come in useful.

Now, I know that this will give me far more figures than I'll ever need for Saga, but I am looking at the bigger picture too. I reckon that I'll be able to put together a Late Roman or Romano-British (or generic Romano-Germanic) army for Sword and Spear as well. I just need to carry on buying odds and ends to give me lots of choices. I've already got my eye on the plastic Saxon Thegns and Dark Age archers too, as they will definitely bulk out any 5th-6th century Roman force.

Now, I am just hoping that Gripping Beast are planning some plastic Roman armoured cavalry too!

Anyway, I've just started work, and I'm taking it slowly. So far, I've begun to work on the two command sprues in the Roman box and I've assembled and undercoated eight archers. Once I've got those finished, there will be pictures.