DBA: Early Imperial Roman

It has been many years since I last painted a DBA Army or any other 15mm miniature. I almost forgot how much I love this scale.

Since I started playing DBA many years ago I always wanted to have a Roman army. I think that every DBA player I have met so far has at least one Roman army :)

Trajan thinking about his next DBA Army

Corvus Belli's romans were always among my favourite miniatures for romans at this scale, so back in 2016, when a friend of mine told me there were some leftovers available in a local shop, I quickly got my hands on everything I needed for an Early Imperial Roman army with all possible options. Sadly Corvus Belli has all of its 15mm range out of stock for years as they just focus on Infinity, so it was a one of a kind deal.

The only thing that was not available was the Artillery, which I purchased from Campaign Game Miniatures because after checking online it looked to me that the size comparison was ok. At 15mm range it is sometimes a bit odd when you mix different manufacturers.

For the camp I bought two tents from Baueda. A Praetorium for HQ, based on depictions on the Trajan Column, and a standard legionary tent. I have placed them in separate bases so I can use one as a base camp and one as ZOC. I always buy my camps from Baueda, as they have exactly what I need and the price is very reasonable, together with high quality models

I wanted to depict an Army that could have fought under Trajan during the Dacian wars. The list II/56 which you can see below is a perfect fit as it is based on armies within 25 B.C. to 197 A.D. that fought at the height of the Imperial Roman power.  The Baueda tent is based on the Trajan column so it all fits nicely.

One thing missing on my list is Trajan himself. I know that Forged in Battle has a miniature for Trajan that they released in a kickstarter, but sadly, I was not able to find it online. I remember back in 2016 I almost got into this kickstarter, I am happy I did not do it, as otherwise it would still sit on the pile of shame 5 years after... yes, I would have my Trajan figure, but at what cost! :)

II/56 Early Imperial Roman

• 1x3Cv or 4Bd (Gen), 1x3Cv, 1x3Cv or 2LH or 4Bw or 2Ps, 4x4Bd, 4x4Ax, 1xArt

After spending a bit of time re-reading my books about the Dacian wars I picked the Legio II Adiutrix as the chosen Legio for my army. This is why you can read "LEG II" in some of the miniatures, if you squint your eyes just the right way.

Colours and shields are based on some of the reconstructions of the Trajan column like the ones seen below. I also looked online for inspiration and in the end chose these two as main sources, here and here.

They were painted with slightly more tuned down colours, even though I tried to make them brighter than my usual style, they are still quite matt. The good thing is that I can pick this Army again at any time and add another layer to bright the colours up. If I would have had more time or energy I would have done it now. But at least they are painted!

There is even a small conversion, the first one I have done at 15mm scale. Since I did not have a standard bearer for my 1xCv (Gen) I took one standard cavalry figure and modified the spear to make it a standard with a little bit of greenstuff.

All in all, due to the amount of miniatures and the free-hands on shields, it still took me quite some time to complete.

Painted in 2021, here are the pics, hope you like them!

Mandatory whole Army with bad light pic

4Bd (Gen)

4x4Bd

4x4Ax

1x2Ps

1x4Bw

1x3Cv (Gen)

1x3Cv, 1x3Cv

1x2LH

1xArt