These fabulous pictures, sent to us from Bennett Blalock-Doane, capture Sarmatian Cataphracts thundering in to battle on their armoured steeds.
These horsemen can provide excellent shock cavalry for your Dacian army or acting as Auxiliary Cavalry in your Roman army these riders will make a mess of most things in their path…
When the Roman armies crossed the Danube and clashed with the tough Dacians of present day Romania they may not have counted on them bringing along their warlike allies, the Sarmatians. The Sarmatians seem to have become staunch friends of the Dacians, and together they proved to be a formidable opponent.
Their primary military arm was their cavalry, which they employed by the thousand. Most effective of all was the cataphract, a warrior clad in a full armour from head to toe and riding a strong horse which itself was well protected by skirts of leather cloth and armour.This armour was commonly called scale mail and could be made of iron, bronze or indeed horn.
Warlord’s Hail Caesar supplement book ‘Rome’s Dacian Wars’ includes the Sarmatians and is the first in a series of supplements looking at specific campaigns during the timescale covered by our Hail Caesar rules – 3000 BC to around 1100 AD.
Fighting Trajan’s invasion of Dacia with model soldiers
At the end of the first century AD, the Roman Empire was the greatest military power the world had ever seen. All of Western Europe south of the Rhine and the Danube, southern Britain, North Africa, Egypt, the Balkans and most of the Levant was under its control. The mighty Roman army and its legions had rarely known defeat in living memory – and never for very long.
One upstart state and its wily, aggressive leader refused to bend the knee. For almost twenty years, and against all odds, King Decebalus of Dacia defied Rome from his fortress capital deep within the Carpathian Mountains. Composed of thousands of savage tribesmen, heavily armoured Sarmatian lancers and even captured Roman weapons, Dacia’s armies proved to be powerful enough to keep the legions at bay. All this was to change with the ascension of the soldier-emperor Trajan, leading to one of antiquity’s greatest conflicts – the Dacian Wars.
This 64-page supplement for Hail Caesar focuses on Rome’s wars under Trajan against the Dacians and their Sarmatian allies. Featured battles include the Battle of Adamclisi, the Battle of Tapae and the Siege of Sarmizegetusa Regia.
Also included are: rules for playing skirmish games, fighting sieges and using warships, as well as campaign and hobby ideas.
A copy of the Hail Caesar rulebook is required to use this supplement.
Dan Hoyt