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Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Ancient Spanish (Iberian) Project

I've wanted to paint up an Iberian army for some time. Before I pitch in, I've asked esteemed Spanish historian Antonio Banderas to give us an overview of the Iberian army. He told me that my page views will double, on account of his animal magnetism.  So, take it away, Antonio...

¡Buenos días! So you want to learn about ancient Iberia and the ways of love, eh? Oh, I see. You Americans only want to learn about Iberia. That is not so surprising to me.  Very well.  A quick show of hands if you've read Plutarch's account of Sertorius in Lusitania. No? How many of you are familiar with Iberian weapons? No? Can anyone point out Iberia on a map?  Do any of you know what a map is? Oh my.  Since this is a remedial class, I'll speak slowly enough so that even Arizona State University alumni can understand.

The Iberians lived in tribal communities on the Mediterranean coast of Hispania. Their coastal settlements facilitated extensive trade with the Phoenicians, Greeks and Carthaginians...as well as much desired tan and ruddy complexion.  Which is why the Romans invaded.  Yes, our silver mines were attractive but the real draw was our sunny beaches. And our knowledge in the ways of love. Italian men boast that they're the best lovers but everything they know, they learned from us! I've uploaded a map of Hispania with Iberia colored in gold.  ASU alumni may color in the rest of the map for extra credit, assuming you all haven't eaten your crayons.


Historians describe 2 kinds of Iberian warriors and 26 kinds of Iberian lovers.  We only have time to discuss the warriors so I'll start with the Scutarii. They carried a broad oval shield known as a scutum and generally fought as heavy infantry.  
The second kind of Iberian warrior was the Caetrati, who carried a small round buckler called a caetra.  They generally fought as light infantry.



Many Iberian warriors favored the Gladius Hispaniensis, a stabbing sword  so effective that Rome shamelessly copied it. Our complaint is still pending before the WTO so don't think for a minute that we've forgotten.  
Some warriors favored the falcata, a 2 foot curved sword that was capable of crushing helmets and lopping off limbs.  As for myself, I use mine to shave with.  Feel my cheek...smooth as a baby's bottom, no?  

The fearlessness and sword skills of the Iberians made them fearsome warriors.  They served Hannibal well during the Second Punic war and were much sought after as mercenaries. Need I mention that they were also the greatest lovers the world had ever known? But I digress...

People think Iberians fought exclusively through raids and ambushes and were incapable of sustained stand-up fighting.  Professor Fernando Sanz rebuts these assumptions in his superb paper "Not so different: individual fighting techniques and battle tactics of Roman and Iberian armies..."  linked here.  He demonstrates that Mid-Republican Romans and Iberians fought in a similar fashion and that Iberians fought pitched battles in close-order formations. It's an excellent read if you have a few minutes and download-worthy if you don't.

Which brings me to my last point. There's a reason Roman and Iberian armies were not so different. Simply put, the Italians were copycats. They loved our scutum shields, gladius swords and javelins, so they copied them. They loved our beaches, our tan, ruddy complexions, and our ways with the ladies. Since they couldn't copy that, they occupied our lands to be more like us, spending HUNDREDS of years subduing Hispania. Long before Napoleon, we were a Spanish Ulcer for the Roman empire!

I'd like to direct my final comments to the Americans. Your country, she is 243 years old, no? You must be very proud of her. Of course you are! Oh, did I mention I live in a fine Spanish house that is 550 years old? Think about that. ¡Hasta luego!

26 comments:

  1. Oh Antonio! So sexy and so knowledgeable! You make this straight guy consider turning! ;-)

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    1. LOL! Hey, I'm supposed to be making you laugh, but its the other way around here! I'm afraid I have some explaining to do to Mrs. Rosbif.

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  2. A very informative & entertaining post, I didn't realise Mr Bandaras was such a knowledgeable guy, pass on my thanks to him!!

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    1. Well, the man behind Puss in Boots is a man of many talents, so he tells me. ;-)

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  3. Antonio Banderas with a shield and a spear, that could be a great idea for the interview...
    Nice and unusual post!

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    1. Hey Phil!. He could slay the ladies, that's for sure. I get a little professorial at times (not intentional!) so I thought I'd try something, ahem, different.

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  4. Hi Monty Banderas,

    we will wait impatiently your painting work on the Xyston figures ;-)

    have a nice paint work!

    Cheers

    Gilles

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    1. Gilles! Thanks sir and I promise this winter I'll be using the inking method on a new, surprise army. I just put in an order for Essex with a friend today. Always looking forward!

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  5. Brilliant post -funny and informative. I had a Spanish FOG army and they absolutely whipped the Carthaginians twice. They were distinctly 'average' but.the numbers counted - especially the skirmishes in rough terrain.

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    1. Thanks Phil. That's what I was shooting for!. One day I would so love to push lead with your club. Especially if I can win with Spanish! On paper, they'd have 1 chance against Offensive Spearmen...win at impact and disrupt. Failing that, they'd lose their sword bonus to spear and it would be tough. If my game plan starts with "roll really well," I'm basically screwed.

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  6. i will follow this new adventure
    good painting

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    1. Marco, if I could port these fellows through time, we could do a
      FoG N mashup of Spanish versus Ottoman. I'm afraid the Spanish wouldn't be very effective in the shooting phase!

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    1. Thanks Dal! I did use a smaller palette of colors in this irregula army. That's something I've picked up from your 15mm armies of years past. Over time, I'd also like to pick up some of your skills with the brush!

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  8. Hahaha....excellent Monty.
    I love Spanish armies, great to play and lots of fun. I've had a few in the past. I'm also about to embark on painting up yet another one ( 28mm Crusader this time )......couldn't help myself when the metal came my way at the right price.
    Look forward to the progress reports Antonio.

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    1. I will so love seeing your 28mm Spanish. I'd like to move up to it but right now, there's only one person I know who plays 28mm ancients and 8 who play in 15mm. Like in a man's younger days, you go where the action is.

      And I keep looking for a hot lead on cheap 28mm lead and coming up empty. Where are these deals I keep hearing about? ;-)

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  9. Love it, love it, love it. The world needs more Antonio on the scutum.

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  10. Thanks Fire! I'm going to name one of my four commanders Antonio, just so his spirit will carry on in this army.

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  11. Looking forward to seeing the project come alive and those Falcata's sure look wickedly brutal!

    Christopher

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    1. I was thinking last night that if I was the Iberians, I'd want my first wave to go in with the falcata to wreck those orderly Roman mantiples.

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  12. That was funny, good luck Monty, all hail Antonio!

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    1. Thanks Lurker! Puss in Boots, Iberian historian...what will the man do next?

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  13. Awesome to hear about this project. I have had hundreds of CB Spanish sitting around since FoG was released and this could be the inspiration needed to finally get started on them.

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    1. That is excellent! I ALMOST went CB. Not having to glue on 200 shields and drill out hands for spears is a big plus. I really like the look of the CB figures. No pressure but I'll be watching for this! And while we won't know for 24 hours, I do think the list has been boosted out of the gutter.

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  14. Absolutely brilliant and hilarious! :D Greetings from Portugal!

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    1. No Vember, you've made my day! This was one of my more clever and inspired posts. Blogging being what it is, it fell off the front page to rarely be read again. I'm glad you liked it! Its a fascinating period of history and I hope to be able to paint another ancient Spanish army again some day in 28mm. Cheers and greetings from the frozen Minnesota!

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