Ancient Germans - First Cavalry and Javelinmen

Hey Folks,

Further German Warriors have answered the call to arms to repel the Roman Invader: Some Cavalry and some Javelin Men.

Alas the last game played resulted in a resounding defeat by the scum and traitor Auxiliaries of Rome. But the Forests of Germany are deep and dark, and many warriors have yet to face the Romans...

Getting there...

Next up a non-elite Warband of lesser warriors, I'll have to work fast to keep up with Jamie's Wife as she paints his Romans!

Once Jamie has more of his boys based and undercoated I will do a Battle Report of the game.

Cheers
Jason

Ancient Germans - First Painted Warband

Hey Folks,

Got the first Warband finished today, ready to take some Roman heads :P

I'm reasonably happy with them overall but I'm not happy with the skin tones. I've never really had to paint such large areas of pale skin tone before and it took a lot of layers and tinkering to get it "OK". I think the problem is I started with two dark a base shade so will start by painting a light brown shade and work up. At least that's what my Wife reckons. Pity she wont paint my armies like Jamie's Wife does!

First up I tried my hand a few Tattoo's. There is some supporting histories that the Germans did tattoo, but not as extensively as the Celts. I went for basic shapes with armbands and this Raven

Ive tried to keep the colour palette a bit more subdued then the Celts would be, so have staid away from Yellows, Reds and Oranges and stuck with the colder Blues, Greens, Browns and Greys.  After watching Spartacus I had to add the odd blood splatter in a Dark Red too some of the weapons and fists, but I have really tried to not over do it as this is so easily done!

Next up some Skirmishers I think.

Cheers
Jason

Ancient Germans - WIP

Hey Folks,

Its been a while since the last update as its been "hard" to do anything really at the moment. I'm sure I'm not alone in Christchurch in that I seem to be tired all the time!

I have managed to get some games in with Jamie though, with my Romans losing to his "Caledonians", My Isengard crushing his Dunlendings and the Ancient Germans crushing (twice!) HIS New Romans

Due to Craig converting us to his basing system I had based most of my Germans on standard Impetus 12cm * 6cm bases so ended up with a big bruise on my palm from digging the models out of the Liquid Nails I had based them with.  It was worth it though as the two games Jamie and I played with the Germans vs his Romans were much better as we had more room to manoeuvre and tended to avoid the traffic jams we got with full sized bases.

I took the opportunity of the re base to make FL "large unit" sized bases of 8cm frontage by 12cm depth.  I then arraigned the models in the classic "boars head" wedge like formation on this big base.  It's a tad unwieldy and does have the limitation that when the rear "base" dies you still have the massive footprint but I think the aesthetics make up for it. I also save a bucket load of models as I end up with 10 models to a large warband now whereas previously it was 15!

So with the new basing system I have managed to stretch my two boxes of Infantry and one box of Cavalry out to a full 300pts Impetus army consisting off;

• 3 CM German Cavalry Units with "Hundreds" (skirmishing javelin men)
• 3 FL Elite Cherusci Large Warbands
• 2 FL Cherusci Large Warbands
• 2 FL Macemen Warbands (Impetus 5!)
• 4 S Javelin Men

To take it to 400 points I just add one more box with will get me another FL Elite Warband, FL Macemen,, and 2-3 S Javelin Men

So from let to right and top to bottom: Warbands, Cav mixed with Macemen and Skirmishing Javelin men

Warband!

Macemen

Cavalry with Hundreds

Skirmishers

Got these undercoated today. Let the painting Commence!

Cheers
Jason

Further Impetus on the Brain: Basic Impetus Adversary Armies Project

Hi Folks,

Further to my Impetus Frenzy I have just ordered 1 box of 10 Celt Cavalry and 2 boxes of Germans with my Birthday money.

I plan to do two "adversary" Basic Impetus lists with the goal of being able to demo the game to people. I'm thinking at least one of my mates would be super keen but I also intend to pimp my wares at the local club once they are painted. Funny that I have only played the game once and feel the need to convert others already!

I have worked out a German list using this guide: Full to Basic Impetus List Conversion

I have also dropped an Auxiliary unit out of the Romans, and demobilised the Balista though the Sagitarii get a slight boost in VBU. IMO (and from what I have read this is a commonly held opinion) the EIR BI list is just a bit "too" good relative to their enemies. Note that the pints value is still higher then the Germans, even with a lower VBU

Basic Impetus Germans

Nr  Unit                                              M  VBU  I  VD Notes
1    CM Cavalry*                               10    5      2    3 Hundreds
4    FL Batavi or Cherusci Warband    8     4      4    2 Impetuous, Large Units
2    FL Elite Warband*                       8     5      5    2  Impetuous, Large Units, Front Rank, Long Spear
3    S Javelinmen                                 8     2      0    1  Javelin

Total VBU: 37
VDT: 18 9
Full Impetus Total Points Value: 145

Notes:
Hundreds - Attached Skirmishers. As Pilum but 2 dice in attack and 2 dice in defence
Impetuous - Must follow up after winning a Melee
Long Spear - Negates the Impetus Bonus of Enemy Cavalry
Large Units -FL may form large units
Front Rank - FL Elites may form Large Units with FL but must be the Front Rank unit

Basic Impetus Early Imperial Romans

Nr   Unit                            M  VBU  I  VD  Notes
1     CM Equites Alares*    10    5     2   3
3     FP Legionarii*              5     6     2   3 Pilum
1     FL Auxiliares                8     5     1   2 Auxiliares
1     T Sagittarii                    6     4     0   2 Short Bow A
1     ART Ballistae               3     1     0  1 Art B

Total VBU: 33
VDT: 17 9
Impetus Total Points Value: 163

Notes: Pilum - See BI Rules
Auxiliares - Negates Impetus Bonus of Enemy Warbands

Rebasing the Romans for Impetus

Hey Folks,

I have spent tonight whipping up some MDF bases and re basing my Warlord Games Early Imperial Romans for Basic Impetus:



After much thought about the various types of sabot tray and the different basing sizes I went with the standard Impetus basing sizes;

• Heavy Infantry (FP), Light Infantry (FL) and Missile Troops (T) on 12cm * 6cm bases
• Cavalry (CM in my case) and Artillery (ART) on 12cm * 8cm bases

This is the Basic Impetus Vol.7 EIR List with 1* Equites Alares (CM), 3 * Legionaries (FP), 2 * Auxiliary (FL) and 1 * Auxilliary with Short Bow (A) (T).

Not pictured yet is the Carroballista on Cart as I haven't built it yet! For my General I'm just going to use my legate on 40mm base as a marker and whack him next to the unit he has joined.

I will sand and gravel the bases soon and maybe add some twigs for texture. I very much like how much better the units look with a bit of space between the models, its much more realistic then Warhammer Fantasy. As an aside by using the 12cm * 6 cm bases I can still use the army for WFB or WAB, but each base of 10 Legionaries would count as 18 models! Talk about saving on models...

Very much looking forward to my first game of Basic Impetus vs Jamie's Scot's on Tuesday night.

Roman Ballista Scratch Build

I have been sick the last few days and in between Nana naps have managed to get my last war machine for my Roman/Remans built, a Ballista. The Ballista was a torsion powered catapult that the Romans acquired from the Greeks. It came in a variety of sizes with small bolt shooting types known as scorpions (like an oversize crossbow) and large stone throwing types. From records of ancient sieges it has been found that the larger stone throwers could hurl round stones as heavy as 45kg. I have built one of the larger types, and I think its entirely appropriate to use it as a cannon in my WHFB Reman Army:

Its made from balsa, plasticard, wire and some sculpted grey stuff. I based it on the one you can buy form Warlord Games seen here: http://shop.warlordgames.co.uk/roman-ballista-274-p.asp
It probably only took me a few hours so it was a good way to save 18 pounds :P By far the longest and most annoying part was doing the "riveting" I hate riveting, I really do. What you have to do is cut small circles from a 1mm styrene rod and then individually glue them on with a pin. At least its done now!

I also finished of the detail ling on my two Onagar/ Mortars so my artillery park is all good to go.

Roman/ Reman Conversion Progress

Hey Folks,

A bit more progress on the Roman/ Reman Front. I have been lusting after some light cavalry to support my courageous Legionaries in battle, but being poor I cant afford to get the metal models at the moment. I therefore "re tasked" some spare Riders of Rohan and converted some Auxiliary Cavalry:

The horses and legs are Rohirram. I cut their feet off and stuck the plastic Auxiliary sandals on. I then uses the plastic Auxiliary upper torso as is with some chain mail sculpted on top the Rohan cloak/ skirt thing to meld them together. I was a bit impatient and should have taken longer with it so may redo the chain later. The Spear quivers are Balsa. In game terms they will count as Pistollers for WHFB.

Likewise I decided to build some war engines for the Roman/Remans, and first up is a pair of Oangers.
These are all balsa with plasticard details. The chain is from WHFB while the cup is a cut down Uruk Hai bomb from War of the Ring. They will be full of "hot coals and Greek fire" so hence the big pot as opposed to the normal leather sling. They are not quite finished yet, I need to add to a few bolts and other details. In game terms these count as Mortars :)

1st Roman Colour Test - Veteran Legionary

Hey,

This is the first colour test for my Roman/ Remans. The armour and gilding is painted grey/ yellow with only the highlighting done in metallics. The reason that is is because I felt that with the large solid mass of armour would be a bit boring.

The downside is that the waterslide transfer is quite hard to put on the shield well, as its quite big and overlaps the edges. The camera has picked up the shine badley, I am going to have tp get some Micro Sol to do the army with.

Also the light was crap.

Still, pleased with the starting result.

1st Roman Cohort + Commanders Built

Hey Folks,

I have been busy basing and building my Romans (or "Remans" as they shall be known for Warhammer Fantasy) and have managed to get the first "Cohort" done. Now while I haven't managed to build and an actual Cohort of 500 men I figure 50 men is a good scale equivalent.

The first Cohort is a unit of 40 "Reman" Legionnaires (Empire Swordsmen) deployed in "horde" formation, that is 10 wide. In WHFB this means that 3 ranks can fight in combat. Given that they are Weapon Skill 4 and Initiative 4 they should put quite a few human opponent's down before they can fight. Of course inhuman opponents could pose a problem!

They are supported by 2 "Vexallations" or Detachments. The first is a unit of 10 more Legionnaires. I have used the Veteran models to represent the hard bitten men who have been detailed this mission, and the battle worn state of there shields and armour shows that they will often as not die!

The second Vexallation is a unit of 10 Auxiliary Bowmen. Unfortunately I cant given them Light Armour in WHFB so the mail and helmets are just for show. I converted these from the Auxiliary Spearmen unit using short bows form the WHFB Goblin sprues. I didn't quite have enough quivers so I took arrows from an really old school WHFB Bretonnian one piece archer and sculpted basic quivers around them with Grey Stuff.

Last but not least my two Commanders. The Tribune on foot will be a "Captain of the Empire" and lead one of the Legionary Cohorts into battle. The Legate on Pony (as its a bit small to be called a horse!) is based on a 40mm base with a Centurion from the the Praetorian Guard and a Signifier bearing a Vexillium (small flag). He will just count as a model on Foot + 3 troopers of whatever unit he has joined. The pony is just for show.

So all good to undercoat. I am going to undercoat one model and do a colour test soon. I also have to scratch build up a couple of Onagers (or in WHFB: Mortars) as well as build the Praetorian Guard unit before Tuesday so I can use them vs Jamie's (currently proxied) 30 Years War Empire.

Hope to have some painted models up by the end of the week. :)

Romans Have Arrived, Yay!

I got a nice surprise when my Warlord Games order arrived yesterday, one week from order to delivery around the world is pretty bloody good!

Now I just had to crack them open and have a look, and I wasn't disappointed. The legionary sprues are simple, easy to build and quite well detailed. The legionnaires and Auxiliary Infantry are quite plain but the level detail on the Veterans and the Praetorian Guard is approaching the Games Workshop level. For a fraction of the price...

The First twenty Legionaries with the metal Tribune. Really, really easy to put together. A bit fiddly in some parts but nothing like some of the horror GW kits I have made. I have decided to base these on standard GW 20mm bases in the end as I will mainly be using them for either Fantasy (as Remans, with the Empire list) or WAB. For Impetus and WotR its quite easy to make square sabot trays

And as they will be fighting in a Fantasy world (vs Jamie's Thirty Years War Empire) here is a shot of a true scale 28mm Roman taking on the somewhat disproportionate Heroic scale 28mm GW Chaos Marauder. I don't like his odds...the pick is almost as big as he is!

More to come soon.

Roma Invictus!

I have finally succumbed to my Roman addiction and bought this:

Its pretty cool as it comes with;

• 60 Legionaries
• 20 Praetorian Guard
• 20 Veterans
• 24 Auxiliaries

I also picked up a Legate/Tribune on foot and mounted. All for just over a hundred bucks! Bargain

I'm really excited as I have always been super keen on Romans. I would have preferred Late Republicans but the plastic models from Wargames Factory were not as nice as the Imperials from Warlord games.

Now I'm looking at basing systems that work with multiple rules formats, but if I can do something that fists for War of the Ring, Warhammer Ancients and Impetus then it could work.

I'm currently looking at basing them on 60mm by 40mm bases. That way two next to each other will do for WOTR and Impetus and its the same footprint as 6 WAB bases. I will magnetise the base so they can just attach to whatever sized base I need. I think this may be easier then individual Sabot style bases with 25mm rounds.

I cant wait for them to turn up! Watch this space...

Cheers

Jason