The Unbroken Road – Ventures in the Early Roman Empire (UP 10th Nov, p. 5)

[Mad Doc Morris]

At long last I've given in to the lure of classical – no, not boring – Early Imperial Romans in 28mm. And I even painted some.
An incentive was the advent of TFL's "Infamy, Infamy". Or even more so the multi-based armies John Savage used for play-testing (find some pics on his Twitter account). So my own take will cover a basic Roman force for said rules. However, disregarding the correct amount of minis, one bases constitutes a unit. At a (much!) later stage I might double these up or some such. Yet 'gameability' is not my main concern.

Let's start with some bread and butter; good old legionaries in (not so) shiny segmented armour. Well, mostly. Anyway, the first contubernium from different angles.



No surprise there, Perry sculpts for Wargames Foundry (and LBM decals, of course). Since I discovered them on the colour pages of "Warhammer Ancient Battles", these were my favourites. No plastics for me, sir. And yes, I've yet to decide if to paint those base edges.
Next one as they drop in. Stay tuned.

[OSHIROmodels]

Nice to see you back at it Tilman, they're very nice indeed 

My first romans were the Foundry ones as well. I got them after watching the Timewatch documentary about the roman invasion of Dacia. The terrain was stunning and they had a bridge done as well 

[Mad Doc Morris]

Thanks a lot, James! It's still a struggle, but I keep at it.
I take a lot of inspiration from TV, movies, books as well. In this instance even from real life encounters. More will be revealed soon. 

[rumacara]

A very nice painting Tilman.
And the bases are great too.

[OSHIROmodels]

Here is part of the Timewatch documentary.



The bridge is at around 8:45 

[Tellus]

Pretty surprising theme wise, but excellent work, Tilman!!!

[Unlucky General]

They are very handsome devils.

[Keith]

Wonderful to see you back on the Romans :-)
These look bloody good too!

[Captain Blood]

The old ones are the best! Great figures. Lovely painting 

[Mad Doc Morris]

Cheers, guys! Your comments are much appreciated.

Pretty surprising theme wise, but excellent work, Tilman!!!

Marc, I have fond memories playing DBA with your Romans – if losing badly each and every game. Been circling these minis ever since, so you definitely informed my choices here. Might even have nicked some ideas…

Here is part of the Timewatch documentary.



The bridge is at around 8:45 

James, thanks for sharing this. A great old-fashioned take on the subject featuring Perry minis, the Ermine Street Guard and even Peter Connolly! Would have loved to watch this back in the day. Speaking of which, to this day I treasure some books bought about 30 years ago. (Some even kept their price tags in Deutsche Mark, blimey, they were cheap!) They had and still have a huge impact on my fascination with ancient Rome. Here's a selection of 'em obviously fallen from my shelves during research.

[Mad Doc Morris]

Next one steps right up.
Legionaries again, but this time some rear rankers. They are accompanied by a tesserarius, the "watchword bearer".



As so often, we don't know if the tesserarius would have looked any different than the common soldier. But there's some evidence that he supported the optio in closing ranks. Thus he's placed here on the left of the group, opposite to the optio's most likely position on the right, behind the centurion leading from the front. Pure conjecture, but fun.

I tend to vary the number of minis per base slightly. Here I aimed for a 'thin red line' look. Once arrayed for battle it will (hopefully) all come together.

[OSHIROmodels]

Lovely 

Here's a selection of 'em obviously fallen from my shelves during research.

I get that all the time 

[Mad Gadgeteer]

Cheers, guys! Your comments are much appreciated.

Marc, I have fond memories playing DBA with your Romans – if losing badly each and every game. Been circling these minis ever since, so you definitely informed my choices here. Might even have nicked some ideas…

James, thanks for sharing this. A great old-fashioned take on the subject featuring Perry minis, the Ermine Street Guard and even Peter Connolly! Would have loved to watch this back in the day. Speaking of which, to this day I treasure some books bought about 30 years ago. (Some even kept their price tags in Deutsche Mark, blimey, they were cheap!) They had and still have a huge impact on my fascination with ancient Rome. Here's a selection of 'em obviously fallen from my shelves during research.

You should get a copy of 'Panis Militaris' by Marcus Junkelmann!! 

[Mad Doc Morris]

You should get a copy of 'Panis Militaris' by Marcus Junkelmann!!

Fear not, got the whole lot of his books on Roman stuff. The one pictured just triggered that particular obsession. Even own the odd signed copy from when I had the pleasure to meet him (and some of his original crew) in person. Great guy(s)!

[Blackwolf]

Brilliant work,and gotta’ love a man with plenty of books(mines all Justinian era )