Roman and Alamannic command groups

I'm at the last steps of my work regarding the battle of Strasbourg.

Now it's time to show you my last effort: the commanders.

As I have explained in my last post, I have had to "invent" the generals, due to the lack of specific figures of commanders related to the IV century a.D..

I have used some pieces coming from the Italeri set "Gothian cavalry" both for the Alamannic king (Cnodomar) and for Julian himself.

I have also created a Roman standard bearer carrying a "vexillum" with the portrait of the Emperor Constantius II: at the time of the battle, Julian was "caesar", and not still "emperor".

So, the following is the result of my work: take a look!

Caesar Julian with his "staff"

King Cnodomar and "staff"

Roman sub - General 1

Roman sub - General 2

Alamannic sub - General

 

Alamannic command groups

I'm near the end of my work, so now I need command groups for the two armies at Strasbourg.

Unfortunately in the market there aren't specific models for this purpose, so I have to invent something by myself. 

Speaking of the Alamannic commanders, I have started from the usual Miniart set, but I've taken some piece also from the Italeri "Gothian cavalry" set (nr. 6138).

The latter is very well realized in terms of sculpting and moulding, but there are some important mistakes, such as the stirrups and a sort of "mix" appearance of the models, someone resembling a Gothic, someone other a Roman, someone other also a Mongol ... A strange set, but very well executed, technically speaking.

Anyway, I have changed some pose, in order to accommodate flags in the hands, then I have added crests on the helmets and cloacks to the main leaders.

Most important: I have added the thumb finger to the right hand of king Cnodomar (I hope it will not look like a revolver ...)!

The last additions are made in epossidic plaster.

About the flags, I don't know anything about the shape of an Alamannic or Gothic flag, so this is just fancy ...  

 

 

Julian's light infantry and bowmen

Other small but very important additions to the Roman army at Strasbourg.

I have painted some light infantry units; in the battle line, they were deployed at the left wing of the Roman army, in front of the woods occupied by the Alamans.

All models are from Miniart.

I also painted some units of bowmen, who were deployed behind the heavy infantry first line in order to hit the incoming Alamannic hordes.

This time the most part of the models are from the relatively new Italeri set dedicated to the Late Imperial Legion (nr. 6137), a very nice set indeed.

Romans vs Carthaginians

A couple of days ago another test for my new improvements to the rules with Gianni.

This time the focus was on the manipular tactic, so the choice was almost mandatory: Romans against Carthaginians!

The composition of the armies was quite typical: medium iberian infantry, gallic warbands, heavy african phalanx and lots of medium and light cavalry for the Carthaginian, massive heavy legionary infantry, few medium cavalry and some light cavalry for the Roman.

Carthaginian army

Roman army

The deployment of the armies was also quite traditional: the Carthaginian general placed the Iberians and the Celts slightly forward, in order to get the first strike, and he left the phalanx just behind for the second hit; the medium cavalry was massed on the left, skirmishers and light cavalry on the right, near the small hill (Carthaginians left in following picture).

The Roman general followed the same tactical concept and placed the two lines of legionary infantry (hastati and principes) in the centre, and cavarly and skirmishers at the wings in order to face their african counterparts (Romans right in picture).

The battle began with the African cavalry charging the Roman medium cavalry, the latter heavily outnumbered.

Near the hill, the opposite skirmisher began to fight each other, while the Carthaginian light cavalry decided to move toward the opposite wing, in order to support the medium cavalry.

In the centre, the first line of the legions moved against the Iberians and the Gauls and, after a short while, the clash happened; the first contact was balanced, with the barbarian heat causing some problem to the Roman first line.

At the left wing of Roman army, the Roman cavalry was very soon disbanded and routed by the Iberian, African and Celtic cavalry.

 

While the Carthaginian cavalry tried to regroup after the victorous battle, in the centre the legions began to do their job: the maniples in the second line rushed in battle one by one and for the Iberian and the Celts there was no escape and they began to retreat.

 

The Carthaginian phalanx moved against the Roman lines, in order to avoid the total collapse of the centre in the hope of a quick arrival of the victorious cavarly against the back of the roman lines.

For a short while, the phalanx tried also to extend its front in order to avoid surrounding, but in the very centre the Iberians and the Celts didn't resist anymore, so the legions were able to pivot to their left and to attack the flank of the phalanx.

This was the end of the phalanx and of the battle.

Oppositely to what normally happened in the first part of the Second Punic War, here the Romans were able to break the centre of the Carthaginian army before the returning in the field of the African cavalry.

As you can see in picture, the cavarly was very near to arrive, but just a bit too late ...

Another very balanced battle, with the Romans that won but not without fear; they lost some important units (the whole cavalry and some legionary units) and the Carthaginian too was very near to win.

During the battle, the balance of the rules concerning the manipular support has been a matter of debate between Gianni and me; probably I will slightly modify the rules in order to make less effective the support of the second roman line.

But the system is working very well: now deploying an army in two lines makes sense!

Late Romans vs Alamans

Two days ago, with my friend Gianni, I have played a fictional battle (15 mm.) between late Romans and Alamans with my rules "Magna Acies!".

The focus of the day was not simply to play a battle, but mainly to improve the rules in order to make worth deploying the army (expecially Roman army) in two ranks.

This is what I (the Roman) have made; instead, Gianni (the Alaman) has deployed the Alamans in massed formations, but one behind the other.

The picture below shows this, with the Romans on the left and the Alamans on the right:

 

The Alamannic warbands in the centre begin to push toward the legions which  face them:

The clash happens in the centre, while at the corners opposite light troops are skirmishing (left in picture) and Roman cavarly is prevented to attack due to the presence of a massive formation of Alamannic bowmen deployed before Alamannic cavalry (right in picture):

In the centre, Alamans are pushing very hard against Roman lines, and they are able to gain some important advantage breaking sometimes the Roman first line and forcing some Roman auxilia and bowmen to run away.

But the roman second line is fresh, and it can rush in battle and clash against the tired barbarians, supporting the first line, where still existing:

So, the Roman centre (legions and auxilia) is able to push back the Alamans, and the most important barbarian divison (which was fighting against legions) suddenly takes the flight:

 

Near the river, Roman cataphracts decide at last to charge the Alamannic archers (who run away) and to rush against Alamannic cavalry, suffering heavy casualties:

But we are at the end of the day: Alamans, after a first successful moment, are forced to gradually withdraw, loosing lots of warriors.

The protracted effort of the Roman lines has been able to guarantee Roman final victory!

This has happened when Alamannic player has lost half points of his army.

In coclusion, a very interesting and balanced battle, with a realistic and historical outcome.

After the typical, first barbarian heat, Roman discipline has been able to save the day, due to the deployment in depth of the Roman army.

Lepanto 1571

Today a slightly different topic.

In a foggy day in Venice, we have refought the battle of Lepanto, which has been fought between the "Holy League" (including Genova, Venezia, Spain, the Pope, etc.) and the Turkish Empire in 1571.

We have used my rules "Capitano da Mar" (Captain of the Sea, the name of the Admiral in the Republic of Venice), which I have developed for this particular period of naval warfare between galleys.

The outcome of the battle has been surprisingly historical: the Christian right wing was near to collapse, but the centre of the Holy League was able to capture the enemy flagship and to kill the Turkish Admiral, Alì Pashà, then the Turkish fleet took the flight.

Very nice Langton models, owned by my friend Gianni.

Take a look!

The Turkish centre

The opposing fleets

The central match

Christian flagship

The outcome: the Turkish flagship burning!

Julian's Roman Illyrian Cavalry

As I said in my previous article, after horse archers and cataphractaroi I've moved to the medium cavalry of the army of Julian.
I've used MiniArt models, which I consider far better than the Hat models, even if the sculpting is not so deep; however, in terms of anatomy and historical research the MiniArts are first class.
Unfortunately the mould was not so good, so I had to peel off a lot of excess plastic form the models. 

It seems that the most distinctive units of this kind were the so called "equites illyriciani", kind of troops raised in Dalmatia.

They probably were medium cavalry in the right meaning of this term: they were able to perform both fire at distance and shock tactics.

The "Notitia Dignitatum" lists at least two units which probably match with this kind of cavalry: the "Octavo Dalmatae" and the "Dalmatae Passerentiaci", both of them stationed in Gaul.

For this reason I have decided to represent the shield of these two units, to which I added the shields of a third unit, also stationed in Gaul: the "Honoriani Seniores".

I hope you'll like my pictures!