Rome's Italian Wars

From c. 650 BC to 300 BC Rome fought a series of wars against its Italian neighbours until it had conquered most of the Italian peninsula. The club project is to provide many of the forces that were involved in these wars.

On many occasions forces were made up of various allies so there is a great deal of choice for members wishing to provide factions for these battles.

There are a number of rules we could use for these wars. However I have decided to look at the new Swordpoint rules from Gripping Beast and I know a number of members have already got copies. We could of course use rules we are familiar with such as Hail Caesar but for the time being Swordpoint looks to be worth a try.

In Swordpoint units are made up of a number of bases. Formed & open order infantry bases are 40mm x 40mm and skirmish infantry are 80mm x 40mm. A base of formed infantry has 4 figures, open order 3 or 4 and skirmishers 2 or 3. Cavalry bases are 50mm x 50mm with 2 figures per base.

Since many members will be unfamiliar with the armies of the period I have made a number of army lists for the various forces involved. These are taken from an old WRG list adapted for the Swordpoint basing described above.

Romans or Latins

4 - 12 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins & Shields

20 - 60 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Long Spears & Shields

5 - 20 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Spear & Javelins

5 - 20 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Slings

Etruscans

upto 5 bases of Formed Armoured Cavalry with Javelins & Shields

20 - 60 bases of Formed Armoured Infantry with Long Spears & Shields

upto 10 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Spear & Javelins

upto 5 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Bows

Samnites

upto 8 bases of Formed Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

10 - 80 bases of Open Order Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Javelins & Shields

Umbrians or Sabines

upto 8 bases of Formed Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

10 - 80 bases of Open Order Unarmoured Infantry with Javelins & Shields

Volscians or Aequians or Hernicians

upto 5 bases of Formed Armoured Cavalry with Javelins

15 - 80 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Long Spears, Javelins & Shields

upto 5 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Javelins & Shields

upto 5 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Bows

Campanians or Apulians

10 - 20 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

6 - 24 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Long Spears & Shields

4 - 10 bases of Open Order Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Javelins & Shields

Lucanian

10 - 20 bases of Formed Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

4- 10 bases of Open Order Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Javelins & Shields

Greek States of Southern Italy

3 - 6 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

12 - 24 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry with Long Spears & Shields

4 - 8 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Javelins

Gallic Celts or Ligurian Celts

upto 4 Light Chariots

upto 5 bases of Formed Armoured/Unarmoured Cavalry with Javelins

16 - 24 bases of Open Order Unarmoured Infantry with Javelins & Shields

upto 5 bases of Skirmish Infantry with Javelins & Shields

NOTES

These are only a guide to the composition of these troops.

Whether or not cavalry shown as unshielded did in fact carry shields is open to interpretation.

Whether or not some of the open order infantry fought in formed close order and whether such troops were armoured or not is also open to interpretation.

This is a period where many of the formed infantry were still equipped in the Greek hoplite panoply but moved towards lighter armour and the oval scutum style shield as the period progressed. Most armour is bronze throughout.

There is a great deal of information available on line and a number of good guides to the appearance of the armies.

So there you have 15 different tribes and forces. Feel free to adjust the compositions to fit your own unit sizes and ideas. There is very little primary evidence for the army compositions so you can't really be "wrong".More army lists from Clash of Empires for comparison and composition. Thanks to Kevin for these.

http://www.greatescapegames.co.uk/clash-of-empires/army-lists/early-classical-army-lists