Customer Reviews

Rise of Rome: Field of Glory Republican Rome Army List

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It is hard to put a rating on army lists as everone has their own favorite armies and opinions as to whiach armies should be included in any list. Never the less 'Rise of Rome' deserves a 4 star rating due to its format and usability.
Covering the mid to late Republican era from about 280 BC to 25BC the 39 armies and allies listed give good coverage of the period. Each army has a starter army of around 600 points which gives a quick reference to the basic army set up for quick play and reference. Of course there is a point system for modelling competitive armies to go at each other. The list is clear for ease of use within the 'Field of Glory' rules system and for calculating just how many figures does it take to build your favorite army.
With the quality Osprey pictures and photos of actual painted figures, it is a feast for the eyes to novice and experinced players alike. The novice has an easy reference to start with and the experienced player has something to argue with. What more can a tabletop wargamer want from a list?

This is another of the Field of Glory series of wargaming rules from Osprey. (see my other reviews). Designed for new and old gamers, size 15.. to 28mm figures, long or short games. Extras included from their other series of books (like Elite). Get it.

Every gamer or historian has an opinion on how certain lists should be classified. Generally I believe that the FoG team made a very good job in this first companion.

Excellent cover art by Peter Dennis, where Roman Hastati or Princeps and Velites confront War Elephants. The interior design of the book is beautiful and practical, with great art work from Osprey, clear photos of well painted miniatures, a short historical introduction to the army and occasional "boxes" with more information on generals, troop types, etc. To build an army list you could use programs designed by fans. Ask in the FoG forums, otherwise you will have to lose quite some time with the custumization of your army.

There are two important omissions in this companion: It should have the Early Germans and British. This book focus on the armies of Rome and it's enemies until 25 BC. I understand that the main campaigns against the British were in the first century AD so this probably isn't too dramatic; but the Germans were one of the main threats the Late Republicans faced! Where are they?

Also, some allies for several armies are in future supplements. Osprey should have published the allied army lists of armies that will have full coverage in future books as an appendix (the allied army lists are short lists, they wouldn't take too much space).

The most important characteristic of those army lists is that it encourages the gamer to make armies similar to the ones that fought the ancient battles the game simulates. Although I find Warhammer ancient battles fun, and DBM a good competition game (even with the much loathed PIP's and many incoherencies), the armies I usually saw on the table are everything but realistic! I remember that Roman players used frequently the minimum possible number of legionaries (Bl (O)) for instance! And WAB armies had an impressive amount of points in troops used extremely infrequently in real History.

This book includes the following lists: Mid-Republican Roman; Late Republican Roman (and Bithynian allies); Gallic (and Ligurian Allies); Pyrrhic; Later Carthaginian (and Bruttian, Lucanian and Campanian allies); Illyrian (with Paionian allies); Ancient Spanish (with costumization options for Lusitanians, Celtiberians and even Sertorius army); Later Macedonian; Attalid Pergamene (including Kappadokian allies); Numidian or Early Moorish; Later Seleucid; Later Ptolomaic Pontic; Spartacus Slave Revolt; Early Armenian; Parthian (including several allies like Commagena, Elymaian, sythians or arabs among others); later Jewish (and Nabataean allies); Bosporan.

Highly Recommended.

This book is a sourcebook for `Field of Glory' wargaming armies pertaining to the period between c. 300 and 30 BC, focusing on the armies of Republican Rome and her enemies. As with other titles in this series, it profiles the strengths and weaknesses of the armies and their composition both in the game and in real history, and is filled with paintings and photographs of wargaming figurines illustrating typical soldiers of each army. The historically notes further flesh out the details of how figures should be armed and painted, and reveal the various enemies the historical army faced over time.

The armies included are:

Roman Armies of the Middle Republic; Roman Armies of the Late Republic; Gallic; Pyrrhic; Late Carthaginian; Illyrian; Spanish; Late Macedonian; Attalid Pergamum; Numidian; Late Seleucid; Late Ptolemaic; Pontic; Spartacan Slave Revolt; Early Armenian; Parthian; Late Jewish; and Bosporan.