I am leaving tanks for at least one post... and diving back in ancient wargaming. The title post is supposed to be an hint... no I am not talking about Ben Hur in its 2016 version (but the Roman march is quite nice), but I am talking of Victrix Early Imperial Romans. In my last excursion to the money blackhole that is Salute (in my case 2017) I bought a bag of Marching Legionaries. Just after Xmas I took advantage of the free postage sale from Victrix to grab some Auxiliaries. 22.95£ per bag, 25 legionaries, 24 auxiliaries. Plenty of options (more on that later), excellent detail. Also Victrix sells you shields. So far so good.
Okay, the hawkeyed among the readers will already have spotted something... there are only 47 figures... 25+24 must be 49... well because I have organized the legionaries in two units of 12, one legionnaire has been given as a gift, and he is now in Japan. Another auxilia will join him, why? Well beside the obivious (making a gift!), it is because I will add the 4 figures command set from Aventine to my second auxilia unit, and the other auxilia have become a skirmish group of Germanic auxilia with wolfskin as in Trajan column. I am planning to mainly use the troops with the ancient version of Lion Rampant with half-size units (I am lazy, I am a cheapskate, I do not want ot buy and paint too much) so 3 figures per skirmish unit are okay. The other rules I plan to use are Broken Legions (with some modifications to army lists) so the numbers fit.
Another group shot of my force. The two legionary vexillatio in the center, the Auxilia on the wings. They are based singly, but I have movenent trays from warbases for them...
The Skirmishers. Victrix auxilia bag gives you plenty of options, including the wolfskins. Now, I could have simply built them as standard auxilia, but it is a shame to not try the wolfskins. IIT is a problem with too much options. You end up discarding a lot. The Legionaries could be built as regular troops or Praetorians. Again you end up discarding stuff. Okay they are cheap compared ot metal, and the options are part of the appeal of plastic, but too many options could push the price up and leave you with a mass of spares you do not really need. I have eyed Victrix elephant, but I realized I will pay for so many options I will never use (too many different crews, but you end up using only one set...). Sometime there could be too much of a good thing.
The legions' block. Not a great shot, I need to improve my skills...
I dislike, usually, flash effect on colours, but in this case they turned out all right, and the definition is much better.
The German skirmishers.
The detail on the skins is really good.
Well, until I get the command set and some mounted auxilia from Aventine, I am done. Even considering the additions, it is an almost complete project! Yeaaaah!!!
I hope you enjoy them.
Very nice work! Great painting and basing too. I've just ordered some of the Victrix legionaries advancing too, so it's nice to see how good they look finished.
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