Seeing the boys off...ancient Spanish camp

Making a camp is always a challenge for me and I typically put it off until the very end of the project. You, the artist, must capture the essence of the army you painted in a small footprint. No pressure but the camp should be a lively diorama or vignette, limited only by the figures you can find in 15mm and your boundless imagination. What's that? You don't have a boundless imagination? Well then, quite simply, you're screwed.

The first step in making a camp is easy.  I can measure 120mm x 80mm with the best of them.  Then I  stare at my canvas in miniature and I'm stumped. Unless it's the Romans.  Nothing says camp for Romans like a Roman tent and a wall with pointy bits and some leftover legionaries. Unfortunately, such a display is only appropriate for Romans and you need to get more creative for all of the non-Roman armies of the ancient world.

I wanted to capture the "ruggedness" of Hispania so I toyed with the idea of an ambush in a mountain pass. It can be done but I couldn't get it quite right with the figures I have in this small footprint.  I did take the "mountain ambush" idea and turn it into something I'm pleased with. Hispania was made up of the Iberians, Lusitanians and Celtiberians tribal people.  I found some noncombatants in my lead pile and bingo, I had it.  My camp would be the women and children seeing warrior husbands and fathers off. A muster for battle like this would've been a somber affair.  If the invaders are not beaten and repelled, the tribe would face a range of poor outcomes ranging from slavery to outright annihilation.  I think the old woman with her hands on her hips captures the spirit of it.

Last up are the commanders. Finish line, here I come!

To wrap up my Iberian Project, The Clash "Spanish Bombs."  If you give it a listen, you'll want to hear London Calling all the way through and you'll feel the years fly by! Then again, I'm probably projecting.

Sertorius and his Spanish Legion

The story of Quintus Sertorius is a fascinating one. His first military service was under Quintus Caepio at the disastrous Battle of Arausio.  There, the Teutones and Cimbri destroyed 2 Roman armies, inflicting losses that exceeded Cannae. Sertorius was wounded in many places during the battle and still managed to swim across the Rhone to save his life.

He learned the art of war serving Gaius Marius as a Tribune.  Plutarch reports that Sertorius disguised himself in Celtic dress to spy on the Teutones and Cimbri. Subsequently, he fought at the Battle of Aquae Sextiae where Marius' destroyed the Teutones.

Sertorius was in charge of recruiting and training legions for Marius during the Social Wars and that was the start of his downfall.  Once Sulla forced Marius into exile, Sertorius ended up on the proscription list. Sertorius fled to Hispania where Roman refugees and deserters would later join him in exile. The Lusitanians hired him to fight the Romans and he cobbled together and trained an army that kept Rome at bay during the 8 year Sertorian War.  He was more than a match for Pompey, defeating his combined armies more than once. 

After inflicting terrible casualties on the Romans, Sertorius made a fateful gamble to win control of Hispania once and for all. He attacked the fortified camp of Metellus and Pompey and was thrown back with terrible losses. This was a defeat from which he would not recover. Metellus offered 100 talents and 20,000 acres of land to any Roman who killed Sertorius.  A Roman in Sertorius’ camp named Peperna led a conspiracy which culminated with the plotters falling upon their leader with daggers and swords during a banquet. Thus ended the life of one of the great men of Rome.  

For a full read at your leisure, I'd recommend:  The Sertorian War.  

For Sertorius' legion, I chose a combo of white and tan for the tunics. I'm guessing that as their equipment wore out, his men improvised or picked up gear from the Romans in the field.  All Xyston figures.  

The Sertorius Lusitanians list in Field of Glory allows you to take 8 bases of legionaries, which represents the Legionaries who served under him. You can also take your Lusitanian medium foot as drilled, which comes straight from Plutarch:

"He was also highly honored for his introducing discipline and good order amongst them, for he altered their furious savage manner of fighting, and brought them to make use of the Roman armor, taught them to keep their ranks, and observe signals and watchwards; and out of a confused number of thieves and robbers he constituted a regular, well-disciplined army. He bestowed silver and gold upon them liberally to gild and adorn their helmets, he had their shields worked with various figures and designs, he brought them into the mode of wearing flowered and embroidered cloaks and coats, and by supplying money for these purposes, and joining with them in all improvements, he won the hearts of all.  Nor were the Spaniards alone ambitious to serve him, but the Roman soldiers, also, that came out of Italy, were impatient to be under his command.... "

The Boys from Andalucia

Guess who's coming to dinner? 52 bases of scutarii medium foot. I painted two battlegroups in white tunics trimmed red to represent my "superior" scutarii and the rest got the irregular treatment.  I've always loved the red, white and black geometric shield patterns so I stuck with that.

In Field of Glory, medium foot are down -1 on morale checks when losing to cavalry or heavy foot in the open.  I've made some supersized terrain pieces in mdf to alleviate this problem.  My clubmates refer to extra large terrain pieces as pizza boxes. One large scutarii coming right up!

Massed up, they're an imposing sight.  Of course, you can go in a completely different direction and use vibrant colors for the shields.  After all, its not like an Iberian from 300 BC  is going to call you on it, although a fellow from TMP might!

Here's a bit of inspiration.  Don't look too closely but the fellow in stone isn't wearing pants!

Caetrati...now with 100% more horse!

When painting a new army, you can sometimes find yourself  "in the weeds." So it was with these figures.  I ordered Xyston Caetrati foot and much to my surprise, I received mounted Caetrati. These figures appear to be out of production as I can't find them on eBay or Xyston.  Since they were perfect for the light horse units in my Iberian army, I considered myself lucky and buffed these figures out with the only Xyston Spanish light horse in production, Caetrati pillion riders.

I thought to myself, what's a pillion rider?  It's an extra rider on horse. The idea of two warriors fighting atop one horse seemed odd to me, even with the limited cavalry of the Iberians.  I posted on TPM and discovered the pillion rider figures were inspired by accounts of Caetrati riding double with horsemen and dismounting to fight. The historian Strabo wrote "they ride double on horseback, though in the time of battle one of the two fights on foot."  That makes sense.  Otherwise, a well-place pilum could score a two-for-one hit. Ouch - Ouch!

In keeping with my limited color palette, I used white and tan for the tunics.  I did splurge on the decorative trim on the ponies as I just couldn't help myself!

Last up today are slingers for my Iberian army.  I used a single color for the tunics and I think it is easy on the eyes.  Great detail and lively poses by Xyston.

Iberian Caetrati-lots of 'em

When painting an irregular army, one of the first decision points is deciding on a paint scheme and your primary color(s). You could paint every Caetrati  uniquely, reflecting that each man had to kit themselves out.  That would be historical but also very time-consuming to paint up.  An army painted like this can be a little hard on the eyes, or as my son describes it, a "clown army."  Alternately, you could paint every figure the same, which would be pleasing to the eye.  Visuals are important in our hobby but so too is an attempt at creating something historical.  I split the difference by limiting my colors here and in the rest of my Iberian army.  I picked 3 primary colors for the tunics-black, white and red.  I limited the shield colors as well.  You never know how it'll turn out till you hit the finish line and here, I think I have a balance that says "irregular" without veering into the "clown army."  All Xyston figures with a nice mix of poses.

Caetrati provide skirmishing support to the main battle line of Scutarii warriors.  As Light Foot skirmishers, their job in Field of Glory will be threefold:

1.  Protect my battle lines from enemy skirmishers and their missile fire.
2.  Pepper the enemy battle line with javelins in hopes of disrupting them.  
3.  Move, occupy and fight in poor terrain.  I'll drag as much poor terrain on the table as I can with this army.   

Livy mentions the Caetrati in The History of Rome, Book 23: "Several skirmishes took place between the two sides who  were alternately frightening and fearing each other, and the Numidian  trooper proved to be no match for the Spaniard, nor the Moorish  javelinman for the caetratus, who were quite as rapid in their  movements and possessed more strength and courage." Who's bad? We bad!!

Fear my Falcata

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!

If you give a Szeklers a bow...

The Szeklers were the finest horsemen in Medieval Hungary, fighting as lance, bow and sword-armed cavalry. Noted for their fighting skill, they played a key role in defending Hungary from the expanding Ottoman Empire. The Szeklers enjoyed autonomy under the Hungarian crown. Their lands were outside of traditional Hungarian law, including taxation, and their only obligation to the Crown was to supply troops for military service.

Szeklers Armored Cavalry:  In Field of Glory, Szeklers cavalry options are what make the Later Hungarian army list sizzle.  They can be taken as Armored Superior cavalry with bow and sword.  That means they can melee with anyone except knights.  As Superior mounted bow, it's probably wiser to deploy them in a single line and evade when charged, shooting your enemy to bits.  After knights, they're the best Hungarian troops on the medieval battlefield.

Szeklers Light Horse: You're probably thinking, "Light Horse? Yawn."  As the best horsemen in the region, it should come as no surprise that they can be taken as Superior.  Did I mention they're sword and bow armed? They outclass most Light Horse in period. I painted 3 units of these fellows, all the better to tear up the enemy Light Horse.

Painting these Essex horsemen left me wanting more.  I'll scratch that itch by ordering up a horse-heavy Essex army, once I can decide on the army!

I've got a new army under way to celebrate the launch of Field of Glory 2.  V2 is supposed to be released in October so I need step away from the blog and get painting! 

Hungarian Lights

After a year layoff, it's good to be painting Essex figures again.  While Essex gets grief from some quarters over the limited poses, there's no company with a larger line of 15mm Medieval figures that I know of.  And their horses are simply the best in this scale.  I have some Xyston horses on my painting table and they look small and thin by comparison. The same goes for Old Glory.  Here's the first batch of reinforcements I painted up for my Later Hungarian commission.   

Hungarian Light Horse Archers:  Hungarian Light Horse are nothing special in the Medieval era but you can run up to 12 bases of them.  Good detail on the figures.  I really love the braiding on the coat and the fur trimmed jackets.

Foot Archers:  Cheap and nimble filler, really cheap if you take them as poor quality.  But then you'll have to hide them on the battlefield!  Forest green uniforms will help them hide in the woods if that's necessary.

Crossbowmen:  Like the Foot Archers, crossbowmen are cheap Light Foot filler for the Hungarian army.  Cheap doesn't mean they can't look fabulous and their yellow & black combo work looks quite stylish.  Essex cast the crossbow separately from the figures and that extra step worked quite well for these figures.

Up next in the batter's box are Szekler Light Horse (x3) and armored Szekler Cavalry.