Ochoin wrote:Owen, I can't pretend to know very much about the Dacians.
On the other hand, I am a Celt...or at least my ancestors were Caledonii and Picts. Probably.
Haha and then over thousands of years, they became Scottish clanspeople! Another reason to respect the source material, in a way that Science fiction and fantasy miniatures don't have, is the basis on history and connections to people that exist today. I like to think all miniatures painted of a culture have a basis of interest, research and love of a people and its period due to the hours, days, sunk in. Otherwise why go to so much effort to research, clean mould lines, paint and base?
Ochoin wrote:Your question prompted some research. I found this:
https://www.iongrumeza.com/node/28The guy makes some interesting points but I think his academic credentials might be a little shaky so I wouldn't accept it all.
Thanks Donald, I did find that link when I was just looking around the internet (couldn't find anything else - hence asking a forum). It was an interesting read but I think I may have to delve into an Osprey and then go from there.
Ochoin wrote:My thoughts are that all "barbarians" might share a number of common features but there were distinct cultural aspects that didn't make them interchangeable. An analogy could be a claim that medieval Chinese & Japanese are identical......clearly this is true only on a very, very superficial level.
Oh of course, no culture is interchangeable, that'd be ridiculous. I was thinking more of miniatures, like how a HaT Gaul and HaT Dacian look quite similar. Pure visual tabletop 'look.' I think Germans, Celts and Dacians all tick the barbarian box in wargames but I'm getting Dacian envy as I'm working on my Celts. It's the Dacian shield designs, they look so nice but I can also see the similarity in Celtic shield designs. Hmmm.
XbriX wrote:Personally I love Dacian look. As for the question I would say it highly depends what period are We talking about;
1) Celts were there long before Romans, so you can use them to fight against classical Hellenic factions, early republican Romans or imperial Romans. To be honest their culture was in decline during Imperial period (not counting occasional rebellion against roman oppressors, or Britain campaign). Body paint berserkers and chariots were used by continental Celts during the earlier period, and by the time of great roman conquests were mostly replaced by Hellenic style heavy cavalry and armored infantry.
Things were different in Britain due to it's isolated nature, where chariots and dreaded naked guys were still a thing during Caesar and Imperial invasions.
Yeah I do love the flexibility of the Celts historically and they were so widespread miniatures can represent different Celtic peoples. I did read how Caesar was surprised that the ancient Britons were still using chariots, almost trapped in time in this antiquated style of warfare. Very cool, it's why I'm working on Britons now.
XbriX wrote:2)Dacians as you describe them ("curved falxes, scale armour, forward pointing helmets and very nice shield designs") are mostly an Imperial period thing. The thing I love about them is that Romans were actually scared of them. Falxes were so good in terms of armor piercing capabilities that they could literally cut a poor legionnaire in half. The loses on the roman side were so big they started forging up-armored helmets to withstand a direct hit.
Yeah I love how the Romans adapted their armour just for the falxes, with the arm-plates as well, that's kind of what's drawing me now, I like the curved look of the falxes, they look really distinctive. It's a fascinating culture as well, I just don't want to add another project to the pile...
XbriX wrote:3)As much as I love Dacians, I've never painted any, due to lack of good plastics out there. There is an old HAT set, which is not spectacular and a small bunch of Strelets figures which are to blocky for my taste.
I will say, I'm not very impressed with the current Dacians on the market but the LW Dacian set seems to have the shield designs moulded in and the shields look great in my opinion. The men holding them on the other hand...