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Thread: Preview: Continental Celtic Factions

  1. #1

    Default Preview: Continental Celtic Factions

    A little Historical-Archaeological insight


    In the passage from IV B.C. and III B.C. a major change occur in celtic warfare, at least in continental Europe.

    Celts weren't a united nation with a central government, and due to political, cultural and natural boundaries, sometimes innovation spread in a less immediate way, in some cases never reaching some isolated areas (like for example the British island or the communities in the Alpine valleys).

    On the other hand, the constant "ebb and flow" of Celtic communities based on the mercenary and brigand warbands' vectors of movement, gave someway an unexpected fluidity (i.e. some Belgic and Narbonensis communities were actually born by scattered remnants of the Great Expedition to Greece of 280 B.C.).

    However, if IV B.C. have been for the Celts "The Age of the Mercenaries", III B.C. could be more likely described as "The Age of a People's Army".

    With the constant contact with the Mediterranean area some big changes occurred in the very structure of Celtic society (stabilization of the main body of the communities, coinage, building of major cities like Medhelan/Milan in Northern Italy), and this, united with a more important participation of Celtic communities to the political context of the Mediterranean world, reflected in the military organization, that in the past centuries was for the Celts substantially a field of interest for just high and middle aristocracy, that usually formed small warbands whose purpose varied from organizing cattle raids against the neighbors, offering themselves as mercenaries and eventually promoting mass migration in a direct or indirect way.

    With the intensification of political and subsequently mass scale military operations, the only aristocracy couldn't simply manage the warfare alone.
    If during the special occasion of mass migrations of the past centuries virtually all the members of the community would perform military tasks, in III B.C. became necessary to make the peasants somehow self sufficient and as possible efficient on the battlefield, in a way that possibly wouldn't expose them to the risk of excessive losses, due to the impossibility of stantial communities on the way of becoming proto-state entities to sustain the percentage of losses that a migrating entity would otherwise accept: too many casualties simply would destroy the productive cycle of the community even if winning a conflict.

    To do so, the Celts assimilate some aspects of Mediterranean warfare.

    So, from III B.C. onward,
    Spearmen became the backbone of the celtic armies.
    Spears started to be found in gaulish graves in a huge percentage: more that the double of the swords, and only 7% of them have been identified as javelins, having the others a 40 cm length head, and with an overall length estimated around 2,5 meters, sometimes even more.

    To be noted, spears are to be found not only in rich graves, but in relatively modest graves too, and very often spear butts are rounded or even spherical (cfr. A. Rapin, GOURNAY II, Editions Errance, Paris, 1988).
    All this elements, united with historical documentation, bring to the conclusion that the middle (artisans, farmers, small landowners) and middle-low (peasants, fishermen and herders) elements of the society, that during the year were busy on the productive cycle and couldn’t spend time on military training, when called to arms used to fight in tight formations, that lacking on martial training on the battlefield tried to exalt coordinate effort, running against the enemy with at least three orders of pointes spears, clashing against the enemy formation and then star pushing to break it, as Greek hoplites did (Cfr. Livy, Ab urbe Condita, XXXV, 5-6; and Caesar, De Bello Gallico, II, 25 ), and that Romans and Greeks recognized to be “hoplite phalanx like” (Callimachus, Hymn to Delos; and Caesar, De Bello Gallico, II, 25).


    Moreover, with the birth of celtic coinage, the flourishing of commerce start to give benefits not only to the nobles, and some artisans and landowners became richer.
    This reflects in the military scene with the production of valuable elements of military equipment (like helmets and swords) on a major scale, that were used by that “middle-class” that economically benefited of the development of society: merchants, artisans, landowners, cadets of low-noble families in search of fortune (Cfr. A. Rapin, L’armament celtique en Europe: cronologie de son evolution technologique du V au I S. AV. J.-C., in Gladius, n° XIX, 1999, p.62).

    On the other hand, as a consequence of a major scale production, a lot of the swords manufactured in this period are of scarce quality, even if as always paired with the suspension chain and the metal scabbard, their blade is of lenticular section, without central ridge, so easier and faster to craft, but also easy do bend in combat (Plutarch, Life of Camillus, 41, 4; Dionysius of Alicharnassus, Antiquity of Rome, XIV, 10; Polybius,Histories, II, 30 and II, 33).

    The suspension chain-belt was a crafty celtic invention of III B.C., that permitted the swordsman, holding the sword tight to his side, to run very fast and move with a lot of agility.

    So we can imagine an important dichotomy of an infantry of spearmen that could perform little more than shieldwalls, running against the enemy and try with the impact and the subsequent pushing to break the enemy formation, and a more maneuverable and trained shock infantry with sword and javelin.

    In the graves of swordsmen are both to found javelins and spears, testifying that probably the better trained swordsmen could fight or together as a separate unit, capable of good level tactical maneuvers (shock&charge, multiple attacks&retreats), or lead the close formation spear-phalanx of the peasants and commoners.


    By III B.C. is attested also the presence of a celtic light infantry (first record at the battle of Telamon (Polybius, Histories, II, 27, 6), and it appear to operate mainly as a support for the cavalry.
    As we can read in historical accounts, Celts didn’t really “separates” slingers, bowmen and skirmishers, but usually mixed them creating a non-homogeneous light infantry (Caesar, De Bello Gallico, VII, 80; V, 34-35; VII, 18), equipped with “the weapons of the hunters” (Tacitus, Annales, III, 43), that actually was composed by the poorest and the inhabitants of the smaller peripheral villages.


    The Celts didn’t have a strong archery tradition (even if Caesar, when was spoiled by Pompey of the possibility of recruiting Cretan archers put up an auxiliary forces of bowmen from the celtic tribe of the Ruteni -
    Caesar, De Bello Civili, 51-).
    Actually, we haven’t found any La Téne bow, and there is no account about how it was: we just found iron and bronze arrowheads, that are almost one different to another.

    The only thing that appears frequently in celtic arrowheads, is an harpoon-like shape with a single hook (something like a “half arrowhead”), that have been interpreted as another clue for the mainly hunting purpose of the instrument (the arrow pierce, and the asymmetrical structure of the point flange the wound, obtaining more blood loss that would tire a fleeing animal).


    We can reasonably assume, confronting with the bows in the first middle ages of celtic areas, that it was a short bow, probably similar to the Welsh clansmen’s bows described by Giraldus Cambrensis “not in horn, ivory or yew, but in wild elm, rough and coarse but strong, not designed to shoot an arrow at a great distance, but to inflict serious injuries in relatively close range” (Periegesis Cambriae, 77).

    An interesting annotation about the use of the sling: Caesar wrote that in some occasions the Gauls used “scorched clay slingshot” (Caesar, De Bello Gallico, V, 43) during sieges to set fire to the roman tents.

    About celtic cavalry, if in the IV B.C. it appears just a skirmish unit of mounted javelinmen as described by Xenophon

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    They went to the battle in no particular order, throwing javelins, but ready to retire as soon as the Thebans responded to their blows, then change back to the front and go right back, hitting them. Between an attack and the other they dismounted to enjoy a moment of pause, but if they were attacked when they were on foot, promptly they jumped on horseback and fled, then if, in pursuit, someone of the enemy moved away from the main army, they waited when they started to come back and then hit them from behind, inflicting heavy casualties and forcing the whole army to constant advances and retreats.
    (Xenophon, Hellenike, VII, 1, 20-21).


    In III B.C. it was probably something capable of more direct confrontation, organized in three-men cooperative microunits

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    For to each horseman were attached two servants, who were themselves skilled riders and, like their masters, had a horse. When the gaulish horsemen were engaged, the servants remained behind the ranks and proved useful in the following way. Should a horseman or his horse fall, the servant brought him a horse to mount; if the rider was killed, the servant mounted the horse in his master's place; if both rider and horse were killed, there was a mounted man ready. When a rider was wounded, one servant brought back to camp the wounded man, while the other took his vacant place in the ranks .[…] This organization is called in their native speech Trimarkisia, for I would have you know that marka is the Celtic name for a horse.”
    (Pausanias, Description of Greece, 10, 19, 9-11).


    If probably cavalry was in any case formed by nobles (horses were expensive, and horses trained for battle were more expensive), even more after the disappearing of war chariots in continental europe, Celtic aristocrats fought also as footmen, like the Soldurii,
    highly professional warriors, coming from the ranks of the nobility, bounded by oath to a chieftain (Caesar, De Bello Gallico, III, 22, 1-3), or the Gaesatae (“Gaesum-bearers”), the famous “naked fanatics”.
    Diodorus spoke about them (Diodorus Siculus, Biblioteca Historica, V, 30), and Polybius states that they were a kind of mercenaries, because the “make war in exchange of money” (Polybius, Histories, II, 22).
    The habit of fighting naked clearly link them with some sacred aspect, and the description of Polybius, that wrote about “Golden torcs and bracelets”, without doubt link them also with richness, moreover using them the Gaesum, that being an all-iron javelin (Julius Pollux, Onomastikon, VII, 156) would have been a quite expensive weapon (devastating in piercing shield and harassing close formations).

    GAESA
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    So, some kind of sacred warriors, that probably do the mercenaries both for living and for sacred purpose.

    A further twist to celtic warfare happened during II B.C.
    The more advanced celtic society became on economical bases, the more new social classes appeared, like the one of the Ambacti.
    The Ambacti (meaning literally “the ones that operate next to”, but normally translated as “Personal Guards”, being the term equal to the Latin “Satellites”) were actually freemen that had sold to a chieftain their vote right in the tribe’s plenary, in exchange of being maintained with food, clothes and weapons.
    As a matter of fact, they “automatically voted” in any occasion for their patron, that fed and armed them, while they also became some sort of his personal army, that could benefit of a good training not needing to farm the land or do other jobs because of their patron economical support (Caesar, De Bello Gallico, VI, 15, 2; and A. Daubigney, Reconnaissance des formes de la dépendance gauloise, in Dialogues d'histoire ancienne, Vol. 5, n° 5, 1979, pp. 145-189).

    In contemporary with this important social changes, other appeared in the structure of the weapons.
    The spears became even longer, reaching in some examples 3,5 meters or more, and its blade became more and more specialized in piercing, developing the structure defined “a bayonet”, with cruciform section (A. Rapin, Bouclier et lances, in Gournay II, 1988, pp. 124-125).


    SPEARS " A BAJONET"
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    A new kind of armor appeared on
    Caesar's coins with the display of the weapons of the defeated Gauls, that resembled a medieval gambeson:

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    The suspension chain-belt, after one century of constant development, disappears (even if not at all) replaced by two single iron rings and probably leather straps, and the sword became more and more longer and with a
    rounded ending( T. Lejars, L'armement des Celtes en Gaule du Nord à la fin de l'époque gauloise, in Revue arcéologique de Picardie,Vol. 3, n° 3-4, 1996, p. 96),

    EVOLUTION OF CELTIC SWORD
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    while appears the so-called gaulish horned saddle, that gave to the rider a lot of more stability.

    GAULISH HORNED SADDLE
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    All this clues suggest that while the commoner’s infantry specialized itself as an effective spear wall, most of sword owners a.k.a. nobles became cavalrymen.

    However, as said in the beginning, these changes aren’t immediate nor total, and still there were at Caesar’s time Celtic context like the Belgae that still produce suspension chain-belts
    and rely more on infantry (T. Lejars, L'armement des Celtes en Gaule du Nord à la fin de l'époque gauloise, in Revue arcéologique de Picardie,Vol. 3, n° 3-4, 1996, pp. 93-94, and L. Salzani, la necropoli gallica e romana di S. Maria di Zevio (Verona), in Documenti di Archeologia, n°9, 1996, p. 115, tab.43, p. 139, tab. 92, p. 140, tab. 93)
    Last edited by Iutland; June 05, 2014 at 02:23 PM. Reason: Merge threads

  2. #2

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    The Continental Celtic Rosters

    Implementing new elements inside the game (helmets, javelins, ecc. - longer spears and sword for I-II b.C. units) and enhancing the AOR recruitment system,
    here there is a redraw of the Celtic Rosters, now divided in
    Gallic-Belgae for Western Continental Celts,
    Pannonian for Eastern Continental Celts
    Galatian, for the kingdom of Tylis and Galatia


    Gallic-Belgae Roster
    (Vivisci, Namnetes, Pictones, Carnutes, Arverni, Haedui, Helvetii, Volcae, Insubres, Boii, Sequani, Treveri, Atrebati, Nervii)


    Celtic Hunters
    Celtic Skirmishers
    Celtic Slingers
    Celtic Levies

    Gallic Spearmen
    Gallic Swordsmen
    Gallic Warband
    Gallic Skirmish Cavalry
    Gallic Soldurii
    Gallic Trimarcisia
    Gallic Gaesatae

    Celtoligi Warriors
    Celtoligian Cavalry

    Ligurian Skirmishers
    Orobii Axemen
    Alauni Axemen

    Alauni Shortswordsmen

    Celto-Germanic Warriors


    ___________________________
    II-I b.C. troops:

    Ambacti Swordsmen
    Ambacti Spearmen
    Celtic Heavy Cavalry




    Pannonian Roster
    (Nori, Eravisci, Scordisci, Anarti, Boihaemum)

    Celtic Hunters
    Celtic Skirmishers
    Celtic Slingers
    Celtic Levies

    Pannonian Spearmen

    Pannonian Swordsmen
    Pannonian Warband
    Pannonian Skirmish Cavalry
    Pannonian Soldurii
    Pannonian Trimarcisia
    Pannonian Gaesatae
    Illyrian Spearmen
    Illyrian Levies

    Celto-Germanic Warriors
    Alauni Axemen
    Alauni Shortswordsmen
    ___________________________
    II-I b.C. troops:

    Ambacti Swordsmen
    Ambacti Spearmen
    Celtic Heavy Cavalry





    Galatian Roster
    (Galatia, Kingdom of Tylis)


    Celtic Hunters
    Celtic Skirmishers
    Celtic Slingers
    Celtic Levies

    Pannonian Spearmen
    Pannonian Swordsmen
    Pannonian Warband
    Pannonian Skirmish Cavalry
    Pannonian Soldurii
    Pannonian Trimarcisia
    Pannonian Gaesatae
    Galatikoi Thyreophoroi
    Galatikoi Armai
    Galatikoi Drepanophoroi Armai
    Thracian Levies
    Thraikioi Peltastai

    ___________________________
    II-I b.C. troops:

    Ambacti Swordsmen
    Ambacti Spearmen
    Celtic Heavy Cavalry





    The Light Infantries
    :
    as said before, Celtic light infantry was made up by people coming from the peripheral communities of the tribe, poor fighters are equipped with cheap weapons, that actually for the most part are their hunting tools: slings, javelins and bow.
    Trying to characterize more the hunting background of these units, we gave them fur and pelts.
    Also, the vanilla shield of the skirmishers was removed, being something quite expensive (metal boss) and uncomfortable to carry for a skirmisher.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Celtic Hunters


    Celtic Skirmishers


    Celtic Slingers




    Celtic Levies


    In III B.C. gallic society, spearmen warriors were actually no more than commoners.
    Mostly farmers, herders
    , very little landowners or fishermen in everyday life, these warriors respond to the call to arms in great numbers.
    During the year were occupied in productive activities and couldn't dedicate themselves to martial stuff, so, poorly trained, their strength is in their cohesion, capability to hold tight formation and force of impact of their shield wall and spears.
    They ara capable of "hoplite phalanx" formation, having learned it from the contact with mediterranean people and being it the only fighting technique that can help untrained soldiers to be effective and self-sufficent on the battlefiled.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Gallic Spearmen - Pannonian Spearmen : wealthy farmers and little landowners, these spearmen can provide themselves with a little better equipment than the Levies, being wealthier, but their training is almost the same

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Gallic Swordsmen/Pannonian Swordsmen


    During peace, these men are representative of the middle class of celtic society: landowners, artisans, innkeepers, merchants and so on. Their economical background grants them the possession of a sword, that is a quite expensive item, but most of them lack a proper training. As for celtic warfare custom, they carry not only a main weapon but also javelins with them.


    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Gallic Warband / Pannonian Warband

    Coming from the ranks of the low nobility, these experienced warriors practice warfare as their main occupation.
    Sometimes they travel abroad offering themselves as professional mercenaries, sometimes they leave their homeland searching a new territory to subdue, establishing as the new ruling class.
    In combat they are capable of complex manouvers, but mainly perform the "shock&charge": one ore more volleys of javelins followed by a fierce charge.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Gallic Skirmish Cavalry/Pannonian Skirmish Cavalry

    professional fighters coming from the low nobility, these warriors have preferred to invest their resources in an expensive war horse more than in heavy armament.
    Relying on the speed and agility of their mounts, they harass the enemy with javelins, always keeping out of reach.


    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 






    Gallic Soldurii/Pannonian Soldurii

    the elite of gallic aristocracy, these nobles are professional fighters equipped with costly and effective weapons and armors.
    Furthermore, they swore an oath to the chieftain and would rather die than flee in combat.
    Like other celtic sword infantries, they perform shock&charge, so first volleys of javelins, and after that sword charge.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 





    Gallic Trimarcisia/Pannonian Trimarcisia


    A peculiar celtic horseback fighting unit, formed by several nobles with their bodyguards. For each noble there are two experienced riders that follow and protect him in the battlefield.
    It's a quite heavier unit than kirmish cavalry, nevertheless any man carries one javelin to throw against the enemy before charging.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 






    Gallic Gaesatae / Pannonian Gaesatae

    A mysterious and sacred mercenary brotherhood, the Gaesatae came from various tribes.

    Denying their former tribal membership, they now define themselves just as members of the brotherhood, and roam the celtic lands offering their services as skilled mercenaries.
    Consecrated to Catubodua, the raven goddess of war and massacre, they fought naked in battle and wielding sword and the Gaesum, the all-iron javelin from which they are named, performing feats and searching a glorious death.
    Gaesatae naked warriors, being basically mercenaries, traveled wide along the whole celtic world, and if they were fighting in Italy in Telamon Battle in 225 b.C., they were also among the Galatians at Mount Olympus.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 






    Ambacti Spearmen - Ambacti Swordsmen

    In II-I B.C. started that social process that gave birth to the Ambacti social class: they were actually former commoners that were sustained and maintained by a noble, that provided them food and/or money and/or military equipment and/or luxury items (imported from other countries, like wine), so they didn't need to work anymore, and had time to train themselves in the martial field.
    In exchange, they gave to their patron their support, both in the assembly of the tribe as vote counts and in battle as a personal army.
    We can say actually that the Ambacti were something like a professional army in embryo, which birth was possible only with the evolution of celtic society, the expansion of commerce, and the increasing request by lot of people for things (in particular imported luxury items) that they couldn't afford with their normal work.
    If you are a commoner, a small artisan, a farmer, but you want to drink greek wine, pour it in nice roman goblets in fine ceramic, have nice clothes in phoenician red, the only way is to became an Ambacto: your patron will provide you with some of these, also he will gave you the basics to live too (food or money to buy it), leaving you a lot of spare time to train as a soldier, and you in exchange would vote and fight for him, hoping he will became more and more powerful, so he could provide you more and more money, food and luxuries.

    We are speaking of II-I b.C. Celtic troops, so the spears of the Ambacti Spearmen are long, "a bajonet" spears, and the swords of Ambacti Swordsmen are long slashing La Tene D longswords.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 







    Celtic Heavy Cavalry
    With the discover of the horned saddle, celtic horsemen became much more stable on horseback and even more feared fighters.
    Coming from the higher rank of celtic nobility, both richly and heavily equipped, these riders are the maximum expression of celtic armies.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 




    Galatikoi Thyreophoroi

    Some of the Celts that settled in Anatolia and in other Greek regions, mixed up with the local poplulation.
    If in some balkan celtic context, like the Scordisci, the division between subjugated locals and celtic ruling class appeared a little bit more evident, the mixed stock of the Galatians was repeatetly noted by the Romans, that in some occasions called them even "Gallogreci" (Gaul-Greeks): "Do not suppose, senators, that it is only in their name that the Gallograeci are a mixed race; it is much more their bodies and minds that have become mixed...", or even, with contempt "mongrel race" (Livy, 38)

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Galatikoi Armai - Galatikoi Drepanophoroi Armai

    While all othe continental Celts abandoned the war chariots as a weapon in IV b.C., the Galatians still use them, as attested bi Lucianus of Samosata (Zeusi or Antiochus), wich reports their use of 160 war chariots and 80 scythed chariots against Antiochus.
    If the use of the simple chariot could be a remain of ancient celtic warfare, the use of scythed chariots was probably inherited by Hellenistic warfare.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 





    Celtoligi Warriors / Celtoligian Cavalry

    In some areas of Northern Italy and Provence, when the Celts arrived, they found a strong presence of Ligurian people.
    The origin of the Ligures are yet unclear, but is highly probable that their root has to be found on the sovrapposition of a little Indoeuropean aristocracy on a strong Pre-Indoeuropean substrate.
    Strongly influenced by celtic culture after the gallic penetration in their areas, if in some regions, excpecially in Italy, Ligurians manage to mantain their indipendece, in other they rather mixed up with the celtic invaders, giving birth to various tribes that the Romans and the Greeks called "Celtoligi" (Celto-Ligurians) or "Semigalli" (Demi-Gauls).
    Celtoligian tribes gave birth in Provence to intersting settlements, like Glanum (Roquepertuse), that with his monuments and statues testify a rich culture.

    GLANUM STATUE
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 


    Coming from the ranks of nobility, these warriors are of both Celtic and Ligurian stock, and even if they fight with celtic weapons, they wear the tunic instead of the bracae due to their Ligurian heritage.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 





    Ligurian Skirmishers

    These agile fighters, experts in hiding and ambushes, came from the lowest ranks of celtoligian tribes. If their masters are Gauls, they are truly Ligurians, descendants of the people that have been subdued by the Celts.
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Orobii/Alauni Axemen - Alauni Shortswordsmen

    Some celtic tribes lived in isolated areas, remote mountain valleys far away from the principal trade lines.
    In these environments, the La Tene weapons are scarcely used, and most of the warriors favored the older panoply of Hallstatt culture, like Negau helmets, shortswords, knifes and axes.
    Following the archaeological findings, we choose to give these troops to Insubres (Orobii Axemen) and Norici (Alauni Axemen, Alauni Shortswordmen).

    Mount Gutemberg figurine
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    ]


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    Celto-Germanic Warriors
    Actually, in some areas along the Rhine, and also in some areas of the Northern Balkans, celtic communities have become infiltrated with Germanic elements.
    Not always coming as plunderers, some Germanic tribesmen settled aside the Celts, ultimately merging with them.
    Their descendent, like the belgic tribe of the Atuatuci, are celtic-speaking people, Gauls by all means, but in some ways proud of their teutonic ancestors.
    A lot of Belgic tribes proudly asserted an ancient germanic heritage, as some celtic communities of mitteleurope and east Europe.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



    Illyrian Levies / Illyrian Spearmen
    In the first half of the III B.C. Celtic warbands reverting from the expeditions against the Macedonians settled in the Balkans, imposing themselves over the Illyrian tribes living there.
    This phenomenon ended with the foundation of the federal nation of the Scordiscii, composed by various Celtic groups and Illyrian tribes, with the first having a prominent and leading role on the latter.


    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 






    Thraikioi Peltastai - Thracian Levies
    As the embryo of the nation of the Scordisci was a group of celtic warbands that settled on Illyrian territory, subduing the locals, the Kindom of Tylis was founded by the adventurer Comontorios and his companions, that occupied a small portion of Thrace (Polibius, Histories, IV, 46).
    Being just a part of the population, basically the leaders the landowners and the warriors, the Celts of Tylis would have relied on locals to strenght their armies.

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 



  3. #3

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    Looks awesome!!

    In regards to Chariots, we know that Cisalpine Gallic tribes were still using them within the time period of this game. Shortly before the game starts, Gallic Chariots effectively repelled a Roman cavalry charge at the Battle of Sentinum. Gallic Chariots were also present at the Battle of Telamon, placed on the wings of the Boiian army.
    Last edited by Ambigatos; March 15, 2014 at 10:48 AM.

  4. #4

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    Quote Originally Posted by Ambigatos View Post
    Looks awesome!!

    In regards to Chariots, we know that Cisalpine Gallic tribes were still using them within the time period of this game. Shortly before the game starts, Gallic Chariots effectively repelled a Roman cavalry charge at the Battle of Sentinum. Gallic Chariots were also present at the Battle of Telamon, placed on the wings of the Boiian army.
    Thank you!

    About Sentinum, actually it was in 295 b.C., and is the last recorded use of war chariot within Gaulish context... in the battle of Telamon there is no reference to chariots (carriages were used as barricades, and probably they were wagons), and even if there is a reference of Virdomars charging Marcellus throwing gaesa from a chariot at Clastidium, it is in Propertius Elegiea, and is regarded by historians as a poetic licence (Plutarch, far more reliable, in fact wrote of Virdomaros charging in battle simply riding a horse).

  5. #5

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    Quote Originally Posted by il Pitta View Post
    Thank you!

    About Sentinum, actually it was in 295 b.C., and is the last recorded use of war chariot within Gaulish context... in the battle of Telamon there is no reference to chariots (carriages were used as barricades, and probably they were wagons), and even if there is a reference of Virdomars charging Marcellus throwing gaesa from a chariot at Clastidium, it is in Propertius Elegiea, and is regarded by historians as a poetic licence (Plutarch, far more reliable, in fact wrote of Virdomaros charging in battle simply riding a horse).
    Fair points. I suppose their use at Telamon is speculative at this point. He does however mention both wagons and chariots, which leads me to believe there is a distinction between the two. I speculate some may have been used similarly to those at Sentinum ( which supposedly performed well ), while other wagons may have been used as barricades like you suggest.

    "Their wagons and chariots had been placed at the end of either wing" - Polybius

    I know that's kinda' vague huh? Haha. Perhaps not enough for you to go off of, so I can respect that. Looking good though nonetheless. I especially appreciate how you actually gave the Boii Gaesatae!
    Last edited by Ambigatos; March 15, 2014 at 02:53 PM.

  6. #6
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    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    outstanding work, man; respect and honour to historical love in making and describing all this

  7. #7
    The Forgotten's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    Looks good, but holy crap how long did it take to do that?

    Many thanks to the good folks down at the Graphics Workshop for the sig.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    Thank you all guys!
    Actually these part was the easiest, I've studied and still study celtic military history for own purpose, and Iutland is very fast doing the unit models :-)

    Ambigatos, I understand you are very fond of Boii Gauls... are you from Italy too?
    About the war chariots within continental Celts, the argument is kind of complex... we have them listed as looting in Roman triumph even during the II b.C. (Livy, Ab Urbe Condita, XXXIII, 23; XXXIII, 37; XXXVI, 40 - Florus, Epitome, I, XXXVII, 5), but actually they appeared to have became, after the attempt to reinvent their role on the battlefield at Sentinum (althought partially succesful), just as a mean of display of high status kings and chieftains, uset to bring them on the batlefield, cheering the troops, but actually dismissed when the real fight started.
    I've wrote a monography about that, but I found a little bit difficult to translate it in English... I'll try in these days ;-)

  9. #9
    Visarion's Avatar Alexandros
    Artifex

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    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Rosters

    amazing units

  10. #10

    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Factions

    New unit added for Galatian Roster: Cohors Deiotariana!

    Deiotaros, son of Dumnorix and a Galatian chieftain in central Asia minor, recruited an army with the help of Pompey. This army was presumably armed in direct imitation of the legions; it was definitely organized in Roman style (Cfr. Cicero, Pro Rege Deiotaro).

    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

  11. #11
    PhilipO'Hayda's Avatar Vicarius
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    Éire, in the Kingdom of Munster
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    Default Re: Preview: Continental Celtic Factions

    Thanks for that, great work.

    Irish Historical adviser for Albion:Total war


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