AHPC XIV Post 11 Late Roman Archers and Epic Halberdiers [Gift Shop] (120 points)

 This is the first post from me this week, a unit of 12 formed archers for my Late Romans.  My wife flew off to Phoenix for the week yesterday and I've been left to deal with a blizzard with up to 40cm of snow expected.  So I am left at home with lousy weather, the Briar (national curling championship) on TV and some free time...

Shields are made up, based on pictures in the Notitia Dignitatum

This was not a planned unit, it just kind of happened.  I bought a pack of Victrix Late Roman Archers and Slingers over the summer mostly for the slingers, but also thinking that I could use the bow arms for Pict archers.  It turned out that the 2/3 of the figures are archers with composite bows that look out of place in the hands of Picts.  So there were 24 archers and I felt I needed to do something with them...

These are nice figures and there are lots of variant arms and heads.  I like the variety of loading, shooting and admiring one's last shot poses.  I included an officer and a musician who is likely over armoured but was fun to paint.   

My previous Roman archer units had been light infantry and I'd filled my quota under the TtS army lists, hence the formed bowmen unit.  I've given them the title Sagittarii Nerviorum. There are three units listed as Nerviorum under the Dux Britanniarum in the Notitia Dignitatum.  The name comes from the Nervii, a Belgic tribe from Northern Gaul as I continue to try and butter up my Belgic minion.  Other Nervii units served in Northern Gaul, Spain and even as an elite Auxiliary Palatina unit in the Eastern Empire.

The officer and musician come from the Armoured Infantry kit.

No Challenge bonus points, but I will claim the points on the Legions of the Empire Side Duel.

Also counting for the Legions of the Empire Side Duel are these Epic Empire halberdiers.  I am also going claim the the "Gift Shop" bonus points because Curt told me I could when I Voluntold me to paint these.

Curt has been running a Old World themed TtS! Campaign using these Epic scale figures and I've been running the Empire side.  More like the Sacrificial Offering giving my skill at these games.  One thing that I've finally figured out is that the bog standard grunts like these Halberdiers and pretty darn useful (and cheap to boot). 

Curt has a sizeable Empire contingent which looks lovely in a mostly blue and yellow livery.  To mix things up I went for a Crimson and White livery, which I believe means that these lad don't follow any of the Official liveries.  I will note that I've left their based un terraformed as Curt will want to base them according to his own system.

I had more fun painting these than I thought I would once I figured out a system.  By system I mean going with a wash technique and not worrying about the small details.  The flag and a couple of shields are free handed to kinda look like Imperial Eagles if you squint hard and have had enough wine.

Points wise I make it

• 12 archers in 28mm @5 pts each =60
• 36 halberdiers in 10mm @ 1 pt each = 36
• Giftshop bonus =20
• Total 116 points.

This takes me over my 500 point Challenge Target.

Finally since Martijn's been suggesting books, I have a book suggestion for him Buried by Alice Roberts.  it's a survey of archeology over the first 1000 years CE, looking at a number of specific burial sites.  She's got two others in the series dealing with the BCE and medieval eras (just out now in Canada).  The first two have some great history about the archeology in Britain and challenge a lot of ideas.

AHPCXIV Post 9 Saint Germanus of Auxerre for Famous Person (60 points)

 Continuing the catchup...

I missed a week last week, but caught up on some painting during my Uni's Winter Break.  My first post is of Saint Germanus of Auxerre which I am attempting to claim under the Famous Person Category.  There's a bit of ambiguity in the title here, with the Map indicating a Statue and the Library Catalogue just indicating a Famous Person.  However, Big Lee got his painted Patton under this category on the weekend, so I will use this and the ambiguity to claim my points. Also I happened to know that my minion is an archeologist whose speciality is Rome and I'm hoping for brownie points!

Who is Saint Germanus you ask and why is he famous?  He is a Bishop from Roman Gaul who came to Britain c 429 CE to defeat the Picts and Saxons at the Alleluia Battle, where the barbarians were so put of may the vocal chants of the Romano British that they figured that they were badly outnumbered and buggered off.  You can read his Bio here.  Germanus is one if the few named leaders from 5th century Britain whose existence can actually be verified since most of the names (Vortigern, Arthur, etc) seem pretty mythical.

I based my version on this lovely illustration from a recent Osprey offering.

The figures are from the Victrix Late Roman Armoured Cavalry kit, which is excellent.  I didn't have a cross so swapped in a Chi-Rho vexillum for Germanus to wave.  I never liked the jumping jack hold two weapons up pose, so gave him the shield carried by the infantry man in the foreground.  His body guard is a Roman Cavalry officer, who gets a proper helmet instead of his Smurf Hat Phrygian Cap.

Germanus' visit(s) to Britain came after the "withdrawal of the legions" in 407CE, but what happened afterword is very cloudy.  I plan on using him as a standard bearer or general for my Late Roman Defenders of Britain.

Points wise that 2 28mm cavalrymen @10 points =20 plus 20 for the Famous Person bonus for a total of 40 points.  I will claim the figure points under the legions Side Duel. 

AHPC XIV Post 5 Late Roman Light Cavalry and Slingers

 No library sections today, but two units for my Late Roman armies based for To The Strongest.

First up a unit of 4 light cavalry with javelins.  I've named them after the Equites Dalmatae who served under the Dux Britanniarum and were noted as being stationed at Praesidio.  It is unsure where this is exactly, but best guess is somewhere in Yarkshire, maybe between York and Doncaster.  "Dalmation" seemed to be  type of cavalry rather than a place of origin and is often interpreted as being light cavalry with javelins.  Useful for running down raiders, patrolling frontiers and harassing flanks.  Being a Limitanei unit, there's no shield pattern for this unit meaning that I get to make one up.  I've gone with a Chi Rho in white on red.   Figures are plastic Gripping Beast from their Late Roman light cavalry box set (which is very good value and very useful).

Haven't added labels and I took this pics early in the morning and didn't want to wake anyone up by running the printer at 7am on a Sunday.  Also I need to check if I already have a unit of Dalmatae.

Next we have a unit of 6 Funditores or light infantry slingers.  During a business trip to Vancouver this summer, I picked up two Victrix Late Roman plastic kits which were put away until the Challenge, and then lost when I went to assemble and prep them!  Fortunately they have since turned up.  One kit was for Late Roman archers and slingers, which I plan to use for Roman and Barbarian units.  The ratio of bow and staff sling arms to regular slinger arms was not what I'd wanted but the kits have nice bits and I'll get some useful units from it.  I like the variety of loading and shooting poses plus the various types of slings (at least for the Romans, not so much the Irish!).   And there are tons of head options.  

Again no labels.  I may assign these guys to an existing infantry unit.

Love the motion in firing figures.

Points for this week

• 4x 28mm cavalry = 40
• 6x 28mm infantry = 30
• Total = 70

I should be able to count these against the Legions and Auxiliaries side duel if I can figure out how to do that!

Late Roman AAR Reinforcements on The Table

Yes this makes too AARs in the space of a week and a half.  This week Curt's been hosting Phil H, a British gamer who's been based in the US for a few years and is now on his way back to Blighty.  Phil wanted to get as many games in as possible, so we've been taking turns to run games.  This Tuesday was my turn and I ran a To the Strongest game featuring my Late Romans vs Barbarian Conspiracy Armies.

I went for a favourite scenario from this well thumbed chestnut from the 1980s

I've played this one many times with many rules and in many eras from Hoplites to Desert Rats.

The Romans had a division isolated commanded by Phil on the ridge line which was rough ground, and I had the bulk of their forces coming from the town.  The Barbarians were led by Curt and Stacy and had a 4:3 overall advantage in points and needed to capture the ridge line.  

It can be a nail biter as the race to get to the ridge first heats up.  The activation system in TtS added to the tension as units (or divisions for that matter) might move one move or two or maybe not move at all.   Early on it looked like the Roman reinforcements had the jump on the Barbarians with a couple of good turns worth of activations.  Meanwhile Phils' defenders had some good rounds of missile fire, disordering Stacy's Irish hordes.  

Stacy's Irish advance on the ridge,

My reinforcements exit the town and hasten for the ridge.

My cavalry looks to be closing the gap fast enough to turn the tide.

However, as is often the case the tides of battle swing from one side's favour to the other and Curt and Stacy started to even out the activation luck.  Stacy did well to push on with all of his Irish to wear down the defenders and his Picts and  Curt 's Attacotti advanced swiftly to threaten the reinforements.

The Picts advance to counter the Roman cavalry.  This was the cavalry's furthest advance as they need to evade back several times.  Note the Pict archers which Stacy cleverly placed in his back rank to fire over the spearmint, and then forgot about.

Meanwhile there's a scrum on the hill.  Phil's auxiliaries had a couple of good turns helped by good saving scores.  But eventually, hits had to strike home.

Roman Cavalry vs Attaccati fanatics,  That's Phil in the background.

By this time the defenders on the hill were broken and the cavalry reinforcements were pulling back.

Around this time Phil and I had a turn of Epic activation fails (significantly right after Stacy left for the evening).  We managed to do enough to get us out of position and not enough to get ourselves re-positioned.

The foot units from the fort did make it up onto the ridge and managed to push bask a unit of Picts, but it was too little too late.   

TtS let us play a game with reasonable sized armies and a fair bit of manoeuvre and play it out to a conclusion in the space of a school night evening.  Plus it seems to give a reasonable result while being fun and fast to play.  I was worried that the random activation system might throw the balance of timing off, but in the end it worked well and added to the drama and tension.

Late Romans vs Barbarians AAR

 I knew it had been a while since I posted anything, but didn't think it had been as long as five months.  I had a busy end of term (176 students in a first year calculus class with many suspected cheating incidents) and then a busy spring with Garden prep and travel.

A week or so back I ran a To The Strongest game over at Curt's clubhouse feature my late Roman era British toys.  Player numbers were down due to stomach issues (must find a better place for the latrine) but we had Curt running a conspiracy of Scots-Irish, Picts and Attacotti vs Sylvain's Romans.  it was a straight up class with roughly equal armies and no particular scenario objectives.

After deployment.  The mass of barbarians to the left, the defenders of Britannia to the right.

Close up as the Roman cavalry commander gives a pep talk.

The Irish on Curt's right.  We had to adjust things a bit as his war bands are deep and he couldn't fit two of them in the same box. 

Sylvain ponders his moves.  The hills were gentle but the woods were rough terrain, as was the stone circle.  Note the cup with the victory medals.

Sylvain pushed his luck and advanced his cavalry.  We pull numbered chits from a bag rather than roll dice but the gods were definitely with Sylvain this game.  Note the blue marker marking the edge of the world which Sylvain is using to advantage - I'll be making the battlefield wider and deployment areas narrower to counter this cheesiness in future.

The Pict commander rides past the stone circle in his chariot along side accompanying a unit of light cavalry.  This warlord had disastrously bad luck.  Kudos to terraformer Sylvain who sculpted the neolithic monuments for me.

Another shot as the cavalry ride along the edge of the world.  Sylvain sculpted the dolmen too, which we also classified as difficult.

Things were looking good for Curt here, he swung a war band into the side of the cavalry before they could turn.  The cavalry were disordered but Curt missed several chances for the kill thanks to Sylvain's saving rolls.

The Picts advance.  Sylvain refused his right flank ala Freddie the Great.

The Atacotti charge the fortified Roman camp.  They took out the original ballista crew defenders but by that time Sylvain moved some veteran Auxiliaries in behind.  Again Curt was inches from glory but couldn't quite get the kill.  Note that the camp should have been back a grid row on Sytlvain's baseline. 

Curt's javelin men occupy the dolmen as the cavalry rushes by,

The melee with the Cavalry wing gets messier.  Having held on the lead unit turns, and the following unit advanced up to take one Irish unit after another in the flank, taking down Curt's senior general in the end.

More glory for the Attoctti who have eliminated some archers and are coming on the flank of an Auxiliary unit.

I somehow managed to miss the key moment, the end of which can be seen behind the camp in the last photo.

Curt brought the Pict Light Cavalry up with their attached general to skirmish with and threaten the Roman missle troops to the right of the camp. Unfortunately they halted just short of caring, but had time next turn unless Sylvain achieved a miracle.  He made two difficult maneuvers running to charge the lights with an infantry unit.  Curt failed to evade (needing 3+ out of 10) and then doubled down by failing the reroll afforded by his general.  Sylvain hit and Curt missed his save, killing the unit.  He then had to roll for the general needed a 3+ to survive, and if course failing that two.   

There was lots of drama and it was at times a close run thing, but in the end Curt couldn't overcome the loss of two generals on top of his other unit losses.  A victory to Sylvain who best not push his luck with the dice gods (or his GM) next game. 

AHPC Post 13 Imperial Pretender in the Gift Shop

 Last post from me today, I swear.

I going to make a stop in the Gift Shop for a gift for that fine chap IainW.  During last year's Challenge Iain I received a beautiful  Landsknecht commander from Iain and I wanted to return the favour.  Of course Iain also gifted me a Jacobite artillery crew that I specifically said I didn't want and I'll reward that action too at some point.

I have a pretender Roman Emperor with standard bearer, both 28mm foot figures from Gripping Beast.  During the Later Roman Empire, Britain spawned Imperial Pretenders at a great rate.  The general pattern was that Pretender X got the support of the local army commanders in Britain, declared himself the true Emperor, landed in Gaul with an Army and got his butt kicked and his head mounted on a stick.  

Iain liked the Wolf Sock puppet shield designs on one of my cavalry units so I gave the leader the same design.

The less successful got murdered before stepping foot on the Continent (this happened twice in 407 alone).  The moderately successful stuck around long enough to get recognized as Co-Emperors for a while before the True Emperor got around to dealing with them.   The most successful went down in history as Constantine the Great.  

The problem was that every Pretender stripped the Province of troops which were never replaced.  Eventually the Emperor got tired of the Fractious Brits and told them to look after their own defences (or alternately the Brits got tired of sending taxes to the Continent and told the Empire to get stuffed). Some things never change....

I mangled the original GB Vexillum because the hands weren't drilled out completely and I forced things.   I subbed a wire shaft and Victrix plastic Draco (which I think looks the business).

Carausius avoided the normal path by declaring himself Emperor of Britain after running afoul of Western Emperor Maximian over spoiled looted by Saxon pirates.  He was successful enough to declare himself co-emperor with Maximian and Diocletian and minted his own coins.  He held on to power for seven years until the Western Caesar Constantius Chlorus (father on Constantine) made plans for an invasion.  Carausius was killed by his Finance Minister Allectus, who was in turn done in my Constantius and Britain return to the Imperial fold.

Points wise that's 20 for the gift shop and 10 for the two figures for a total of 30 points.

I've updated my Studio map to show the three lots visited today, completing my Green Security pass and allowing me to move on to the Blue lots.  Since I bounce back to World Cinema after my spree in the Gift Shop I will need to do something Fantasy related or do another female figure to hop to another lot by Limo.

AHPC Post 12 Limo to World Cinema

 First up we I have to take a Limo from Under Construction to World Cinema using this 28mm figure from Bad Squid.  Challenge veterans might remember that I've got a lot of mileage out of a Bad Squiddo Women of WW2 kickstarter that I backed a few years back.  I think that this lady feeding chickens is the last of them.

I've painted her up in standard Women's Land Army kit with shiny wellies suitable for mucking about in the farmyard.  Not the most exciting figure but a lovely sculpt and I have a lot of time and respect for Annie over at  Bad Squiddo for putting this range together.

`

As for World Cinema, the blurb says to post something from a different part of the world from where you don't live.  I offer up the Roman trading ship Berenice of Portus Adurni (Portchester Castle).  I can guarantee that there are no sea going merchant ships in my home town of Regina, SK which is about as far from the sea as you can get.  I should note that there is one attempted ship located nearby on the Canadian prairies.  It's a sad story with a Finnish connection.

On a biographical note I should point out that I am the son of a naval officer, was born in England and basically grew up one, in or next to the sea in Halifax Nova Scotia.  Yes, moving to Regina was an odd choice, yes there's a story and yes it's a bit messy.

The ship is 28mm pdf kit from Sarissa Precision. It went together well (even if I messed up a bit at the stern) and painted up nicely.  I have asked my lovely and talented wife to stitch up a sail for her when she has space on her sewing table.  I've named her the Berenice after a trading ship that plays a key role in the Rosemary Sutcliffe novel The Silver Branch.

I did up three crewmen using mostly Victrix plastic bits plus a few Gripping Beast arms. I painted them up in a simple common uniform and left the bases a flat tan to blend into the deck.  During painting I noted that two of them have shoulder belts for swords, but carry no swords.  I guess I call these a late antiquity version of a Sam Brown belt.

A final picture to show that Berenice is not the only vessel to shelter under the walls of  Portus Adurni .  This is a picture of Portchester Castle taken from one of the last sailing trips that I took with my dad before he sold his boat as we sail up to Port Solent Marine.  The keep and church ruins are Norman and there are medieval upgrades other places.  However, the basic walls are from the Roman Saxon Shore fort.

The photo is bit skewiff as the boat rolled as I snapped it.

Points wise I'd count the ship as a 28mm vehicle and there's 3 crew.

Totals

• one vehicle @20
• four foot figures @5=20
• two locations @20 (Limo and World) =40
• Total 80 points.

I will count 35 for the ship and crew towards the SPQR and Carausius Emperor of Britain Side duels.