Mid-Republican Roman Army

Mascius · Post by **Mascius** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:20 am

Greetings,

I bought the Mid-Republican Roman Starter Army from Old Glory 15s. The price was great and the quality seems pretty good to me.

<rant>Why don't these sites have decent pictures of their minis? I was trying to compare quality with some of the other manufacturers but ended up deciding on price because they didn't have photos. </rant>

I'm looking for some advice on painting and basing.

There are 4 poses of Hastati: 2 poses marching and 2 throwing pilum.
There are 4 poses of Principes: 2 poses marching and 2 throwing pilum.

My thought is to do 2 bases of Hastati in front and then 2 of Principes in back for the battlegroup. I'm wondering if I should use all the same pose on a stand. At least for the marching pose it gives a nice regimented look. This is my first Ancients army in this scale so I assume regimented is okay for the Romans. Possibly mixing the throwing poses or staggering the figures just a little to give a sense of running forward and throwing.

To differentiate battlegroups I could have one that had all throwing poses and the other all marching. Does anyone paint the battlegroups differently to tell the apart? Different feather color or shield color? And would this make sense or would an entire legion be dressed identically?

The velites have three poses: 2 with wolf skin and 1 without (but the mix is 4 figures with 4 without). I could do one battlegroup with all wolf skin and one without to make it easier to tell the groups apart. Or just mix the figures together randomly. Opinions?

The triarii come with loose metal rods to make the long spears. Any thoughts on how to create the spear tip?

There is a nice mix of extra standards and musicians in the command bag. Is it appropriate to add these in to the regular bases or save it strictly for the command stand?

Phaze_of_the_Moon · Post by **Phaze_of_the_Moon** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 3:44 am

In principal they should be all dressed identically, in practice they had to source their own uniforms so there would be a lot of variation and were often the worse for wear.

Each shield should have the number of the cohort, the maniple, and the name of the legionary.

A cohort is 480 men so two bases. Each maniple and cohort had a distinctive standard. Cohorts 2, 4, 7, and 9 are the new recruits. Cohort 1 (and some times 3 and 5) are the elite veterans. Cohort 1 got rear support from 6, 2 from 7, 3 from 8....

kustenjaeger · Post by **kustenjaeger** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:38 pm

Greetings

Phaze_of_the_Moon wrote:In principal they should be all dressed identically, in practice they had to source their own uniforms so there would be a lot of variation and were often the worse for wear.

Each shield should have the number of the cohort, the maniple, and the name of the legionary.

A cohort is 480 men so two bases. Each maniple and cohort had a distinctive standard. Cohorts 2, 4, 7, and 9 are the new recruits. Cohort 1 (and some times 3 and 5) are the elite veterans. Cohort 1 got rear support from 6, 2 from 7, 3 from 8....

You are talking about Later Republican/Principate I think? Cohorts are only mentioned briefly in the 2nd Punic War IIRC and possibly anachronistically. I'm not aware that we know very much about Mid Republic (ie pre 105BC) shields.

Regards

magedoc · Post by **magedoc** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 2:50 pm

I have to agree that it is frustrating and bizarre that the miniature sites cannot post pics of their figures in this day and age. I am far from being a computer guru, but I can still find a way to take a pic of a 15mm piece of lead with my cell phone and upload it to a site. Why cant these guys do the same? Especially, when this is their business. Ok, that now ends my rant

Ironhand · Post by **Ironhand** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:10 pm

I have seen folks paint each "Legion" with a different tunic color and shield color (say red for one Legion and white for another). I believe some of the pictures in the rule book are painted that way. They look good but how historically correct it is I don't know.

On the subject of spears, I suggest you buy a pack of spears from Xyston. They are also metal, but one end is formed into a lovely leaf-shaped spear point. They're long enough to be pikes, so you'd need to trim them to the proper length.

Ironhand · Post by **Ironhand** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 8:12 pm

magedoc wrote:I have to agree that it is frustrating and bizarre that the miniature sites cannot post pics of their figures in this day and age. I am far from being a computer guru, but I can still find a way to take a pic of a 15mm piece of lead with my cell phone and upload it to a site. Why cant these guys do the same? Especially, when this is their business. Ok, that now ends my rant

I quite agree with you Magedoc. I hate buying troops "blind" as it were. There's no excuse, especially when some manufacturers (Xyston for instance) have very large and clear photographs so you know exactly what you're buying.

will05 · Post by **will05** » Thu Mar 20, 2008 11:07 pm

"The triarii come with loose metal rods to make the long spears. Any thoughts on how to create the spear tip?"

I use very thin brass rod for my spears. I file the end quickly to a rough point and, up until recently, put the end between two metal plates and hit it with a hammer. Recently though I discovered amongst my tools what I suppose is a wire flattener and that does the job much easier.

stingray · Post by **stingray** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 12:47 pm

Hi.

I'm going to do the mid-Republican starter army. I was going to do 2 BG each of Hastati and Principes, being deployed in two Battle lines (Principes in front with Hastati behind). The Principes would include a base with Command figures (Signifier, etc). So, my starter army would include 2 signifiers; is this too much from an aesthetic pov, or would it look OK?

Cheers,

Steve

NealSmith · Post by **NealSmith** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:01 pm

I was having the same problem comparing 15mm Gauls... I'm probably going with Corvus Belli because they had pictures and Old Glory didn't.

Also, the Old Glory description of what was in the army didn't sound like it was varied enough. Too many of the same pack. The CB figures are more specific to the actual army list, IMO...

willb · Post by **willb** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:47 pm

i would have to agree that i would like to see photos of the figures before buying also. however, there may be a cost factor for the manufacturer as the more web space they need for their site the more it costs and pictures do take quite a bit more space then text. they may also not want to post photos of unpainted lead.

hammy · Post by **hammy** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:57 pm

A bit of googling revealed http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~kuijt/miscel ... ew.html#OG

They aren't as nice as CB but if you are in the US they may well be sufficiently cheaper to be worth a look.

NealSmith · Post by **NealSmith** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:25 pm

hammy wrote:A bit of googling revealed http://www.umiacs.umd.edu/~kuijt/miscel ... ew.html#OG

They aren't as nice as CB but if you are in the US they may well be sufficiently cheaper to be worth a look.

Yep, these 2-3 were the only ones I could find too.

nikgaukroger · Post by **nikgaukroger** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:28 pm

NealSmith wrote:
I was having the same problem comparing 15mm Gauls... I'm probably going with Corvus Belli because they had pictures and Old Glory didn't.

Might be worth dropping OG an email to tell them this - may encourage them to get pictures up

dougredshirt · Post by **dougredshirt** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 11:59 pm

I got some of their Gauls the other day and was pleasantly surprised. As soon as I finish up my Romans, I will start working on the Gauls to add to my Carthagenians. They remind me alot of my old Minifigs. Once I get them painted I will see if they mix okay.

madaxeman · Post by **madaxeman** » Sun Mar 23, 2008 4:26 pm

http://figureativelyspeaking.blogspot.c ... -ii49.html

I found this one for Marians

Mascius · Post by **Mascius** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 2:09 am

Good link. One of his earlier posts is right on the money. http://figureativelyspeaking.blogspot.c ... -post.html

Those are the minis in the Old Glory 15s Mid-Republican Roman starter army. Great pics and painting. I will be using that post as my painting guide.

madaxeman wrote:http://figureativelyspeaking.blogspot.c ... -ii49.html

I found this one for Marians

Waylander · Post by **Waylander** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:37 am

Hi probably a bit late as you have probably sorted it. Punic War Romans are my favourite. I have had circa 20 Punic War armies over the years in both 15 & 25mm. Have one at the moment which i got from GB. As far as the early Roman armies go if you want them to look good which should not be hard you should have a mix of different posses in each unit. The early Romans did not have State supplied uniforms so would have been in many different colours none of which would have matched. The equipment although provided by the state would in fact have been handed down from father to son. Much of the equipment would have been captured from enemies of which their were many. The shields would have been the same shape as the oval Scutum of the later periods but would more than likely be individualy styled similar to the Greek City States. All this means is that you can have a very attractive looking army with a multitude of poses. as for the Velites in fact the Wolf pelts were probably a mark of rank or distinction. Its highly unlikely that all Velites would have run around with a bit of Wolf Fluff on their heads as they would have been a bit warm in the summer.

All the best

Robin

Waylander · Post by **Waylander** » Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:38 am

Hi probably a bit late as you have probably sorted it. Punic War Romans are my favourite. I have had circa 20 Punic War armies over the years in both 15 & 25mm. Have one at the moment which i got from GB. As far as the early Roman armies go if you want them to look good which should not be hard you should have a mix of different poses in each unit. The early Romans did not have State supplied uniforms so would have been in many different colours none of which would have matched. The equipment although provided by the state would in fact have been handed down from father to son. Much of the equipment would have been captured from enemies of which their were many. The shields would have been the same shape as the oval Scutum of the later periods but would more than likely be individualy styled similar to the Greek City States. All this means is that you can have a very attractive looking army with a multitude of poses. as for the Velites in fact the Wolf pelts were probably a mark of rank or distinction. Its highly unlikely that all Velites would have run around with a bit of Wolf Fluff on their heads as they would have been a bit warm in the summer.

All the best

Robin

CoyotePBEM2 · Post by **CoyotePBEM2** » Thu Apr 17, 2008 1:00 am

Web hosting is cheap as a business expense. Payroll would be a bigger cost of getting pictures of an entire miniature line on a website.

It's still worth it and not an excuse, in my opinion.

flameberge · Post by **flameberge** » Fri Apr 25, 2008 4:09 am

I've had the same problem finding OG pictures. I was thinking of buying some OG Carthaginians but can't find any pics. Anyone have any opinions on OG carthaginians, especially the elephants?