Late Roman vs Sassanid Persion

Thursday evening, Si and I played a game of To the Strongest, pitting my Late Romans against his Sassanid Persians.  My Late Romans have a western flavour,  so probably represent one of the western pretenders operating in the east.  Roman right flank command, nearest the camera, consisted of a unit of slingers, Hun mounted bowmen, Sarmatian cataphracts and Frankish warbands, supported by cataphracts and clibinarii under the overall commander.  The centre comprised five units of legionaries supported by two units of lanciarii and three units of bowmen.  The left flank comprised two units of light horse archers and two veteran javelin armed cavalry.  With the three camps, my troops came to 202 points.  The Sassanids had flanks dominated by heavy cavalry and cataphracts, while the centre comprised units of long bowmen and deep spear armed infantry, with an escorted elephant unit.

My Frankish warbands, Victrix early Saxons, with singers to their front.

The far right flank with Hun light horse archers and Sarmatian cataphracts, backed up with the CinC's cataphracts and clibinarii.

The left flank cavalry and light horse with the edge of the legionary units in the centre.

Sadly, the action was too intense to take more photos once we got going.  It was a tight game, but lots of fun.  On the right flank, the Sarmatians and one of the Frank warbands broke, but the bosses cataphracts and clibinarii did for all bar one unit of Sassanid cataphracts, so the Romans were able to change facing and were about to try and roll up the Sassanid centre, while the Huns were about to ransack the nearby Sassanid camp.  The surviving Frankish warband and one of the legionary units were in a tussle with the Sassanid's elephant unit.  In the centre, the Romans lost some archers and lanciarii, but had disrupted lots of the Sassanid spears.  The left flank was still up for grabs, with the Romans losing a light horse unit and the Sassanids a unit of cavalry, but we felt this flank could go either way.  The veteran Roman cavalry were batting way above their weight, thanks to the superior save factor.

Sadly, too many troops to play out on a club night, but it gave a good game and we felt the table looked really good.

So, still lots of Late Romans to work on, probably going to use them as sub-Roman Brits, plus lots of Vikings who will finish up with the early Saxons and Dark Age warriors in a generic army for the period and be pressed into service as early Saxons through to Viking or later Saxon/Anglo-Dane.  Then I'm also building up a Norman/early Crusaders force, ready to appear on the painting table later in the year.

As ever, thanks for looking.

Another Late Roman outing

So, Thursday evening saw another outing for my Late Romans.  This time they were venturing way beyond their comfort zone as a Western army somewhere in the deserts of the Middle East, taking on the Sassanids.

My army was pretty much unchanged from last time except units were equipped with leaders and standards.  This meant dropping a bolt thrower, a unit of Lanciarii and combining 2 shock cavalry units of 15 figures into a single unit of 12, to bring points down to 2500.

Si's Sassanids included four units of clibinarii with saves of 2+, making them hard to kill.  There were also two units of spears/archer combined infantry, a unit of horse archers and another of Iranian mounted javelin men.  The powerful clibinarii ate up points, but were the M1/Challengers of the day.

Opening dispositions with no terrain from the random selection.

Mounted javelins and archers.

Those naughty clibinarii.

My heroic shock cavalry and light cavalry behind.

Legionnaires and Cataphracts.

The Roman right with more legions, bolt throwers and a rather rash unit of lanciarii.

No more lanciarii and one of the legions taking losses from the bow armed light cavalry.

Cataphracts chased off the skirmishers and crashed into the Persian centre infantry.

Charge and counter charge resulted in lots of drawn melee, which continued through turns 2 to 5.  Sadly, some disastrous dice rolls in turn 6 on the Roman left saw the cavalry and a legion fleeing, leaving no choice for the rest of the army but to withdraw.  It was satisfying to despatch the javelin horse on the right flank.  Much like the Roman's historically, one learned the power of those heavily armoured Persian horse.  I may have to give my Cataphracts bucklers, so they too save on 2+.  I also need some allied Hun horse archers.

A fun game, more progress on the WAB learning curve.  Now to finish the Christmas assembly line of Gripping Beast Cataphracts, Victrix armored legionnaires, archers and slingers and some Foundry sub-Romans to double up as cheap pedyts.

Thanks for looking.

28mm WAB action Late Romans vs a barbarian conspiracy.

Thursday night club  action.  My 28mm Late Romans taking on Si G's central European Barbarian hordes using WAB historical ancients rules.

Four legionary units and Cataphracts in the centre, 4 Scorpions, a unit each of Lanciarii and shock cavalry on the left, units of shock cavalry, horse archers and Lanciarii on the right.

I didnt pay for leaders for the cavalry or standards for any of the units, which meant I was one down on each combat, wont make that mistake again.  Now to source some Hun allies for their Parthian shot ability.

Fun to play and the table looked great.  The Barbarians definitely had the upper hand after 5 turns.

Thanks for looking.
 

Late Romans for WAB now in movement trays

 I've a couple of games of WAB booked for next month, so I dusted off last winter's project, my Late Romans and have spent the last couple of weeks finishing off some part complete units.  I had the front rank of these Wargames Atlantic Late Romans in Spangenhelms finished this time last year, but ran out of steam with the rest of the unit.  So, I finished the second rank and added a third rank of Gripping Beast archers.  This will be my elite infantry unit.  The officer is "Arthur", purchased from Col Bills.  The shield design is generic, derived from on of the illustrations in Fall of the West.

The Herculiani Seniores, the only historical unit I know as I used decals from The Baggage Train for their shields.  All figures are Gripping Beast.

A mix of Gripping Beast and Wargames Atlantic figures provide another unit of pedites in a darker green uniform.  Shield design is again a hand drawn generic version based on Fall of the West.

Gripping Beast figures in vermillion with plain pale blue shields, based on an illustration from the Notitia Dignitatum. 

And finally, for now, a pair of newly painted Scorpions, ready to keep elephants at bay, or at least enrage them, or to provoke warbands into attacking.  These are from Wargames Foundry and kindly sent to me by Richard Phillips (many thanks Mr P).

Movement trays are from Warbases.  I tried to purchase these at a show, but was disappointed to find out they don't carry them to shows, so had to order by mail.  Still, postage was reasonable and turn around very quick.

I have another set of Scorpions and a handful of Gripping Beast unarmoured pedites, which I'm painting as marines, to be used as skirmishers.  I also have a box of Cataphracts, although I suspect they may not be ready in time for December, so my Goth heavy cavalry will probably have to serve in their place.  Finally, an impulse buy from the last show was a bag of sub-Roman pedites from Col Bills, 12 spearmen, musician, standard bearer and commander.  I might do these in a less uniform set of more homespun colours, with a view to using them as sub-Roman or as Limitanii or Romanized foederatii (apparently Romanitas was much prized even among "barbarian" tribes picking over the spoils of the collapsing western empire).

As ever, thanks for looking.

More 28mm Late Roman shock cavalry

 More Late Roman shock cavalry from my club purchase, this time mainly unarmored cavalry.  I've done these on Royal Blue uniforms with a green and white shield pattern.

Some close ups of the figures.

The labarum carrier, again bearing the chirho symbol.

Lots on the painting table although a new puppy is taking up a lot of time.

Thanks for looking.

Saga Age of Invasions

 Played a game of Saga Age of Invasions at the club last month.  6pts of my Late Romans vs 6pts of Dennis' Huns.

The plucky Romans deployed in line with infantry in the centre and cavalry to the flanks, in this case Gothic elite cavalry (3 x hearthguard units), pedyts (2 x warrior units) and sagitarii (1 x warrior unit).  The aim was to try to restrict the Huns movement by hemming them in with the Roman line.

The Gothic elite cavalry on the left flank all geared up to charge.

The Roman infantry and Goth cavalry on the right flank ready to try to push the Huns into the corner.

Alas, it was not to be.  With Dennis getting first activation, his light cavalry swarms dealt a death blow to one of the Gothic cavalry units on the left flank, from which the whole force never recovered.  The Huns swept around the Roman left, despatching unit after unit, with little harm to themselves, although one unit of horse archers was reduced to three figures.

All in all, a disaster for Roman arms against the much more mobile Huns.  I foresee a need for the Romans to secure light cavalry of their own, plus consider using levy light cavalry to provide increased force size to help with the hemming in.

Thanks for looking.

Late Roman heavy cavalry

 Several years ago, I bought a bag of Late Roman cavalry from a friend at the club.  Finally, the armored versions made it on to the painting table.  Troopers and horses appear to be Gripping Beast metals (thanks for feedback in the comments), but I cant find a source for the chap in cloak that I'm using as the signifer.  Spears are from various Gripping Beast plastics, as too is the labarum.

The complete unit.

The signifer with hand painted labarum showing the chiro symbol.  It has never occurred to me before that churches carry religious icons based on third century Roman military rallying signs.

Some of the troopers - a tough looking bunch, hopefully.

So, plans are afoot for more cavalry (the unarmored figures I bought alongside these), infantry (at least two more Gripping Beast boxes), limitani/foederati using GB dark age warriors and a box of the GB cataphracts.  I also have a crazy idea to use the Victrix war elephants with a suitable Late Roman crew.

Thanks for looking.

28mm Late Romans

I meant to post these pictures at the end of September, but real life got in the way.

Saga and Warhammer Ancient Battles (WAB) seem to have emerged as a focus of interest at the club, with several members building up Dark Ages forces.  I already had the basics of a 4pt Saga Late Roman force, so have beefed it up with some additional forces to a 6+ Saga force, which will provide the core of a WAB force in due course.

Some elite Gothic cavalry (heavy shock cavalry or cataphracts depending on how I'm feeling).  Gripping Beast plastics provide 12 figures, so 3x4 Hearthguard or 1x8 Warrior and 1x4 Hearthguard.

All 12 figures.

A bit more detail.

A pack of 12 light cavalry, armed with assorted bows and javelins.  I could use these as 1x12 Levy or an 8x12 Warrior unit with some spares.

More detail on a couple of the figures.

A unit of armored pedites, 1x8 Warriors or 2x4 Hearthguard.

A unit of unarmored pedites, 1x8 Warriors.

A unit of sagittarii, 1x8 Warriors.

Another unit of sagittarii, 1x8 Warriors.

A unit or unarmored pedites, 1x8 Warriors, in vermillion tunics.

A foot command group of general (Warlord) with a signifer/draconarius and cornicen. 

The signifer/draconarius and cornicen.

The general.

Next steps are to finish painting up two units of heavy shock cavalry and I have a second box of the Gripping Beast plastics infantry to double the size of the infantry units - although I will need another box as each unit is likely to need at least 24 figures for WAB, possibly more.  I also plan to make up some Limitani using the Dark Age Warriors plastics set and will add a box of Cataphractoi at an upcoming show.  Might even try to convert the Victrix African war elephants for use by a Late Roman army.  Oh, and some bolt throwers will come in handy.

Thanks for looking.