Devotio in the Shrine - Mark Backhouse (48 points)

 For the shrine it was time to return back to the Ancient World. I’ve been playtesting my rules lots and on one feature we hadn’t visually represented very well were skirmishers and generals. To compensate I scratchbuilt a load of strips of skirmishing troops that can be deployed in front of and behind the larger units. Each is made of coffee stirrers, matchsticks, a bit of Pollyfilla and sharp sand. The individual skirmishers are literally bits of grit from in the sharp sand. Your eyes trick you into thinking there is a bit more there! Yes, this is the joy of 2mm. Individually they look like spots of paint. Together they look like an army and truly epic!

Now time to get onto the shrine part. I wanted a way to depict super aggressive troops that carry out a devotio. A devotio was an act of self sacrifice carried out by Roman volunteers. By promising to Mars they would carry out this sacrifice they hurled themselves into the enemy lines to inspire the rest of their army and win favour from the gods to grant them victory. Of course they all expected to die in the act! Probably the most famous was carried out by Crastinus and 120 volunteers from the 10th Legion at Pharsalus in 48BC. They charged headlong into the Pompeian ranks, hacking their way into the enemy formation. Crastinus himself died with a gladius that was thrust through his mouth and out the other side! Ouch! I decided to model them as aggressive looking wedges that I can place in front of the legion they are inspiring. A completely ridiculous one shot weapon, but adding a bit more period flavour.

The devotio here leads the legion to attack the German tribesmen! The legion and warband were painted before the challenge but hopefully show in context how they will be used!

So these are all the bases I made. The two devotios and 4 general bases are at the front.

These are all the bases I made. 13 strips of skirmishers, 4 generals and 2 devotios. I made two just in case there was a Civil War game and both sides wanted to use one! I think there are about 100 men per strip of skirmishers roughly.

This final picture shows how the skirmishers supporting a legion now look. The devotio leads the way!

I realise points for these are a bit abstract, so I’ll claim 2 per base or strip of skirmishers. That’s 19 x 2 =38, +20 for completing the challenge makes a grand total of 58 points.

On to the Oubliette now and something I found from about 2004...