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Ancient Armies

Ancient British (55 BC - 75 AD
(DBA 60)

By Jonathan Lim

Britain was virtually the rim of the earth for the Romans. Britain was a Celtic society, closely related to the mainland Gauls. Indeed, many Britons, especially around the region of Kent, were simply transplanted Belgic Gauls, who had invaded back in the mists of time.

To the Romans, Britain was an obscure, fantastic place. According to Tacitus, many Romans who visited Britain brought back weird tales of hurricanes and giants that allegedly inhabited that exotic island. Naturally, Julius Caesar, who invaded Britain in 55 BC, did not believe any of these tales, but that didn't stop him using up a fair bit of papyrus in his description of Britain. He was obviously still fascinated by this most distant and weird of lands, where the world's last chariots were still in existence (British armies have always been conservative...) and where the men painted themselves blue.

"The island is triangular in its form, and one of its sides is opposite to Gaul. One angle of this side, which is in Kent, whither almost all ships from Gaul are directed, [looks] to the east; the lower looks to the south. This side extends about 500 miles. Another side lies toward Spain and the west, on which part is Ireland, less, as is reckoned, than Britain, by one half: but the passage [from it] into Britain is of equal distance with that from Gaul. In the middle of this voyage, is an island, which is called Mona: many smaller islands besides are supposed to lie [there], of which islands some have written that at the time of the winter solstice it is night there for thirty consecutive days. We, in our inquiries about that matter, ascertained nothing, except that, by accurate measurements with water, we perceived the nights to be shorter there than on the continent. The length of this side, as their account states, is 700 miles. The third side is toward the north, to which portion of the island no land is opposite; but an angle of that side looks principally toward Germany. This side is considered to be 800 miles in length. Thus the whole island is [about] 2,000 miles in circumference." -- (Caesar, "De Bellis Gallico" 5.13)

Composition

3 x LCh/4Bd or 2Ps

These are the nobles of the British Army. Of them, Caesar writes:

" Their mode of fighting with their chariots is this: firstly, they drive about in all directions and throw their weapons and generally break the ranks of the enemy with the very dread of their horses and the noise of their wheels; and when they have worked themselves in between the troops of horse, leap from their chariots and engage on foot. The charioteers in the mean time withdraw some little distance from the battle, and so place themselves with the chariots that, if their masters are overpowered by the number of the enemy, they may have a ready retreat to their own troops. Thus they display in battle the speed of horse, [together with] the firmness of infantry; and by daily practice and exercise attain to such expertness that they are accustomed, even on a declining and steep place, to check their horses at full speed, and manage and turn them in an instant and run along the pole, and stand on the yoke, and thence betake themselves with the greatest celerity to their chariots again." -- (Caesar, "De Bellis Gallico", 4.33)

The British chariots, weapons from a bygone age, could thus strike terror even into the most "modern" of ancient troops (thus showing that having anachronistic matchups mightn't be too bad).

The Blades represent those British nobles who dismounted from their chariots, as stated above, to fight on foot. This ability to dismount played a major part in British tactics; clearly, the British had some form of military doctrine before the Romans came. As stated by Caesar, they thus combined "the speed of horse with the firmness of infantry". This thus allowed the British chariots to use the benefit of fast movement, but when Roman cavalry came along, they avoided the technical disadvantage of chariots, probably from experience.

DBA provides the option of getting Psiloi rather than nobles.
2 x 2 LH

These are the light cavalry used by the British.

"The contemptible little [British cavalrymen] ... lack swords" (Text from military letter at Vindolanda).

This fragment sums up how the Romans felt about the British cavalry - they were skirmishers, though apparantly not particularly good at it! However, Caesar remarks:

"But the system of cavalry engagement is wont to produce equal danger [to that of chariots], and indeed the same, both to those who retreat and to those who pursue. To this was added, that they never fought in close order, but in small parties and at great distances, and had detachments placed [in different parts], and then the one relieved the other, and the vigorous and fresh succeeded the wearied." -- (Caesar, De Bellis Gallico, 5.16)

So they can't have been that bad!
5 x 3 Wb The backbone of the British army was its warbands, painted blue and wielding long, Celtic swords. They are reputed to have fought in open order - hence the 3Wb designation - but I cannot find a reference to this.
1 x 3Wb or 2 Ps
1 x 2 Ps One other way in which the Britons differed from their Continental cousins is that they normally used slingers rather than javelinmen as skirmishers. They were probably more effective than javelinmen. According to Phil Barker, the slingers were mainly Western Britons, and would hence have been more likely to have had dark hair!

Boudica Variant: At Boudica's great battle, many thousands (possibly hundreds of thousands!) of camp-followers formed up behind the British Army. They also set up a line of wagon-laagers (no doubt full of Roman Gold!) behind the camp-followers. I believe the British thought they were hemming in the Romans, who had their backs to a great forest. Boudicca's men were overconfident, if this was the case. Put simply, the battle was a massacre. The wagon line blocked off any retreat, and the Britons, compressed against them by legionaries in wedge formation (for Maximum Massacre Mode) were slaughtered. It was said that 80,000 Britons were killed (a record in a British battle? Maybe, before World War One).

To depict this sad state of affairs, replace some cavalry or chariots with 2 x 8Ax (camp-followers) and/or set up an extra-large British camp (i.e. a foot wide by 40mm deep, to represent the appallingly long wagon laager). The camp must be deployed behind the army. Fill the wagons with captured Roman stuff and/or crucified Romans. (or, if lazy, just join together normal baggage).

Cassivellaunos Variant

The great British chieftan Cassivellaunos, on being defeated by the Romans, sent all his infantry and cavalry home, and fought guerilla actions using only 4000 chariots unsupported. This means the new list would be: 12 x LCh.

MONA Variant

Upon invading Mona (the Isle of Man) to stop the Druidical cult, which allegedly violated Roman ideas of human rights, the Romans were faced with a bizzare sight. There were Druids sacrificing in their battle-lines, and shrieking out curses upon the Roman Army. There were also women, dressed in black, screaming at the Romans. So my Mona variant would include: 1 x 8Ax (Sacrificing Druids), 1 x 8Ax (Screaming Women).

In case you're wondering, the curses didn't work...but here's a rule for them:

DRUIDICAL CURSE RULE: The curses didn't work, but Tacitus (?) says the Romans were horrified and paused for a while in shock at this alien sight. Try this rule: A chosen Roman element within 100 paces of sacrificing Druids can only move when 3 Die Points are spent on them! After they move once, they don't get "cursed" again. Warning: Only one Roman element can be cursed at a time!

Other variants are possible, but I can't be bothered trying to remember all of them...Someone help!

Enemies

The official enemies are Marian Roman (#59) (Julius Caesar's Expedition), Early Imperial Roman (364) (The Roman Invasion), and Ancient British (#60)(Inter-tribal conflicts).

No doubt you can think of others.

Tactics

Chuck a Cassivelaunos! I have never had much luck with my Britons, my only victory was a close shave vs. Marian Romans. However, using historical tactics would mean:

  • Use chariots against the Bd of the Romans, and dismount if enemy cavalry appear. Oh no! There's no dismounting rule in DBA! You'll have to use the DBM rule for it, or make one up.

  • Use Light Horsemen to skirmish, threaten flanks, and, most importantly, support the nobles. They're important!

  • Use warbands for the main assault. They will do all right in a frontal assault against blades.

An interesting though not particularly effective army would be my conclusion, from experience.

Camp

Some camp ideas:

  • Standing stones (the most British of structures!)
  • Druids
  • Dismounted chariot, with pony and servant
  • Asterix and Obelix standing by? (See Asterix in Britain!)

Painting Tips

This army gets my vote as one of the top-ten colourful armies, not least because they can all have blue tattos!

Nobles and Warbands: Can have chainmail if particularly rich. Rich men are also more likely to have the checkered and tartaned clothing so typical of Celtic peoples. A favourite tunic colour was bright yellow, perhaps related to the later Irish belief that it kept lice away. Other popular colours were scarlet, blue, purple and brown. Cloaks tended to have red, blue or black colours. All clothing could have checkers or tartan. Despite Colleen McCullough's claims to the contrary, it is likely that colours were random rather than used by certain tribes, though that might certainly look good - and McCullough's colour desriptions are excellent inspirations for this!

Chariots and their Ponies: Chariots were probably brightly painted, as they were owned by the leisurely nobles. Descriptions of colours for chariots may be gound in "The Tales of Cu Chulaind", an Irish epic poem. Cu's own chariot was described as red and white. I can't remember any others.

I painted my chariots mainly blue and red - Celts certainly seemed to like these colours. Many people depict them as unpainted - but did you ever see an unpainted Rolls Royce???

A Roman depiction of Gallic cavalry shows the horses with red paint slopped onto them in weird patterns, sort of a lumpy mess on each side of the horse. I thus painted red stuff on my ponies to portray what may have been Celtic practice.

Skirmishers: Poor, or very young, these troops would have had few luxuries. This means the standard dull/cheap colours, though an occasional rich skirmisher is not impossible. As Phil Barker points out, many skirmishers, being West Britons, would have tended to have dark hair.

Weirder Paint Jobs:

  • DRUIDS: Dressed in robes (I prefer white, because that's what modern "Druids" wear), and carrying a golden sickle, druids would have been a powerful influence on their tribes. At Mona, large numbers of them gathered to curse the Romans who had come to wipe out their religion. According to Pliny, they sacrificed two white bulls, the overseer of this ritual dressed in a white robe. Mistletoe was cut from an oak tree with a golden sickle, and caught in a white cloak.

  • QUEEN BOUDICCA OF THE ICENI: Tacitus describes her in a way that is most useful to painters. Apparantly she was very tall, with red hair reaching down to her waist. She rode in a chariot, and wore a multi-coloured dress, with a gold torc around her neck. Tacitus also described her as wearing a very thick cloak with a brooch-fastener. Her voice was said to be terrifying.

  • SCREAMING WOMEN: I don't have the reference here, alas, but I believe Tacitus says they wore black dresses and carried torches. They screamed and shouted. Presumably this had some significance to the Ancient Britons - it just seems damned ridiculous to me.

  • WOAD: Caesar says all British men wore woad. This was a bright blue paste from the woad-plant, which could either be painted on, or tattooed into, the skin. It was arranged in strange, Maori-like patterns, usually swirling or circular. It may have covered the whole body.

  • MOUSTACHES: Caesar says all British men wore moustaches. Skirmishers would have had none, as they were generally adolescents.

Afterword

I will just finish with a quote from Seneca's famous "The Pumpkinification of Claudius", a satire said to be the funniest in Latin.

"He (Claudius) sailed into an unknown sea
And into Britain Island strode,
He battered down the shields, did he,
Of the Brigantians, blue with woad."

(trans. Robert Graves, in "Claudius the God".)

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My thanks to Jonathan Lim for contributing this essay. Comments, questions or suggested additions to this page can be sent to Chris Brantley, brant@erols.com.

Last Updated: April 2, 2000