Triarii

I put my Mid Republican Roman project on the back burner when I got my Pontic figures.  It's been  gnawing at  me that I have a MRR army without Triarii so when I put in another order of Xyston figs from Brookhurst Hobbies, I added these and got them painted in short order.

I've belatedly concluded that while I can run my MRR army without Triarii, their A discipline makes them essential by allowing them good odds for  double and triple moves. Like their historical counterparts, I plan to hold these boys in reserve until a crucial moment in the battle. With a little bit of luck, they'll move out in double or triple time to smash their opponent in the mouth or better yet, the flank.  At least that's the way I imagine it in my head. Reality is often different on the tabletop.

Cretan Archers & Balearic Slingers

Cretan Archers:  Cretan archers were held in high esteem in the ancient world as mercenaries and many Cretans made a good living by serving away from home.  Alexander the Great employed Cretan archers on account of their excellence with the bow.  Cretans carried a distinctive small bronze pelte or shield.  Purportedly, Cretans boys began training with the bow at seven although they wouldn't have the upper body strength to draw a composite bow at that age!    

These units will pull double duty in my Impetus armies.  The Pontic list does not include Cretan archers. In that army, the figures will represent ordinary archers who happen to have found and armed themselves with  small bronze shields.  The Middle Republican Roman list and many other armies of the period allow Cretan Archers so they'll appear as intended when I field those armies.  

Balearic Slingers:  These mercenaries from the Balearic Island were expert slingers.  They employed slings of three different lengths, depending on the range needed. Purportedly, they trained from infancy in order to earn their livelihood as mercenary slingers.  The Greek geographer Strabo wrote "And their training in the use of slings used to be such, from childhood up, that they would not so much as give bread to their children unless they first hit it with the sling."  While the story is likely fiction, the idea that Balearic parents pushed their sons to train so that they might earn a living abroad is probably factual.   Lack of resources and lack of opportunities at home likely motivated the men of Rhodes, Crete, Balearic  islands to train in the art of war and serve abroad.  

These Xyston figures will pull double duty as the Pontic list doesn't have Balearic Slingers but does call for slingers.  Also, these are my first troops to be based in verticle.  Up, up and away!

Pontic Scythed Chariots

For those of you who've been following this blog for awhile, you'll recall that I once had a habit of eating my dessert before dinner.  While my wife has broken me of this particular bad habit, I do still have a tendency to pick out my favorite figure(s) and paint them up at the start of a project rather than at the end as logic dictates.  And that's why the Scythed Chariot is up first!

Despite the fact that chariots had not dominated a battlefield since the 4th BC, Mithridates set about building and training a force of 130 scythed chariots in anticipation of his upcoming war with Rome.  These chariots were used in 3 battles during the first Mithradatic war against Rome.

Battle of Amnias: Scythed chariots were first put to use against the Roman ally King Nicomedes and his Bithynian army during the Roman Bithynian invasion of Pontus in 89 BC.   Nicomedes met the Pontics at  Amnias, where Appian relates that the Pontic scythed chariots were "driven at high speed into the the Bithynian ranks. Some men were sliced into two within an eyeblink, others were practically shredded. The army of Nicomedes saw men in two halves, yet still alive and breathing, others sliced to pieces, their mangled organs still hanging from the scythes.  They had by no means lost the battle, yet the sight was so hideous that they were overcome with confusion and fear disordered their ranks."  The Bithynian army broke and the subsequent rout and slaughter continued unabated until nightfall.  By then, half of their forces were dead and the survivors had surrendered.

Battle of Chaeronea:  Here the Pontic army faced the crack Roman commander Cornelius Sulla and his 5 veteran legions.  Sulla maneuvered the Pontics into crowded and uneven ground in a mountainous region.  Pro-Roman Greeks showed the Romans a hidden path that led to a position high above the Pontic  encampment. From there, Romans rained down stones on the encampment, forcing the Pontics out into the plains in disorder.  In the ensuing chaos, the Pontic commander launched 60 scythed chariots at the approaching legions, hoping to replay the shock charge that routed Nicomedes. The chariots trickled out in  disorder and failed to get up to speed in the confined, rocky spaces.  Plutarch reported that the Romans burst out  laughing and simply stepped aside, allowing the chariots to pass between them to no effect. After passing through the legions, the chariots were cut down by javelinmen that Sulla had placed in the rear. The legionaries howled with derision and mocked their enemy by demanding that the next set of chariot racers come out to the race.

Battle of Orchomenos: The Pontic commander gamely put his scythed  chariots on the field of battle one last time.  Frontius recorded that the Pontic attack was drawn up in three lines. The first consisted of the scythed chariots with the goal of disordering the legions.  Close behind them were the Phalangite phalanxes.  Behind them followed the freed Italian slaves armed as auxiliaries.

As the chariots hurled towards the Roman line, the legionaries stepped sideways and backwards to reveal rows and rows of stakes driven into the ground at sharp angles to impale horses and drivers. After the lead chariots crashed to their doom, Roman javelinmen rushed up to harry the chariots which had avoided the stakes by turning around. In panic and disorder, these chariots crashed into the Pontic  phalanx in the 2nd line and further disaster ensued.  It must have been a hellish scene.

In Impetus, the Scythed Chariot is an Impetuous unit, meaning that once it's activated near the enemy, it goes out of control and starts moving towards the nearest enemy unit.  That rule plays history just right.  Also, it gets +5 Impetus dice in melee.  If the Scythed Chariot fails to eliminate the enemy after its first turn of melee, the Chariot is eliminated.

I considered putting 2 chariots on this base but as you can see, between the wicked scythed blades and the 4 horse team, there wasn't room for 2 chariots.  Great model by Xyston.