Galatian

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Historical Overview Section

Galatia, an ancient region of Asia Minor, was named for the immigrant Gauls from Thrace (cf. Tylis), who settled here and became its ruling caste in the 3rd century BC. The Galatians were in their origin a part of the great Celtic migration which invaded Macedon, led by the 'second' Brennus, a word for chief. Galatia was bounded on the north by Bithynia and Paphlagonia, on the east by Pontus and Cappadocia, on the south by Cilicia and Lycaonia, and on the west by Phrygia. Its capital was Ancyra (i.e. Ankara, today the capital of modern Turkey ).

The Galatians were in their origin a part of the great Celtic migration which invaded Macedon, led by Brennus. The original Celts who settled in Galatia came through Thrace under the leadership of Leotarios and Leonnorios c. 270 BC. These Celts consisted of three tribes, the Tectosages, the Trocmii, and the Tolistobogii - the latter also being an ancient Celtic euphemism for testicles.

Brennus invaded Greece in 281 BC with a huge war band and was turned back before he could plunder the temple of Apollo at Delphi. At the same time another Gaulish group were migrating through Thrace. They had split off from Brennus' people in 279 BC, and had migrated into Thrace under their leaders Leonnorius and Lutarius (Lenny and Luke in new money). These invaders appeared in Asia Minor in 278–277 BC; others invaded Macedonia, killed the Later Ptolemaic ruler Ptolemy Ceraunus but were eventually ousted by Antigonus Gonatas, the grandson of the defeated Diadoch Antigonus the One-Eyed and one of the Early Successors.

The invaders came at the invitation of Nicomedes I of Bithynia, who required help in a dynastic struggle against his brother. Three tribes crossed over from Thrace to Asia Minor. They numbered about 10,000 fighting men and about the same number of women and children, divided into three tribes, Trocmi, Tolistobogii and Tectosages. One favoured the left, one hung to the right however to have a third was highly unusual and also placed them a clear two ahead of Hitler. They were eventually defeated by the Later Seleucid king Antiochus I, in a battle where the Seleucid war elephants shocked the Celts. While the momentum of the invasion was broken, the Galatians were by no means exterminated. Instead, the migration led to the establishment of a long-lived Celtic territory in central Anatolia, which included the eastern part of ancient Phrygia, a territory that became known as Galatia. There they ultimately settled, and being strengthened by fresh accessions of the same clan from Europe, they overran Bithynia and supported themselves by plundering neighbouring countries.

The Galatians were great warriors, respected by Greeks and Romans and famous for fighting naked - these two things may not have been entirely unrelated. They were often hired as mercenary soldiers, sometimes fighting on both sides in the great battles of the times and many of them earned enough money to actually buy themselves some pants. For years the chieftains and their war bands ravaged the western half of Asia Minor as allies of one or other of the warring princes without any serious check until they sided with the renegade Later Seleucid prince Antiochus Hierax, who reigned in Asia Minor. Hierax tried to defeat king Attalus I of the Attalid Pergamene Kingdom (241–197 BC), but instead, the Hellenized cities united under Attalus's banner, and his armies inflicted several severe defeats upon them, about 232 forcing them to settle permanently and to confine themselves to the region to which they had already given their name.

In 189 BC, the Late Republican Romans sent Gnaeus Manlius Vulso on an expedition against the Galatians, the Galatian War. He defeated them. Galatia was henceforth dominated by the Late Republican Romans through regional rulers from 189 BC onward. Galatia declined and fell at times under Pontic ascendancy. They were finally freed by the Mithridatic Wars, during which they supported the Late Republican Romans.

Using the army in FoG

• V2.0 Change 3. Imitation legionaries in Pontic and Galatian (but not Numidian) armies gain the option to be Armoured.
• The Warriors should be the core and strength of this army, but being only protected they are a bit at risk once they get into a melee against many opponents and you may find yourself contemplating this as a cavalry army with minimal warband, which is a shame really.
• There is a forced date choice of Superior warband, allowing chariots, or of average warband allowing imitation legionaries that are basically the same as warband except drilled.
• The later option has little to recommend it over other lists. Large blocks of warband supported by small drilled formations working the flanks can in theory look to be be fairly effective, though against opponents with armour - or those who shoot - this is likely to be a rather painful experiment you may not want to repeat too often

UK Tournament Results with this army

Useful Links

User-contributed links about this army:

• Galatians DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Galatians DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• Galatians DBA Figure Gallery for this army - from Fanaticus
• put the link text readers will see in here write some more detail about the link here

15mm Manufacturers supplying figures for this army

You can see some of the figures in the Gallic Photo Gallery also on this site

• Essex Miniatures - 14 figure codes in their Gallic/British range
• Donnington
• Corvus Belli - one of their core ranges
• Museum Miniatures
• Gladiator Miniatures by Fighting 15's (Previously Black Hat)
• Old Glory 15's, very animated range, compatible with Corvus Belli & Essex in size
• Magister Militum
• Minifigs
• Irregular Miniatures
• Lancashire Games
• QRF Models 12 figure packs in the Gallic/German range including nice `nude' fanatics and a pack of Galatian heavies. Use Republican Roman infantry as imitation legionaries.
• Tin Soldier
• AlainTouller Figurines
• Pass o' The North.
• Viking Forge
• Warmodelling/Fantassin newly released range of Gauls/Brits
• Blue Moon Sold in the UK by Old Glory UK (the normally 28mm people, different to the 15mm people above) a newly released (late 2012) near-18mm Gallic range

Army Lists

Sample army lists for this army
Cavalry-heavy force

• 1 Light Foot lf unprotected Average Undrilled javelins Light spear - - 8
• 2 Nobles Cv armoured Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 3 Nobles Cv armoured Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 4 Nobles Cv armoured Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 5 Warriors HF Protected Superior Undrilled - Impact foot Swordmen - 8
• 6 Warriors HF Protected Superior Undrilled - Impact foot Swordmen - 8
• 7 Warrions HF Protected Superior Undrilled - Impact foot Swordmen - 8
• 8 Nobles Cv Protected Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 9 Nobles Cv Protected Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 10 Nobles Cv Protected Superior Undrilled - Light spear Swordmen - 4
• 11 Chariots LCh - Superior Undrilled - Light spear - - 4
• TC TC - - - - - - - 3
• subbie FC - - - - - - - 1

Remember to leave a line before you copy the above section as a template for your own list

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