The Loose Association of Wargamers

I'm putting the final touches to my first Late Roman Civil War to be held on Sunday.

I very much like my Late Roman army. It's by no means dazzling but pretty good for my abilities as a painter.

As I seem to have had no luck in manipulati....sorry, persuading any of my pals to build a Sassanid or other eastern opponent and as I am fairly reluctant to begin another army, I'm stuck with civil wars....unless....

I have a fairly large bunch of Germanic types I'm using as Goths. It occurs to me that if I bolster this existing force with as little as 4-6 units of Huns, I'd have a viable opposition to the L.R.s. This means they'd be about 20% of a new Hun-Goth army.

So I've been thinking how they'd fit into my simple rules.

Some thoughts:

1. Hunnic light cavalry should have a decent melee ability (unlike the Roman mounted archers).

2, All Hun units should have an archery ability, even the heavy cavalry.

3. All Hun units should be 'elite'. Note: only 2 out of 34 of my Roman units are so designated. 'Elite' status gets improved melee ability and a greater ability to pass morale tests.

The Huns seemed to terrify everyone. It doesn't seem out of line to tweak them upwards this way. Their low numbers wouldn't make for a "super-army".

Thoughts?

donald

I thought the whole point about Huns is that they come in massive hordes ? That, essentially, is what made them scary ?

Wg Cdr Luddite wrote: ↑Wed Sep 15, 2021 2:12 pm I thought the whole point about Huns is that they come in massive hordes ?

Well, sort of but as I mentioned, I don't want to build a 200-300 figure army & wanted to use existing figures as Goths & just add as few Huns as I could get away with.

The "massive hordes" were usually composed of Huns + subject/ally Goths, Alans, Sarmatians etc so my idea isn't entirely unhistorical.

Finally, I'm not aiming for the Battle of Chalons but large scale raids, frontier clashes, mopping up exercises.

As to what made them so scary - add appearance, ferocity, new means of combat, godlessness.......
What seems true is the various barbarians they attacked & the Romans themselves seemed genuinely intimidated by them.

The really scary thing about them is the stern wimples and constant singing of Ave Maria


Oh…. Huns…..

goat major wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:37 am the stern wimples

I'm fairly sure that's a term used in the Patrick O'Brien novels.

"Secure the stern wimples," called Jack Aubrey, " before the limber-hole needs puddening."


donald

"

goat major wrote: ↑Thu Sep 16, 2021 9:37 am The really scary thing about them is the stern wimples and constant singing of Ave Maria


Oh…. Huns…..

You'll trigger LT and the Baron...

Mine weren't too bad. I think LT's must have been ex-SS whilst mine were merely ex-Luftwaffe.

BaronVonWreckedoften wrote: ↑Fri Sep 17, 2021 8:11 am Mine weren't too bad. I think LT's must have been ex-SS whilst mine were merely ex-Luftwaffe.

and I thought she was American...

The footwear usually gives them away.....