Reformation: EIR Roman army part 1

 

I believe I built and painted my Early Imperial Roman 28mm army about 25 years ago. They are roughly half Wargames Foundry and half Old Glory miniatures and are all metal. Back then I built them and more importantly based them for Warhammer Ancient Battles which I loved playing for years. But I play Hail Caesar these days and it was time I overhauled this lot to keep up with how I game today.

The biggest difference is that I require them based all in multiples - not singles. I had a mix of both previously to allow casualty removal and we used to fight a unit based on figure count, not unit stamina. I also base all my figures on 5mm MDF bases these days instead of the 3mm MDF I used back then. As you can see from my archers above, I cut and shuffled the old bases to allow for off-set placement so they can shoot two-ranks deep. I then glued them together on another layer of 3mm MDF.

Hopefully the two layers are clearly illustrated above. I have a band saw and an upright disk sander in my workshop so I have everything I need to get the job done in short order. In due course I will re-flock the bases and paint the edges khaki brown/green.

I have 40 auxiliary infantry in green shields (bow and spear) and another 40 in blue shields (all spear). When I built this army I went for purely paper strength unit organizations but in reforming this army, I'm dividing them both into 24 figure units with the need for additional command elements. This will allow me to field four auxiliary cohorts or fewer but larger combinations.

It's funny how times change and me with it. All of my shields back then are hand painted. In replicating them on the handful of extra command figures I realised how I have moved on and it seems utter madness to me now. Shield transfers weren't around back then.

 Whilst I'm still pleased enough with the shields, the rest of the paint job are sufficient only. I paint much better these days and they don't stand up too well under a macro lens, but they are fine when applying the wargames three foot rule. I'm not touching them up - life's too short.

I've just about finished seven additional auxiliaries (command figures). I've also recently purchased enough second hand but unpainted Wargames Foundry EIR legionaries to expand my legionary cohorts from two to six. In doing so, I'm dropping from 24 figures cohorts to a field strength of 20. The first additional cohort will comprise the first eight figures from the existing cohorts plus an additional 12 figures including command from the new lead pile.

I did not enjoy painting the new additional shields. They are my previous and imaginative take on the Legio II Augusta for the invasion of Britain campaign. The rest of the legionary cohorts I paint when I get to them will represent a different legion and I will definitely use shield decals.