The Early Germans

The majority of my Ancient collection are Old Glory 15s , but the Early German are an exception. The Blue Moon Germans are slender, so that accentuates the height somewhat, and the shields are varied enough to give the warband a barbaric look. As the shields are on the large side I opted for the deeper base size suggested by 3.0 and with the extra 5mm depth shields are no longer touching and the extra space allows more terrain to be seen.

These are modeled after the Marcomanni sub-list for the Early Germans. There are two such lists with an early one offering two elements of solid blade which give an extra punch in combat. 

To differentiate the three commands the ground colour of the shields are different; black through out, but mixed with dark blue, brown or dark green. Blue Moon packaging have given me extra figures to the number needed for a big battle army, so these have been fleshed out to create another two commands which are now the Quadi (white shields) to serve as allies or enemy of the Marcomanni.

During my research I found a number of interesting discussions of the Early Germans .

From the Total War Center with a number of posts had good references.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?630716-Germanic-Thread-(Historical-Discussion-and-Info)&highlight=Marcomanni

German shields:
http://forums.taleworlds.com/index.p...c,69324.0.html
http://www.redrampant.com/2009/06/ea...-warriors.html
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/25-alli...ic-shield.html

From Google Books:
Ancient Germanic Warriors: Warrior Styles from Trajan's Column By Michael P. Speidel
http://books.google.nl/books?id=47p5...hields&f=false

Marcomanni in battle array.

The Quad.

The Roman Army (West) - the Commanders and Battle Array

The Commanders.

The three officer figures are from Miniature War of Italy. These were purchased during the Crisis convention in Antwerp and I found them to have a similar style to Old Glory.

Each of the Labarum have a legion name and symbol which is useful when playing the basic 12 element a side game. In these instances, the Praetorians and II Parthica usually remain home in their box.

The Battle Array.

Central Command

Right Wing

Left Wing

The Roman Army (West) - order of battle

Order of Battle

These are western units that most likely would have fought under Septimius Severus to campaign in the East. After taking the supreme command, the Praetorian Guard is reconstituted and the II Parthica is stationed outside Rome.

The list below form a big battle collection of three Roman commands with options. The Legions listed represent vexillations and not their full compliment.


Legiones
(12,000 legionnaires, 72 ballistae)

Praetorian Guard (2 cohorts)........................... ... 2 x 4Bd
II Parthica.......................................... .......... ...... 2 x 4Bd
I Adiutrix.......................................... ........... ...... 2 x 4Bd, 1 x Art
X Gemina .................................................. ... .... 2 x 4Bd, 1 x Art
XIV Gemina Martia Victrix..............................   2 x 4Bd,
II Adiutrix.......................................... .......... .....  2 x 4Bd, 1 x Art

Auxilia
(3,000 cavalry, 1,075 mounted infantry, 7,000 infantry, total: 16,500)

Alae
I Ulpia Contariorum M.C.R.... Trajanic..............2 x 3Kn
I Gallorum et Pannoniorum... .Aurelian..............1 x 3Kn
I Thracum Victrix C.R............Thrace................ 1 x 3Cv
I Hispanorum Aravacorum.... Spain.................. 1 x 3Cv
I C.R. Veterana.......................Italy................. . .1 x 3Cv
(I Flavia Gaetulorum..............Africa................. 1 x 3Cv) optional

Cohortes
I Hemesenorum M.E.C.R.S...Palestine............. 1 x 4Bw
I Augusta Ituraeorum S....... .Palestine............. 1 x 4Bw
I Thracum S....................... ..Thrace................. 1 x 4Bw

IV Voluntariorum C.R...........Italy................... 1 x 4Ax
XVIII Voluntariorum C.R......Italy................... 1 x 4Ax

I Thracum C.R.E...................Thrace................ 1 x 4Ax
II Augusta Thracum E.......... Thrace................ 1 x 4Ax

I Ulpia Pannoniorum M.E......Pannonia.............1 x 4Ax
VII Breacorum C.R.E........... Pannonia............. 1 x 4Ax

II Asturum et Callaecorum... Spain.................. 1 x 4Ax
I Lusitanorum.................... ...Spain.................. 1 x 4Ax

Mauroroum M.E................. .Africa.................. 1 x 4Ax
I Thracum Syriaca E............  Thrace................ 1 x 4Ax

II Mattiacorum.................. ..Belgica................ 1 x 4Ax
IV Raetorum..................... ..Raetia................. .1 x 4Ax

Equites units are grouped to create........ ........ 3 x 2LH

Photos will be posted at the end of the week.
Cheers, 

The Roman Army (West) - the artillery and archers

The army list for the Middle Imperial Roman army have archers (4Bw) and artillery as options. These are particularly useful when fighting against the elephants or cataphract cavalry of the Sassanid.

The archers are from Old Glory as are the artillery.

As twelve archers are needed for the three commands of Roman the extra bowmen are earmarked for for the Armenians. I plan two commands for the Armenians, so all the archers will be used.

Cheers,

The Roman Army (West) - the Cavalry

The Cavalry

During the Severan period, the number of light horse units were noticeably increased, while still maintaining the local “Indigenae” units. The new units were collectively known as Illyrian cavalry which included ex-Legionary cavalry, Scutarii, Mauri and Dalmatae units.

Since my project starts at the opening of the 3rd century I view this as a transition period for the Illyrian units and chose my Light Horse to wearing chainmail armour.

I opted to use the standard Roman heavy cavalry figure listed by OG based six of these as LH with the remainder serving as the Praetorian cavalry. Cavalry are nine figures per pack, so the distribution worked out well.

Phil Barker has the Praetorian cavalry wearing bronze corslet, but also mentions chainmail was used.
The Praetorians turned out better than I hoped as did all the shields.

The remaining Heavies are Gallic, Thracian and Spanish units. A full order of battle will be posted when this collection is completed.

Additional notes:

The three Kn element represent the I Ulpia Contariorum M.C.R (2 elements) and the later created I Gallorum et Pannoniorum.

Both units pre-date Severus and would likely of worn armour much like the standard Equites, but with leg and arm protection. Greaves would have been a nice touch. But you cannot have everything the way you would like.

After the downfall of Parthia, many nobles fled to the safety of the Roman Empire and took service adding two later three units of cataphract (+/- 225 AD). No doubt these would be similar in appearance to the models depicted.

Cheers, 

The Roman Army (West) - the Auxilia

The Auxilia

Twelve elements of Auxilia are left and a few cavalry. The auxilia at this period are depicted with no armour, dark trousers, linen coloured tunic and a wool cap. With shields being the only unique feature, I decided to play with the range of clothing colour options.

The twelve units were recruited from a variety of provinces, including Italy. This would offer some variation to play with regional colour preferences.

Clothing:
The units from Spain and Thrace will have darker tunics or near black, the Voluntariorum, various green and blue shades and the remainder, near white. I am aware borders may have appeared at this time, but I find painting twelve shield patterns enough work.

Shields:
The twelve Auxilia elements were grouped in pairs and ready for the last stage, the shields. I selected six patterns and depending on the ground colour being would alter between light or dark, designs in yellow or white.

The “Italian” are four newly raised volunteers or Voluntariorum c.R. or civium Romanorum. Their shield patterns would display the eagle, wings or wreath or a combination of these. The remaining eight, mostly from Spain, Thrace or Gaul, would have swirls, stars and cresent moons. These patterns are repeated against a different ground colour.

Cheers,