Warlord Plastic Caesarian Romans Preview

[Notts Gamer]

Yes. Legionaries of every century were trained to use slings etc. Terribly useful when employed in foraging, scouting, defending the camp, laying siege to someone else's....

Although given the space needed to employ a sling it wouldn't be very useful in formed ranks.

OMG does this mean that Romans where capable of changing order and not so rigid as rule writers would have us believe......

Just out of interest how easy would it have been to throw a pilum (with any momentum - e.g. enough to go 20 yards or so) in wargames 'close' order?

Whilst I welcome the 'new' idea of Romans using sling (though I believe that Auxilia were allowed a proportion in ye olde WRG rules) - I would love to see the figures loading the sling replete with scutum and pilum.....

[Smithy]

Good to see a decent sized shield!   Adam

[jamesmanto]

OMG does this mean that Romans where capable of changing order and not so rigid as rule writers would have us believe......

Just out of interest how easy would it have been to throw a pilum (with any momentum - e.g. enough to go 20 yards or so) in wargames 'close' order?

Whilst I welcome the 'new' idea of Romans using sling (though I believe that Auxilia were allowed a proportion in ye olde WRG rules) - I would love to see the figures loading the sling replete with scutum and pilum.....

Now whether they were particularly adept at fighting in an open order is another thing. And could they go into skirmish order and then reform while on the battlefield like a Napoleonic Rifle battalion? Probably not.

Although Caesar notes that the Pompeian legions in Spain had adopted a 'looser' style of fighting from the local tribes. What that means is open to heated debate. It was considered unique, interesting and comment worthy however.

Legionaries being sent out in light order to scout/forage would be a different game from cohorts being sent out to break German heads.

James

[Notts Gamer]

I once got into quite a long debate (with a very knowledgeable sparring partner) during the writing of Warhammer Spartacus, as to whether the Roman player should be allowed to opt to have a unit ditch its armour and pila and for a ‘task specific purpose’ and be turned into ‘light’ infantry.

Apparently, there is some example (in the back of my mind) about the Romans assaulting a Numidian Hill fort and the centurion, standard and trumpeter ditched the armour & shields and snuck up to the back door. Now whether these three fellows really mean three individuals or are interpreted as a cohort, is debatable.

I have always been concerned about the lack of light troops (and to some degree cavalry) between the Velites going and Auxilia being formed.

My sparring partner, first argued (conventionally) that the only light troops would be allies/mercenaries, then insisted that the Roman (xenophobic) mentality would not allow foreigners to be brought into Italy during the Third Servile War.

When fighting overseas, it makes more sense to use locals as light troops, but the problem with the Spartacus revolt was that the Romans were the home team

I do not believe the Caesarean Romans (or any other nation) were as tactically inflexible as we gamers seem to think.

[axabrax]

I like these. It would be great if they were larger to fit with my Foundry stuff, but why would they do that? If they do, they will be too big in comparison to all the barbarians they make. Probably makes more sense from a seller's perspective to keep them small and in scale with the rest of their ranges, so they are internally consistent and mixable. They alos want us to ditch our old figs to buy theirs, which is why they were so small in the first place...

[commissarmoody]

There are many cases of the Romans fighting in looser formations, look at Marcomannic wars. Aurelius (His commanders more likely) fielded troops in looser formations to help combat the smaller raiding parties of Germans in the dense woods.
We tend to only look at the major battles and leaders, but you history is any guide, you don't have an Empire with out some kind of bleeding low intensity conflict going on at least some were.
Now yes the late Republic and Early to mid Imperial straight was its Heavy infantry. I say that with the amount of enemy's and cultures and fighting styles they had to deal with, more often then not. Combat would have been light skirmishes, and I could see Legionarys ditching some of there kit to be lighter in these cases. 
But of course if you have units of Auxilia, that specialize in light infantry warfare I would totally use them instead.

[jamesmanto]

As we can see from the Napoleonic Wars and the 19th cent. skirmish lines work best if supported closely by some formed infantry for them to rally on/hide behind. I can see in such a low intensity war you'd still need a cohort of close order legionaries to support your tribal allies/ auxiliaries even during raiding or outpost type skirmishes.

But I can also see the legionaries ditching their armour and doing some of that skirmishing too.

So the guys with slings I'd be happier if they were unarmoured. Or just used for defending/attacking a fort.

Meh. It's just one piece on a sprue too. No one says you have to use 'em!

James

[Calimero]

Does anyone know if there’s a comparison pic of these figures somewhere on the net? I can’t find any…

[Sir Barnaby Hammond-Rye]

Last night I compared the photo in Hail Caesar of the Imp Scorpian to that of the new Caesarian version and though the angle is slightly different the new figures do seem a bit better sized.

[Aventine]

There is one shot at the bottom of this entry.


http://www.sdean-forum.co.uk/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=33857
Cheers

Keith

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Great painting there.

I'm still unsure if I like how they turned out. They did look quite  good being big pre-cast sculpts, now after down scaling I see a sort of a clumsiness on the movement of the figures there. Especially on this guy:



Though the centurion is a very cool figure. And a great set of bits, very useful for conversions. Sooner or later will have to buy one.

[Calimero]

Glad to see that these are 28mm rather than 25mm… thanks for the link

[einarolafson]

Sorry about the quality. I've just token these to show a fast comparison pic.


Left to right: Aventine, Warlord Games, Foundry, Wargames Factory.

Left to right: Aventine, Warlord Games, Foundry, Wargames Factory.

Hope that helps.

[Dr. Kevin Moon III esq.]

Thats really helpful, thankyou.

These look like a great set.

[ahc56]

Just found this thread.

Does anyone have any ideas what you should do with the Warlord Caesarian legionaries who are armed with swords "in hand" - yet the models have them still in their scabbards? I contemplated hacking the hilts off but I cannot see how this can be done neatly (I am not that skilled). Do I just turn a blind eye to the fact that Caesar has given his men two swords! Any ideas welcome please.

Thanks
PS Celts need not reply!