First Legion Complete

It's taken a bit longer than I had hoped, mainly down to Christmas shopping etc.

This is the first Legion based for WAB at a figure scale of 1 to 100.

12 Velites 84 pts
12 Hastati (drilled) 132 pts
12 Principes (drilled, light armour, pilum) 156 pts
6 Triarii (light armour) 90 pts

3 Cavalry (light armour) 51 pts

Total 513 pts

1 General 145 pts

Grand Total 658 pts

I've finished five of the second legion with most of the rest being based and undercoated.

After Christmas I will order the remaining figures I need to complete the second legion and order some Italian Allies from A&A Miniatures.

Finish the first legion next weekend?

I have got 6 Triarii and two cavalry to paint to finish the first legion. They are all based and undercoated. I have had a very good week but don't expect to be able to keep this up! Here is the first cavalryman. Not a brilliant picture so I may try to do another with my wife's SLR. I only need three figures at 1 to 100. I will combine them with three figures from the second legion to make a unit of six. They won't be much use unless I can run down a few skirmishers with them!

The Crusader figures are nice (maybe the horses are a bit long-legged) but fitting the riders onto the horses is a pain. The cloaks get in the way at the back and need to be filed down and at the front the flying manes also get in the way so some of them are sitting a bit far back. Saddle cloths are moulded on the figure and aren't exactly a snug fit over the horses backs either.

Velites and Principes at full strength

I have added three more Velites to the original nine to make them up to the correct proportions rather than the eight or nine suggested by Allen Curtis in the WAB supplement. A lot of the action at Cynoscephalae involved Velites initially so I may need them. It depends on when the scenario starts, with the initial skirmishing or after the first Roman attack has been repulsed (which was the case in the WAB scenarion in Slingshot a few years ago).

I have finished the first unit of Principes. These took longer than the Hastati because I undercoated them in black because of the chainmail and so they needed more coats on the pale colours. The chainmail itself takes longer as well. I've also now got five of the twelve Hastati done for the second legion. Three more of these are undercoated and even started. The remaining four are based. I have rather more rank and file Hastati than I need so I am going to give one a sword to make him an officer, rather than using the officer in chainmail which I can use for the Principes.

Principes nearly done..

My Crusader order came today. I ordered at 11.04am on Monday and they arrived 9.30am on Wednesday. Pretty good. I now have enough figures to finish the first legion and the cavalry. I can do most of the second legion but need some more command I think. I will put in another order to Crusader as they have reduced their box sets and I am quite tempted by the Byzantines again. I thought I had decided on Gripping Beast for those but enjoyed painting the Crusader Roman figure much more than the GB ones even though the GB ones are more anatomically correct.

Hope to have most of the day at it tomorrow so want to finish my first cavalryman, three extra Velites to make the full 12 and three last figures for the Principes unit. Quite a tall order but achievable. Finished eight Prinicpes today.

Next up I will undercoat the first Triarii and base the last of the cavalry. I am going for one unit of six figures which at 1 to 100 is exactly right for 2 legions worth.

The Roman Army of the Punic Wars - Osprey Battle Orders

I have just found the following note about a forthcoming Osprey. Strangely I can't find anything on the Osprey website itelf. Unfortunately it's going to be too late for Cynoscephalae as it's out in May 2007!


http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9781846031458

Last Order of Romans

I just sent an order off to Crusader to pick up the last figures I need to complete the two legions (except maybe some extra command-but I am going to buy some Foundry Caesarean standard bearers for variety). I had to order rather more figures than I needed to fill the gaps but I will put the spares into my Italian allied forces who I want to look a little less uniform anyway. I ordered extra velites so I can have units of 12 if needed. Hopefully the SOA will issue some orders of battle soon. I am taking nearly three weeks off at Christmas so hope to have finished all the Romans by then. Then I will start with the Italian allies using A&A Samnites for at least one "legion".

I have also started on about 10 Greek light infantry for the Aetolians. I am using some Foundry Steve Saleh "World of the Greeks" figures which I already had. These are rather more elegant, anatomically, than the Crusader figures but match well as regards height and general appearance.

I have decided to do batches of eight figures at a time. I had a good weekend and not only finished the first Velites but some of the Roman Marching camp figures.


These are no use for Cynoscephalae but good for a Spanish raid scenario I am thinking about given that Mark Sims is working on a Spanish range at present.

I have made good progress on the first cavalryman and hope to get him finished before next weekend. Likewise I have eight principes that just need the bases , shields, pila and metalwork painting. Hope to get these done before next weekend too.

First Unit of Velites

I have finished the first unit of Velites. It should be 12 figures at the 1 to 100 scale I am using but I am taking as my model the suggested army from the WAB book which uses 8 or 9 to keep the points down. I can always expand the unit later.

Javelins are a mixture of Perry and Xyston. Generally, the current theory seems to go against the full wolfskin rather just a helmet covering of fur. I'm not going to throw out half a pack because of this though; it would be nice if manufacturers offered packs with or without wolfskins instead of mixing them up.

I have set up an excel spreadsheet to keep track of the army's points. I am now up to 483 points but most of that is still down to the General and the Consul who make up 290 points.

Next up is my first cavalryman and the first eight Principes. I've also started another six velites and five Hastati for the second legion. These will have red shields.

Here is the first completed Hastatus for the second legion.

Here is the first Princeps for the first legion.

First Unit of Hastati

The first unit of Hastati is finished. The good thing about the Hannibal and the Punic Wars supplement for WAB is that you can use 12 man units because of the rule about using rank bonus from supporting units. I suspect, when deployed, that 2 line units like this won’t be any good as they only give a rank bonus of 1. To get the full rank bonus for the supporting unit you would have to rank them up as 3 deep (i.e. with a frontage of 4 figures). The loss of one figure would destroy your maximum rank bonus in one go, therefore.

The more Crusader figures I paint the more I like them. Some of Mark Sims’ figures have been a bit short and stocky for my tastes lately but he seems to be addressing this. Indeed, even within this range, the figures in chainmail are noticeably taller than the Hastati and the Velites. This would usually annoy me but because the build is similar it’s really not noticeable unless you stand them next to each other and look at them from eye level. On the left we have a Hastatus. On the right a general from the new senior command pack.

A quarter of a unit of Hastati

I haven't been able to do much painting lately as it has been too dark in the mornings and the evenings. I also had a business trip to Portugal and Spain which meant I lost a weekend.

I am still trying to concentrate on just a few forces on the work bench and have managed to finish three more Crusader Hastati. I have ordered some more Crusader Punics; some Velites and a command unit. The light infantry command unit doesn't have a standard bearer though so I will have to get a regular one as well.

Using the WAB Hannibal supplement means that each Roman unit is only 12 figures, so I now have a third of a unit. I have decided that I really like painting the Crusader figures. The only thing I have done is substitute the rather chunky pilum for some Gripping Beast ones.

First Crusader Hastatus

I have painted my first Crusader Punic period Roman and am very pleased with it. Once painted and with the shield attached it doesn't look as stocky as on the website. The new marching camp and general figures arrived on Saturday and they are lovely.

The figure was a pleasure to paint in exactly the same way that the Gripping Beast ones weren't. The problem I have now is that I have a unit of GB hastati two thirds complete and the same with a unit of Renegade velites. I may finish them and put them on eBay, I suppose.

Punic Puzzle Solved

Left: A&A Carthaginian Right: Crusader Roman

I have been trying to find some figures for a Punic Wars Roman army for some time and have ordered samples from different manufacturers without being really happy with any of them. I liked the Renegade Romans but not their Numidians. The Gripping Beast ones had the range but were really too slim to go with my existing Celt Army which is a mixture of Renegade and A&A. I saw on TMP that Crusader Miniatures have just announced they have completed their Republican Roman Range with an excellent General and marching camp. I hadn't really looked at them but these new sets were excellent. I have now compared one of their Roman figures against an A&A Carthaginian I already had and they are completely compatible. I think I read somewhere that the A&A figures are Mark Sims too.

Case solved! Gripping Beast, Companion and Renegade off you march to eBay!