Since the start of November I have had the pleasure of play testing Osprey's upcoming Roman era fantasy skirmish rules Broken Legions by Mark Latham.
In the rules I have tested there are a number of sample warbands - three different Roman types, Germanic Tribes, Egyptians, ect.
Each warband is comprised of Heroes and Henchmen - like LOTR. There are a minimum requirement for each warband - one Roman warband must include a Centurion as its leader and have at least 1 legionair. The warband lists then have different types of heroes and henchmen, again the Romans have the option of adding more legionairs, praetorians, archers ect. The non-Roman warbands almost all have access to some kind of supernatural creature - Germanic Tribes have wulfkin (werewolves), the Egyptians have mummies. There are a number of Auxiliary (mercenaries) that warbands can hire to add even more flavour to your warband, these include Sicari assassins, Centaur scout, Necromancer etc.
The game is true skirmish, so you will have roughly 8-15 figures per warband. In our test games, the Romans had 9 and the Germanic Tribes 14. Each warband has different strengths and will work best when used that way I think, Basically Romans have the best armour and can use a shieldwall, which they need in order to combat the more numerous Germans who in return are a lot easier to hit.
The mechanics are simple, you roll a d10 and add a stat, aiming to either reach 10 for simple tests or in contested tests against an opponent you compare your results.
I really like the game and have been expanding my warbands - once I am finished with them I will post some pictures on here.
