'Incendiary pigs' is not something I have cause to type often, and I would guess that they will only be making very occasional appearances on the gaming table. That said, I thought I'd add four elements to the Republican Roman project, if only to round out the Camillan army list:
While dousing pigs in combustible pitch, setting them alight and then driving them toward the enemy is no doubt an inhumane thing to do, I wouldn't have thought that it was particularly effective either. At least not as effective as driving stampeding cattle or flaming ox carts toward the formed ranks of the enemy.
In DBMM they are treated as one-shot artillery, albeit they are the last to be deployed and so can be lined up against a target of choice. However, at seven points an element plus an additional ten points to use an 'unusual troops strategem', they do seem rather expensive when normal artillery, which can be fired multiple times, is only eight points.
At least they are something a little different, and the Xyston figures are as usual very nice. I must have used eight different shades on the flames, from yellow through to smoky grey, as I was concerned (as I have mentioned elsewhere) they might otherwise just end up looking like pigs running around with German flags on their backs:
University has now ended for the year which means study is over until March 2021. Hopefully that means I'll be able to increase my painting output, although 2020 seems to have been quite productive on that front anyway.
Next up, Italian allies in the form of some Oscan auxiliary infantry.
Your flaming pigs look great, Lawrence. It will be interesting to see these used in battle.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jonathan. I'm sure they will get some use at some stage even if only for the surprise factor.
DeleteUnusual and splendid!
ReplyDeleteCheers Phil. Definitely unusual, and a welcome change from painting legionaries.
DeleteThey may or may not have been used in reality, but make for dramatic pieces Lawrence and will certainly be so on the table!
ReplyDeleteRegards, James
Thanks James. I am painting up some anti-elephant wagons at the moment, and am quite relieved to be able to move on to some interesting subjects after having painted four hundred or so legionaries.
DeleteJeez - when you mentioned incendiary pigs on my blog Lawrence, I thought they were dead pigs, fired with a catapult type engine - not live pigs set on fire - the Romans really were a pack of bastards weren't they - and they had the cheek to call other people "barbarians"! It would serve them right if on a roll of 1, the pigs turned back on the Romans and "incendiarated" them instead....like the anti tank dogs the Russians trained in 1940 to run under a tank with a mine strapped to their back - because they had been trained with Russian tanks, when they were released for real. they ran under those, rather than the German panzers!
ReplyDeleteApparently they also tried letting loose other wild animals, such as lions and tigers, obviously without much success.
DeleteThe flaming pigs were more an anti-elephant thing as I understand it, as elephants are frightened by the squealing. But yes, the Romans were a pack of bastards, as you say Keith.
Looks like you have pre and post ignition versions there, Lawrence! I recall the WRG army lists being pretty loudly ridiculed decades ago for including these, but they certainly are a change of pace!
ReplyDeleteNow you say it, I can vaguely recall that being a source of some mirth in the 80's Peter. They are there under the Hellenistic Greek list as well, but seem to have disappeared from that list over later revisions. Some of the rule changes back then, especially from 6th to 7th, were quite dramatic and the character of some armies changed overnight.
DeleteGreat looking additional detailing! I know they're in the TtS rules and as Keith says, what a bunch of bastards!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
Thanks Iain. I'll have to have a thumb through TtS and see if they are slightly more effective under that set of rules. I'm still hopeful of convincing my gaming group to play a game.
DeleteHumans have been remarkably cruel to animals through the centuries and this surely is one of the worst examples. That said it had me thinking of bacon and of an English friend who took a posting to Doha. On his first trip home he enjoyed a serving of bacon for breakfast...I remember his comment “I DO miss bacon...”
ReplyDeleteI also recall hearing of a demonstration by Paddy Griffiths at one of the Conference of Wargamers meets back in the 1980s where a group of wargamers was taken outside and asked to form up and march slowly towards a wood. Most were of course shocked to actually go outside and breathe fresh air, but then suddenly out of the wood came this device at speed with fireworks bursting from it. It was supposed to represent flaming pigs and very quickly had the right effect with the wargamers scattering in all directions.
I have to be honest Mark, when I was painting these I was how the Romans were potentially gifting the Carthaginians a cooked breakfast. The stories I like are when the Romans tried setting loose lions and tigers on the enemy, with the foreseeable results.
DeleteI love the Paddy Griffith recollection, and that would have truly been something to behold.
You have a great blog.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was hijacked and posted by Tango01 on The Miniatures Page.
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=543137
This poster has been asked repeatedly by other bloggers and TMP members to list the name of the blog as a courtesy instead of just "link". Please contact the owner of TMP, Bill Armintrout editor@theminiaturespage.com since he all but encourages the act.
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=542759
Yet another one taken with members asking for blogger to be credited.
ReplyDeletehttps://savinkoffgg.blogspot.com/2020/07/american-war-of-independence-1775.html