[TEASER] Daras/Δάρας - an East Roman fortress

**Pompeius Magnus** · May 30, 2013, 04:19 PM

Daras/Δάρας - an East Roman fortress Be prepared for our soon published XXL preview - showing the end of the Roman Empire - Daras.
Take this teaser to get some impression from our phantastic units (including brand new horses) made by Raritу and morfeasnikos.

We should give them a Strophium (a στεφάνωμα for morfeasnikos :-) for their amazing support, always trying their best to make the units so perfect as possible.

Many thanx

click me

**Sertorio** · May 30, 2013, 04:59 PM

I am drooling...congratulations to all involved.

**romano britones** · May 30, 2013, 05:36 PM

Some nice units.

**Stath's** · May 31, 2013, 10:29 AM

wow the definition of impressive!!

**tomySVK** · June 01, 2013, 02:46 AM

I´m speechless! Outstanding work guys! Now I can´t wait for XXL preview

**morfeasnikos** · June 01, 2013, 04:03 AM

Great preview PM ...
Thanx to all...the credits goes to all the team, we all r giving our best ...

**SeniorBatavianHorse** · June 01, 2013, 04:48 AM

Wonderful work and the detail is impressive! Well done to all involved and this release will certainly push RTW 2 into the shadows!

**mayotte** · June 01, 2013, 06:28 AM

Magnificient units

The shields are simply fantastic!

**Visarion** · June 01, 2013, 06:32 AM

OMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

**demagogos nicator** · June 01, 2013, 08:00 AM

Beutifull work

**Oznerol** · June 02, 2013, 05:13 AM

How can a mod be so extremely good? This is absolutely amazing. I'm eagerly waiting more news from this wonderful team. It's so historical and realistic that I only want to stare those magnificent detailed units, and hope we'll not have too wait too much to actually playing, but perfection needs time. And such a sober and refined preview.
The new horses are lovely.

Thanks for sharing it with us AoD's II team!

Regards

**Gäiten** · June 03, 2013, 02:33 PM

Excellent preview. Wonderful details. Many kudos to all involved. I see soldiers of one of the Sassanian units wear helmets of the design the helmet of the Dura Europos Graffiti. Do you such helmets were still in use?

**Wallachian** · June 04, 2013, 03:32 AM

Amazing! Honestly this is better than Rome 2!

**romano britones** · June 04, 2013, 09:54 AM

Originally Posted by Pompeius Magnus

[FIELDSET2=Daras/Δάρας - an East Roman fortress][/CONTENTBOX]

click me

Will this figure be a separate unit?
Also will we see any other cavalry units like this?

**Basileos Predator** · June 04, 2013, 10:26 AM

I have a single word: Breathtaking.
Great job guys..I can't wait to see more.
Cheers!

**Pompeius Magnus** · June 04, 2013, 11:05 AM

Many thanks for the great feedback. And this is just our small Teaser!

Originally Posted by Gäiten

Excellent preview. Wonderful details. Many kudos to all involved. I see soldiers of one of the Sassanian units wear helmets of the design the helmet of the Dura Europos Graffiti. Do you such helmets were still in use?

Thank you for the kind words Gäiten. Glad you like it. At the moment I´m still busy with details of the city of Daras itself - to place the last buildings to it´s right position so to speak.
And yes, the helmet is of course somewhat experimental in this way. But we know that a helmet with this extremely cylindrical design wasn´t found yet - and therefore it is in any way experimental - independently which time frame you take. In the best case it is a special designed Spangenhelmet. Meanwhile I have also evaluated several stone reliefs from the late period, or better said that what is left from some former stone reliefs, and I´m not sure anymore if in some cases a very conical or the cylindrical helmet is shown since the tip of some stone are broken.
We know that during the late periode very conical, partically "egg-like" Spangenhelmets were used - and this is how our sasanians are equipped to 95%.
So, what you see here is indeed the most experimental part of our sasanians. Finally the helmet was too beautiful to remove it :-)

Originally Posted by romano britones

Will this figure be a separate unit?
Also will we see any other cavalry units like this?

What you see here is our Tribounos (Tribunus) - or to speak in the language of RTW-BI, it is our captain.
In reality it was therefore the leader of a Numerus.
Insofar it is no single unit. That a full unit with such a complicated helmet has survived is also unlikely. But concerning single characters it is however quite possible. We have some indication on several artworks that this kind of equipment has survived and that the term of 'Artistic licence' doesn´t fit. At least the modern history goes back to accept an examination of art to an higher degree than it was the case during the last 10 years.

Concerning the shown helmets of our AoD2-Romans we go a strict way and we found a balance between the confirmed Spangenhelmets (yes, many Spangenhelmets are shown in AoD2), however, it would be a mistake to deny that what is shown on art and reliefs between a quite long time frame of the 3rd century to the 7th century AD. After a long evaluation of the figurative material we are developing an helmet for some units what I call an Attic-like or Attic-styled helmet (not exactly an Attic helmet) - also confirmed by specimen. That no parts of an Attic-like helmet were found is by the way a wrong information, which is repreated like a mantra in certain forums.
Furthermore we also offer an helmet which was in some regions probably one of the most worn helmets - and this was the Bandhelm helmet and a Band-und Spangenhelm helmet. Especially the latter one can be confirmed by a well preserved helmet-finding of the Balkans (6th century) and is shown in the Roman Museum of Mainz (germany). It was classified as "very likely roman" - even if it looks more like a sasanian conical helmet, but cheek flaps and other fittings are indicating that it was modified or even produced by Romans.

**Gäiten** · June 04, 2013, 02:13 PM

Thank you for the kind words Gäiten. Glad you like it. At the moment I´m still busy with details of the city of Daras itself - to place the last buildings to it´s right position so to speak.
And yes, the helmet is of course somewhat experimental in this way. But we know that a helmet with this extremely cylindrical design wasn´t found yet - and therefore it is in any way experimental - independently which time frame you take. In the best case it is a special designed Spangenhelmet. Meanwhile I have also evaluated several stone reliefs from the late period, or better said that what is left from some former stone reliefs, and I´m not sure anymore if in some cases a very conical or the cylindrical helmet is shown since the tip of some stone are broken.
We know that during the late periode very conical, partically "egg-like" Spangenhelmets were used - and this is how our sasanians are equipped to 95%.
So, what you see here is indeed the most experimental part of our sasanians. Finally the helmet was too beautiful to remove it :-)

Yes it is very nice. However, another possibility is a fabric patterned covering for the helmet. The Iranians (and later the Muslims) used such covering extensively.