The reliquary and some thoughts on Pulp Alley

I've not updated lately, as work on my thesis has taken priority. It's a massive project, but time on other things is also important. I've also been working on some terrain tiles and adapting Pulp Alley to better suit the period. It has had the unintended consequence of getting me excited about (eventually) going back to my Pulp project... but I'm trying to focus here!!

But I wanted to share a small update on the sanctuary. I have completed the reliquary and you can see it below:

This is going straight to my feed #bucketlist #instatravel #militesofinstagram

As you won't get to see it much once the building is sealed up, I didn't mind using a less-detailed piece (I'd rather save those for plot points). It's supposed to evoke the Casket of Teuderic, or something like that.

It started off as a pretty rough plaster cast, I'm not sure where it came from. But I glued some hobby nails in for the gems, painted them and applied some gloss varnish.

I'll be finishing off the interior walls in good time, nothing fancy though. And my rooftiles came in so it's nearing completion. More on that another time.

I also wanted to include what I've done for the plot points so far. I've been careful not to take too much out of the Pulp Alley rulebook, and this is strictly intended for personal use only. You can find out more about Pulp Alley and buy the rules here. As you can see, there's quite a bit of adjustment for some fields, but I wanted to keep the spirit of the original. I've had to remove some tables completely.

Take a look and please share your thoughts in the comments below! 

As for me, back to the books - 'til next time!

Sanctuary building update: interior frescos

Hey all, managed to get a little more work done on the interior:

I am pretty happy with how it turned out. There were some things I wanted to do which my skills didn’t quite permit. I also don’t want to get too bogged down when you won’t really get to see a lot of it. But it’s good practice for when I tackle something a little more ambitious, like a villa.

The plinth is from the incredible "Hellenistic Sacrifice" set from Baueda. It comes with a bunch of jugs and a very large krater which will likely find its way into this projects somewhere.

Here’s an in progress shot:

Nice fresco... would be a shame if something “happened” to it.

And where it’s at right now:

You can probably get a sense of what you’ll see during games. I’m actually looking forward to taking a shot from the doorway looking in. I've only got to decide on what the reliquary will look like and the interior is mostly done.

As for the design, I drew inspiration from a commercial weight showing two Imperial figures in martial dress, which I've taken from Bendall's Byzantine Weights: An introduction that I'm currently reading:

Source: Bendall 1996: 47

It seemed like a suitably imposing figure, but I haven't quite settled on who he is or what makes him a saint yet. I also did a search for Late Roman frescos, but mostly just worked with the colours I had on hand at the time.

As for the final verdict... well, it could always be worse:

Building update: sanctuary interior

Hey everyone!

I've done a bit more work on the sanctuary, here's some of the interior.

The first section I'll be working on.

Here it is with the interior colours all done. 

Wasn't sure if I should push it with another white layer? 

First of two angels for the alcove... Where's the treasure?

I've decided to work in sections and glue it all together when individual parts are done. It's good to have a sense of what you'll be able to see (and what you won't) when it's all finished. I've decided to have a permanent roof over the vestibule as placing figures there is going to be impractical.

There will be two angels in the alcove, and two warrior-saints flanking the portal. Doing a little bit of weathering but keeping it minimal. As for the inside, I plan to have a small reliquary... I have a few ideas for that.

So, a fair bit done and not bad for an evening's work. This will probably be the last update for a little while: I've got some thesis milestones to finish this month and am on a bit of a roll... but this certainly is a nice way to spend a break.

Take care everyone!

Painting and building update - Christian sanctuary and some fighters

Salvete omnes!

After my last post I was itching to get to work on the small church from the Zegaani monastery site. So, during a break from my research I started playing around with the measurements and drew a couple of walls.

So far, so good...

I figured the entry would probably be a little taller and skinnier than a normal figure, although in hindsight I realised it could just as easily be a squeeze to get in.

I'm glad I went with my first instinct, though, as that left enough room to place a based figure in the vestibule (I think that's what you call the little antechamber at the entrance). Here are some progress shots:

The plan is to have either an altar or reliquary in the chancel/alcove and relatively clear space in the main area. This will all be done up with an interior, including frescoes, and detachable roofs. I just bought some styrene JTT Spanish tiles online, they look like this:

Excuse the white space, the photo came like that...

I've tried using corrugated cardboard in the past and wasn't 100% happy with it. I ended up buying a Hirst Arts pantile mould but they're a bit big for 28mm (but perfect for my Flintloque buildings). It's on its way, along with a Renedra plastic wattle outbuilding, hopefully here soon.

To wrap it up, the exterior will be weather a little bit, but nothing like that photos of what it looks like now! I imagine it being quite useful in the scenarios I have planned... a place to raid or defend from raiders, or perhaps a place to seek sanctuary (not always guaranteed to work).

I have also painted a couple of miniatures, although they aren't fully based yet. Here they are:

Saxon archer, Eureka and Viking, BTD... what is that helmet?!

One is a Saxon archer from Eureka, the other a Viking from Black Tree Design. I'm not too fussed about the ethnic labels, as you probably know (if not, read my earlier posts!). They're fighting men and that's good enough! 

As for rules, I'm looking at Pulp Alley to start out. I bought the first edition a long time ago, and just purchased the solo module. I know there's a second edition out, but will try these first. You can field small groups of 5 or 6 figures to about 15... although the more numerous the less well-trained they are. This gives me enough to play around with for narrative games to decent skirmish battles.

Anyway, I've gone on long enough now - thanks for reading!

Terrain inspiration: Zegaani monastery, C.5th–7th

Just a quick post to share some inspiration for a small church or chapel. There are some wonderful churches already available, but being a scatch-builder at heart I'm always on the look out for something different.

I came across an image of a small "church" on the grounds of the Zegaani monastery in Georgia. It looks like a nice, easy build to add some flavour to any scenario. I had some trouble identifying the exact date, with ranges from the 5th–7th centuries. I see it as a small shrine or reliquary,  ideal for defending from looters or perhaps as the site of a rumoured hoard buried there before being abandoned.

Well, on with the photos!

Source: wikimapia.org

Source: http://www.travelgeorgia.ru/22/4/5/963/

It will take a little bit of work to get the proportions right, and there might be just enough room for an interior... and check out the ceiling fresco! I would love to visit the site one day.

As for some thoughts on what the interior might look like, I am going to share a very special photograph I was privileged to take inside an iconic structure. I don't want to say too much about the site, but those in the know will be able to figure it out.

Hope you've enjoyed this, and if you have any thoughts on the post be sure to post them below!

Painting update - bacaudae, soldiers and more!

I'm going to open up with a picture of what I've done so far, with some discussion below...

A cast of thousands!

I've imagined this guy to be an assassin, bandit or a leader of the bacaudae.

Source: Black Tree Designs

There's some contention as to who the bacaudae were: either organised groups of militarised peasants or (less plausibly) the semi-militarised thugs of local strong-men outside of the control of provincial government. Kulikowski settles on "well-organised bandits who were so a general feature of Roman provincial life". Either way, they were a significant enough threat and were dealt with brutally.

Speaking of which, here are some soldiers.

Source: Gripping Beast

I'll be adding more to join them. I see them as an elite unit, or bodyguard, operating in and around the frontiers between Italy, France and Spain... more on my choice of setting another time!

Uniforms and war gear provide little distinction between "Roman" and "barbarian" armies. For the narrators of history, such as Gregory of Tours, the word "barbarian" was typically synonymous with "soldier". When Theoderic Amal (454-526) designed policy, he designed it with a classical ethnographic distinction in mind - "Goths" were typically the military elite, but they served Rome.

When I started painting these I had an alternate icon on the top - a chi ro - which I copied from other examples. I started to wonder why this is so popular... this is perhaps a legacy of Constantine's labara (as seen on some coins), and much later the San Vitale mosaic of Justinian shows a spectacular shield with the chi ro. As these sources are potential loaded with Eastern Imperial propaganda, I started to look around for more information.

The original shield design. A bit bleh.

What we know of shield for the armies of Late Rome are usually drawn from the Notitia Dignitatum. This has a list of the "units" of the Eastern and Western Roman Army with a shield representing each. Peculiar shield designs for each cohort seems to be what Vegetius describes in a passage of Book II of his De Re Militares. The Notitia also lists other "offices" such as political and administrative roles (e.g. the Urban Prefect of Rome). This is presumed correct for the late 4th/early 5th centuries.

But why the excess of chi ro shields in the tabletop armies of Late Antiquity? I don't really have an answer, but they look nice and are probably easy to fit onto your miniatures. Again, the iconography from coinage and art is another source, but may be somewhat misleading.

Further down the track we see that, in the West, Classical iconography presented alongside more contemporary Christian icons like the coin of Athalaric minted in Rome below. The scene above harks back to the myth of Romulus and Remus, still in popular memory in the early 6th Century. Note that bronze coinage probably had a different audience and purpose than the gold Victoria coinage of the period. But every decision made when designing and minting coins is intentional. It can communicate an idea, identity, quality assurance, authority, or serve as an administrative measure. Can we consider shields in the same way?

A bronze coin of Athalaric from the mint at Rome. 

Source: Roma Numismatics Ltd, Auction IX, Lot 870

So, for me, it wasn't a stretch to play around with shield designs.

I've come across some promising images of shields across the web, but will look into this more for another post.

FURTHER READING

Kulikowski, M. (2010) Late Roman Spain and Its Cities, John Hopkins

Wargaming Late Antiquity: Part 1 - The Decline and Fall of an Historical Paradigm

I intimated in my first post that I'd be getting into the historical scholarship of Late Antiquity every now and then and how it's relevant to wargaming. So here's the first post in a series.

Let's talk about the "Dark Ages" a little bit.

It's a term that, over that last 50 years, has progressively fallen out of scholarly use... and rightly so. It is incredibly ill-equipped to explore this historical period. The term "Dark Ages" is a relic, and a major narrative holding this concept together is "the Fall of Rome". Yet, that is also proving to be an inadequate, and misleading, term. This concept originated in the Renaissance and throughout the Enlightenment reached its peak in Gibbons' monumental Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (the first volume published in 1776). It persists to this day. In 1984, Demandt cited 210 reasons for "the Fall", and countless popular histories bear a similarly gloomy title.

As a metaphor, "the Fall of Rome" captures our fears for our own civilisation, and thus as myth it remains relevant. It's also alluring and dramatic, and so it also entertains us. It provides a clear and convenient distinction between eras, as well as valiant protagonists and barbarous antagonists. The never-ending battle between "us" and "them".

But, what happens when there's no "them"?

As the scholarly community have been discovering, and rediscovering, the "Fall of Rome" as a paradigm provides little in the way of historical "truth". There is no global phenomenon, or unanimous contemporary experience, that can be identified as "the Fall of Rome". Not in 376, with the crossing of the Goths across the Danube. Nor in 410, with the sack of Rome by Alaric. And neither in 476, with the deposition of Romulus Augustulus by the usurper Odovacer. "It may have been a chameleon," writes Bowersock, "but it was certainly no phoenix, because there were no ashes".

This is not to say that the turmoil, conflicts and catastrophes that define the period didn't happen. But they need to be reassessed free from the judgments and modern day assumptions. Take the Saxon advent in Britain, which I think casts a long shadow on our perceptions of the period. But the experience from person to person varied: some certainly benefitted, most probably did not. The transition from Roman to Saxon Britain (if we want to call it that) was not a smooth one, but for a variety of reasons. It is not our role to judge whether it was "good" or "bad", but we do anyway.

Another narrative, "The Barbarian Invasions" is similarly problematic. Goffart, one of my favourite scholars on the topic, points out that there has been a disproportionate amount of attention given to the "invasion" narrative in historical study. What happens when we contrast this with an "accommodation" narrative?

A question I continue to ask, and I encourage you to also consider, is "what was it about Late Roman society that allowed barbarians to enter, contribute, but also rise to the highest authority?".

What, in your mind, makes it inherently "better" or (more likely) "worse" than what came before? Is this an assumption, or is it based on "the facts of history"?

I believe that the "Dark Ages" persists in wargaming for similar reasons described above. The narrative, specifically of dramatic conflict amidst a backdrop of apocalyptic destruction: the bread and butter of wargaming. It's also incredibly convenient when you have the good guys, the bad guys, and they have homogenous (often ethnic) identities.

The question is: does that have to change?

In short, yes. Unless you're okay with propagating pseudo-historical narratives and ethnic stereotypes for the sake of entertainment.

But how?

That's a question for another blog.

Vale!

REFERENCES & FURTHER READING (AND LISTENING)

Bowersock, G.W. (1996) “The Vanishing Paradigm of the Fall of Rome” in Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 49, No. 8 (May, 1996), American Academy of Arts & Sciences: 29-43

Carr, E.H. (1961) "The Historian and His Facts" in What Is History?, Cambridge University Press

Demandt, A. (1984) "210 Reasons for decline of Roman Empire" in Der Fall Roms, Beck

Goffart, W. (1989) "The theme of 'The Barbarian Invasions' in Late Antique and Modern Historiography" in Rome’s Fall and After, The Hambledon Press

Wyman, P. (2018) The Fall of Rome Podcast