The Romans fought uncountable tribes, federations and nations in the central European region. Collectively, these were known to them as the Northern Barbarians. Over five hundred years of conflict in modern day Britain, France and Germany provides ample opportunity for historical battles. Moreover, most of these tribes kept smashing their mutual heads in after the collapse of the Roman Empire for another half millennia of wargaming potential.
My Northern Barbarian collection is designed to cover a wide range of “Book II” lists including II/11 Gallic (400-50BC), II47a-g Early German (113BC-250AD), II/53 Ancient British (55BC-75AD), II/54a-b Irish Scots (55BC-846AD), II/68a-b Picts (211-846AD), II/70a-b Burgundi and Limigantes (250-534AD), II/72a-d German Tribes (250-506AD), II/73 Old Saxon (205-804AD) and II/81a Sub-Roman British (407-428AD).
All of these armies have a fairly common composition: A big block of infantry (usually Warbands, Spears, or Auxilia), some riders and some skirmishing elements. To enable all possible options I effectively had to build two large infantry blocks with different configuration. The models are almost exclusively Corvus Belli.
Cavalry: Regardless of tribe and culture, the Cavalry element was always based on the richer nobles fighting from horseback. The element with the head-holder can be used as a General if needed.
Light Horse: A few of the Barbarian tribes use Light Horse elements though more often than not these models get drafted into the Roman armies.
Light Chariots: The earlier tribes on the British island made extensive use of Chariots so I have included enough for even the most “wheely” II/53 Ancient British list, including one with Boudicca as a rider if used as the General.
Warband: Warbands are the primary infantry formation for most of the lists in this range. Eleven elements including a General are enough for any of the lists. I only used models with swords for the Warband bases to create a visual distinction with the spear-armed Auxilia bases.
Auxilia: The small number of lists that doesn’t use Warbands will use either Auxilia (e.g. II/54a-b Irish-Scots) or 3-model Spears (e.g. II/68a-b Picts). The large group of 11 Auxilia does double duty for these options since they are both on 20mm deep bases. I used only spear-armed models for the bases so they will be visually obvious as either Auxilia or Spears. The casualty element can be used as Camp Followers for inter-tribal conflicts.
Bows: The II/72b Alamanni and II/72c Suevi tribes used archers so I have included three elements of Bows.
Psiloi: Six Psiloi bases give me the flexibility to run an inter-tribal battle between a common two-Psiloi tribe and the II/53 Ancient British with up to four of such elements.
Camp: The Northern Barbarian camp comes in two elements for inter-tribal battles if needed. The two parts can also be combined to form a Built-Up Area (BUA) during the defensive scenarios.