UPDATE: 5th Century Gallo-Romans (28mm) Warlords, Retinue & PROJECT COMPLETED!

[Richard in Sachsen]

UPDATED 16/10/2017. Lots of pictures. Updates in the Command Section of the main text as well as in the Army Section featuring the completed Gallo-Roman army now complete.

A special thanks to Simon MacDowell for his advice and assistance in personal correspondence

This was a fun army to compose. In the middle of working on my Dumnonians, I got a case of projectus interruptus contemplating what to do with all of the extra figures I had left over from Romano-British and Late Roman Field Armies. I had three extra units of spearmen from Footsore (an expensive miscalculation on my part) and other odds and ends.

Then I read about Flavius Aegidius and the (questionable) Kingdom of Soissons, and I thought to myself "that's it!"

So here are some Late Roman rump figures for a Late Roman rump state.

Quick situational summary:

Flavius Aegidius served, alongside his later arch-rival and enemy Ricimer, as a staff officer under Aëtius. He was then promoted as magister militum in Gaul. He was a staunch supporter of the Emperor Majoran and when Ricimer deposed of him and installed Severus as Emperor, Aegidius refused to recognise the new emperor.  Because the Visigoths had pretty much cut off Imperial Italy from northern Gaul, Ricimer and Severus couldn't do much about it. Aegidius allied with the Franks. So much so that Gregory of Tours claims that he was the Frankish King for the seven years that Childeric, King of the Franks, was exiled in Thüringen for chasing too many of his own nobles' wives' skirts.

A note about shield designs and standards

There were three objectives I sought to accomplish when designing and painting the shields.

Firstly, I wanted basic designs that one might have found in the Notitia Dignitatum. That is, basic boss and field patterns along with crescents and animal motifs.

Secondly, I wanted the army to stand out as Gallo-Romans when fighting alongside or against Late Romans. Therefore the animal motif is the Gallic Boar and on the army command standards is the Gallic Cock. It is important to note, that Gallo-Roman is a contemporary scholarly term. The actual Gallo-Romans simply considered themselves "Roman" and it would be highly unlikely that they would have such nationalistic totems and motifs on their shields and standards. That is purely my own convention to set them apart on the tabletop.

Lastly, since this is a post-Roman rump state contemporaneous with Sub-Roman Britain, I wanted to thematically link this army with their "Arthurian" cousins across the channel. For better or worse, correctly or incorrectly, when we see an army of Chi-Rho's on the table top, we know that they are Romano-British or "Arthurians." However, I didn't want them confused with Romano-British either, so I used the religious motif of the Alpha and Omega on most of the shields: thematically tied to, but different from, the Chi-Rho. Another aspect to this is that in the ND, religious symbology is conspicuously absent. So by adding religious symbology, it further distances the army from regular or imperial Late Roman units and more closely aligns them to the increasingly religious Post-Roman rump states of Britain.

I hope that I was successful in that endeavour.


UPDATED 1. Command

1.a Warlords

Flavius Aegidius, magister militum per Gallias







Syagrius, rex Romanorum

Yes, the title is controversial and there is a very interesting debate about it with persuasive arguments on both sides. What pushed me to one side was the shield design. I needed something at the bottom to balance the symmetry and I found a really nice picture of a Frankish coin with a King that I hope I replicated. His arms are unnaturally long and hold a sword and a sceptre with a cross. Kingly symbols, so I went with rex Romanorum.

1.b Command Stand

1.c Commanipulares

These guys took some time with extra attention to detail than for the rank and file. I was greatly inspired by Desperta Ferro Ediciones' artwork on the cover of Simon MacDowell's Comitatus rules. The is a lot of ivory, browns, reds, red oxides and rust colours in the pallet as well as bright Frankish colours as per the Heere and Waffen books listed below.

















Dismounted

Both Comitatus and Dux Bellorum allow for dismounted troops. Comitatus requires them on a 1/2 strength stand as shown here. I tried to match similar models to their mounted counter parts and used the same clothing and hair colours. Close enough.















Horse Handler.

Comitatus requires a horse handler to mark the location of the troop's mounts so that the enemy can be a jerk and run them off or steal them.





Casualty Marker





Old preview.






2. Infantry

The army as a whole is a great mix-up of Franks, Gauls, and Romans. MacGeorge suggests

[...] Aegidius' forces, all or some of which were presumably inherited by his son Syragrius, consisted of the remnant Gallic field army, foederati, Frankish allies, local militias, or (most probably) some combination of these elements [...]

and

[...] All the above considerations, as well as the general trend of military developments, suggest that the forces which Syragius led in AD 487 would have been closer in character to those Clovis led against him than to an imperial army of, say, AD 400. [...] (Warlords, pp. 156-57)

Therefore, there is a good mix of Roman, Frankish, and Gallic tunic patterns. Some with embroidery, some without, and some with mono-color Clavii and Orbiculi of initial issue. There is also a good mix of Late Roman, Romano-British, and Frankish figures.

2a. Heavy Infantry

Simon MacDowell suggests that in Late Roman units, where there was a shortage of armour, soldiers wearing chain mail stood in the first rank. These were extra armoured figures put in the first rank with extra non-armoured in the second.

2b. Spearmen

2c. Light Javelin Infantry

2d. Skirmishers

2e. Archers

3. Cavalry

3a. Heavy Cavalry

My Romano-British were getting too cavalry-heavy proportional to the infantry. So I transferred a unit of equites to the Gallo-Roman army.

3b. Light Cavalry

3c. Horse Archers

These guys were also extra. After a discussion with Jericho about horse archers in Britain, I became more sceptical of having these guys in my British field army and so set them to the side in a box. Lo and behold, I finally found a place for them.










4. Artillery

These guys were also extras. I originally bought these Warlord Dacians artillery crews for my Goths as Roman plunder. But all of the sources, which discuss Goths and Roman artillery say that the Goths were really crappy at it. So, being skeptical of that idea, they were also thrown into a box. But now they've found a home. I think the paint up well for a Romano-Barbarian/Barbarian-Roman army. The only thing that I am not sure of is if the ballistae models are outdated by a couple of centuries but I don't think it matters anyway.






UPDATED 5. Army

Here's how the entire army looks









Sources

Notitia Dignitatum, http://lukeuedasarson.com/NotitiaPatterns.html

Drinkwater, John and Hugh Elton, Ed. Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crises of Identity?, Cambridge University Press

Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, Penguin Books

Harries, Jill, Sidonius Apollinaris and the Fall of Rome AD 407-485, Oxford University Press

MacDowall, Simon, Late Roman Infantryman AD 236-565, Osprey Warrior 9

-- Late Roman Cavalryman AD 236-565, Osprey Warrior 15

-- Comitatus: Warfare in the Dark Ages AD 250-1100

MacGeorge, Penny, Late Roman Warlords, Oxford University Press

Strassmeier, Andreas and Andreas Gagelmann. Das Fränkische Heer der Merowingerzeit Teil 1. Heere & Waffen 19, Zeughaus Verlag. 2., überarbeitete Auflage. Berlin 2017.

-- Das Fränkische Heer der Merowingerzeit Teil 2. Heere & Waffen 19, Zeughaus Verlag. Berlin 2014.



Hope you like

[aphillathehun]

Terrific all round.  Love the shields!

[Byrthnoth]

This is terrific. You've done a great job of mixing different manufacturers and painting different clothing styles and coming out with a cohesive whole. The orbiculi and clavii are very nice - are some of them transfers?

I also really appreciate that you took the time to share your sources and thought processes when developing the army. That MacGeorge book looks interesting, it's too bad it costs roughly as much as an entire 28mm army.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks fella's.

Yea, extra figures from a whole bunch of different manufacturers, even two quite small Essex figures but they just look like short guys. For the cohesive look (you may be able to see on the archers) I used a basic "uniform" of AP Skeleton Bone primer and Foundry madder red for the trousers. Then changed it a bit so that there are local tunics with madder trousers and Roman tunics with local trousers along with some in a "standard" uniform. So thank you, I was hoping the different paint schemes would flow cohesively.

The only decals used in this army are on the one standard bearer in the archer unit. I was experimenting with LBMS orbiculi but they were a real pain at such a small size. He's also the only one with a Chi-Rho on the shield. The reason being is that he was an Arthurian that I didn't have a place for.

Except for that one figure, everything else is painted on.

That MacGeorge book is quite expensive. I found mine used online in the US and had it sent to my Mom to forward to me. Amazon.de charges around 250 Euro!!!!!! But it really is a great read and invaluable for this period. I'd say check the library.

[smirnoff]

Excellent.
The Clovis/Syagrius tussle has long interested me.
It is possible that Buccellarii from the estate owners in the 'Kingdom' may have played a role in Syagrius' army, though the evidence is circumstantial.
Thank goodness you are not in the 'he had a full Roman field army' school (based mainly on the famous Procopious passage about Roman units wearing Roman kit in Northern Gaul...not something he actually saw for himself I believe).

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thank you.

Yes, I would think estate owners did play a part. I believe one of the articles in Fifth-Century Gaul: A Crises of Identity? touches on that question. Additionally, from a different article in the same work, it is now believed that the 5th Century Bacaudae were exactly that: disgruntled landowners. So it would follow that it was also much of the same situation in the "Kingdom."

Essentially, the argument is that depopulation led to a supply and demand situation among the estate workers and peasants: they could get higher wages and lower rents because there was hardly anyone to work the estates. At the same time, Roman tax collectors were leaning heavily on the estate owners because of all the military adventures Rome was at that time engaged in.

So many estate owners either welcomed new barbarian overlords, went into Armorica and became "Bacaudae," or, as you say, remained in Northern Gaul and probably fought for Aegidius and Syragrius with their own private retinues.

[Corso]

Stunning work and very descriptive information too!

Well done!!

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thank you Corvo!

[Codsticker]

Nice work- that is a project done well. *thumbs up*

[Mason]

What a wonderful looking army, within which my personal favourites are the artillery bases.
 

[arget8]

Awesome, just the project I needed to see! I'm working on this same project for Dux Brit, while slowly writing up a campaign supplement for it. I'm starting with Franks first though. I'll show my progress soon on my own thread, but I have to find a new way to add pictures at the moment due to photobucket nonsense.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

@arget: the idea of a Dux Brit campaign setting in Gaul had also crossed my mind. I was half-tempted to email Two Fat Lardies with the suggestion for a supplement as the system would work very well. I mean, you have Visigoths to the South, beyond that you have Imperial Italy. Burgundians to the east, Amoricans and Bacaudae to the west-Southwest, Franks and other Germans to the North and of course Saxon raiders on the coast and rivers. A fantastic situation for a supplement! If one was ambitious, one could also include Hispania since there was so much overflow of the politics, military ordeals, and migrations from Gaul into that area as well.

Please PM me when you get something together, I'd love to see it. I'm also looking forward to seeing your Franks once you get the photo bucket nonsense worked out

[Antonio J Carrasco]

Terrific work, Richard! I really like the effort you have taken giving a historical background and justification to your force. It gives them a personality of its own, instead just being another generic Late Antiquity army. 

[Jericho]

Great work all round, Richard!
Everytime you seem to disappear from the forum for a while only to reappear with a massive new force painted and ready. (A feat I can only dream of)

But as far as I can see you only painted half the army. 
Syagrius had allied Visigothic troops that helped him conquer Frankish territory, among which was the city of Soissons.
After Syagrius lost the battle of Soissons in 486 he fled to the Visigoths who gave him asylum in their lands, until Chlodovech coerced the weakened Visigothic Kingdom into giving him up.

Here's an interesting read: LINK
It deals about mainly about the life of Childeric and the rise of Chlodovech. Obviously Aegidius, Comes Paul and Syagrius are included.

[Richard in Sachsen]

Thanks guys,

@Antonio, thanks. Painting minis helps me to proactively learn a bit more about history as well. I learned a lot by researching this army so there is a bit of "research" behind my historical minis.

@ Jericho, thanks for the link. But I didn't forget at all : they're different armies that I'll take contingents from to augment depending on scenario. This one takes up two boxes. My unpainted Goths take up six, unpainted Franks take up three, unpainted Alans take up two. Saxons are another three.

That's not counting the Comes Britannia and Continental field armies, Huns, Picts, and Irish raiders, Dumnonians, Gwent, Amorica and Bagaudae. Whew, I have a lot of painting to do!!!!! Guess that's the reason I disappear sometimes .