More Romans for Infamy, Infamy

As part of putting together the early imperial legionary force for Infamy, Infamy I painted a group of auxiliary infantry. While that's only eight figures, there are a couple of other lists featuring auxiliaries in the rule book. In that sense it was logical to invest in a bag of Victrix plastic figures, as I was bound to want to create a few other options. 

The bag was sufficient to make up nearly three groups of auxiliary plus a centurion and optio. One of the auxiliary lists in the rule book calls for four groups of infantry, the other, which includes a mounted contingent, requires only three. That meant the bag of figures left me eleven foot figures short if I wanted to put together the auxiliary list with the larger infantry force. Needless to say, I ended up buying another bag of the auxiliaries. Technically, that now gave me more than I needed. Or did it?

I made up the additional eleven figures to have four groups of auxiliary infantry. That was straightforward enough.

Given the number of extra figures, I decided to make use of the arms holding a gladius to try to put together figures in fighting poses. While Victrix do a set of legionaries in fighting poses, they don't do the same with the auxiliaries. I thought it would be good to have those auxiliaries that are part of the legionary list in a similar pose.

If I could do that then all the figures in the legionary force, both legionaries and auxiliaries would be in fighting poses. I liked the symmetry in that. While the auxiliary torsos are more suited to a marching pose, by placing them at an angle and doing something similar with the heads, they could be made to look more like the poses of the legionaries.

They are not as dynamic looking, but certainly do the job.

That still left me with enough spare figures for one more group. This time I decided to base them differently. In Infamy the auxiliary infantry have the flexible drill trait which means they can also fight in skirmish order. Up until now I've represented this on the table by separating the two four figure bases by an inch or so to show they were in a more extended order. That led me to think I should create a group with the remaining figures that are based in either ones or twos. That way I can use them to make up a more natural looking skirmish line.

Alternatively, they can be assigned to perform other tasks, such as escorting prisoners, cattle or a cart.

The base with two figures is 50mm wide, the same width as the other multi based figures and the single figures are on 25mm rounds, so they can be put together as a group in close order.

That gives them exactly the same size footprint and formation as the multibased groups.

A group of auxiliary archers is made up of eight figures and the first of those were based in a similar format to the infantry. In Infamy the archers are classed as skirmishers, but they have the flexible drill trait that allows them to form into a closer order and defend themselves in close combat. 

On reflection I wonder if I should have based them as I've based the auxiliaries in skirmish order. Rather than rebase the existing figures, I made up the four remaining figures in the Victrix set and based those in a pair and singly. 

That way I can use them alongside the four figure base without the need to rebase. I suspect one day I'll simply cut the four figure base in half, but for now this works well enough.

Once again the bases are sized so that they can form up to match the footprint of the unit when no longer in skirmish order.

I liked the idea of adding a scorpion bolt thrower, but the Victrix set includes more than I would ever need, fortunately I was able to find a single sprue.

A group of engineers is six figures and I wondered how best to represent those. Fortunately the scorpion bolt thrower set has a number of arms with various tools, perfect for a group of engineers. Using spare bodies I made up four figures and I've already picked up a spare sprue that will allow me to make another two and complete the group. 

Two groups of auxiliary cavalry are next in the queue. All that remains is a cart for the engineers and, dare I say it, the force will be sufficiently complete to field a range of different units for most games of Infamy. 

Romans on the Rhine

Having put together a force of Germanic tribes to use with the Infamy, Infamy rules, I felt an irresistible urge to then create an opposing force of Romans. Hole... Rabbit....you know the story.

The initial motivation for putting together that force of Germans was to trial the Infamy rules. At the time, Dave my regular opponent, had a good selection of figures in his collection for the period, but Infamy, Infamy is all about the Roman conflicts with the tribal kingdoms on the frontiers of the empire. Dave's collection includes several of Rome's enemies, but none of them are barbarians. My mission was to provide a suitable hostile force. Rather conveniently, it coincided with a sale by Victrix and that was all the extra incentive I needed. They produce a lovely set of figures for the Germans and I really enjoyed the project (more about it in this post).

As it turned out, we found Infamy, Infamy a particularly engaging rule set. It does a splendid job of recreating the asymmetrical warfare on the edges of the Roman world and I wanted to make the most of the figures I'd painted. The best way to ensure that was going to happen, was to create my own collection of Romans. 

Well, that was my rationale (or flimsy excuse, depending on your perspective). My starting point was the list in the rule book that's suggested for a force from an Imperial Legion. It's made up of three groups of eight legionaries; one group of eight auxiliary foot and one group of eight auxiliary archers. I'm really pleased with the way the figures have come out. The painting was very straightforward and the shield transfers from Little Big Men Studios set them off perfectly.

I gave a fair bit of thought to how I should base the figures. The Infamy rules use figure removal to mark casualties and my initial thought was to make use of my existing sabot bases. They would allow for figure removal and give me the regimented look suited to the Roman style of warfare.

However, I had second thoughts. The sabot bases are 60mmx60mm, with each figure on a 25mm round base. With hindsight I can see that both make for too big a footprint. Then there's the aesthetic issue of how to deal with sabot slots once a casualty is removed. I've never been prepared to have empty slots and so made up bases to fill them. These might hold a mini dice frame to mark shock, or feature a casualty figure, or in some cases simply left blank with matching terrain. 

The Germanic tribes were a different case altogether. I used a different convention, with either one, two or three figures to a base. It worked very well for my Mahdist Ansars and creates the less regimented look I want for tribal groups and irregular troops. It allows for individual figure removal while retaining some of the convenience of moving multi-based figures. 

However, the Romans more disciplined formations called for a more formal basing style. Instead of sabots, I decided I would go with multi-basing, putting four figures on a 50mmx50mm base. 

I did consider trying to squeeze this down to 40x40mm, but it seemed too crowded, especially for the second rank figures, most of whom are throwing pila. Although, to be honest, now that I've completed them, I do wonder if I should have gone for the smaller base and a more compact looking unit?

Having said that, the Germanic tribes are based in such a way that one of their groups of ten figures occupies a frontage of approximately 100mm, so the two 50mm bases for the Romans works well from a game perspective. 

I opted to use the Victrix set of legionaries in fighting poses, rather than those that are advancing. Given the game is very much about close combat, it seemed only fitting the Romans should match the dynamism of the German poses.

When paired off like this the two sets work well together. Ideally this is how they will be spending much of their time during a game and in terms of photographs for the blog it makes for a more compelling image.

The Auxiliary foot from Victrix come in only one set of poses and so I couldn't create the same dynamism for these groups. As the set includes enough figures for twenty foot soldiers and four command figures I have more than I need for this initial force, but, as it happens, not enough for two of the other suggested forces which are principally composed of auxiliaries. Back to Victrix then....add to cart. Sometimes this hobby is so predictable.

These are based exactly the same as the legionaries.

Last, but not least, we have the auxiliary archers. Once again, these are figures from Victrix.

Unlike the archers from the Germanic tribes these are more formally arraigned, whereas the German archers are in smaller groups and individually based.

Overall, I'm very happy. If I have one gripe, it's that the pila and spears are quite flimsy. During the process of basing I snapped a couple and had to replace the missing sections with wire. I suspect that won't be the last repairs I will need to make. That aside, the Victrix figures are lovely sculpts and, as you might expect, match up perfectly with the Germanic tribes.