Late roman army in Gaul

[Chariobaude]

For my first topic, let me introduce my loooong-term project : recreating the Roman army in Gaul at the end of the fourth century.
Every fig is representing ten soldiers, so every units has 30 to more than 100 figs for footmen, 20 to 50 for cavalry.
I try to be the more realistic as possible, even if it is obviously impossible to match perfectly with something we don't know very well. Many scholars have recently worked a lot on warfare during that timeframe, but it is still less knowned than the principate for instance.

I've painted 95% of the figs, 3 units have been made by other (very) talented fellows, like the ioviani and comites Alani.

Ioviani Seniores


Menapi Seniores


Comites Alani


Honoriani Marcomanni Iuniores


Brachiati Seniores


Protectores Domestici


To see other units, you can visit my website here.
I'm currently working on 6 new units, i'll keep you posted !

[sberry]

First of all, welcome to the forum!
And I like your Late Romans - nice and colorful paintjob! A mix of figures from HäT, Miniart and Italeri, as far as I can see.
You probabbly know the book on the Late Roman army by your fellow countryman Yann Le Bohec; it is still the best treatment of the topic in a single book, I think. Le Bohec does in particular a nice job of busting some of the popular myths on that subject.

[Chariobaude]

Thank you Stephan !
Very nice words from you, i have to say i'm big fan of your roman pontoon (and the 404 error page on your website !)
Yes, i try to use every decent fig produced on these timeframe. Unfortunately, there is only those three manufacturers : Hät, Italeri and MiniArt, and not all show the same quality...
i've made a review on all the sets available for late roman fig here

You're right about le Bohec, but if you read in French, you should take a look at "la fin de l'Armée romaine", written by Richardot. Another great book (only available In Italian unfortunately) is Marco Rocco's L' esercito romano tardoantico : persistenze e cesure dai Severi a Teodosio I, You can find it free online.

[sberry]

Thank you for the reading tips. My French is almost nonexistent; I have read Le Bohec in the German edition. But I have just downloaded Rocco's work, looks interesting!

[Kekso]

Nice work. Welcome to the forum.

[Peter]

First of all welcome to the forum! Good choice to join us!

Great first entry! Thanks for sharing!

[ADM]

Welcome here, et au plaisir !

[Chariobaude]

thank you guys !
Here are some other units :

elite force of Herculiani Seniores sister-unit of the Ioviani i showed in the first post of the thread.



And the Burgarii , the lowest class of roman troops during those times (bunch of 20 guys abandonned in outposts on the limes). I used many "leftovers" from different manufacturers, some figurines (like the one in the picture) have actually arms, body, head, weapons from different sources ! the result is pretty ugly but it was fun !



The mighty Cornuti Seniores , an auxilia Paltina, sister-unit of the Brachiati in the first post. It is the first unit i realised, years ago, and obviously i was unskilled beginner. By the way i wanted more many quick-and-dirty units than less but beautifull. I changed my mind with time, and now i'm revamping my Cornuti !



The Iron horsemen, the catafractarii : i tried to represent all kind of cavalry in my comitatus : extra heavy like those clibanarii, but light one and medium too !

[MABO]

I send you a warm welcome as well. And your project is really interesting.

[Wheeling Turn]

Nice work and hey 100 figs per Infantry..?? That is a lot to paint.
Would like to see more of your work especially from the palisade you show on the edges of one photo.
Is it scrathbuild??

[Chariobaude]

Hello Wheeling Turn, yes it is my handmade Burgus you saw.
I've written an article with dozen of pictures of the burgus you can read here.

Not all the units have 100 soldiers. First because for instance auxilia palatina units displayed only 500 men. Only the legion (late empire fashion) were composed by 1000 men, with Legio palatina maybe by 1500. And then because a Scholar (Coello) showed that with illnesses, injuries and obviously losses, a unit were never able to send more than 70-80% of its soldiers in operation.

So my last unit i've just finished this week, the Mattiaci Seniores, is represented by 41 men.
But it is still some thousand figurines we're talking about

[Chariobaude]

Here is my new cavalry unit : equites dalmatae, 48 new figs...

[Peter]

They look great on your blog!

Please post some pictures here!

[Chariobaude]

With great pleasure Peter !

here is a Bird's-eye view of the equites dalmatae

the centenarius and its bodyguard

my late roman cavalry just before the ambush

For the battle against goths raiders, go there

[Peter]

Thank you very much!

[Chariobaude]

New unit for my late roman army : 41 Mattiaci Iuniores Gallicani, an auxilium palatinum.

In these picture, displayed during an ambush against saxon pirates !

[Wheeling Turn]

Nice pictures. Keep showing more to us...

[Paul]

I like some of the conversions for the Burgarii .
Prefect and Standard bearer = Sherrif of Nottingham
The running one, = Airfix Roman archer head and Robinhood Body?

[Chariobaude]

Hahaha Paul, you do recognize even parts of the figs !


this conversion is made with
- head of roman archer from airfix (with some glue on the neck to suggest an aventail)
- body from robinhood airfix (the guy at the top on the right)
- "running" legs from an italeri gladiator
- shield and spear from Miniart late romans
- the rest of the gear is from unknown figs

I've many leftovers, and creating from those parts figs is a real enjoyment. Unofrtunately i've no skills in it, i just discover on web guy creating for instance beards with "green stuff", that's a conversion !

[Chariobaude]

Unfortunately I don't have enough time to devote to my beloved project, but this is my last Legio, 80 Lanciarii Sabarienses !

all othe other pics and the story of the Sabarienses (in French) HERE