Hail Emperor Secundus! (campaign 11)

Events were now speeding up fast with the annoucement of Tullus's bid for the throne. It was while Secundus was still in the south of Britannia, doing his tour of the province that his officers hailed him as Emperor. This was alittle sooner than Secundus had planned and there was still much to be done before he could risk open war.

The rise of Tullus (campaign 10)

Rome had lost many armies conquering Hispania and her many peoples and an army made of such fearsome fighters was not one to be sniffed at. The tribes in Hispania had been unhappy for quite some time and it didn't take much for them to rebell and swear their allegiance to Tullus. Secundus knew that this would mean war and his plans of just marching into Rome would have to be rethought. He had hoped that the Province of Hispania would come over to the Tofieldican course and with it, some of the best cavalry in the Empire. Now, with the rise of Tullus, he knew this would never happen.

Tullus Holdrianus Hispanus (campaign 9)

Secundus had sent many letters around the Provinces asking for support in his bid for Emperor, it is not clear if it was one of these letters that had put the idea in the mind of Pro-consul Tullus Holdrianus Hispanus or if he had designs on the throne from an earlier stage. Either way, Tullus had not been idle in his vast province of Hispania and had amassed a sizable army built around the Legion VII Gemina.

Unsettling news from Spain (campaign 8)

The army of Secundus was almost ready to make its move and march on Rome, when an unsettling letter was intercepted in Gaul. It would appear that Secundus wasn't the only one with his eyes set on the throne, the pro-consul of Hispania also had the same idea.

Minting Secundus coins (campaign 7)

To help the campaign and increase moral, the first batch of silver Denarii are minted, baring the head of Secundus on one side and the figure of Virtory on the other. These will help pay the troops and spread the name and image of Secundus across the empire.

Raising taxes (campaign 6)

At first the people of Britannia were supportive of Secundus, thinking they would profit from their own consul becoming Emperor. It was only when they realized they were the ones who would be paying for the endeavour did they think otherwise. More troops meant more money and taxes were increased to pay for the ever growing army.

Coining silver (campaign 5)

The V Macedonica

This Legion was stationed on the Danube to defend the frontier from Sarmation and Dacian raiders. As with most of my Legions I have tried to give them all individual identities. I wanted to give the V Macedonica the feel of being a newly raised and well equipped Legion and so the armour I painted very bright and shiney to make it look new, also unlike my other Legions I have kept all the Helmets iron with only two being of bronze.........spot the bronze helmet game. Likewise all the shields are clean and new looking and the entire Legion is equipped with the later Lorica Segmentata body armour. There is also a cohort of heavily armoured Legionaries, to face and fight any Dacian raiders armed with the dreaded Falx weapon, very handy when you're guarding a border against them. The end result is a very fresh, modern looking Legion, to contrast against the dirt of the German Legion and the sand of the Syrrian Legion.

The III Gallica

This is a photo I took a while back now but I like the scale of it, the sand coloured shields represent the deserts of the east where the Legion was stationed.

South Britannia joins the war effort (campaign 4)

Smithys in the south of Britannia have now joined the war effort and are now up to full speed, producing hundreds of helmets a week. The Celtic peoples were fantastic metal workers and their talents here are being used to the full. The order has been given to re-enforce the helmets with strips of iron, something that will take more time but should help make all the difference in battle.

Legionary of the II Augusta

This soldier from the forces of Britannia, shows the arrogance that the Romans would become famous for. This legionary is over seeing the construction of a store house by locals.......very beneath him.

Bang bang bang (campaign 3)

In the smithys of north Britannia work starts and men toil day and night to equip the new levies with arms and armour. It is lucky for Secundus that Britannia is rich in such metals needed for this operation.

Britannia gets ready to march (Campaign 2)

The Pro-Consul of Britannia, Secundus Tofieldicus Toeus has decided to go on a whistle stop tour of the province. He leaves the northern borders and marches south with the XX Legion and six cohorts of Auxiliaries, there is nothing out of the ordinary about this and no one suspects anything untoward.......he is just a Consul Governor doing his rounds once a year. However, with the news of the Emperors illness, Secundus has been motivated into doing a stock take of men and resources for the area and checking the loyalty of commanders and tribes in the province. This is a bold move for Secundus, treasonous even, but Secundus has never been one for waiting around and has decided to make the first steps to becoming the new Emperor. It will take time to build new units and supplies for his conquest, but being in the north of Britannia, on the edge of the known world, time is the one thing he has got plenty of. As long as he keeps it quite.

War is on the wind (campaign 1)

Rumour has it that the Emperor has fallen sick.........very sick. He has been ill before but this time, it is said he will not recover. Throughout the Empire people wait and hold their breath....'who will be the new Emperior?' is the question on everyone's lips. Troops on the frontiers talk about electing someone who will see to their needs instead of some high paying aristocrat chosen by the Preatorian Guard in Rome. There are a lot more troops on the frontiers however, than there are in Rome and their moans do not fall on deaf ears. Their generals wait also.....not wanting to be the first to declare themselves Emperor by force, but knowing if they wait too long, someone else will rise to fill the sacred red boots. He who commands an army could command the civilised world....if the weather is good and the gods are favourable.

Roman marines

When Rome was strapped for field units one quick way to raise armies was to strip the navy of its marines. Rome invented Marines to help it fight Carthage, taking its hard fighting land forces and putting them into ships to engage the enemy at sea using land tatics and fighting skills. It was through its use of Marines that Rome took control of the Mediterranean sea from the Carthaginians, boarding them ship to ship with its Marines to whom the carthaginians had no answer.

To give these troops a maritime feel I have given them sea blue shields with the a Roman war ship (a Trireme) painted on the front.

The VIII cohort of Britains

Here a tribe of Britains have been forced under the yoke of Roman rule and now wear the trappings of a foriegn power. Although their style in clothing and armour has changed, they still sport their proud moustaches as a sign of their Celtic identity.

German Auxiliaries

Here is the IV Tungrian cohort, part of the Army of the Rhine. These tough Auxiliaries were stationed along the great river frontier to protect against angry German raiding parties. The Rhine legions were constantly at war and as a result became some of the best troops in the Empire. Living next to and amongst the German peoples, they took to the habit of dressing like them and adopting their weapons, troops along the Rhine frontier are known to have discarded their Roman Pilums for the longer German style spears, to aid them in combat against their foes. They were looked upon as a motley, barbarius lot by the rest of the troops else where in the Empire. For this reason, I have given this unit longer spears than my other Auxiliary units to show the influences of being stationed so close to the German border.








Here is another shot of my Gladiators. This one shows the command base with a standard of two fighting men, echoing the origin of the unit.



Here is a base I made to represent a broken unit on the board, when a unit breaks or is destroyed and taken away, I made these bases to put in its place. They were good fun to make and great for using in the photos.....as you can probably tell, I use them alot to add a little something extra in the piccies.

Sir!.... the Iceni are revolting!

" Tell me something I don't know Quintus."

Gladiators in Roman service

To make the Gladiators I used heavy armoured legionaries from the Foundry collection. I used a range of poses to make the unit look alittle less organised than its Roman brothers. The odd gladiator conversion and Celtic figure added to the mix also helped to give it a motley look. This look was also achieved by painting their tunics in a multitude of colours.


Their shields I based from my memory of that classic scene in The Fall of the Roman Empire, when a cohort of ex-gladiators is sent into the forest to lure out the waiting Germans. With this scene in mind I painted my shields a dark leather brown. To give the Cohort a strong feel of being made from individual characters, I personalized each of their shields by painting on different designs and motifs. These ranged from tridents (for those who had been Retiarius), to spears and swords for other sorts of gladiators. The unit also had a strong Celtic feel to it and so I gave it a Celtic standard to really mix things up. One of the final touches was the idea of giving them loads of different styles of shield, which made the unit look like it had drained the local storage depot to equip its self.

Gladiators in Roman service

When I was putting together units to fight in a Roman civil war, I tried to think of units with great character and a look all of their own that would stand out against the lines of legionaries. In the civil wars of 69AD, Otho armed and organised a unit of 2000 gladiators to help him fight for the throne. These hard fighting warriors though were matched and beaten by a Batavian cohort who I have mentioned earlier on the blog. This huge killer is Phobeos Fatalus from Germany, he is struggling in his tiny mind with the thought of leaving the arena and adoring crowds to a life of orders and marching. Centurion Vitus however is less impressed with his size, he knowns it is training and discipline that wins Roman battles, not individual strength and prowess.

The blurred photo is owed to the taker being struck with fear at the sight of Phobeus (hence his name), but as you can see he finally joined up with the promise of his freedom tied into the bargain.