Weekender XLBS: Hail Caesar! Getting Psyched For Ancient Wargaming!
February 1, 2015 by lloyd
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Happy Sunday!
Drop assault is ok, nothing ground breaking, but worth a look.
Lloyd – It was Terrahawks dude, with the dulcet tones of Windsor Davies voicing the good guys drone commander Sgt major 😉
Beat me to it, that and stingray the basis of many a morning
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6nJ2vyXKOOE
Yeah of course :), loved that show
Hail mighty Cesar! Lloyd one of my favorite time periods. We were just talk about ancient Rome and building a Coliseum and a Circus Maximus for chariot racing on 28th scale. John model looks incredible job well done.
Also: I studied the post-Roman period in the British Isles when I studied Archaeology and it’s fascinating. One point: the form of Christianity that was linked with Emperor Constantine (interestingly, from the province of Brittania…) was markedly different to that which prospered in Ireland during the Dark Ages. Whereas the Roman institution spread throughout the Empire, the Irish tradition arrived after travelling up the Atlantic coast and is seen as being a much less rigid body than what became the Catholic church. This “Celtic Christianity” was effectively subsumed into the Church sometime around the 9th century when representatives of the… Read more »
@dawfydd Statue of him outside York Minster – city of Eburacum (York) was not just Constantine’s birthplace but is very likely to have been the temporary administrative capital of the Roman Empire until Constantine could sweep through to Mediolanium and into Italy proper. Interesting point you make – Celtic Christianity’s monastic nature allowed it to survive on the fringes of the world, the traditional Roman religion was for the most part exterminated with the Saxon conquest. Mind you, far from Celtic Christianity being subsumed, it was the Irish system that ultimately ended up converting first the Scots, then the Northumbrians… Read more »
Thunderhawks! Thats one of the biggest blasts from the past I’ve had for a while Lloyd!
Terrahawks, of course! Thanks @dawfydd ;]
I’ve always found it fascinating how the “classic” Roman Legionary (segmented armour, that iconic curved rectangular shield) is really a very narrow slice of the army in general, and how earlier and later legion equipment more closely resembles that used by the Auxilia units….
Question of supply. Roman army was supplied by I think 4 major manufacturers (Manufactoria), in the later era some of these factories get destroyed, suffer supply issues themselves so were no longer in the position to keep churning out lorica segmentata (segmented armour of the legionaries) which is bizarre, as it was actually cheaper to produce than chain mail… Something you may find interesting, believe there’s been some interesting archaeological evidence coming out of Germany at the minute from a number of known Auxilia fortresses on the frontier, no legionary presence for miles yet they’ve found bits of segmented armour.… Read more »
The classic depiction of legionnaires and auxiliaries and their equipment is not that well supported by the evidence. There’s massive uncertainty over it and even over what their roles were. As wargaming can’t have that kind of uncertainty, we’ve kind of picked a horse and ridden it lol
Welcome aboard, Lloyd! I’m an ancient historian so if you want some pointers and recommendations then just send me a PM 🙂
Definitely go with @redben on this, Lloyd. I appreciate the mention, John 🙂 and yes, I am “conversant” in Classical histories, but this is absolutely redben’s neck of the woods here.
Great show! Always love to see the BoW team dip their toes into the chilly water of historical gaming! 😀
If Sci-fi is the beer of gaming, and fantasy the wine, Then let wyrd be vodka that tastes of turpentine, And let us all raise a glass, and toast To World War Two, For its a brandy, thick as mud, with a hint of superglue. Napoleonics have their fans, bright colours on parade But rules abound, to bog it down – a cat-piss lemonade. Horror of course, isn’t scary, but much beloved by some It’s pretty weak, timid and meek, all coke without the rum. no, there’s no finer game, in all those here, to play, if you’re able, To… Read more »
Happy Sunday!
Happy Sunday guys! 🙂
@Lloyd Think out of the box when looking at your Romans… try looking at other mini’s in other scales 15mm or even dare i say 6mm… there is life beyond Warlord.
ok should have watched a bit more…lol but rules wise Fields of Glory is far better than Hail Caeser as a ruleset
Hey Lloyd you could always get your Romans and use them as an army of man in Kings of War
West Wind Miniatures does a range of Late Roman/Arthurian miniatures.. There is a recreation of a Roman fort in Coventry, which is well worth a visit. I do have a stack of photos, which I’ll try and upload in a thread on the forums. The Empire collapsed due to a number of reasons, that included econmic, mass migration, crop failures, stretched resources and new archaeological evidence has shown that in the later stages of he Empire there was a period of climatic change. This was probably a factor in some the migrations of people, another factor which is covered in… Read more »
@lloyd – loving the coverage! massive fan of historical era, couple of bits you may find useful: time frames. Republican Rome is the early stuff, so from the founding through to the Marian Reforms. Rome for a long time had a citizen army, you had the Hastati (young Romans, not much equipment but deffo the fittest and some of the strongest) in the front line, then the Principes, these were older Romans, more sort of middle class and could afford better equipment. These formed the core of the army. Then you had the Triarii, the very best in the army,… Read more »
Just to refine some of that impressive wall of text lol. The Republican period covers the deposing of the last king, Tarquinius Superbus, in about 509BC through to Octavian’s victory in the Battle of Actium in 31BC. We’re told that the Romans fought in the hoplite style until the fourth century BC when was replaced by the manipular formation of three lines with the ability to rotate between them. Originally the lines were determined by wealth, then later by experience. Gaius Marius reformed the army when he was consul in 107BC to solve a manpower crisis. This is the basis… Read more »
It also forms the background to part four of my article series on ancient battles that changed the work. Condensing it into 2000 words is proving a struggle lol.
ah my mistake 🙂 cheers @redben! so much to consider, about 1000 years really
Like I say, it was just to refine a few points 🙂
great show\ as always
If looking at ancients rules – have a look at ‘Sword and Spear’, excellent set of rules, great C&C system.
I’ve learned what little I know about ancient Rome from the Rome Total War games. It’s worth having a play of the latest one (Rome 2: Emperor edition). It’s probably not historically accurate worth a damn (especially since the whole idea of it is you’re basically rewriting history), but it gives you a good idea of the archetypical ‘styles’ of the various groups of the time and how they linked together.
Happy Sunday guys is there bow clan on drop assault ?
Happy Sunday guys. For a good range of Republican Romans check out Aventine miniatures. And Little Big Man studios for some superb shield transfers. You can even use an Elephant In your army too!
I have Republican Romans from Aventine. Quality stuff.
The rules you want to try are ‘To the Strongest!’ a new set by Simon Miller, an independent British games author. You can find more information on them here: https://www.facebook.com/TotheStrongestWargaming?fref=ts and here http://bigredbatshop.co.uk/.
Simon and his cohorts ran demo’s at shows across the country (UK) last year to great acclaim, and they intend to continue this year. If you want to see an entire Roman legion on the table this the set of rules for you. Quick to learn, intuitive in action, and historically excellent I commend these to all of you.
Hey Sam, he has a wife you know…… Her name is incontinentia….
Incontinentia Buttox!
Pfft!
@bow …just a little update on my tech problems from last weeks xlbs…don´t know if you changed something…but this time the surroundings where much less detailed…but the three of you where much better to look at…so all in all a not the quality of the frontstage 1080p…but much better to look at than last weeks xlbs
Another fun XLBS. Funny that you should talk about how cool the Romans are, and Horus Heresy at the same time. The more you think about it, the more you realise how much of an influence Roman history was / is on the writing of the 40k background. The Roman armies that were self sufficient have their parrallel in the Great Crusade and the Space Marine Legion expeditions. The all-conquering legions expanding rapidly and then the Empire coming apart over disagreements over how it should be ruled when ambitious generals fall out is again in history and the HH. It’s… Read more »
The Roman civil war sounds interesting, I wonder if both sides had the same colours? I’m going to find out more about it. Cool weekender guys! 🙂