New Early Imperial Roman Paper Army

Over the last few months, I've been working slowly on revising my Early Imperial Roman army set, which I posted six years ago. There wasn't anything horribly wrong with the set. I've used it in my own gaming. I just wanted to make it better and fit easily on the comic backing boards like other sets with eight rows of counters.

I also wanted to use the many new figures that have been released over the past several years, while standardizing the height of the infantry and cavalry. I also wanted to use troops that the EIR would have used depending on the battle. For example, Balearic Slingers, Numidians, Spanish, Praetorians, and Sarmations. I've listed some of these later in the post, so you know what they are. I've also posted some new army lists to try out. I imported everything else from the old EIR post, deleting it and its files from my server.

Other than the artillery units and the original General stands, I have remade every counter in this set.

Generic Set: The generic set will go up soon. I will include heavy cavalry based along the long counter edge and two army camps, which some other games use. I'll post it on the Warmaster Paper Armies page with the other generic sets.

Printing the Counters
Print the counter sheets at actual (100%) size. Do not print to "fit margins." You can cut the counters and then use them how you like. If printing on card stock, for example, 110lb has worked well for me. You could also glue the counters onto wooden stands from Litko, giving them a miniatures feel. I sized this set so each page of counters will fit on a cheap 'Silver Age' comic backing board. Spray glue the sheet onto the backing board, and then cut out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. The counters will last a long time this way. However you do it, I hope you enjoy using this set of counters. Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Click on the counter set images below to download the the complete army counter set in PDF.

 

Warmaster Sample Armies

1000 Points
1x General w/Portents
1x Legate
1x Veteran Legion
4x Legions
2x Auxiliaries
2x Archers
1x Heavy Cavalry
2x Light Cavalry
Total Points: 995

1000 Points
1x General
2x Legates
4x Legions
4x Auxiliaries
1x Archers
2x Skirmishers
1x Light Cavalry
1x Scorpion
Total Points: 995

1000 Points
1x General
1x Legate
1x Veteran Legion
4x Legions
3x Auxiliaries
1x Archers
2x Skirmishers
1x Heavy Cavalry
1x Scorpion
Total Points: 990

1000 Points
1x General
1x Legate
5x Legions
3x Auxiliaries
1x Archers
2x Skirmishers
1x Heavy Cavalry
1x Scorpion
Total Points: 980

1000 Points
1x General
2x Legate
4x Legions
4x Auxiliaries
1x Archers
2x Skirmishers
1x Light Cavalry
1x Scorpion
Total Points: 995

2000 Points
1x General w/Portents
3x Legates
2x Veteran Legions
8x Legions
6x Auxiliaries
3x Archers
3x Skirmishers
1x Heavy Cavalry
2x Light Cavalry
2x Scorpions
Total Points: 1975

2000 Points by Nick Harwood
2x Veteran Legion
8x Legion
6x Auxiliaries
3x Archers
5x Skirmishers
1x Heavy Cavalry
1x Light Cavalry
2x Scorpion
1x General w/ Portents
3x Legates
Total Points: 1975 (23/12)

2000 Points by Robert Waller
2x Veteran Legion
8x Legion
6x Auxiliaries
2x Archers
2x Skirmishers
2x Heavy Cavalry
2x Light Cavalry
2x Scorpion
1x General w/ Portents
3x Legate
Total Points: 1985 (24/12)

Light Cavalry

Light Germanic Cavalry

Light Moorish Cavalry

Light Numidian Cavalry

Light Roman Cavalry

Light Roman Cavalry

Skirmishers

Balearic Slings

Roman skirmishers

Germanic slings

Numidian javelins

Spanish Caetrati

Heavy Cavalry 

Note the images are aligned with the bottom of the counter, unlike before.

Praetorian

Sarmation

Command Units

The Legate and General images are from the excellent First Legion "toy soldiers," which cost only $60 upward! The Legate holding his helmet is from King & Country toy soldiers. Yes, this Legate is the same height as the others. The helmet gives the illusion of greater height! I wish I had the money for these "toy soldiers"! I love the new General with his tent. The other two generals are an homage to the old set. Plus, the variety of generals and legates allows this set to be used in Roman Civil War battles.

Legate

Legate

General

Emperor Marcus Aurelius

New "Basic" Ancient Counters Sets

These have long been asked for and a long time in coming. You can find these new "basic" ancient counter sets on the Warmaster Paper Armies page. They use the same counters from their Warmaster Ancients counterparts, except these counters do not contain unit labels and are not grouped into pre-made units. These sets can provide greater flexibility for those who play other DBA-based games or for those not wanting labels on their counters. As I post a new WMA set, I will post its corresponding basic set. As time permits, I will create basic sets for older WMA and Fantasy sets. (I have to rework some counters from older sets, so those will take longer to post. Plus, I am trying to return to actual figure painting.) Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Sassanid Persian Warmaster Ancients Paper Army

The time from the end of the Parthian (Arsacid) dynasty to the Arab conquest is known as the Sassanid or Sassanian period and it represents the last great flowering of ancient Mesopotamian tradition before it was overborne by the rising power of Islam. Sassanid Persia spans the wars of Roman and Byzantine Emperors, the invasions of nomadic hordes, and eventually, the Arab conquests. --Warmaster Ancients

I'm trying something new with this set. Each counter on the fourth page has a small triangle pointing toward the stand's front. This can help remind players which direction the unit is facing regardless of the images on the stand. This can be useful on units like 'shock' cavalry in Warmaster Ancients because they are mounted with the short 20mm side of the stand being the front, whereas other cavalry in the game are based with the 40mm side being the front. This also helps as a visual reminder on units such as chariots or artillery, whose counter images probably won't represent the direction the unit actually is facing.

Using those 'direction' counters is completely optional, which is why I placed them on a separate page. That way, if you don't want them, don't print page 4. The stands on page 4 are meant to replace their counterparts on the other pages. Is this a good idea? Should I do this for other sets? Let me know what you think in the comments section.

I'd like to thank the wonderful folks at Gripping Beast, whose images of their Sassanid figures I use throughout this paper army to give it a unified appearance. If only they made them in 10mm or 15mm!

The Sassanid Persians in Warmaster Ancients
The following is advice is from the rulebook on how to play this army: The Sassanids are a hard hitting cavalry based army burdened by a mandatory block of some of the worst infantry ever to appear on an ancient battlefield. Sassanid kings never expected much from their infantry and neither should you--so leave them in reserve of use them to secure dense terrain that is otherwise inaccessible to your cavalry. The archers can be extremely useful for forcing enemies out of position and are cheap too--but they won't last long if brought to close combat. The cavalry are capable of maneuvering to charge and will win most combats they initiate--but you have relatively few units and so can't afford to take chances. The Clibanarii's short range shooting ability is very useful but do not be tempted into using them as bowmen when you can charge instead. Their shooting ability is very useful as a defensive measure. The Elephants are too expensive to use in small battles but well worth bringing out for large battles where their high cost is off-set by the need for fewer commanders.

Printing the Counters
I hope you find these paper army sets useful. You can print them at places like Staples or Kinkos, using 110lb 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.) Do not print the pdf to "fit margins." Always print at 100%.  I like printing the counter sets on good copy paper, spray gluing the dull side of a 'Silver Age' comic backing board with Super 77, attaching a sheet to the board, and then cutting out the counters using a sharp Xacto knife with a steel ruler. Using the backing boards makes for cheap, sturdy counters. I like keeping the shiny side down to make moving them easier on a table. Note: This set is designed to fit Silver Age and larger comic backing boards.

Click on the counter set image above to download the complete army counter set in PDF format. The set has enough counters to create many armies of 2,000 points or less. Of course, if you need more counters simply print more copies!

Cheap l'Art de la Guerre Ancients Rules & Other Things

If you were to come to my house and sit down in my game room, which to be honest is dominated by my son's massive collection of board games, you would notice my bookcases directly behind me. One bookcase contains my Lego book collection, but that's another hobby for another day. The bookcase next to my Lego bookcase, on the shelves below the binders of my Magic the Gathering collection and other CCG's, sits my collection of miniature gaming rule books. Looking at them, I realize how small that collection looks compared to everything else in this room!

A Few of My Favorite Games

My current favorite miniature games are Gaslands: Refueled, Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant, Black Cross/Blue Sky, Napoleon's Battles, and the entire Warmaster series. I still need a good rule set for my large Western and Gothic collection. (I've come to a point where I don't want to spend the years I have left trying to reinvent the wheel with my own set of rules.) Same for my WWII collection. I'll probably use Bolt Action with the latter.

I just realized that I need to post some photos of a fantastic Gaslands game from last year. Another fellow put on two different games using 3D-printed scenery and other cobbled bits. They were awesome. I went on a thrift shop binge and bought a ton of old Hot Wheels and Matchboxes for the game. I need to work on them! I'll make that post later this week.

Finally, the Point of this Post

I want to call attention to an ancients game that has been around for a while but was translated into English a few years ago: l'Art de la Guerre by Hervé Caille. Perhaps some of you have heard of it? It's a 240-page, full-color, all-in-one book covering everything from the dawn of time through the Late Middle Ages on every continent other than Antarctica, from what I can tell. In the US, it sells for $42.

I never gave the game much thought because it was always out of stock. As soon as a print run hit the shelves here in the US, it was sold out. It's sold out now. A few weeks ago, Hervé graciously made the book available in PDF for only 5 Euros. It cost me around $7.50 after PayPal fees. That is dirt cheap! You can buy it from the ADLG website here.

I highly recommend it, especially at 5 Euros for the PDF. In the future when I post an army for WMA, I most likely will create an army for ADLG as well. I'm looking at going back and converting some of my other ancient sets to ADLG as well, since it would take little work.

What's Next?

Next set will be another enemy for the Late Romans--the Sassanid Persians. I'm almost done with it, thanks to images from Gripping Beast's 28mm range.

With all the game conventions being cancelled, we'll be hosting our own ultra-mini four-day convention next week. (It's a fun way to use some of our Hilton Rewards points!) From the "chatter" I've been picking up, I think I'm going to get pulled into playing a game of Star Wars: Legion from Fantasy Flight Games or Shadespire from GW. Or I could be totally surprised. I know I'll be running some Funkoverse games (imagine the Joker and T-Rex chasing The Golden Girls around their house.) I'll be sure to take photos. Hey, I'm getting back into the swing of this blog thing!

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

Warmaster Ancients - Britons & Celts Counter Set

This set is based on the Britons' army list in the Warmaster Ancients core rule book. It can work for anything during the 1st centuries BC and AD, including the Caesarian and Claudian invasions. It can also work for Irish and Caledonian armies. While all the units from the army list are present in barbaric horde quantities, I've also taken the liberty of adding some "bonus" units: Noblemen with more armor that can be used a variety of basic Warriors or treat them as Medium Infantry with Armour 6+ for 45 points. If you would like a little "magic" in your armies, there is a Shaman counter, if you want to add such a person. I've also added a number of "named" Generals if you would like to create a specific army; these images are generals from Foundry and Warlord 28mm miniatures. Of course, you could also use the counters for other games, such as DBA or Impetus. I enjoyed creating this set and hope you enjoy it.

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

Britons-Celts counter set in PDF format.

Warmaster Ancients - Hittite Counter Set

After much delay, I've finally uploaded a Warmaster Ancients counter set for the Hittites. They are a good enemy for the New Kingdom Egyptian army set I posted earlier, allowing players to re-fight the Battle of Kadesh against Ramesses II in 1274 BC. This Hittite set can also be used to fight against the Assyrian army, which also has their own set here. And there is nothing stopping anyone from having the Hittites fight off an Orc invasion as well! Anything can happen in the world of miniature gaming. I hope you enjoy the set.

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

Hittite counter set in PDF format.

Warmaster Ancients - Late Roman Counter Set

For most of my life, I've always associated the Early Imperial army whenever I thought "Roman." However, the empire has always been more than Hollywood's version. Today, I've uploaded my latest set of Warmaster Ancient counters--the Late Roman Empire. As with my other Warmaster Ancients sets, I've tried to provide enough counters for a typical army, with 1,200 to 1,500 points being the sweet spot. Since I've included counters for the ballista, you can also use this set with the revised Late Roman army list found on Rick Priestley's Warmaster website, which I link to via Archive.org. The names might be different for some of the revised units, but that is no big deal. Also, you might want to take a look at the website for the Roman Military Research Society, where you can find tons of information and photos on everything Roman. I hope you enjoy the counters.

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

Late Roman counter set in PDF format