Today I more-or-less finished the first couple of units for my Sassanid Persian Army - a group of City Militia spearmen, and another of archers. In WAB, these units can form ‘composite’ units, with either spearmen or archers in the front rank. The units, as can be seen here, are very small. A mis-translation of a primary source suggests that these troops were so poor that they had to be chained together in order to persuade them not to flee the field. Happily for us, they weren’t that bad - though they were no match for legionaries, even the dishevelled, slightly disreputable, legionaries of the Third Century.
My initial plan is to build a 1,000 point army for each side. 1,000 points isn’t very much, so these units are small. Later in the project, I shall probably add more troops to each, as well as adding more units of infantry to fight alongside them.
Here are the two forces I’m intending to paint, each of roughly 1,000 points. Units in bold are completed.
Romans:
Tribune
Army Standard Bearer
16 Regular Legionaries, with centurion, standard bearer & musician
16 Raw Legionaries, with centurion, standard bearer & musician
16 Lanciarii, with centurion, standard bearer & musician
6 Auxiliary Cavalry, with leader, standard bearer & musician
Sassanians:
Leader (Chahrigh)
12 Regular Clibanarii, with leader, standard bearer & musician
12 Iranian Light cavalry, with leader, standard bearer & musician
12 City Militia Spearmen, with leader, standard bearer & musician
12 City Militia Archers, with leader, standard bearer & musician
Elephant, with mahout, howdah and three crew