Eye candy time. Here are some pictures of really well-done Early Imperial Romans. I like to have pictures like these to use as a painting guide.
ancients
Trierarch Ancient Naval Rules
Trierarch is a set of free wargames rules for ancient naval warfare. The author writes:
TRIERARCH is an ancient naval warfare simulation based on the most recent information I’ve been able to gather on the performance of the Athenian trireme, as it was used in the battles against the Persians and the Peloponessian war.
The modern reconstruction of the Athenian trireme developed over the past two decades is nothing like the old Hollywood version of the ancient oared warship, and quite different from the Mediterranean galleys of more recent times. It is a lightweight, agile, highly efficient rowing machine, more like a scaled-up racing shell than a gigantic rowboat. The rowers made up a significant fraction of the weight of a trireme, giving it tremendous acceleration, able to reach enough speed to deliver a solid ram from a standing start in a matter of seconds. A well-trained rowing crew could spin a trireme in its own length by rowing forward on one side and backward on the other, making the trireme extremely maneuverable.
TRIERARCH attempts to use this model of the trireme to focus on the performance of individual ships in combat. It has more in common with an aerial dogfight simulation than with most other naval simulations. The game scale is 25 meters per hex and four seconds per turn. Units are individual triremes; each counter takes up two hexes. Movement is unplotted and simultaneous, with each trireme constantly able to respond to the motions of its opponents.
To Ur Is Human Sumerian/Mesopotamian Warfare Rules
To Ur Is Human is a set of free wargames rules for Sumerian/Mesopotamian warfare. The game is designed to be played with 15mm figures on a grid.
Caesar’s Commentaries
Among his other talents, Julius Caesar also was a very good writer. The “Commentaries” on the Gallic and Civil Wars are classics of military literature, providing a unique insight into Caesar’s military campaigns. While it is true that there is an element of propaganda here, remember that history always is written by the victors. You can get the Commentaries in a free etext version here.
Ancient Wargames Rules
Nick Salmon offers a set of free wargames rules for ancients warfare. The author writes:
These rules can be used from antiquity up until the late medieval period, they depart from the norm in that they have no rigid turn sequence. Instead players take turns to command their troops until a situation occurs which occupies the commander allowing the initiative to pass to the other player. Combat results are handled by progressively worse morale and no figures are removed from the table. As befitting my age the rules are a bewildering mixture of imperial and metric measurements. Any areas not covered should be resolved with common sense or a die roll.