Osbad's bangin' Gangs of Rome

It has to be said that I am not immune to advertising.  Many times I have said to myself “I really have enough games and unpainted models, the last thing I need right now is another one coming along”.  We all know how that goes though don’t we?  One whiff of a box of new shiney toys and we can’t restrain ourselves.  Such was my mindset when I watched Andy from Footsore talking about their new game Gangs of Rome!

It has to be said that I have been interested in Rome and the Romans since I was a little boy. I was born and grew up on Hadrian’s Wall in the North of England, only half a mile from the fort of Segedunum, and must have ingested a love for Roman history and archeology with my mother’s milk!  So it is strange that so far in nearly 40 years of gaming I have never really gamed the period.  Funny how those things go.  I suspect it was because I could never really imagine a “small” Roman army, and there weren’t many skirmish games catering to the period, and to be honest, I didn’t really fancy painting up hundreds upon hundreds of identical legionaries.

So with this game, Warbanner/Footsore were really pushing on an open door.  I had started to mull over Broken Legions, but the lack of appropriate terrain in my collection was holding me back.  And then Blood on the Aventine came along and I no longer had any objections.  £35, including scenery and all the models needed to play a few starting games, and giving you a “real” gang for the main game once you had played it through….  Go on then! Take my money!