Soldiers of the Eagle - getting started

So, I've already got a Sons of Spartacus warband underway but one of the benefits of skirmish gaming is that it's feasible to have multiple forces to give a chance to try different tactics and painting styles in an affordable way.  For most forces in Broken Legions a Warlord Games sprue or two and some metal characters (if you fancy it) set you up with all you'll need and a few extra optional warband members too.

As the game is Broken Legions it felt a bit wrong to not have some of the Roman Empire's finest - called The Soldiers of the Eagle in the game so I picked up a few bits and bobs to put together a warband - the backbone is the Imperial Roman Legionary sprue from Warlord games.

Here's the leader of the warband, the Centurion, Gaius Vinicius with his loyal wardog Cerasus:

Gaius is the 'cover figure' for Warlord Games' Hail Caesar picked up on eBay and Cerasus is a spare mastiff from the Celt range.

Next we have (L-R) Flavius (a Praetorian), Aspasius the Shadow (a Frumentarius) and Titus (a Praetorian):

Flavius is a Warlord Games Optio, Aspasius is an Agente miniature from Gangs of Rome (I especially like the mask he is carrying), Titus is a Primus Pilus mini (and was originally going to be my Centurion until I got the Hail Caesar mini so cheap!).

Of course, you can't just have heroes in a Broken Legion list, you need some henchmen to give you some numbers. Here's (L-R) Sextus, Marcus, Appius and Placus.

The three plastic minis were all made from the Legionary sprue and are armed with a pilum each to give a bit of a ranged option.  Marcus is an Aquilifer from Warlord Games - I figured if they are the 'Soldiers of the Eagle' they needed to fight under the gaze of the Aquila!

Next up we have (L-R) Caelus, Tertius and Oppius:

These three chaps are unupgraded Legionaries - but that's still heavy armour, tower shield and gladius! Obviously these were from the Legionary sprue.

Finally, and to give a bit of variety to the force, we have the Baleares (L-R) Lyco and Citro:

This was made from a Balearic Slingers sprue from Victrix.  Now, Victrix minis tend to run a bit larger than Warlord - but these guys aren't too bad and help bulk the warband out as they are cheap points-wise.

Ideally I'd like a couple of Numerus/Sagittarius to round out the options available for the Romans but it's not urgent and until I find a box splitter or suitable random mini or two it can wait!

Next up these will get the standard base texture dip I do before being primed and joining the paint queue!