28mm Late Republican Roman - Civil War.

28mm Late Republican Roman - Civil War.

Julius Caesar's Army.

After finding some time and an empty space to paint, I thought it was a good time for me to start finalizing Julius Caesar's army for a Late Roman campaign I've been planning for some time.

Usually starting from the top down, the plan was to complete Caesar's command base, then his German bodyguard cavalry (apparently he mobilised 300 of them) then 2 veteran Gallic legion cohorts (of which one at least was to be a detachment of the famous Xth Legion ) then two other legionary cohorts, some Gallic mercenary cavalry and mercenary archers (Cretan) and finally a camp vignette.

So here goes, Caesar was bought on ebay as a 'Companion Miniatures' pack together with some Roman cavalry. Only 6 German bodyguard cavalry were required, to make them unique I smuggled in a 'Wargames Foundry' German Romanized officer and converted 3 remaining cavalrymen to Germans by replacing their heads with heads from 'Black Tree Designs' German warrior range. It was just a case of drilling and pinning these together, the result seem to work out fine. A suitable dour uniform was picked for them (as was common for Ancient Germans) but they still retained a mix of Roman equipment and their German style shields.

Caesar's German bodyguard cavalry black-washed.

Caesar's German bodyguard with their dour uniform and mix of German and Roman equipment.

Having painted Caesar himself numerous times over the years I decided this time I would break with convention of having him with a red cloak and red tunic, this time he'd wear a purple cloak with gold laurel border indicating his imperial ambitions and yellowish tunic with blue decoration. With hair greying at the temples, this gave him the image of a mature, experienced statesman and battle hardened military commander, I had a problem with picking his horse, apparently Romans liked the idea of their generals riding white horses, I'd prefer to paint a grey or black horse. So I propose to do both and pick the best.

Caesar primed and under-painted.

Caesar Almost done, just his horse to paint now.

Legionaries of Caesar's Xth Legion washed in hard-wearing black enamel paint, ready for their undercoat.

The Two veteran legionary cohorts will be somewhat undersized compared to their less experienced colleagues comprising 20 figures each..

legionaries based with  grass tufts I produce, now  just the shields and pilum to add

to be continued....

28mm Late Republican Roman Army

Hi There, I've decided to have a go at finishing some of my Romans, I have two Roman armies at the moment.

The first is a Late Roman Republican Army, the second is a Ceasarian Roman army both are from the Civil War period  and can either be combined into a larger force or can fight a civil war campaign against each other.

The Late Republican army is based upon the army that fought Julius Caesar, consisting of Roman legionaries and a number of allies and auxiliaries including at least one elephant, Numidian light cavalry, Gallic cavalry, Spanish cavalry and light infantry skirmishers (caetrati). The army is finished but I'll try to increase the detail on command figures and maybe add a camplife vignette etc.

Loyalist Roman legionaries ready to do battle against Julius Caesar for the Senate.

All the shields are handpainted - I don't use transfers.

Cavalry contingent consisting of Gallic mercenaries.

The Command stand (Wargames Foundry miniatures).

Light Cavalry provided by the Numidian Ally Juba I.

A small African Forest elephant crewed by Roman Legionaries (elephant manufactured by Aventine miniatures, all the crew are Foundry miniatures).

                                    Late Republican Roman Army 1000 points WRG 6th edition rules

Late Republican Roman Army 1000 points Wargames Research Group 6th edition rules.
No.59 Late Republican Roman Army, Romes Civil Wars.

1 commander in chief @100 points = 100 points

24 Armoured Legionaries, 'Regular C', Heavy Infantry, HTW, Shield @ 6 points = 144 points
1 regular command factor @ 10 points = 10 points

24 Armoured Legionaries, 'Regular C', Heavy Infantry, HTW, Shield @ 6 points = 144 points
1 regular command factor @ 10 points = 10 points

24 Armoured Legionaries, 'Regular C', Heavy Infantry, HTW, Shield @ 6 points = 144 points
1 regular command factor @ 10 points = 10 points

24 Armoured Legionaries, 'Regular C', Heavy Infantry, HTW, Shield @ 6 points = 144 points
1 regular command factor @ 10 points = 10 points

8 Spanish Caetrati Javelimen, 'Irregular C', Light Infantry, Javelins, shield, @ 3 points = 24 points
1 irregular command factor @ 25 points = 25 points

6 Spanish Medium Cavalry, 'Irregular C', Medium Cavalry, javelins, shield, @ 6 points = 36 points
1 irregular command factor @ 25 points = 25 points

6 Gallic Medium Cavalry, 'Irregular B', Medium Cavalry, javelins, shield, @ 7 points = 42 points
1 irregular command factor @ 25 points = 25 points

6 Numidian Light Cavalry, 'Irregular C', Light Cavalry, javelins, shield, @ 6 points = 36 points
1 irregular command factor @ 25 points = 25 points

1 Elephant with unarmed driver & 2 crew, Heavy Infantry, Javelins, sh @ 40points = 40 points
1 irregular command factor @ 25 points = 25 points

Grand Total 1019 points

Reprints of the Wargames Research Group (WRG) 6th edition rules are available at: http://www.wargaming.co/recreation/details/pb6thedition.htm

Alternatively checkout ebay.co.uk especially for the three books of army lists.