Spartacus' army

[duncan.gill]

How would you represent this in EB units? Making an army of "freed slave" units does not appear to do them justice. Any thoughts?

[Decimus Attius Arbiter]

Use units from multiple factions. Its not a complicated thing to do. Probably recruit lots of Thracians since Spartacus was from Thrace I think. Maybe some upgrades too.

[SwissBarbar]

nay, they did not fight in thrakian equipment, thrakian background aside.

If anything, the slaves - who were thrakians, gauls and sure from any other country where roma drew slaves from - fought with roman weapons and armor, stolen from the legionnaires they slaughtered..

[Dutchhoplite]

Where are those gladiatorial units from vanilla when you need them :P

[Tyrfingr]

Where are those gladiatorial units from vanilla when you need them :P

They are still not needed, as the "army" of Spartacus was armed with pretty much everything they could find. I would say they were not much more of an army, than an angry mob.

[ludwag]

yes. He said "we are not an army of slaves, we are army of gladiators"

[Ca Putt]

Spartacus did organise them into a kind of "forgein legion". most important imo is that they should get at least some chevrons. the hulk of the starting force(70 gladiators) were Tracians, Celts(i think Gauls) and Germans but undoubtably they were soon outnumberd by a whole lot different ethnic mix which is not as clearly documented.

[SwissBarbar]

is it sure that he was from thracia? yes, he was a thracian, wich is a specific name for a certain sort of gladiator....

[Tyrfingr]

is it sure that he was from thracia? yes, he was a thracian, wich is a specific name for a certain sort of gladiator....

Spartacus origin has been discussed quite alot, and although his origin could have been mixed up with a gladiatorial fighting style, Plutarch gives us a wage hint of Spartacus as a "greek of nomadic stock".

[Zarax]

imho just give them auxilia or polybian equipment to represent the scraped nature of their panoply

[Cullhwch]

I'd say that Karian Uazali would be the best units for representing Spartacus's army. Sure, the helmets are way off, but Uazali carry gladii and scutum-style shields with little armor.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

If I were to make Spartacus' army, I'd probably use "freed slaves", Lugoae, Rorarii, and maybe some medium gallic/italian infantry and cavalry.

[Aemilius Paulus]

Spartacus was from Thracia, that's documented. I am not sure about the cavalry though. MAA, are you positive that Spartacus had cavalry? Cullhwch has got a point btw, or at least in my opinion. Sure, Karian Uazali are very inaccurate in terms of the place they came from, but save for the Phyrgian helmet, the men of Spartacus' army had very similar equipment to Uazali.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I doubt they had enough cavalry to make any difference, but they looted the Roman country-side and had to steal a few horses.

[Cullhwch]

If helmets are of the utmost importance, I suppose that the "elites" of the army could be Hastati (either era) and Pezoi Brettioi. Vigiles, Rorarii and Leves could fill out the ranks. Maybe Pantadopoi could be used to represent the most noobish runaway slaves.

[MerlinusCDXX]

If helmets are of the utmost importance, I suppose that the "elites" of the army could be Hastati (either era) and Pezoi Brettioi. Vigiles, Rorarii and Leves could fill out the ranks. Maybe Pantadopoi could be used to represent the most noobish runaway slaves.

Mix in some Thraikioi Doryphoroi (Thracian Levy Spearmen) for the noobish runaways with a tribal background (most tribesmen had some rudimentary knowledge of fighting due to tribal feuds, hunting expeditions, and "general teenage mayhem").

[Ca Putt]

he trained some young men to ride and fight on horseback but not to a mentionable amount and level. this was probably why the leaders of the defeated legions could flee only armed with the warchest :D.

[ludwag]

is it sure that he was from thracia? yes, he was a thracian, wich is a specific name for a certain sort of gladiator....

In the Spartacus movie they say he is a thracian before he becomes a gladiator. But why are people trying to find out? He was a slave. And slaves are just slaves. If there should be a spartacus army in EB, I think Roarii and Freed slaves

[Power2the1]

Yes, Spartacus was a Thracian while his generals were Crixus and Oenomaus, both Gauls. While I suspect an all Thracian contingent in the army would be small, Spartacus' army would mainly be Celts and some Germans (since Germans and Celts are the two main nationalities menioned in the historical records). The remaining nationalities could have been.

In fact, the Gauls and Germans often refused to march with the rest of Spartacus' army instead wanting to stay and plunder which, had they not chosen this selfish path then Spartacus could have likely escaped Italy. The 'what ifs' that involve him and his armies are tremendous

Their equipment would be of mostly looted and plundered Roman make however.

[Centurio Nixalsverdrus]

Phrygian helmets I thought were quite common? Maybe

6 x Akontistai
3 x Uazali
3 x Rorarii
4 x Pantodapoi
2 x Thraikoi Doryphoroi
1 x Pezoi Brettioi
1 x Hippakontistai

Ethnicity doesn't count that much here imo. What counts is fighting style and equipment. They didn't want to return, they wanted to be the masters themselves.