In 2021, I have been on an epic quest to complete painting Republican Roman armies to help support the Wars of the Republic release from Osprey. My first pass, was painting up an Early Republican Roman force circa the transition of the Second Samnite War. This was the classic Triplex Acies army, but with less uniformity and no Hamata! The second step was a Mid-Republican Army that still used the Triplex Acies but had a much more uniform appearance as the State took over providing equipment.
 |
| All on the shelf.... |
After finishing up the Mid-Republican Army in Lorica Hamata (Chain Mail) I knew I needed to bulk up my Roman Light Infantry. I wanted to paint up some actual Velites with wolf pelts and all to supplement my Early Roman Skirmishers. With the kits I had, I was able to put together 2 units of Velites.
As you can see, I used a variety of tunic colors, roman sandal colors, shield covers, and even varied up the colors of the wolf pelts. One of the velites I had to make a wolf pelt out of green stuff since I ran out of the pelts from my Victrix kits.
I felt comfortable calling these guys done and ready to fight on the table.
That led me to the next stage of painting up models. I wanted to paint up some more Lorica Hamata clad Romans. However, these guys were to be used as a Late Republican Roman army such as that fought in the Civil Wars or even against Spartacus. At this point, the Romans were phasing out the Velites and Cavalry from Roman sources. Instead they were using more mercenaries and tribute troops to fill out these roles.
The heart of Heavy Infantry remained Roman citizens though. The ranks were opened to even the poorest classes of citizens and equipment was provided by the state. They no longer fought in the venerable Triplex Acies. However, as we see in the Third Servile War, lower ranking politicians would still recruit local, Militia legions or as Crassus showed more senior and Veteran legionaries could be called up as well.
From there, I followed my normal approach to undercoating in white, batch painting the flesh, painting the sandals in 3-4 different brown colors. From there, I broke them out into units and started painting.
The Skirmishers were again painted with various tunic colors to represent their varied, poor, and "bring what you have" nature. The Militia Legion I painted in the same colors as the Hastati so I can use them to bulk out my Mid-Republican army if I wanted. Legion regulars were red to be able to mix with Principes as needed. Finally, the Veterans I painted with the dark plumes of the Triarri from my Mid-Republican force.
Then, I based all the models with brown paint and scatter lichen. I painted their shields as the Mid-Republican forces on the sprue. Once done, I took them off the sprue and placed them on the models.
Viola! A Late Republican Roman Force to fight against the enemies of the Senate or for their own General. I look forward to using these guys to help test out my Revolt! The Third Servile War which will be my first supplement for Wars of the Republic and providing a more detailed campaign for fighting the war against Spartacus from beginning to end.
With these guys done, I can move onto my next project.... Vikings for my Fury of the Northman project. I have all ready started building some, so here is a quick preview.....
I am also using left over parts from my Greek, Vikings, and Roman armies to start to assemble an Etruscan force to face off against my Men of Bronze Greeks and Wars of the Republic Early Romans.
Remember, your support makes this all possible! Thank you for your help! Every purchase of a Blood and Spectacles product from the Wargame Vault or Osprey lets me keep building games for you to play!
Blood and Spectacles Wargames Vault Page
No comments:
Post a Comment