...and Pompey stomped his foot ... in 15mm

[Richard in Sachsen]

Finally, finally, finally got these based and ready to play. This is my generic 15mm Late Republican Roman legion although it is meant to be Pompeian. The core troops consisted of an Old Glory 15's FoG starter army. I also added legionaries in melee to the front rank. These I got off of eBay and I suspect they are old Corvus Belli figures as they are very nice and had glue-on shields. The rest of the figures are from the Baueda Marian Roman kick-starter, from which I also got the nice matt that I take my pictures on.

The Old Glory's were painted in May and I finished the Baueda figures in October. But I still hadn't based them. I was waiting to finish painting my Ligurian allies as I have two battle groups of those. But, unfortunately, I keep getting something like writer's block when I try to paint them and I just can't get into it. They are all glued on tongue depressors and painted with base coats and just waiting for tunic and shield details.

So I decided last week to just base what I have, and here they are.

The composition conforms to the Field of Glory army list maxima.

1. Generals: Pompey, Brutus, and Scipio





2. Legion. I didn't know how to paint the shields. I wanted to paint them as one of Pompey's legions but I couldn't find any information at all. Most of the advice came down to: we really don't know about this period. So I went with Vegetius, who writes in the Epitome of Military Science,

To prevent soldiers straying from their comrades at any time in the confusion of battle, they painted different signs for different cohorts on their shields, stigmata as they call them themselves, and it is customary to do this even now. (§18. The names and ranks of soldiers are to be written on the face of their shields. p.50)

So I went with different colours and/or signs for each cohort.

Then the Hail Caesar supplement comes out and the author states that Pompeian legions had ochre/black colours - just the information I had been looking for! Oh well, too late now.

If there are any experts in the period out there, I'd really, really appreciate the feedback. I have another legion to paint although it isn't a full legion. It's Quintus Sertorius' Spanish legion and so many of the cohorts are unarmored, hastily assembled cohorts (from Baueda) together with a Forged in Battle Spanish/Iberian army package. I'd like to at least get those right if I screwed the pooch on these .

I also based them "in motion," that is melee troops in front after having already discharged their pilum, second rank throwing, and third+ ranks carrying, ready to throw. Centurions placed at right-hand corner of front rank.

1st Cohort



2nd Cohort



3rd Cohort



4th & 5th



6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th





Artillery



Marching Camp





The Legion



2. Auxilia

German cavalry body guard

If I do get a general for Caesar, here is his famed Germanic cavalry body guard in Gallic amour. I had a freebie model with a Suebian knot so I put him on the command stand to emphasise the "German" since the rest are Gaullic figures.





Gaullic Cavalry

OG15's with Baueda. Again, some stands are missing figures due to "painting block."









Ligurian Command



Numidian light horse





Eastern Archers



Balearic Slingers



Cretan Archers





aaaaaand I forgot to photograph Brutus' Thracian Horse Archers, maybe in an update.


Of course, after I based all of these units, I sprayed them with Army Painter Aegis Suit varnish ... and they frosted!!!! Good thing my daughter was at Kindergarten because the filth that spewed from my mouth was ungodly! I can't believe it! I even sprayed it inside (gag, cough, gag) where it was warm and dry. I still got frost, and man, did that p*ss me off! That was a lot of work over about a year. Oh well, too late now.

I hope you like anyway

[GamesPoet]

Congrats on your project!

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thank you, yes it took a while and still not quite done. Still two battle groups of Ligurians and one of Rhaetian mercenaries outstanding.

[Mad Doc Morris]

First off, that's a proper army, congrats! Particularly like the fact that you included a camp as well.
Had eyed the new Baueda Republican Romans as well. What's your verdict on them? Also in comparison to Forged in Battle?

Finally, you should know better, discussing details of 'Roman uniform' is a road to perdition.
Without proper reference the bit on specific shield colours, Pompeian or otherwise, is negligible. There's mention of soldiers who displayed their leader's name on their shields; a Pompeian example would be De bello Alexandrino 58.3 (milites… Cn. Pompei nomen in scutis inscriptum haberent). Happy to stand corrected, but I don't remember any evidence for the use of certain colours or even emblems ascribed to certain factions, troops etc.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks MDM,

I really like the Baueda and I was happy to get in on the kickstarter. I also really like Forged in Battle, although I don't have any of their Romans so I can't really compare Romans. It's a toss-up between the two. Claudio does some nice Iberians but he doesn't offer any starter armies, so I went with FiB for my Iberians (mixed with unarmored legionaries from Baueda for the hastily assembled cohorts), Thracians, and Pontic armies. Actually, I got a OG15 FoG Pontic starter army at the same time that I got my OG15 Romans, so that army, when it gets painted, will be mixed much like this one. In fact, I've moved my OG15 imitation legionaries Battle Groups over to my Galatians and will be using the FiB Seleucid "Romans" that they offer as imitation legionaries since they're such nicer figures.

[** Important tip for anyone thinking of purchasing the Early Pontic starter army: you get regular phalangites with that set although FiB does offer Asiatic phalangites in trousers. If you want your Pontic troops in trousers you may be able to request a substitution.]

If you look at the photo "6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th" above, you can see the difference in the front rank troops. Baueda has a very prominent lip on the shields, which I painted bronze. The Corvus (?) troops in plain red shields also have a lip, but not so prominent. Behind them are the OG 15s with no lip. If the lip doesn't bother you, Baueda also offers a choice of Montefortino or Coolus helmets with their legionaries. Very dynamic sculpts and very nice, as are FiB. I don't think the choice comes down to quality as they are both pretty much equal and both match up well size-wise, at least to my eye. I think the choice comes down to what poses and/or kit one wants in their ranks - which is a very nice choice to have in 15mm nowadays.

The camp (except for the tent - OG15) is all Baueda as well - field kitchen, stakes, slaves, road barrier, jugs and satchels.

Thanks for the info on the shield designs, I figured I was in the ball park since it seems that all that sort of information, that which is available, is either prior to or after the Marian period but everyone says that strangely enough, we don't know about the late republican period. So when in doubt, go with Vegetius I suppose. Nevertheless, his information at least works on the table top as well... there is no confusing cohorts or units here. That is one reason I put wings on only half of them. I can play a small game of Roman vs. Roman or with a larger game and one that calls for some units to be upgraded as veterans, the wings are a good way to  designate them so that it is clear who are veterans and who are run-of-the-mill troopers.