Warlord Caesarian Romans: Cohorts I & III

Primus Pilus Lucius Varinus & Legionary Titus Pulo ... who else?

Done at last (except the bases). I have completed my rendition of the first and third cohorts of Legio XI for the civil wars ... or thereabouts. This was stalled due to the impact of cyclone Gita here in Tonga but now things are mostly back to normal I am proceeding across my wargaming projects once more.

First Cohort Legio XI

My first produced cohort for this legion was the second (see previous posting) and I've adopted a couple of different approaches this time. You will see a few green shields in the mix with the general legion blue and the unpainted raw leather variants. I'm playing with the idea that for whatever reason they have had a colour change to blue but there a a few older green shields retained by some veterans.

Anyone following my blog may recall an earlier posting where I sketched up the shield designs and couldn't decide between the green or the blue - so I'm creating reasons to have a bet both ways. If I add more cohorts to the legion I'll go with blue and brown from here on.

All figures are Warlord including the Pulo & Varinus set who I have naturally as Primus Pilus with Pulo defending the eagle. The Aquilifer is a re-purposed Wargames Foundry figure from the early imperial range as is the cornicern.

Cohort III

Both cohorts this time have the front rank drawing gladius supported by pilum in the rear - when deployed two ranks deep anyway. I included a casualty figure for each cohort this time to mix it up a bit.

Taking heed of a comment on the Lead Adventure Forum I experimented with dulling down my brass with a brown wash and I am quite happy with the result. I don't think I'll revisit my first cohort (cohort II) which would take little effort but I will retain the differences and imagine that cohort II is freshly equipped whereas I & II have been marching under the eagle for some time.

These latest centurions and my representative decanus (what is the plural for decanus?) have red horsehair plumes. My Primus Pilus is straight out of the box whereas my centurion for the third cohort is a conversion - so now I have three different centurion figures. I'm enjoying this diversification and will continue to change every centurion to make him unique to the others.

I made the cohort III standard a white hawk to add to the mixture. Well, that's it for my Romans for the time being. I'm waiting another six weeks for Vini Vidi Vici decals to reprint their white Hellenistic horse decals before I can continue. I also need to decide if I want to change to another legion to diversify my army and to give me the option of an enemy - I'm all for fielding both sides. In the meantime I' getting back to my Balaclava project and apply my developed brass painting technique to some British heavy dragoons. Tally Ho!