A Long, Cold Winter

Hi everybody, It is good to be back! This winter has been, for various professional and personal reasons, a very odd season. I have been obviously distracted from the hobby as I have dealt with both fantastic and difficult circumstances these past six months. Things seem to be sorted at the moment and I am returning to a life that will not only be happy, but filled with plenty of time available to once again pursue this hobby that I enjoy so much.

I hope the handful of readers that I had before my abrupt departure are still around and that you are still well. I'll be visiting your blogs and checking up on your progress over the next few days. ;) As much as I have missed painting and gaming, I have missed interacting with the community just as much. Time for me to get caught up.

I have been  back at the painting table working again on my Roman Republic army while listening to the Ancient Warfare podcast. That is some good inspiration! Below is a WIP of four Roman principes that are nearly complete (figures by Aventine).

Maps of Rome, Carthage and the Punic Wars

I have a great love for maps and so over the past year I have enjoyed gathering and saving various maps related to my current Punic Wars project. Some of these maps give a fantastic overview of the region at the time, some show the expanse and retreat of the Roman and Carthaginian empires, while others map the specific troop movements and battles of the wars. These maps will be extremely useful for planning and playing a campaign with my Roman and Carthaginian armies once they are completed.

I thought I would gather these maps all up into one post for others who may be interested in these as a resource.

General Maps of the Region at the Time of the Punic Wars

Map of the Mediterranean from the Punic Wars to Mithridates

Map of North Africa in Ancient Times

Map of Italy

Roman Expansion from 264 to 180 BC

Maps of the Hannibal's Invasion

Hannibals' March with Battle Locations

Hannibal's Invasion Route

Josheph Minard's Classic Graphic of Hannibal's Invasion

Battle Maps of the Punic Wars

Battle of Cannae Initial Phase

Battle of Cannae Middle Phases

Battle of Cannae Final Phase

Battle of Trasimene

Battle of Trebia

Battle of Zama

Principes Preparation

Next up for the Republican Roman army is two small units of principes. Like the other figures in this army, these are all by Aventine Miniatures. I decided to represent the entire unit wielding their gladii rather than having any pila in the mix. Aventine provides all of these figures with the sword arm detached, which allows for a wide range of attack poses which is a very nice touch.

Prepping models isn't one of my favorite aspects of the hobby, and so I choose to do it it small bunches -- usually just enough to complete a single full unit. This is very likely a much slower process in the long run than preparing a full eighty figures at once, but it breaks up the un-fun into manageable chunks.

The Aventine figures are great when it comes to getting them ready for priming and painting. There are very few seams or cast lines - and those that do exist are very faint, easy to remove and are never on the face or other vital pieces. Most of the work seems to be getting their bases flat and even.

Command: A Roman Tribune Directs the Primus Pilus

The first command stand for my Republican Roman is complete. Seen here is one of the legion's military tribunes directing the primus pilus. Six tribunes command the legion, each taking turns for two months at a time to be in the overall command. The tribunes received their orders directly from the consuls. The primus pilus, or senior centurion, was the very first of the legion's thirty elected centurions. With them is a signifer carrying a standard with an image of a laurel wreath. Affixed atop the standard is the a scene containing the Capitoline Wolf and Romulus and Remus.

The Second Unit of Hastati

This second unit of Roman hastati has joined the Legion today, ready to march out against the Carthaginians or other enemies of the Republic.

A Roman Centurion

This is the completed centurion for my second unit of Roman hastati. Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus, writing in the 5th century, makes this comment about about centurions in his military tratise De Re Militari:

The centurion in the infantry is chosen for his size, strength and dexterity in throwing his missile weapons and for his skill in the use of his sword and shield; in short for his expertness in all the exercises. He is to be vigilant, temperate, active and readier to execute the orders he receives than to talk; Strict in exercising and keeping up proper discipline among his soldiers, in obliging them to appear clean and well-dressed and to have their arms constantly rubbed and bright.

One interesting point about the centurions that I did not know prior to some research: the different color and patterns of the plumes worn on the helmets of the centurions were an important identifier and rallying point for soldiers of that unit.

This figure is by Aventine Miniatures.

Work on the Hastati Continues...

I was finally able to start putting paint to the second unit of Roman hastati after a busy summer at both work and play. These figures paint up rather quickly and nicely - so it shouldn't be long before another unit is finished. I'm looking forward to getting enough Roman units done so I can field both sides of a (small) battle and get my brother involved in some historical games with me.

In other news, I just finished reading The Forgotten Legion by Ben Kane. It wasn't as inspirational as I thought it might be, but it was entertaining enough that I have purchased the second title in the series to continue the story. I'll put up a full book review very soon.

Roman Hastati Completed

After what seemed far too long due to a summer vacation I have completed a unit of the Republican Roman hastati. All of the figures are by Aventine and were a real pleasure to paint with great detail and dynamic poses. This unit will be fielded as a small unit for games of Hail Caesar. The hastati, which were the younger (and poorer) front-line soldiers of the Republican army, have been given the Drilled special rule which allows them to make a free move even on a failed order as well as moving through friendly units without risk of disorder. Both will be exceptionally useful.

This base, for the time being, represents a single maniple. The maniples of the Republican army were comprised of two centuria, each led by a centurion and assisted by an optio, the signifer (standard-bearer) and the cornicen (horn-blower). I chose only to represent the centurion and signifer with actual figures since I wanted to keep the number of "fighting soldiers" higher for aesthetic reasons. Once I have completed enough of these units, a single base can then represent the smaller centuria.

A Roman Signifer

This figure is a Roman signifer for my nearly completed unit of Republican hastati. The signifer was a critical component of the military command structure and carried the important signa of his centuria into battle. The centuria of the Roman army was the smallest disciplinary unit of the legion (the smallest non-disciplinary unit within the legion was the tent group or contubernium, composed of eight men who shared a tent, a mule, and eating equipment) with two centuriae comprising a single maniple. The most ancient standards employed by the Romans is said to have been a handful (manipulus) of straw fixed to the top of a spear or pole. Hence the company of soldiers belonging to it was called a maniple.

The signa served the very practical military purpose as a recognition signal and a rallying point within the chaos of a battle field. The importance of the signa is shown by the numerous phrases and commands which express the movements of the legion: signa convellere, efferre, tollere is 'to strike camp'; signa proferre, when the whole line advances; signa constituere, 'to halt'; signa convertere, 'to wheel round'; a signis discedere, signa deserere, 'to take flight'; signa referre, 'to retreat'; signa conferre, 'to engage in hand-to-hand combat' and also 'to rally'; ad signa convenire, 'to re-assemble'.

But the standard had a second, and I would argue an even more significant, purpose that found its roots deeply planted in military ideological, symbolic and religious meanings. Affixed to the staff of the signa were the military decorations that the fighting unit had won in battle for acts of courage, military successes and martial prowess. This prominent and permanent display of these awards strengthened the pride, unity and brotherhood of the unit. The standard of the centuria became so critical to the ideology and adoration of the soldiers that a cult of the signa would later appear. This military cult ascribed sacredness to the signa and introduced worshiping the standard as a deity. Soldiers decorated, anointed and even made sacrifices to the signa during certain military ceremonial events.

A Hastatus of the Roman Republic

This is a completed Hastatus for my Republican Roman army. I have been carrying this color scheme in my head for quite a long time now, and I thought I had better finish up a single figure before getting too much further on the rest of the units to be certain that the colors would work well together. I really like how it turned out, especially the way the gold contrasts beautifully with the darker colors.

The photos were taken with a brand new Tamron 90mm f/2.8 macro lens that I picked up earlier today. I should be able to get some very nice photos of my painted models and games with this lens. I'm still learning it, but so far I love it!

Colors used:

	Vallejo: Flat Flesh
	Vallejo: Dark Red
	Vallejo: Burnt Cadmium Red
	Vallejo: Vermillion
	Vallejo: Old Gold
	Vallejo: Bronze
	Vallejo: Burnt Umber
	Citadel: Lich Purple
	Citadel: Chainmail
	Citadel: Abaddon Black

Roman Velites Complete!

A busy week saw me complete the Aventine Velites this morning for the Republican Roman army. These are fantastic models to paint and I am very happy with they way they turned out. I thought long and hard on how I wanted to create the bases, knowing only that I wanted to do them differently than the Carthaginians. I ended up using ground cover (fine and medium ballast) that I purchased some time ago from the local Railway hobby store to give the ground some contrast in colors and textures which breaks it up nicely.

This is two small units of Velites for Hail Caesar, which represents half of the number for a full Republican legion in my scheme of things. I am painting half of the legion at a time so I can play some small battles with these Romans sooner rather than later. They are based on two 100mm x 30mm bases.

Thanks for looking. Next up, the Hastati!