Welcome to my Ancient Wargaming page
I'm a Romanophile, pure and simple. Five years of High School Latin and Classical Studies, four years of University
Classics and copious readings of Sutcliff's Eagle of the Ninth and Breem's Eagle in the Snow didn't leave me much
option when it came to deciding on the armies I wanted to assemble for my foray into ancient wargaming. Of course
Asterix the Gaul had no influence whatsoever, really it didn't...
Getting Started
Blame Phil Barker. If it wasn't for his Airfix Guide to Ancient wargaming which was written reasonably coherently
and entertainingly, I would have left Ancients to the senior wargamers at the Wellington club. I played a little bit
of 4th Ed WRG and moved into 5th Edition as one did in those days. 6th Edition was more of a bust for me because by
that time, the scenario game was on the way out, with competition games and frankly crap terrain abounding. 7th Edition
lost me completely, coming as it did while I was more interested in roleplaying and Advanced Squad Leader. I looked
at DBM for a while when it first came out (DBA passed me by) but wasn't interested as I'd sold all my 15mm armies again
(oh to have kept hold of all the armies I sold over the years) and it was still written in Barkerese and dominated by
amendments and interpretations galore.
I returned to DBM recently with the release of version 3 and picked up a couple of painted armies to play with. I'll
never be an equal AP competition gamer, it just doesn't suit me, and the scale of DBM is just a tad too large for my
tastes. However the rules can be tinkered with and some of the suggestions from the DBM Heretics site appealed to me.
The one thing I do like is the disappearance of individually based figures, and double-based elements just look so much
better on the tabletop. So with no need to comply fully with the strict competition mindset, I've been looking at
double-basing most of the foot elements just for the aesthetics of it. I've also been impressed by the availability of
such era-specific sets of rules such as Comitatus, Glutter of Ravens and Legio VI. This is where I want to focus my
gaming on, scenario gaming set in a particular region and times.
Scale
At the moment and for the foreseeable future I'll be staying with 15mm scale. The reasons for this are cost, ease of
transport and time. It takes me 12 manhours to paint each individual 28mm figure, even using the assembly line method,
and given the state of the pacific peso, I just can't justify paying around a thousand bucks and then spending the better
part of a year getting them painted to a standard I'd be happy with. There is also the fact that already being a 15mm
specialist in other periods means that I can use my terrain interchangeably between periods, a major advantage in my view.
Then there is the rise of manufacturers such as Alain Touller, Corvus Belli and Testudo as well as the old faithful
Essex and TTG which constitute most of my existing armies.
I also have a couple of projects which are far better suited to 15mm than 28mm for now: modelling part of the Antonine
Wall/Hadrian's Wall in 15mm is far more achievable for me as a modeller and the terrain boards I'm building for my other
15mm periods are definitely going to be suitable for Ancients gaming as well. The project I'm working on with regard to
the terrain boards will form part of a separate area of this web-site, complete with photos and scenarios. Suffice it to
say, that it involves "Disguised Scenarios" and actual battlefield terrain from battles throughout history, with
modifications to suit the individual requirements of each period in terms of architecture and look.
Armies
I've only got four armies started at this point at this point, and they are in various stages of completion, but the idea
is to gradually build up matched pairs tthat are mutually consistent in terms of basing. This way I don't have to worry
about people supplying armies that don't match mine and it also allows me to set up a game for others as an umpire in a
kriegspiel type variant.
- Ancient Spanish
- Marian Romans
- Early Imperial Romans
- Late Imperial Romans
As you can see I am still to assemble opponents for most of them. However with the Roman predilection for civil wars, that's
not really an issue to cause me too much concern. The priority is to finish the existing armies off in terms of basing, painting
and a coule of extra figures I need to buy (the wargamer's wallet is always empty!). The next lot of armies will be taken from
the following list:
Ancient Briton- The AB Panzer Division - it's amusing, and it looks pretty en masse
Sub Roman Briton- AKA Sub-Human Britons in DBM circles - Artorius and the fall of the North appeal
Caledonian Pict- Needed for the Great Conspiracy Invasion
Ancient Gauls- There's this small village in Armorica, you see...
Early Germans- Warbands and Varus - what's not to like?
Sassanids- These guys just look way cool and they have Elephants!
Parthians- Zenobia, 'nuff said
One thing I will be doing is assembling the rear echelon type elements for each army so I will be able to play scenarios other
than the usual pitched battle between opposing battle lines.
Manufacturers
I'm going to be building my armies primarily from Testudo, Alain Touller, Corvus Belli, Essex and some of the old TTG ranges.
This is because of availability and the sheer beauty of the newer ranges. You'll find links to the Maufacturers' web-sites and to
the suppliers I purchase from in the Ancients Links page once it is complete.
Rules
I use four rules sets:
DBM 3.0 with many modifications,
Comitatus,
A Glutter of Ravens
and
Legio VI. I'll discuss each set in increasing depth as I get more familiar with them, but for now, I'll be
providing some notes on modifications I've made to allow me to use all my armies for them. This will mainly be a comparison of
basing types and in the case of Legio VI the conversions to suit 15mm figures (the rules were designed for use with 6mm).
