Warmaster Ancients - Dacian Counters (Revised & Updated)

If you are using my Early Imperial Roman counter set or already have a miniature EIR army, you need enemies for Rome to fight other than itself in civil war. The Dacians are an excellent barbarian enemy army for the Early Imperial Romans. Update: This set, which I uploaded May 2018, replaces the previous set, bringing it inline with the other "revised" counters I had started making a few years prior, as well us updating some of the images.

A Brief History of the Dacian Wars
According to Encyclopedia Britannica Online: "Dacia, in antiquity, the area of the Carpathian Mountains and Transylvania, in present north-central and western Romania. The Dacian people had earlier occupied lands south of the Danube and north of the mountains, and the Roman province eventually included wider territories both to the north and east. The Dacians were agricultural and also worked their rich mines of silver, iron, and gold. They first appeared in the Athenian slave market in the 4th century bc; subsequently they traded with the Greeks (importing especially wine) and used Greek coins. They spoke a Thracian dialect but were influenced culturally by the neighbouring Scythians and by the Celtic invaders of the 4th century bc. The Dacians engaged Roman troops in 112, 109, and 75 bc. In about 60–50 bc King Burebista unified and extended the kingdom, which, however, split into four parts after his death.

During the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (ruled 27 bc–ad 14) and again in ad 69 the Dacians raided the Roman province of Moesia but were beaten back. The Dacian Wars (ad 85–89) under the emperor Domitian resulted in their recognition of Roman overlordship. The Romans under Trajan reopened hostilities in ad 101 and by 106 subdued the whole country. A large part of the population was either exterminated or driven northward. The Romans seized an enormous amount of wealth (the Dacian Wars were commemorated on Trajan’s Column in Rome) and immediately exploited the Dacian mines. Roman influence was broadened by the construction of important roads, and Sarmizegethusa and Tsierna (Orsova) were made colonies. The new province was divided under Hadrian: Dacia Superior corresponded roughly to Transylvania and Dacia Inferior to the region of Walachia.

In ad 159 Antoninus Pius redivided the region into three provinces, the Tres Daciae (Dacia Porolissensis, Dacia Apulensis, and Dacia Malvensis), all subordinate to one governor of consular rank. Marcus Aurelius made the provinces a single military region in about ad 168. The limits of Roman territory were probably never clearly defined, but the Romans benefitted both militarily and materially from the occupation."

The Dacian Counters
While I try to stick to the troop names that Warmaster Ancients uses, I had to take a few liberties with this set so the id on some counters did not consume the entire counter. I changed "Sarmatian Cavalry" to "Roxolani Cavalry" and "Dacian Mounted Skirmishers" to "Dacian Cavalry" for such reasons. As with my other Warmaster Ancients sets, I've tried to provide enough counters for a typical 2000-point army. However, 1,200 to 1,500 points seems to be the Warmaster Ancients sweet spot. Counter images are from Wargames Foundry and Warlords.

Revised Counter Set
I recently revised this set to print the counters at the proper size because the previous set I uploaded printed the counters slightly too small.


Printing the Counters
I hope some of you find these counter sets useful.You can print these at office printing places, like Staples, using heavy card stock paper printed at actual size. You can also print on regular paper and then glue the counters to wooden bases. (Check the older posts on how I did this with my Empire army.) Currently, I'm printing the counter sets at Staples using regular paper, spray gluing the back of each sheet with Super77, attaching each sheet to an old comic book backing board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters.

Click on the counter set image above to download the complete Dacian counter set in PDF format. The set has enough counters to create any of the sample armies below. Of course, if you need more counters simply print more copies!

1,000 Points
1x General w/Portents
1x Leader
1x Subordinate
8x Warriors
3x Archers
1x Falxmen
2x Skirmishers
2x Sarmations
1x Mounted Skirmishers
Total Points: 995   Break Point: 7

1,000 Points
1x General w/Portents
1x Leader
1x Subordinate
8x Warriors
4x Archers
2x Falxmen
3x Skirmishers
1x Sarmations
1x Mounted Skirmishers
Total Points: 995  Break Point: 8