First German Platoon

For this first platoon, I used all new figures and tried to follow the clean painting style and colour choices on the excellent Crac des Chevaliers blog.

I'm pleased with the result and it is certainly an improvement on my earlier WW2 Germans, painted with lots of dry brushing and with a far too blue field grey, but inevitably it falls a bit short of what I was aiming for. Not quite as clean as I wanted and the varnish has gone satin - not sufficiently mat varnish really is my Achilles heel! 

These took quite a long time. A combination of  trying to follow somebody else’s methods and a strictly defined colour scheme with much less space for making it up as you go compared with my Romans or Italian Wars collection. Ah well - practice makes perfect.

One issue from using a single base for a section, including the LMG team is that you can’t really use prone figures firing a bipod MG42 mixed with upright figures. It looks ok with advancing figures, as below, but I’m not 100% convinced by the standing firing figures. 

I especially pity the loader here, being used as a rest for the MG42. Really hope he has some good ear plugs!

Back to Normandy in 1944

4th King's Shropshire Light Infantry, A Company. 4 KSLI were part of 11th Armoured Division, landing on Juno Beach on D+7 and playing an important role in the division's battles through Normandy to taking Antwerp, liberating the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and ending the war on the Baltic coast of Germany to block a feared Soviet advance into Denmark.

After a sustained effort painting a Late Roman army, I have turned my attention back to World War 2 gaming in 15mm

My British and German forces were based for "Overlord" by Barrie Lovell / Firebase Games. Whilst these are very detailed and have the feel of being realistic and grounded in personal experience of military practice, they don't give a very quick game and max out at an infantry company plus support per player. It seems to me that most identifiable actions in this period were battalion sized so I would like to be able to depict that on the table top with a reasonably playable game and a satisfying sense of scale. 

The question then is: which rules? Convincingly depicting scale seems one of the hardest challenges for WW2 rules. Having two or three infantry figures on a base seems common then different rules use a base as an sub-component of a squad, a whole platoon or a company and sometimes there is no easy way to tell from looking at the game whether you are seeing a company or a brigade.

Overlord has an infantry section as three bases - two rifle groups and an LMG team. A British late war platoon is 14 bases, 45 (independently moving) bases plus support for a company. It is easy to see why it bogs down beyond a company per player! I've just bought the new "O Group" rules from Reisswitz Press which look really promising but has just three bases - as few as 9 figures for a platoon and that just seems too few to to me to look like a platoon. 

A regular opponent and I have been trying to write our own rules with one base per section and separately depicted platoon command and support. I'm therefore expanding and rebasing my collection for these potential new rules or O Group, with 5 figures on an infantry section  base - enough for an NCO, LMG and three riflemen so three bases looks a bit more like a platoon of three squads.

Different platoon representationss. Left to right: three bases of three figures; three bases of my new five figure section bases; three sections plus command, PIAT and 2" mortar and an Overlord German platoon - a British platoon would have an additional base for the 2" mortar. 

As well as rebasing, I needed some additional figures. I painted the earlier figures with a lot of dry-brushing and washes but my painting style has moved on since then and I'm trying to use the clean three layer technique, taking advice on paint choices from the excellent Crac des Chevaliers blog. I started off with a lot of enthusiasm for updating the older figures with webbing and packs to match as well as new high-lights and helmets. After the first platoon though I slacked off to just the helmets and a few high-lights on the battledress. Without the closeup lens you only notice the hats and bases anyway.

Another dilemma is basing style. I've stuck with the same style as for my Late Romans and (more importantly) all my scenery, with one small difference. The sand to provide texture for my British bases was picked up off the beach at Arromanches, so Gold Beach, a few miles to the West of where 11th Armoured actually landed on Juno. 

Late Roman Army for Mortem et Gloriam

 

One of the invariable rules of wargaming with a competition/points based set of rules is that there are never quite enough points for what you would like to do and choices have to be made. Late Romans seem particularly expensive so this restriction bites especially tightly - a good thing for us slow painters as it reduces the number of figures needed!

To field the figures I have painted so far as an army under the Mortem et Gloriam rules, my draft army list is below. I'd welcome criticism of this from MeG players and suggestions for improvement, both with the figures I have already painted and the additions and alternatives I have further down.

I still have some figures left over, some which I am planning to paint, to give me some more alternatives. 

 
Top left is three Legio Heroica Ballista so three bases of light artillery, either as a stand-alone unit or as an option for the three Legions, replacing an infantry base.

Below them some lance and bow armed heavily armoured cavalry with half armoured horses. I have 12 of these and was originally thinking of an extra unit of lance and bow armed loose order cavalry but these don't exist in MeG for the Romans so I thought I'd swap in a couple of fully armoured horses and paint up 8 of them as two bases of close order cavalry to give the option of a 6-base unit of Cataphracts. I can't see me ever having enough spare points to field this however.

Bottom left are some heavy cavalry which I want to use to increase the Honoriani Taifali Iuniores to 6 bases. Unfortunately I only have 5 riders so some creativity will be needed to avoid having to pay a minimum order postage charge on a single 15mm rider!

Top right are 4 groups to expand my 3 Legions and the Petulantes Seniores Auxillia to 8 bases, including one with integral archers. Another option is to buy another pack of legionaries and/or auxiliaries and paint one or two more infantry units for an infantry-heavy army.

Finally, bottom right, 4 more archers to give the option of expanding the Sagittarii Venatores skirmishers to 8 bases.

Late Romans - my original inspiration

In my early days of wargaming I was given the PSL Guide to Wargaming, published in 1980 and long out of print. This contained chapters on various periods, each written by a different person. The chapter on the ancient period was written by Phil Barker, of the WRG, and amongst the illustrations were some photos of his Late Roman army using Minifigs 25mm figures:

'Late Roman artillery with stone-throwing heavy engines and bolt-shooting light engines deployed behind a screen provided by the Batavi. Pack animals and draught oxen wait in rear. The engines are by Hinchcliffe Models.'

'Late Romans in action against their most dangerous traditional enemies, the Sassanid Persians. Persian super heavy and extra heavy cavalry advancing supported by elephants have been countercharged by Roman cavalry. The Persian infantry huddle miserably in the rear, while their light cavalry attempt an outflanking move. The Sassanid figures are obsolete (and that was in 1980!) Miniature Figurines.'

Phil Barker summed the Late Roman Army up with these words: 'Gibbon would have described these as decadent. They would probably have described themselves as up-to-date! Compared with the earlier army described above, they use much more cavalry including super-heavies and horse archers. The infantry have lost their metal armour in favour of moulded leather or none at all, but carry big oval shields painted in colourful regimental patterns, and have added a variety of light throwing darts of very long range to their earlier weapons. Each unit includes a proportion of archers. High quality regular troops can be combined with a variety of barbarian irregulars. A good all-round army and my personal favourite.'

The combination of the rather grainy black and white photos, the captions and Phil Barkers positive comments and personal endorsement had me convinced - I wanted one just like that. The Nottingham Wargames Club, where I was a member, had largely gone for 15mm so I followed suit and started collecting my own Late Roman army but my slow painting, exacerbated by the demands of 'O' and 'A' levels meant that it was still unfinished when I went to University, where other pursuits took over, so it sat in suspended animation for almost 40 years before I picked it up again in late 2018.

'Right wing of Late Roman army formed for battle. Light cavalry of the Promoti and Scutarii on the extreme right, then Catafractarii guard the outer flank of the infantry with the Alani in support behind. Two Palatine Auxilia units, the Cornuti and Victores, form the first infantry line with the Legions of the Lanciarii and Herculiani in support. The Emperor and his bodyguard wait behind the junction of the cavalry and infantry. Figures by Miniature Figurines.'

As I haven't painted my bolt-shooters yet and have neither stone-throwing heavy engines nor Sassanid Persian Super Heavy Cavalry to pose for a photograph, here are some of my Late Romans in more or less the same formation:

Right wing of my Late Roman army formed for photography. Light Cavalry of the Secundo Sagittarii and Promoti Seniori on the extreme right, then Catafractarii guard the outer flank of the infantry with the Honoriani Taifali Iuniores in support behind. Two Palaitine Auxilia units, the Celtae Seniores and Leones Iuniores (probably) form the first infantry line with the Legions of the Lanciarii Galliency Honoriani and Secunda Britanica in support. The Emperor and his bodyguard wait behind the junction of the cavalry and infantry. Figures by Miniature Figurines, Asgard/Table Top Games/Alternative Armies' Isarus, Gladiator Miniatures and Legio Heroica.

More Late Roman Sub-generals

 

These two additional sub-generals are the final elements I needed to field a 10,000pt army for Mortem et Gloriam. 

I wanted to have all three horses in each group with the same gait - either walking or galloping and with all the horses different.

As before, the quality level of the general is shown by the shield colour - the MeG standards of red for 'Legendary', yellow for 'Talented', green for 'Competent' and white for 'Mediocre'. For the army commander and first sub-general, I used a rare earth magnet glued into the base and made the shields out of washers. That gave a really strong attractive force - so strong that the snap as the magnet grabs the washer risked chipping the paint! For these I used the same rare earth magnets but made the shields from a circle of plasticard, backed with steel paper and the dome and boss made from Milliput. This gives a weaker attraction but I think it will still be enough and it is much easier to swap the shields around as needed.

In common with my Late Roman army commander and previous sub-general, the guards have the shield pattern of the Scola Scutariorum Secunda.

The first sub-general is a Gladiator Games rider from their armoured cavalry command group on a Minifigs Byzantine half-armoured horse. Strangely, for a commander of cataphracts or clibanarii, he was modelled with knee-length breeches and open-toed sandals so I covered his legs and feet with a bit of Milliput to give him trousers and shoes / late Roman military sandals. 

The vexillum bearer is a Minifigs heavy cavalryman mounted on a spare horse of unknown origin. I made the vexillum from soldering two pieces of brass rod the glueing on a piece of aluminium foil and a circle of plastic. The design is hand painted and based on a surviving 3rd century vexillum from Egypt, depicted in the Osprey book 'Roman Standards & Standard-Bearers (2)'. For the earlier sub-general's vexillum, I used metallic paint but I found that quite hard to control and achieve the depth and subtlety of tone that I wanted so used shades of brown-yellow this time. I think I prefer the non-metallic metal style for standards.

The vexillum bearer for the second, galloping, group is a Minifigs figure on an Asgard horse. Again the vexillum design is based on one in the Osprey book, with the inscription 'soli invicto' - the unconquered sun.

The vexillum bearer's shield was much smaller than the other heavy cavalry figures. I'd used one of these figures before (Heavy Cavalry: Equites Honoriani Taifali Iuniores) and let it go but afterwards regretted it as it stood out a bit compared to the rest of the unit. This time I made a new shield from plasticard and Milliput. The figure was cast with a mail coat and bare arms but the definition on the mail was very soft and looked quite different to the two Asgard figures so I smoothed it right off and used more Miliput to add sleeves for an un-armoured look.

The sub-general is an Asgard cavalry officer with a spear replacing his mace. The horse is Minifigs - I had two like this but have no idea what pack they came in. His shield is based on a pattern of unknown colour (taken from carved ivory showing 4th/5th C guardsmen) in the old WRG Armies and Enemies book. I chose the colours to pick up on the unconquered sun theme. 

The escorting heavy cavalryman is an Asgard rider and horse, unmodified apart from replacing the cast spear with brass rod and making a new shield boss to match the smaller ones of the other vexillum bearers and guards.

Although I have a few additions and alternatives still to complete, now I have a usable Late Roman army, I'm going to have a break from Romans and switch over to painting WW2 models and making scenery for a while.

Celtae Seniores - Auxilium Palatinum

My sixth and last infantry unit for my Late Romans. As with my previous unit, these are Legio Heroica figures with Little Big Men shield transfers. 

Just two more sub-generals to fill that space at the top right in the picture below to have a usable 10,000 pt army for Mortem et Gloriam.

Tubantes, Auxilium Palatinum (or Leones Iuniores?)

With this unit, (and a sister unit still to be completed) my 4th C Romans enter the modern Wargames world with figures from Legio Heroica and the ubiquitous Little Big Men shield transfers.

Unlike my old Minifigs / Asgard / Gladiator legionaries and auxiliaries, these are actually dressed and equipped according to the current accepted view of the late Roman 'pedes'. The figures are cleanly cast with little flash and good definition and there are a variety of (similar) poses and equipment. The print quality of the transfers is excellent and they are easily applied - the only small niggles are that the centre hole isn't quite big enough for the cast boss on the shields and the outside shape doesn't always match the shields very well but the latter, I think, is down to casting variation of the shields.

These Legio Heroica figures are significantly bigger than the older models and the shields are much bigger. The wire spears are the same length (about 22mm) as those I gave to my Minifigs auxiliaries but quite a lot longer than the cast spears of the Minifigs legionaries, a difference that is increased by being held some way off the ground whereas the legionaries have theirs grounded. 

The figures come with separate steel spears with a needle-like conical point but I replaced these with my usual 0.7mm brass rod flattened and shaped to give a leaf-shaped point. Because the figures are cast open-handed there was none of the tedious drilling out hands and cutting away cast-spears but I still had to do quite a lot of shaping to deepen the grip and even moulding the epoxy glue to get a secure attachment and so it looked like the fingers were wrapped around the shaft rather than it just resting against the open palm of  a hand with unnaturally short fingers. A lot of figures also seem to be a bit lacking in thumbs and a few had badly moulded right hands that needed more reconstruction with Milliput.

Shields are cast separately and in two slightly different sized variants. They are rather thick at 1.1 mm - about 100 mm at full size. I expected this to look really bad but once painted the excessive thickness doesn't look too abvious. I wasn't sure whether to glue them on before or after painting. In the end I decided after to improve access for painting and make applying the transfers easier but that inevitably means I wasted time painting features that will be hidden and have a glue-bond that is only as strong as the weakest layer of paint. 

In theory it is only necessary to paint the centre of the shield boss and the outer rim to match the transfer colours - I found Vallejo Dark Vermillion a close match - but I chose to paint over all the red on the shields to get a similar look to my other hand painted shields. I also gave a few of the shields steel coloured bosses for a bit of variety.

Objectively these are much better figures than the old 1980s ranges based on now-discredited WRG interpretations of equipment but somehow I have slightly mixed feelings about the completed unit. The original point of this army was to make constructive use of figures I'd originally bought with my pocket money in the 80s and never completed. But it also became an exercise in nostalgia and seeing what I could do with old-style basic figures. I was always going to have to buy extra figures for two complete infantry units (as well as a few extras to fill out others) and I thought it would be daft to deliberately buy old, inaccurate figures lacking in detail and with increasing quality problems from tired moulds and masters. Now I feel a bit like I've cheated with these modern figures and they look too different to the rest of the army.

Added on 3 April

After posting some pictures from this post on TMP, one of the comments hi-lighted that there are actually some interesting doubts about which unit this shield pattern should be attributed to. To explain this, I can't do better than quote Colonel Chabert's post:

Concerning the attribution of this particular shield pattern to the Tubantes, Luke Ueda-Sarson has done a lot of analysis of the shield patterns in the Notitia Dignitatum and his conclusion is that there are blocks of shields where the labels (i.e. the unit names) are now out of sync with the patterns. Considering that the copies of the ND we have today are at least 4th generation (Original – Carolingian copy – Codex Spirensis – Current copies) it is entirely possible that such errors may have crept in. One of the blocks concerned is the section of the western infantry units where the Tubantes are found. If L U-S is right, and I think he is, then this shield pattern belongs not to the Tubantes but to the Leones Iuniores. The actual shield pattern of the Tubantes would then be the one ascribed to the following unit, the Salii. These two units were brigaded together as was the common practice for all Palatine regiments. They are both named after tribes of the Frankish confederation. There is also a Tubantes-Salii pair in the Eastern army listing. Interestingly, neither pair has the Seniores/iuniores suffix which was used to differentiate regiments with the same name where, probably, the elder one had given up a cadre to form a second new regiment.
As far as the Leones Iuniores are concerned, they are listed immediately after the Leones Seniores, suggesting that they were both formed at the same time and brigaded together (an unusual but not unique occurrence for Seniores/Iuniores pairs). However Hoffmann proposed that the original Leones (the Seniores) had been brigaded with the Excultatores so where that leaves the Leones Iuniores is anyone's guess.
L U-S's full analysis can be found here: link
Warning: his site has so much fascinating stuff that once you enter you may never leave again so beware!

Cordialement

Le Colonel

I'd seen the same issue picked up by Luke with the shield pattern for my skirmishing archers, the Sagittarii Venatores, so it is doubly embarrassing to have missed this one.