Everything Historical and Wargaming.
With the sudden popularity in all things Roman. I took a look at some Roman card buildings I came across on RPGnow.com. These are in 20mm scale but could easily be printed out in 28mm. There are several buildings in the range to choose from and its good way to populate a city or town within the Roman Empire.
Continue reading “Roman Card Buildings”
I’ve recently been watching Knightfall, a history drama that follows the fall of the Knights Templar. This got me thinking of playing a medieval skirmish game or two, but which rule system to use. I didn’t fancy going out and purchasing a new set. So I trawled the internet and came across Knights and Knaves by Historic Enterprises Company (www.hisentco.com), these are free to download, but were originally available for purchase. Along with the core rules there are several expansions for Knights and Knaves. Castles, Cogs & Chevauches, plus More Knights and Knaves, these expand the rules further, introduce new scenarios, and expand on the army lists.
Just like the modern world, the Roman Empire was infested with criminal elements, and gangs were every where, especially in the capital Rome. Some were merely petty thieves, smugglers whilst others were more like the fore bearers of modern organised gangs, such as the Mafia in Italy and the US or the Yakuza in Japan.
Continue reading “The Criminal Underbelly of the Roman World”
In the Late 3rd Century environmental conditions around the Rhine, which gave rise to flooding and easier access to the sea allowed the Saxon and Frankish tribes to develop sea borne travel. It was at this time that the Roman Military started to abandon the are due to flooding. Which allowed the Saxon tribes more freedom to move and carry out raids.
In the twelfth century a welsh cleric wrote a book entitled the History of the Kings of Britain. He made claims within the book that stated that British kings were descended from the Trojans, and that ancestors of the Trojans landed in Britain some time after the fall of Troy, creating a Trojan/Greek state in South West Britain.
Rome’s obsession to conquer Persia dates back to around 55 BC when Crassus needed a victory, and the plunder that would come with that victory, for political ends in Rome. He looked to the Persian empire to provide both. Crassus took a Roman army into Persia near the town of Harran and met with a Persian army under the command of Surena. It was at this battle that the Roman army met a new type of soldier, horse archers and heavily armoured cavalry very similar to medieval knights.
Alaric and the Goths played an active part in the downfall of the Western Roman Empire.
The origins of the Goths is still quite a puzzle for modern historians and archaeologists, though some of the written evidence dating from around the second century suggests that they were settled around modern day Poland. It is believed by many that they originated from the Baltic region and possibly from Gotland in Sweden.
