Ken at Blue Moose Arts to paint all the cavalry!
Ken Eckhardt from Blue Moose Arts has volunteered to paint all the cavalry for the Battle of Sabis game. Woohoo! Thanks, Ken.
Hello.
It helps to know a madman or two every now and again. That's a heck of a commitment.
Bob Bailey
Sometimes a bit of sanity slips from my control. But it's all for a great cause.
Ken
Ken,
For basing the cavalry, I would work with a 25mm frontage per figure, by whatever depth works best. If you need to fudge those somewhat, then that is fine. I trust your eye for details and appreciate your volunteering. I would also suggest that you might use a multiple-figure base, say 60mm X 40mm or whatever looks best. You won't need to use a metal base, as there are so few cavalry that the multiple base method would work fine for whomever is commanding them.
Again, thanks for volunteering to do these!
Thank you for the information. Off the top of your head are these bases commercially available? Or, what would work best with the infantry so that the basing is the same?
Ken
Thank you for the information. Off the top of your head are these bases commercially available? Or, what would work best with the infantry so that the basing is the same?
Ken
-bluemoose
Ken, you can buy the econo-bases from Gale Force Nine here:
http://www.gf9.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=64&products_id=368
These are 3mm thick by whatever size in MM you need. Their magnetic bases are wonderful, too, though a bit pricey for me right now.
Also, Litko makes excellent basing, and I like their products very much too.
Just check out the left side for the various types of bases they make.
Respects,
Thank you sir. I will look into these.
Ken
Ken If I may ask. I'm almost afraid to ask. How much cavalry is there?
Hi, Jack.
Its not as bad as it sounds, but its still a whole little project within the project. As I recall there are 48 cavalry for the Romans. Unfortunately, we've not found reference to the Nervii fielding any. Really, we are putting them out there for fun more than for historical accuracy. They'll just look so darn cool!
Hi, Jack.
Its not as bad as it sounds, but its still a whole little project within the project. As I recall there are 48 cavalry for the Romans. Unfortunately, we've not found reference to the Nervii fielding any. Really, we are putting them out there for fun more than for historical accuracy. They'll just look so darn cool!
-wargaminginmaine
Ken, the cavalry were part of Caesar's forces, NOT the Nervii's! The Legions of this period didn't have any real light infantry or cavalry of their own, so they hired various tribes and ethnic groups to provide those services for them. In fact, Caesar was so impressed with the German cavalry that he had a personal bodyguard of them!
Caesar's army, like any of the Legions of this period and later, would have had contingents of Germans, Gauls, Numidians, Cretans, etc serving in many of the support, non-heavy infantry, positions.
These cavalry were assigned to the legions, and at Sabis, were deployed across the river to scout the area, along with a couple groups of light infantry equipped with bows and javelins. They acted as a "speed bump" when the Nervii broke cover and advanced, falling back before them, and eventually harrassing the flanks of the Nervii throughout the battle.
respects,
Thank you for that information. As they were hired troops would they be supplied with Roman equipment and, possibly, uniforms? Or were they just required to bring their own weapons and clothing?
Ken
Thank you for that information. As they were hired troops would they be supplied with Roman equipment and, possibly, uniforms? Or were they just required to bring their own weapons and clothing?
Ken
-bluemoose
Pretty much whatever they brought from home. There are some with the opinion that the odd bits of Roman armour, shields, weapons, etc, were given to them, others that they were purely native. I'd say you have carte-blanche to paint them as you see fit..... 
You mean I can use that bottle of day glow orange for something? Whoo Hoo!
I'll try not to get too crazy.
Ken
I like the way Colleen McCullough describes the Remi--the best horse breeders in Gaul, who provided the largest contingent of Caesar's allied cavalry--in her fictional "Caesar", one of the volumes of the series she began with "The First Man in Rome".
She depicts them wearing a common pattern of trousers and cloaks (blue and crimson) over crimson tunics, with blue saddle blankets. Now there's absolutely no evidence that any Gallic or Belgic tribes ever had a sort of tribal "tartan", but I like the idea in the case of the Remi. The color selection--which would have required expensive dyes--seems to fit a rich, equestrian tribe supplying Ceasar's premier horsemen.
If you're not familiar with them, I'd recommend McCullough's novels as providing a good "feel" for the period. She starts with Marius, and winds up with Octavian in control, so she covers a lot of ground. She's done her research well, but obviously, in some cases, lack of evidence requires making an interpretation with which some folks will quibble.
There's a time gap between the previous novel and "Caesar", it picks up in 54 BCE, so doesn't decribe this battle, except in a two-line flashback. But if you would like to get a sense of the subsequent war against Vercingetorix and warfare in Gaul in general, and don't have time for the entire series, I'd heartily recommend "Caesar". And if your missus liked McCullough's "The Thorn Birds", either as a novel or the mini-series, turn her loose on the previous volume, "Caesar's Women"!
Allen
I think Allen's suggestions are very good, and if you'd like to do something like that, Ken, then have at it!
Again, there is *no* evidence for it, so don't hang your hat on it. But I think it looks kind of cool. She describes the plaid for the trousers and cloaks ("shawls") as being "checkered in brilliant blue and dull crimson with a thin yellow thread interwoven", "shirts" as dull crimson, horse blankets brilliant blue.
So if you *enjoy* painting Black Watch tartan on Napoleonic Highlanders... ;^)
Allen
Thank you, Allen. Sounds like a trip to the library is in order. I do like the idea of some commonality to the cavalry. I will give it some thought. I'm not too worried about hanging my hat on it. I just want to fall within the broad realm of historical possibilities.
What would be considered a brilliant blue for that time period? How bright or "rich" could you get a color back then? Would it all depend on how much you were willing to pay? Any good web sites or books on ancient colors and dyes?
Ken
A good series as Allen says for the feel of the period. I am re-reading them now actually, having only about 20 pages left in the third book, Fortunes Favorites. A bit of a soap opera, but engaging and filled with interesting bits about Rome and her armies.
Brilliant blue is a problem. In that era, in northern Europe, blue could come from woad, but it wasn't colorfast, and would dull and fade rapidly. Modern dyers, working with mordants that weren't available then, get very bright results now with woad. Woad produces a form of indigo, and in the ancient world, most indigo came from other plants from India and the Far East; the European woad industry didn't develop until the Middle Ages. But still, woad is a possibility:
http://www.plantcultures.org/plants/indigo_landing.html
Other blue dyes were produced from other plant sources:
http://www.spectroscopynow.com/coi/cda/detail.cda?chId=4&id=13482&type=Feature&page=1
Tyrian "purple" from the murex shell could produce a range of colors, from crimson to a sky-blue, depending on which shellfish were harvested, and from what particular locations, and how it was processed (a lot of decomposition is involved, which made it a nasty business; imagine shores covered with dead and decomposing shellfish...) Similar shellfish were available on the Spanish and North African coasts, and murex dye factories existed in Greece and Italy, including Pompeii.
Shellfish dyes were expremely expensive. Only a tiny amount could be obtained from each shell, and modern estimates suggest that 8,000 shells could be required to make a milliliter of dye. That's why, in general, "purple" (however it may have actually appeared) was restricted to royal and priestly clothing.
This (just out this year) is probably one of the best surveys of natural colorants. You sure as heck don't want to buy it! Maybe a local library can get it on inter-library loan:
There's a lady in Maine... or maybe NH... who's been doing a lot with woad in fabric art. I can't remember how to find her Web site, though.
*How* bright can you get? Well... Blue Moose Blue!
http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/blue_dyes.html
But it may not have been very colorfast without modern methods of processing. Use your best judgement.
Allen
What the heck?
I had posted (or so I thought) about natural blues, but it seems to have disappeared. Trying again...
Blue dye would have come from one of three sources:
- Woad: available in northern Europe, but didn't really become a dye indutry until the Middle Ages. You can get very bright (Blue Moose Blue) dye using modern mordants:
http://www.wildcolours.co.uk/html/blue_dyes.html
...but it probably wasn't very color-fast or that bright using the techniques and materials then available. Woad produces a type of...
- Indigo: imported in ancient times from India, this the name. Produces a wide range of blues, including Levis' blue, but was quite expensive. It was eventually plnated around the Mediterranean, but not until after Classical times. Even more expensive was...
- Tyrian "purple": dyes derived from various types of murex shellfish ranged from crimson to sky blue. Originally a Phoenician industry, suitable shellfish were also discovered off the coasts of Spain and North Africa; dye factories were established in Greece and Italy, including Pompeii.
As an aside, the production of the dye required the decomposition of vast numbers of shellfish (modern estimates are up to 8,000 shells to produce one milliliter of dye), so imagine the worst case of stinking dead shellfish you've encountered on the coast, and multiply. This is what made it so expensive that initially it was restricted to royal and priestly garments, and later demand nearly wiped out the murex population by late Roman times.
There are lots of good books, some quite technical, which you might be able to get through inter-library loan; this one is just outthis year and horrifically expensive:
There's a lady in Maine who's been doing a lot with woad in textile arts, but I can't locate her Web site again.
Just use your judgement, I'd say. Any color is possible; it's just a matter of how colorfast it would be, and how long it would stay bright before fading and dulling.
Allen
