28mm Early Imperial Roman 2nd Legionary Cohort

As I Plod on with painting my Early Imperial Roman army the pictures below represent the second Legionary Cohort of the Legion 'Legio XX Valeria Victrix'. The transfers are available from 'Little Big Man Studios'. 

There is a theory that the number of discs on the standard carried by the cohort ensign represents the numerical status of the cohort e.g. the 1st cohort would have 1 disc, the 5th cohort five and so on but contrarily it used to be thought that the discs represented battle honours. I'll be honest I have no idea if any of these are correct.

One standard bearer and one Cornicern wear bearskins over their armour. The Commander has a cream and brown crest with seagull feathers in his helmet. I chose red for the uniforms mainly due to having painted the Republican Roman Legionaries tunics cream on earier Blog Posts. I'll leave more colourful tunics to the Auxiliary units.

Job done, next I have a Roman Ballista to finish, then the 3rd Legionary Cohort when Adam at Aventine Miniatures sends them to me.

All the Best and Happy Painting,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Auxiliary Infantry Cohort

 This Auxiliary Infantry cohort will be the second Auxiliary infantry unit after the archers posted earlier. Using WRG 6th edition army lists, this unit represents 'Light Heavy Infantry' with javelins.

Figures are from 'Aventine miniatures' EIR range.

All the Roman infantry cohorts have 24  figures and 12 figures in the cavalry cohorts. Shield transfers provided by 'Littlebigman studios', I've added a dirt effect with pigments sealed with varnish.

Based on plasticard with textured filler and small rocks, earth tones were painted on the bases with grass tufts finishing them off. Base dimensions are 20mm frontage and 30mm depth give them a looser formation than the Roman legionaries.

Next will be the 2nd Legionary Cohort, then the artillery.

All the Best,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Emperor Marcus Aurelius and Emperor Lucius Verus & the Praetorian Inner Guard.

This piece was just finished and varnished today 😀 This will form my command stand with bodyguards, all the miniatures are 'Aventine miniatures'. The square basing is to allow the command stand to be incorporated into the battleline if necessary.  The standard with a 'Victory' atop could either be used for the Army Standard or the Emperor's personal standard. Shields are hand painted, I may replace them with transfers in the future.

Historical note; Lucius was Emperor alongside his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius from 161AD to 169AD, whereas Marcus ruled from 161AD to 180AD.

I wanted the Emperor's purple cloak to look distinctly different from the reds and blue cloaks of the staff, so I painted lighter tones of purple.

All basing has a 60mm frontage, depth usually 20mm except for the Emperor at 50mm. 2mm and 4mm Grass tufts are home made which I recommend everybody makes their own using a flocking box.

Next on the painting bench is a cohort of Auxiliary infantry, then artillery and a couple of cohorts of Legionaries.

All the Best,

Peter

28mm Early Imperial Roman Archers

 This will be the fourth unit completed for my Early Imperial Roman army based on a 15mm minifigs army I had at school many years ago, based to 'Wargames Research Group' 6th edition rules bases are 20mm frontage per figure and 30mm depth. Representing an Auxiliary Archer cohort in western dress, minis supplied by 'Aventine miniatures'.

 

The command stand carries a draco standard, regarding the officer I may swap out the head in the future. 

All the bows have strings made from FINE EZ Line 100 in black, this stuff stretches and is used by aircraft and ship modellers, it is a bit pricey but the advantage over normal line is it retains its shape even after being banged about on the wargames table, it also glues rapidly in its stretched state when you use super glue.

Anyhow I'm currently finishing off my Emperor's command stand and a small group of Praetorian Inner Guard.

All the Best,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Cataphractarii

Hi I've finished the final cavalry unit for my Early Imperial Roman army, these Cataphractarii are very heavily armoured horsemen in the Palmyran style carrying the 12 foot long Kontos but no shield, at 1/56 scale I made these lances 65mm in length.

The Roman Cataphractarii were near invulnerable but ponderous trot-charging cavalry introduced into the Roman army by Aurelian and greatly expanded by Constantius II. Inspired by one of Romes enemy states; Palmyra whose cataphracts caused some much consternation among Aurelian's army. The horse armour could be bronze or iron, the riders really didn't need a shield as they were almost completely covered in armour of various types.

Based to 'Wargames Research Group' 6th edition rules these 'Super Heavy' cavalry have a frontage of 15mm per horse and a depth of 50mm, the depth allows staggering of the horses so they can comfortably fit on the narrow bases. My usual basing effects are applied including the 4mm tufts made using a flock box which I thoroughly recommend.

Anyhow I'm just waiting for Aventine minis to send my the remainder of the Army through the post. The Army commander Marcus Aurelius and his Praetorian Guard should be finished next. I did acquire a Ballista stone thrower from Warlord Games so that's on the painting table at the moment.

Have a Great weekend,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Legionary 1st Cohort

 At last I've managed to finish  the Roman 1st Cohort of my Early Imperial Roman Army introduced in the last blog post. Being the senior cohort of a legion it holds the Imperial Legions' Eagle carried by the Aquilifer also known to be the Legions paymaster.

These legionairies are clearly confused by the meandering road, Roman policy dictates that the locals need educating in the necessity of straight lines and therefore straight roads.

These miniatures were aquired from 'Aventine Miniatures', after painting them in enamels, oils and acrylics, I based them on plasticard, four figures to a base, frontage 60mm, depth 20mm to conform to my copy of 'Wargames research Group' 6th Edition Ancient rules. 

This Early Imperial Roman wargames army will initially be only 1250 points as detailed in a forthcoming blog post.

Next on the painting table is a unit of 12 Cataphractarii, a unit of 'Super Heavy' armoured Cavalry, in a very compact formation.

Also I have a hankering to paint up a Biblical New Kingdom Egyptian Army while I wait for the remainder of my Aventine Romans to be delivered.

All the Best for now,

Peter.

28mm Early Imperial Roman Equites 1st Cohort - circa 193AD

 Hi there, I hope everyone is doing fine, I've come back to this blog after a 15 month long hiatus due to other challenges of which the current pandemic is just an additional problem to deal with.

Anyhow I'll be posting new work on here starting with a new Early Imperial Roman Army mostly using figures acquired from Aventine Miniatures. The inspiration was to copy my very first ancient army I built at school many moons ago but this time in 28mm rather than 15mm which is all I could afford as a kid. 

So here is my interpretation of an Early Imperial Roman Equites or Cavalry cohort heavily armoured and ready for battle.

 

 

 

Comprising 12 Heavy Cavalry of an Auxiliary Equites Cohort based on plasticard to Wargames Research Group 6th edition rules base sizes. The grass tufts are 4mm which I produce myself.

The figures were acquired from Aventine Miniatures over in Northern Ireland, Adam at Aventine is slowly moving stuff from his old website to a new website shop so not everything is available at the moment.

The next cohorts in this army will be a Cataphract cavalry cohort, an Auxiliary Infantry cohort, a Legionary Infantry cohort, an archer cohort and a General's command stand possibly the Roman Emperor Septimus Severus or Marcus Aurelius. I'm hoping this will be a good start to my collection. The Full army list with be presented at completion due to possible alteration in its compostion as the collection progresses.  

Over the weekend I'll be finishing off some 28mm World War 2 British command figures, I'll see how it goes.

All the best and stay safe :)

Best Regards, Peter