Since I left you last I have been steadily building and painting my Imperial Roman Legion. The good news is that several units are now beginning to take shape and a big push over the next couple of months should see the bulk of this army completed.
As a reminder my legion will consist of the following
10 cohorts of heavy armoured Imperial Roman infantry. With
Warlord figures readily available at a cheap price on eBay these have been my
go to range. For the best discounts check out the big army boxes. There will be
some of you out there that will wax lyrical about the Victrix models and I can
testify that they are beautiful but when building these big armies sometimes
quality has to be sacrificed for cost.
Each cohort will consist of 20 figures with four to a base.
The bases (warbases) are 5cm x 5cm giving the overall frontage of each unit
25cm. This is consistent with the basing used for the Britons. I understand
from some simple research that the first cohort was numerically twice the size
of the others so it will be double ranked with 10 stands (same facing). This
means I need a total of 220 legionaries…..and guess what, the good news from
the Shed is that aside from command, standards and musicians they are all
painted.
The bases still need painting and grass added
I also discovered that a typical legion would have 60
scorpions (light artillery) so it seems entirely reasonable to put one scorpion
with each cohort as a separate base. I have 8 warlord scorpions available and
two from black tree. These are yet to be assembled etc.
This infantry core is going to need some support so in the
plans I have set out the following
Three units of Imperial Roman Cavalry (these are sourced
from Victrix). Each pack delivers sixteen horse and riders and with my units 10
figures strong I can field the three units and have two riders spare for
command stands. The figures have all been assembled and painted. Just waiting on their horses.
Five units of Auxiliary infantry (Warlord Plastics) –
to cater for the lack of command stands I will press into service some spares I
have from the standard legionary boxes. These are all now painted and dipped. Just need to be based and shields added
Three units of archers, these are mix of warlord and black
tree metals. There will be two western style and one eastern style unit. No progress on these yet
Finally there are a couple of extra units to be thrown into
the mix
One unit of Praetorians (warlord) – a large cohort (40
figures/10 bases) has been assembled and primed. I appreciate the Praetorians
rarely saw campaign action but they look nice and pretty. Status – assembled
and painted - to be based and shields added
One unit of Marines (warlord) – this is a standard unit of
20 warlord legionnaires that will be given blue tunics and the spare hexagonal
shield that came with the Roman cavalry. Status - assembled and Primed.
part 3 here
Finally there will of course be the usual rag tag of
commanders and officers
More soon
Every wargamer needs a Roman army at some point. Splendid stuff.
ReplyDeleteWill we see maximus and his doggo?
ReplyDeleteWow, quite the project and well done!
ReplyDeleteWow, impressive as always!
ReplyDeleteLooking forward to see the end result!
What an awesome sight!
ReplyDeleteYou could also add some heavier field artillery to your force. What really stands out is the planning and historical accuracy you have summoned to this project. Outstanding job, sir.
ReplyDeleteExcellent work and thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI’m at about 40% of what you got so far.
Need to paint cavalry, archers & scorpions next.
In your research about the scorpions, did you find anything about their deployment? Did they get grouped together or where they scattered between the cohorts?
I’m asking because I’m thinking of basing them in groups of 2 or 3 per base
DeleteHi Maldrac - All I have found to date is that they had 60 scorpions per legion. My gut feel tells me that in open battle they would have these assigned to each cohort in support ie six per cohort. For sieges (think Maiden Castle) I suspect they were formed up as a grand battery.
DeleteMy plan is to give each cohort one scorpion
Hi Erik, thanks for sharing.
DeleteWill you be basing them together with the cohorts or have the scorpions On single bases?
I guess I could just wait for your next update 😎
Each scorpion will be on its own base...more soon
DeleteThanks! Excited to see more of it :)
DeleteGood to see a well planned project ongoing.
ReplyDeleteI suspect the Scorpions would be withdrawn before contact, perhaps well before. They would be both vulnerable and in the way. Where they went after is anybody's guess
Great Job good to see..!
ReplyDeleteDedicated hosting