Mark Backhouse’s Walkthrough to making a Roman Legion in 2mm.

1: Today I’m having an experiment with Punic wars era Republican legions. Lots of smaller maniples made of 10mm square bases. The hastati have formed a
single line. Build time so far is about 15 minutes while listening to the football! I’ll add spears on the triarii with brush bristles next. The velites have been made
from matchsticks. Greenstuff and texturing to follow later. I should add it’s not my current intention to cover these initially in the rules - which will focus instead
from around 100BC and the Marian reforms to about 200AD. I’ll widen the dates to look at other eras as I find the time to cover them!

2: The somewhat delayed Punic Wars era Roman legion has had a bit of greenstuff applied to it. I’m still considering whether to add small brush bristle spears to
the triarii at the back or not. Once dried I’ll do the basing next and then talk through the painting process.

3: The next stage is to PVA down dried sand on the base. Remove any large bits of grit with a small brush or
tweezers. I leave a small 60mm x 5mm strip plain along the back left hand edge where I will stick a magnet for
the name label. Of course you don’t need to do this. I just find the name tags help me during the game!
Simon Miller has suggested a few more velites would help. I’ll try adding them on the next legion base I make!

4: Once the base colour and dry brush has dried, cover all the troops in an undercoat of black. Make sure you do
all the edges and get in any undercuts you’ve made with the greenstuff. Once this dries touch up any bits not
covered black. Any big bits of grit can always be painted black to represent individual officers and skirmishers,
or just leave them in the base colours.

5: I’ve added the spears for the triarii and a few javelin for the velites. They are made from a cleaning brush.
Chop lengths off with scissors. Add tacky glue and use tweezers to place them in position. Once dry add another
layer of tacky glue over the top. Trim to length (not done yet in the photo) with nail clippers. I’m going to
slightly exaggerate their size deliberately so you spit them from a distance. Next I’ll paint them black.
6. The shields are painted next - in this case a dark red. More of a dot for the velite’s round shields and a longer
stripe for the legionary scutums. Try to leave some back between the shields if possible rather than block them
out entirely.

7: Ok for the velites I’m using two different shades of grey for the wolf skins. A simple line or dot along the head
and a bit down the back of where I imagine they are. Leave black between them to trick the eye into thinking
there are gaps.
Next up a bit of white for the tunics. I guess I could use other colours but the white contrasts nicely with the
black. I paint a few white strokes here and there, again leaving some black. I add in a few helmets in bronze dots
and spears in a yellowy brown colour.
Lastly I use a pale flesh to pick out only the faces. One small dot per head, just in front of the grey wolf skin or
helmet. I realise more flesh will be exposed on the legs and arms but I don’t paint it! It would just confuse the
eye! Mediterranean flesh would be darker than the colour I use but a lighter flesh colour stands out better and
looks the part at this scale. Oh I forgot! A few small dabs of silver for the javelin points here and there!
8: Once the helmets are all done it’s back to the flesh. A little blob under each helmet on the front rank and either
side, then pick out a few faces further back. Don’t do them all!
Then just picking out the triarii spears in yellowy brown. Black spear points and then a dab of silver here and
there. I lost a few in one maniple with a clumsy finger! I’ll replace them later. The top down picture hopefully
gets the idea across as well. Don’t panic too much if a few flesh dots are in odd places. It all adds to the effect.
We are nearly there! That’s it for the painting. Now for the finishing touches.

9: Silver now for the chainmail. I’m looking at the base from the rear now. The triarii and the principes all get a
stripe in silver. Leave some black to imply depth and gaps. The hastati are a bit poorer maybe, so I’ve chosen to
do a few white stripes for less heavily armoured ones mainly in tunics, maybe just with a pectoral plate? Of
course I could use reds, greys or browns here. Experiment with what works best for you!
10: The next stage is the helmets. I use a bronze colour for these earlier Republican legionaries and small dots in
lines. I try to use the scribed greenstuff grid pattern as my guide and avoid the black recesses. Don’t stick to it too
rigidly just try to keep them reasonably in lines.
The rules will focus on 100BC - 200AD. During this time the bronze montefortino Roman helmets were replaced
with more iron helmets. I find for late Republican legions arranged into 10 cohorts a mixture of silver and bronze
looks best. If you want to depict warbands and mobs try to get a mixture of browns, dark greys and yellowy
browns to mix in with helmet colours. Avoid the rigid lines in less ordered units a bit more.
I’ve also added in a few stripes of red here and there on the front and left hand side of the unit where they would
be holding their shields.

11: Ok the finishing touches. Run a line of US army olive drab or Vallejo yellow green along the edge of the
base. Use PVA or tacky glue and cover around 2/3rd of the base. Sprinkle Woodland scenics fine scatter burnt
grass over it. Use slightly larger bits of clump foliage as bushes and trees. I’ve left a bit in the corner for a
magnetic strip and where the interchangeable name tag will go.
One Polybian Roman legion suitable for the Punic Wars or taking on Macedonia or the Seleucids is good to go. I
should add that’s really for another supplement as Strength and Honour will focus on a bit later on C. 100BC -
200AD. The techniques for the different troop types shown here should get you thinking though and could be
applied to a wide variety of different troop types.