Sunday 4 September 2011

Caesar's Legions


I have been painting furiously over the last few weeks.

From left to right:

Gauls
Warchief
Four Warbands of 10-12 models on a 10 by 7cm base
Two Cavalry Units each of two 7.5 by 5cm bases that can be used side by side or one after the other.

British
Warrior Queen on chariot
Small unit of slingers, individually mounted
Two Warbands
Chariots on 4 by 9cm base, used in pairs for a standard-sized unit or singly for a small unit

Roman Legionaires
General with hunting dog
Mounted in groups of ten models on 5 by 10cm bases

Roman Auxiliaries
Medium Infantry mounted as Legionaires
Cavalry mounted as Gauls
'Cretan' Archers, ten models on a 7 by 10cm base

Germans
Warchief
Cavalry/infantry, six to eight models on a 7 by 10cm base
Warband, as Gauls

I play Hail Caesar at a roughly 50% unit size from the examples given in the rules. This is much better for a two player game on a home dining table. The original scale is designed for multiplayer games on a large table, for people with lots of models.

The 50% scale is convenient because it is easy to double up units to get back to the original scale if necessary. I mount the models together on a single stand because it is so much more convenient for both storage and playing. They are mounted on plastic card which could easily be cut up with a pair of scissors without removing the models.

A standard game would be ten units divided into two divisions with a general and subgeneral to command each. Point values for each stand are irrelevant and can be ignored. I suggest that a player be allowed to employ up to two 'large' units for every two 'small' unit that he fields.

This is biased slightly against the Celts.

To add some unpredictible spice the Celtic Player can roll a D6 die against the table below to modify the Celtic Army Size.
Die Roll        Result
1.                 -1 Unit
2.                 No Effect
3.                 No Effect
4.                 No Effect
5.                 +1 Unit
6.                 +2 Units


5 comments:

  1. Practical ideas, especially the plasticard. That bird's eye view is an ideal distance for the sizes - it gives a feel for the whole force, but also the nature of the individual units.

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  2. I meant to add that it is interesting occasionaly to get the whole army out for a parade of the troops.
    J

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  3. Great stuff John, I like the idea of the random Celt chart, great idea!

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  4. Dear Ray
    Celts were pretty random,
    J

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