Punic Wars Roman Encampment

 

Roman command tent. Don't mess with these guys.

Click on pictures to enlarge

As is my want, I like to set up dioramas and vignettes on my game table for a variety of reasons. One reason is to take figures that I have not seen for awhile and get them out of storage and on to the table top. Another reason is to set out my armies for a project and make an assessment of its progress at this point in time.

John Jenkins Designs 54mm Republican Roman

I have placed my Punic War Carthaginians and Romans on my game table to see how things are looking, project wise, and I set up a camp or town vignette for Team Roman.

Two Republican Roman legions form up on the field of Mars.
Armies In Plastic 54mm Romans.

Giving equal time to Hannibal and his Carthaginians, as one is want to do.

Most of the figures shown in the vignettes are either 54mm or 60mm John Jenkins Designs or King & Country figures plus a few odd figures from hither and yon thrown in for good measure. I like to peruse the internet looking for likely inhabitants of my camp and town vignettes. The first picture below shows a strategy meeting among the Roman high command.

Julius Caesar (I know, he wasn't in the Punic Wars but he looks good in the vignette),
a Senator and a Tribune are checking out a map at the commander's tent.

Roman engineers at work

Scipio Africanus greets some of the townsfolk for an "interview".

The town center next to the Roman encampment

Question time. A Roman tribune interrogates some of the local citizens
to gain information about the Carthaginian army.

Stay tuned for more pictures over the coming days and weeks.

Roman Legions On Parade

 

A unit of Republican Roman Triarii figures from John Jenkins Designs. 
Scipio Africanus can be seen in the back row, on horseback.

Last week I cleared the Carthaginian army off of my game table because I decided that it was time to give the Romans some equal time on my blog. So this post is an update on the progress that I have been making with the painting of my 54mm Republican Roman army.

My Roman army will be divided into several legions (legio), each comprised of 12 Velite skirmishers, 32 Hastati, 32 Princeps, and 24 to 32 Triarii. The quality of the troops improves from the front (Hastati) to the back (Triarii). The Hastati are lightly armored with just a pectoral plate on their chest and one greave on the left shin. The Princeps generally wore chain mail and were considered to be veterans with more experience than the younger Velites and Hastati. Finally, the Triarii formed the third line of the legion in battle formation. The Triarii were the older and most experienced soldiers in the legio.

Two Roman Legiones or Legionibus in battle formation.
Velites at the front, followed by Hastati in white tunics, then in the second row are the Princeps in red tunics,
and Triarii in the  third row.

The above picture depicts two Roman legiones: red shield on the left and yellow shield on the right. The John Jenkins Designs Roman Triarii are stand-ins for the yet-to-be-painted yellow shield Triarii. Each Roman player in my game will command one legion.

My initial plan was to have two legiones so as to have sufficient room on the flanks for cavalry and general movement. However, I now plan on adding a third legio with green shields. As long as the legiones are deployed in three row there will be sufficient room on my 12-feet long game table to deploy the infantry and cavalry without having "edge of the world" secured flanks.

Isn't this how it usually goes? You plan on a moderate sized army, but once you start collecting the figures and painting them, you feel a need to make the army bigger. Three Roman legiones is enough. No, I really mean that.

I find that setting up the painted/completed units on my game table keeps my painting mojo going. Over the course of several weeks and months I can see the growth in the army. I can also see what still needs to be painted in order to finish the army.

Here is a picture of the various Roman units deployed in the checkerboard formation, representing maniples or cohorts.

I generally paint the cavalry in my armies last. I don't know why, I just do it that way. I think that I like to see how the main component of the army (the infantry) is growing, while cavalry can be a pain in the neck to paint.

Some HaT Italian Allies cavalry serving with the Roman army.
I found these on eBay and plan to touch them up with paint and
give them a first class, fully terrained base.

Here is a picture of the Roman cavalry contingent on the left flank.
Italian allies on the left and Romans on the right.

Overhead view of the Roman army as of today.

Here is a picture of the red shield Triarii that I finished last week. The two movement trays in the front row were  painted awhile ago. Then I discovered that the Triarii figures are out of stock and additional figures are as hard as hen's teeth to find. I hit the jackpot on eBay when I found the 16 additional figures that I needed to bring the legio up to 32 figures. I also acquired enough Triarii figures from another collector to add a 32-figure yellow shield Triarii unit. I am working on this unit right now and hope to have it completed next week.

Roman legiones of the red shield legio. These are HaT figures.

Next in the painting queue are another dozen Velites skirmishers for the yellow shield legio. And then maybe I will be in the right frame of mind to tackle the Roman cavalry.

Salve!

The Romans Are Worried

 

Scipio Africanus and his proteges observe the growing threat of Hannibal.
John Jenkins Designs 60mm Republican Romans.

The Romans have been watching the recruiting and training of Hannibal's army with great interest. The Senate has sent Scipio ( he hasn't acquired the name "Africanus" yet) to Hispania to observe the Carthaginian siege of Saguntum. The Senate prepares to declare war on Carthage and start the Second Punic War.

I finished painting 16 Roman Triarii a couple of days ago, adding to the 16 Hastatii that were the first Punic Wars figures in this project that I painted.

My first HaT Triarii figures. Alas, only 16 of them rather than 32 figures.

Painted samples of two Roman Triarii on the left and one Velite skirmisher on the right.
One of the Triarii figures is "converted with paint", using a Hastatii figure and painting chain mail over his red tunic.
Can you spot the ersatz Triarii figure?

I need to find a way to increase this new Triarii unit from 16 to 32 figures. I found another 8 figures from a trading forum, bringing the unit up to 24 figures. The remaining 8 figures that I require will likely have to be conversions using some of the HaT Hastatii figures. I have "converted with paint" one Hastatus figure by painting part of his tunic black and then spotting it with a metallic color to give it the appearance of chain mail. I think that when I mix in the conversions that they will not be noticeable. 

Another of my blog followers found two boxes of HaT Triarii and that is enough figures to make a second unit. Thank you my friend.

Raw Roman recruits (say that ten times in a row) line up as they await their new uniforms. These are all Hastatii.

HaT Roman Hastatii are lined up in formation. These are all Hastii figures, wearing only an iron breast plate for protection. Since each box of figures contains four different poses, I grouped the poses into four units, all having the same pose.

I leave you with several pictures of the John Jenkins Designs Republican Roman Triarii figures. These are actually 60mm figures.

Triarii shield wall.

The Tribune and his Cornecer stand in front of a maniple of Roman Triarii/

Scipio seems quite pleased with this maniple.
John Jenkins Designs.

You Always Remember Your First - Romans That Is

 

Scipio Africanus, surrounded by a centurion, cornicer, and signifier, plus a Triarius holding the large red shield.
These are John Jenkins Designs figures. The two figures on each end are HaT Roman Hastati that I painted.

The other day I painted two samples of the HaT Roman Triarii figures. These are what you and I would likely call "Legionaries" because they wear chain mail protection and carry large shields, etc. They were the third line of the Republican Roman battle formation. The first line was comprised of skirmish infantry called Velites; the second line was manned by Hastati; and the third line was anchored by the armored Principes and Triarii soldiers.

A pair of HaT Industrie Roman Republic Triarii, painted by me.

The reverse side of the figures.

These two samples were really fun, fun, fun to paint and I expect to have 16 painted by early next week. The shield designs were copied from the box art that comes with the figures. I suspect that the design is for the early Imperial Rome period but I wanted to give it a try. No one makes shield transfers for these figures in 54mm so the shield designs have to be painted freehand.

Shamelessly Begging For Figures

Sadly, the HaT Roman Triarii figures (set 9017) are no longer in production so the one box of 16 figures in my possession will likely be my only unit of these types of soldiers. Sigh (as Stokes would write). There must be thousands of them "out there" in either painted or unpainted form, but I have had no luck in sourcing any more of the figures. I have been scouring the world looking for these figures from distributors in places such as the UK, France, Germany and Australia, with no luck. If you happen to have any painted or unpainted HaT Triarii, then get in touch with me and I will gladly withdraw vast amounts of Dinarii from the Roman treasury to send to your barracks.

Visit to the Old Toy Soldier Show

Yesterday I visited the Old Toy Soldier Newsletter (OTSN) soldier show in Schaumburg, Illinois. Once a year, collectors of, well, old toy soldiers, convene with their wares to sell and buy and trade figures. I hoped that with all of the plastic figures for sale that I would find a box or two of HaT figures. I had no such luck but I did make a few, ahem, purchases while I was there. These included a display of 30mm Elastolin Vikings/Saxons attacking a castle wall defended by some Normans. The set include the Elastolin siege tower, which is hard to find and I had wanted one of these back in my youth. It also include a trebuchet, catapult and several mantles. I was very happy with this purchase. I didn't take any pictures, but will do so after I unpack the figures and set up the diorama.

I also purchased a 54mm section of the Alamo barracks that looks like it could used in my Sudan and Khartoum games
; some 54mm knights of Agincourt, and some John Jenkins Designs Republican Romans (including Scipio Africanus himself). The latter is expensive but how could I pass on a Scipio figure - a gift to myself. The company also makes a Hannibal figure that I will likely purchase in the near future. I also bought a pair of 40mm war elephants (with Howdah and two spearmen, plus a mahout), painted, that fit in nicely with the HaT elephants that I already have.

Scipio Africanus (mounted).
John Jenkins Designs

Afterwords I visited the Games Plus store in nearby  Mount Prospect, IL to pick up some primer and paint supplies for my Punic Wars Project. I am fortunate to have a really excellent Old School type of hobby and game store within a thirty minute drive from my house. The four cans of Vallejo grey primer and a can of spray gloss coating should last me through most of the project. I foresee a visit to Pet People to look for some aquarium Greek or Roman ruins to use for 54mm game terrain.

And finally, a preview of the next unit of Carthaginian Lybians that are currently on the painting table.

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