Legio Wargames

Etruscan society was highly stratified. Citizens of wealth and rank ( hoi dynatotatoi ) provided the hoplite phalanx backed up by their vassals ( penestes ).  The Etruscans were loath to arm the lower orders of society. When such men were called up they were lightly armoured with oval/rectangular shields and heavy javelins — forerunners of the Roman scuta and pila. Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote that some Etruscan cities used mercenaries to swell their ranks and I have dec

In 838 the Abbasid Caliphate invaded Anatolia. Emperor Theophilos led the Byzantine field army, reinforced by Khurrami Persians, to attack Prince Afshin’s Arabs, Turks and Armenians at Dasymon. The Emperor attacked at dawn when many of Afshin’s Turks were away foraging. His intent — to destroy the Arab army before the Turks can come to their aid. This game is another play-test for my revision of Comitatus rules which will be published in the new year. Most of the Byzantine f

My Etruscan 1 st  class citizen hoplites ( Rasenna  as they called themselves) are now ready for battle, joining the 2 nd  class hoplites previously painted . These are proper citizens of wealth, good standing, and refined tastes — not the hoi polloi fielded by the Romans and other lesser mortals with their dangerously radical republican ideas. The Rasenna can afford full hoplite panoply and decorate their shields, armour and helmets to display their wealth and prestige. The

The next chapter of our Dux Britanniarum campaign sees the wild painted men of the north landing in their small boats on the coast of Caer Colun (East Anglia). The Romano-British of Denningtonum have been finding it hard enough to fend off the Saxons and now it seems they must secure their homes and wealth against the Picti. The Saxons are also concerned as they have no wish to share the fertile lands of Caer Colun with another group of migrants. So they call their warriors t