by Bob Barnetson

In September 2007, Baccus released a new line of Late Imperial Roman troops. These were followed in January 2008 by three new sets of mounted Huns. These new lines flesh out Baccus’ 6mm ancient lines, expanding gaming opportunities, especially in the eastern part of the Roman Empire.

Peter Berry from Baccus indicates that these releases will eventually be supplemented with Goths, Frank and Sassanids. This creates lots of options for developing allied and enemy armies. The Goths will also be a good proxy for Saxons. This ought to increase the demands for Baccus to create Vikings and Normans.

Initial Impressions
The models arrived clad in a bubble-packed envelope. Inside was a collection of figures wrapped in the small plastic bags typical of 6mm troops. Each bag was labeled with a code. The sheer number of codes is quite impressive. The Late Imperial Romans comprise:

• Roman Infantry
• Roman Infantry, Helmet
• Roman Infantry, Helmet, Armour
• Lanciarii (skirmishers)
• Archers
• Roman Heavy Cavalry
• Roman Light Cavalry
• Roman Horse Archers
• Roman Cataphracts

Infantry packs normally contain 96 figures and cost £5.00 in the European Union (EU) and £4.26 elsewhere. The Lanciarii and Archers come in packs of 48 and cost £2.50 in the EU and £2.15 elsewhere. Cavalry typically contain 45 figures and run £6.00 in the EU and £5.11 elsewhere.

The Huns comprise three codes:

• Hunnic Horse Archers, Galloping
• Hunnic Horse Archers, Stood
• Hunnic Nobles

Each package contains 45 mounted figures and costs £6.00 in the EU and £5.11 elsewhere.

Roman Infantry
There are three codes for Late Imperial Roman infantry, allowing you to choose the degree to which each unit is armoured. The least armoured infantry have oval shields and spears. Otherwise, they simply wear a tunic and leggings. This code is cast as a rank of four figures. The base is 20 mm wide, allowing you to easily mount them on the popular 40×20 mm bases. These fellows are bareheaded and I’d swear at least one of them has a beard sculpted on him.

If you want to upgrade your infantry, you can purchase a rank with helmets. These helmets have a thin ridge running front to back on the top of the helmet and are otherwise similar to the unarmoured unit.

Finally, you can purchase a rank that has both mail and a helmet. The troops are wearing what appears to be chain mail. I’ve found with previous Baccus mail that it takes a silver drybrushing over a black undercoat quite well.

There are command strips available with all of these infantry. The command strip for the unarmoured and the helmeted infantry appear to be the same. The mailed infantry have a unique command stand. All contain a commander, standard bearer, musician and soldier.

The archers come as strips of four figures in file and will need to be cut apart for basing. They exhibit significant individuality in hairstyles and clothing. All are shooting and three of the four appear to have a tiny shield (a buckler?) hanging from their belts.

The Lanciarii are skirmishers and are again cast as four figures in a file. Two of the figures are advancing with spear and shield while two are about to hurl spear or javelin. This is a fairly typical selection of poses for Baccus skirmishers.

Roman Cavalry
The Roman cavalry are also available in several “weights”. The heavy cavalry have round shields, helms and spears. Their horses are sculpted as standing still. The cavalry come in a single file of three figures.

The light cavalry have oblong shields, are clearly in motion, and one of the three figures in the file has the spear held in an overhand manner—whether to stab or throw is unclear. I quite prefer the more dramatic pose of the light cavalry. The increased dynamism of the pose will help distinguish the units on the table, but this could also be accomplished through basing conventions or paint colour choice.

A group of horse archers is also available. These are similar to Baccus’ Parthian horse archers in that one of the three poses on the strip has the rider turned in the saddle, shooting backwards. The pose is dynamic (you can see it at the top of this article) but is not my favourite. I always wonder why that guy is shooting his own troops when the bases are bunched up on the table. “No, the bad guys are in front of us!”

The final Roman cavalry code are the cataphracts. These fellows again remind me of Baccus’ Parthian cataphracts with heavily mailed horses and shield-less riders (the lance looks big enough to need two hands). These are very nicely rendered and the upright lances are sturdy enough to draw blood should you carelessly rest your hand on the figures while gaming.

Huns
The new Hun line includes three codes. The first two are mounted archers—one galloping and one standing still. The galloping archers come as a single file of three horses that will need to be cut apart for basing. Each of the poses is significantly different—one fellow is firing, one has just shot and the final one is simply riding. Oddly his bow in his right hand—are one third of my Huns to be southpaws?

Fortunately, this is not the case with the mounted archers who are standing still. All are clearly right handed, with one fellow firing. All of these are well sculpted, with the distinctive fur hat and compound bow of the Huns. All of the horses are appropriately sized (more pony than warhorse) with nicely defined neck muscles.

The Hunnic nobles all carry a lance. The command strip also includes a lance-less leader and a fellow carrying a pendant. The detailing is nice. These figures all show significant variety in headgear and the helmets could be painted up as either metal or leather caps. The horsemen also have slung bows and quivers visible.

Comments
The Late Imperial Romans are a most useful addition to the Baccus line. Although paint conversions of the existing Early Imperial Roman auxiliary infantry and Parthian horse have certainly been feasible until now, it is nice to have the correct model to start with. I’m particularly taken with the options Baccus has given us with regards to how armoured we want our infantry—particularly given the cost of producing each master.

Baccus’ casting remains very good. On all of the samples I received the thin elements that often thwart attempts to cast them (bows, for example) were correctly rendered, without flash and unbent. This is a significant achievement since many are only slightly thicker than a hair.

I’m a fairly avid 6mm gamer, but the fellows at the club often give me a hard time about the scale. Many express trepidation of attempting to paint figures this small. What I have found over the past five years is that adopting a more impressionistic approach to painting over a black undercoat makes painting 6mm figures rather easy. I expect these will be no different—they have clean lines and it is evident what features of each figure requiring painting.

Conclusion
Overall, this is yet another good release. Late Imperial Rome is a popular period and army lists can be found in most element-based rule sets. The Huns are a nice complement—I expect they’d be as annoying as the Parthians to fight off with all of their missile troops and heavy noble cavalry.

News of impending allies, particularly the Goths who can proxy as Saxons, is also exciting. The Viking-Saxon-Norman lobby on the Baccus website has been strong and long-lived. News of Saxon proxies will hopefully satisfy them for a bit.

Although there are three other manufacturers that produce 6mm ancient lines (Irregular, Heroics Ros and Rapier), Baccus has clearly moved into the dominant position. This reflects the quality of the sculpting, the pace of new releases, and the careful planning that results in the availability of a complete range of codes in a short period of time. The availability of pictures for nearly every code in Baccus’ online catalogue is also to be commended.

Pros

• A thorough treatment of an under-served period
• Well sculpted and of higher quality than competing brands
• Well cast with no flash or defects

Cons

• None