Thoughts on Bacaudae…

[AlyMorrison]

Greetings…

I have been considering an additional enemy to fight against my 3rd Century Romans..
I want something completely different to their current enemy…the Sassanids.
What came to mind was to put together a Bacaudea force..

I was wondering if any of the learned ladies and gentlemen in this fine forum had any thoughts on what they may have looked like… and of course what miniatures to use.

I am using a Lion Rampant rules variant for my games so I am looking for a skirmish sized force…

The questions I have asked myself are…
What percentage of men would be armoured ?
Would the units/war bands have mixed weapons?
Would there be cavalry?
Morale factors?
Fighting capabilities?

Any thoughts, comments or advice would be appreciated.

All the best.  Aly

[AWu]

I studied this topic as I am building small Bagaudes force myself and there is laughable lack of any usable information..

I went for mix of GB Dark Age warriors with slight conversions and GB SAGA Roman Deserters as my elite unit. Now I am planing some cavalry.
From those only some deserters wear armor.

[OB]

I've been thinking about this one myself. I hope the following is of some use to you.

The Bacaudae were Gallic or Spanish Roman Provincials led by the local aristo's and gentry of their (tribal based) civates and so they would look like Romans. 

They had armed and organised themselves because the Empire was no longer able to defend them against the barbarians.   

They seem to have been quite capable militarily given the amount of effort needed to suppress them.

In terms of your questions:

Certainly a couple of armoured units
Could be mixed weapons- they were Romans after all.  Mainly spear men perhaps.
I'd go a unit of cavalry
Morale would be good enough.  They had elected to fight both barbarians and Roman regulars,  they knew what that meant.
A couple of good units and the rest average for their type.

No one knows of course so you can go with whatever seems right to you.

[Emir of Askaristan]

Hi Aly,

Pop a 21st century head on for a moment and think about the type of private armies which warlords have when shown on TV news. Some of them are equipped and uniformed with up to date gear, while others are desperadoes with a weapon of some ubiquitous nature and only good for threats and general violence against the population.

Wind back to late Rome...

Boss and comitatus - trained drilled hardened warriors with armour and a spear and sword
A banner and some kind of almost uniformed appearance perhaps. Sworn men, they have good morale. Possibly mounted.

Another similar unit under a sub leader, second in command, not as big perhaps, a little more irregular (coz you need to make sure he's not too big for his boots and becoming a potential threat yeah?)Maybe a front rank of armoured men and a rear rank of the less well equipped. Probably not mounted, unless your warlord has had a successful year of banditry, extort - er taxation and has been slipped bribe or too.

After that your force is units of warband like appearance and value. The leader is confident enough to take on both barbarian or Roman forces so this lot can't be total dross but won't go toe to toe for long against the best of the opponents men. They will have a mixed appearance and wear civilian clothing. Maybe the odd helmet or mail. Spear armed.

Lastly the ill trained elements, only good for skirmishing on the flanks. Perhaps younger and certainly the least well equipped. Javelins, slings, bows, clubs, short swords and the like.

You might want to give them some captured hardware. Perhaps a ballista mounted on a farm cart.

Love to see what you come up with.

[Psychlic Bob]

The number of armoured troops would depend on the availability of Imperial fabricae sites I think.
These factories still produced arms and armour when "barbarian" forces entered the areas (Vandals and Goths took some over)

I based my bacaudae list on the British Romano Successors as a start point.

Very interested to see what your take is

[dadlamassu]

Have a look at this article, it may be of use (I have not read it) https://www.academia.edu/45083940/Bagaudes_Bacaudae_2014

[trev]

I agree with Bob, sub-Romans/Arthurians would be a good proxy for Bacaudae.  I suspect a lot of the time the term was meant more to delegitimise the new power structures that had risen up from the Roman collapse than to refer to actual bandits.  Dark Age armies fit nicely with the Emir's comments about private armies too.  A small core of well motivated and equipped professionals plus lots of levies, allies and mercenaries to make up the numbers.

[bluewillow]

As you know Aly, I have been working on a Armorican (Breton ) Bacaudae army. From what I have read they were quite well organised and armed, and regularly used Goth and Visigothic allies, particularly the Noble cavalry. The Bretons also had their own cavalry but not in large numbers, javelin armed seems to be very common for foot and cavalry.

 You are correct not a lot written as the sources are few and far between,  but just enough to get your teeth into.

Some small be articles
https://brill.com/view/book/edcoll/9789004284739/B9789004284739_012.xml

Bibliography
https://www.uvm.edu/~bsaylor/rome/bagaudae.html



A lot of my dark age Breton army is based on the three kingdoms that arise before and after the Roman defeat at Soissons.
https://stormandconquest.blogspot.com/search/label/Armorican?m=0


Cheers
Matt

[AlyMorrison]

Thank you everyone for your input…

I think we are more or less all thinking along the same lines…
I have some armoured and a few un-armoured 3rd century Romans left over from my original purchases… so I think I will experiment with these.

I did wonder if Roman deserters would have kept their existing shield designs… but I think I will probably paint them fairly plain colours, which will set them apart from the ‘regular’ troops…

I suppose I had better finish what is on my painting desk.. then I can get on with these.

All the best.   Aly