Wednesday, October 14, 2020

My First Steps into Historical Wargaming

 A few months ago, while deep in shut down I achieved the impossible, I painted every single model I own.  Having completed this herculean task I ventured out to my FLGS to pick up the next project to fill my hobby void.  I walked around for a bit, but nothing grabbed so I decided that I would just use this free time elsewhere in my life.  Before I left I informed the shop owner of the completion of all my models.  He asked me to hold on a moment while he disappeared to his storage room and returned laughing as he tossed me a bag of 28mm Roman Legionnaires.  This bag was "on the house" as he knew he was starting me down a path of no return....Historical Wargaming.


This week I am happy to say I painted up my unit of Legionanaries and to be honest, I rather enjoyed the process.  In order to know more about how I would paint them up, I grabbed some literature all about The Roman Army at the suggestion of my shop owner.  I poured over the book for quite some time to get a greater feel for the army organization, its heraldry, and its place in the history of Rome.  


The one truth I know about Historical Wargaming is to paint your models with the utmost accuracy to the source material.  While I did lay out my plan and knowing that I was going to be painting an army Marian Romans I put most of my effort into planning out the paint scheme to suit this timeframe.  I have to be honest that I didn't have much stress in choosing to paint Marian Romans as the bag of models given to me had it listed directly on the bag.  While I could have taken these models everywhere I decide to let the winds of fate guide me and stuck to what was listed on the bag topper.


Having fully painted the unit I am very happy with the results considering the simplicity of the paint scheme.  While I didn't put forth the same level of energy I would for a Warhammer army I did my best to hit a tabletop standard.  I still plan to base the models as well as put some heraldry on the shields, but for now, I am pleased with where they are as a tabletop unit.  


While I am not sure this will turn into a full-size army anytime soon the promise of a game with my shop owner when it does reach a sizable force is some motivation to keep adding to the collection.  The bug of Historical wargaming has bitten and it is not as bad as I thought it would be, but even as I write this I am planning on painting another unit of Luminth Realm-Lords next so there is no fear of me moving away from Warhammer Age of Sigmar or Warhammer 40k.  However, I will likely add units of Marian Romans in between all the Aelf hobby time I have planned in my near future.

Happy Hobbying and stay Stormcast Strong.

Chuck Moore