Showing posts with label SPQR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SPQR. Show all posts

Friday, March 12, 2010

Cohort!


OK, it is something like two years after I started, but I now have a complete Auxiliary Heavy Infantry Cohort for my 1/72 1:6 Roman Legion!

The cohort has six centuries, each with 12 troopers and a centurion, plus a command element with the prefect, a standard bearer, and a cornicen. All the figures are from HaT, mounted individually on flexible magnet bases from Litko, which in turn are on flexible steel unit trays (also Litko). I used Testors enamel paints.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Current & Future Projects

At the moment I have four current or planned modeling projects.

SPQR: An Early Imperial Roman Legion in 1/72 scale, with 1 figure representing 6 men.
History: The Roman Legion numbered about 6,000 men, usually accompanied by a like number of auxiliary troops and numerous supporting slaves, camp followers, etc. At the moment my TO&E has about 13,500 people and 5,000 animals, not counting supporting naval units for the scenario.
Scenario: The Rebellion of Cyrene. This province on the north african coast has rebelled, with the leaders drawing inspiration and support from many of Rome's foes, past and present. A mixed army of Carthaginian, Egyptian, Cyrenican, and European forces has gathered, armed with everything from slings and clubs to full brigades of phalanx and elephants, along with a small fleet. A Legion with its auxiliaries along with two squadrons of galleys has been dispatched to crush the rebels. The idea is to have both a naval battle and one or more land battles as part of the campaign. The rebels have superior force, but a divided command structure and most of their troops are individually inferior to Roman infantry.
Status: I have the lion's share of the combat units of the Legion, and a good sample of the non-combat units. Several hundred figures are painted or in work.

RCT: A 1944 US Infantry Regiment (European Theater of Operations) in 1/285 scale, with 1:1 representation.
History: A US Infantry Regiment had about 3,200 men, and included no armored vehicles, no aircraft, no heavy artillery... in fact, it seems a rather flimsy formation to go up against the typical image of German Panzer forces. I started out just trying to find out what a US Rifle Platoon could really expect in the way of attached or supporting units besides its own organic structure as part of an effort to more realistically generate units for the "Ambush!" family of single-player board games. I became fascinated with the massive variety and numbers of non-divisional combat and support units that the US deployed in the ETO, and decided it would be fun to use MicroArmor (1/285 scale) to show just how a fragile a straight TO&E infantry force would be augmented into a monster in the field. At the top level, I have generated an Order of Battle for the fictional XL Corp. XL Corp has over 90,000 men, over 1,800 artillery pieces, over 12,000 vehicles including some 2,000 armored vehicles, and is supported by almost 500 aircraft. It includes the 24th Armored Division, the 183rd, 197th, and 204th Infantry Divisions, and over 50 other units of battalion size.
Scenario: None, really, though I've collected a range of data for German units of the period.
Status: I have about a battalion's worth of 1/285 figures and vehicles on hand, none painted.

OPM: The naval forces of Operation Masticate, a division-sized island amphibious assault in late 1944, in 1/2400 scale with 1:1 representation.
History: This project is a spin-off from the RCT project, and has much the same purpose: what would a cross-section of the forces in the Pacific War have looked like? Just as with the RCT project I've set aside the 'spotlight' units: there are no paratroopers nor B-17s in XL Corp, and there are no fleet carriers assigned to Operation Masticate. There are just over 400 ships and nearly 500 aircraft in the OOB, including four battleships, nine cruisers, and seven escort carriers, with a total of over 1.7 million tons of ships. Aboard those ships are over 130,000 people, including some 40,000 troops for the assault.
Scenario: This is more a scenario first and a force second than the other way around; that's the nature of naval combat vs. ground combat. The target is the (fictional) Anymaki Island, a strategically important island in an unspecified area of the Pacific.
Status: a sampling of ships on hand, none assembled or painted.

ODF: The Olympian Defense Forces Space Arm in the late 2260's, at 1/3000 scale and 1:1 representation.
History: The what, when? Well, there's a board game called "Attack Vector: Tactical," which tries very hard to be scientifically accurate in its mechanics while maintaining good gameplay. They've developed a future timeline, called the Ten Worlds, for three-dimensional space combat. The planet of Olympia is one of the players, and the Space Arm has a few hundred ships, some of which have miniatures available.
Scenario: I doubt the ODF(SA) will ever fighter together; the nature of interplanetary warfare means that small groups of ships, or lone vessels, will fight their desparate actions in the endless black, far from their fellows.
Status: I have the game pre-ordered (a new edition is in the works, so I'm waiting for that).

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

4th of July Part II: The Getty Villa

Well, it has been several weeks since the 4th of July (in fact, it has been exactly a month, but hey), and I'm still a little in awe of the Getty Villa Museum.

Most museums are either fairly drab backdrops to their exhibits or, IMO, eyesores that detract from them due to trying to hard to be 'artistic' themselves. The Getty Villa is neither. For those who don't know, the Villa is almost a recreation of a Roman villa house and surroundings. If the modern display cases were removed and the rather less than artfully concealed modern security and safety equipment hidden it could do an excellent job as a living history structure all by itself - the building is a work of art, one of both high quality and, as far as I can tell, high fidelity to the styles and traditions of Roman art. The collection is rather modest in quantity, but impressive in quality. I found the coin exhibit and discussion particularly noteworthy, though the almost complete lack of arms and armor bothered my slightly given the militancy of Roman culture.

While perhaps only of limited interest to those who aren't into Etruscan/Greco-Roman art and history (the collection is quite narowly focused), it is a treat for those who are, with a cafeteria that is tailored to the subject as well as some excellent and creative exhibits.

One other slightly low note was the giftshop, which was small in both size and in variety - oddly, considering the lavish space available.

All in all, however, the museum is a gem that is more than worthy of the artifacts it presents.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Roman Auxiliaries


A Roman legion contained or had attached a number of allied troops, organized into their own cohorts with similar equipment to the regulars. Here is a century of these troops, represented at 6 men to 1. The centurion in the back is from the HaT Punic Wars Roman Command set, the troops are from the HaT Roman Auxiliaries set, and the magnetic bases are from Litko.












Friday, September 28, 2007

Numidian Cavalry: Before and After

As I've mentioned, I'm working on a 1/72 scale Roman Legion for miniature gaming. As the auxiliary cavalry, I've chosen to use Numidian mercenaries. The Numidians were elite light horsemen (who rode bareback, according to accounts), and fought for and against Rome, for and against Carthage, and at Zama fought on both sides in the same battle.

The cavalry will be represented by figures from HaT and Zvezda. Here you can see the HaT unpainted figures still on sprues, and the painted and assembled figures in the background (one box of 12 figures each). Eventually I plan to have 154 Numidians in the legion (144 troopers, 8 junior officers, 2 senior officers, and 2 standard bearer/musicians). Zvezda's set includes the officers and musician, while both will supply troopers. This will represent the two cavalry Ala attached to the legion (real strength ~960 troops).

Plastic Soldier review links:
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=HAT&code=8024
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.asp?manu=ZVE&code=8031