Assembly and painting guides

[Nigel Heather]

Just received my starter set.

Okay, I’m sure I can work it all out but all the same I was surprised and disappointed to find a total absence of unit identification, assembly and painting information in the box.

Is there anything official to look at or download or do I need to work it out for myself.

As I said, I’m sure I can work it out but I imagine it to be a little daunting to those new to this kind of thing.

Cheers,

Nigel

[invisible officer]

Well, for those totally new to ancient world there may be small problems. But I guess 99% interested in SPQR know the difference of Roman legionary and Gaul.
Being told what is in the box it should be easy to sort out.

The box art shows samples of assembled and painted miniatures.

To work it out for yourself is a Bonus. OK, being museum man with degrees in history and archaeology I want that the peoples learn. 😉

[Nigel Heather]

Fair enough – though Cruel Seas is easier to work out and that has assembly and painting instructions.

Anyway just checked through the contents to make sure it was all there and there were a couple of puzzles.

1) listing on the back of the box says 8 gladius and 8 pilum but there is only a sprue of each, and only four on a sprue. Took me a little while to work out that you have to add the two sprues of command to make 8 in each group.

2) there is a blister with extra heads and shields – not entirely sure what they are for. The heads look Roman but the shields look gaul.

3) need to work out what a command is, standard bearer, instrument and leader I guess.

Wasn’t 100% sure but the archers are all one piece and seem to be a softer plastic than the rest – maybe the heroes too. Guessing the main sprues come from Hail Caesar but the others have been moulded especially for SPQR.

Cheers,

Nigel

[Aaron Williams]

Hey Nigel,

Maybe I can help some. Being somewhat new to ancient war gaming I had the same thought as you. A guide of any sort would have been welcome.
I would suggest you read through the rule book before you build up any minis. You just need to read the first twenty or so pages. It will give you some hints as to how you should build up your troops.

You get bonus to certain stats and checks depending on how many minis are in a unit. The minimum for the bonuses start at ten minis in a unit.

All minis in a unit must have the same armor and weapons. Not every single model needs to physically represent this however, the majority should.

With just those two things in mind there is enough to build eight Gauls with armor , sheilds and swords , along with a horn and standard bearer making ten in that unit. The rest can be built for a unit of Spears and no armor with a horn and standard bearer as well. I would make sure the shields are all attached to minis from the same unit. Can’t remember the exact count as I am away from home at the moment.

The legionaries can be built as eight with pilum for one unit and eight with swords for the second. It’s odd you didn’t get enough swords and pilum. I have eight of each.

Lastly the reason for the horn and standard are that they too Grant you bonuses if they are in a unit. The horn grants the unit a third action per turn and the standard bearer grants a re roll on bravery tests if I remember correctly.

At any rate, I hope this helps a little and if you have more questions please feel free to ask.

[Aaron Williams]

Sorry, I completely forgot to day that the sprues of Gauls have two torsos each with chainmail shirts. Use those along with the heads wearing helmets to build up the unit with armor , shields and swords. It’s alright if there are not enough swords for each ad long as the majority are weilding swords.

[Nigel Heather]

Just to clarify about gladius and pilum.

On the back of the box, the listing states 8 gladius and 8 pilum. But inside I found a sprue with 4 gladius and another with 4 pilum. So at first I thought I had two sprues missing. But then I noticed that I had two identical sprues marked command.

So I am assuming that the 8 gladius is mad up of one gladius sprue and one command sprue. And similar for the pilum.

Is that what you had in your box.

Cheers,

Nigel

[invisible officer]

“All minis in a unit must have the same armor and weapons. Not every single model needs to physically represent this however, the majority should.”

Thats it. All Roman legio miles had pilum and gladius. I never met a gamer that insisted that a miles miniature with a sword in hand could not throw a pilum. But the world is big……

Armor was limited to chiefs and retinue in tribal armies. That the special hero miniature has no helmet is….. Strange ?

For the common “warrior” even a sword is a ??? The long sword was expensive. Not every village smith could do them. Spear blades and arrowheads are far more easy to make.

That the Roman hero (Tribun or similar) has no shield is a wargaming topos. From Ancient sources we know they had one in close combat. Even Caesar took one from a wounded before running in to boost moral.

[Author]

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