Re: [OT] Another Rhomaphillia thread!, was FMC when?

You wrote: 

Is Rhomaphillia a word?

>If it's generic, can it be used for historical battles as well?

Any half-decent fantasy system can be used (albeit sometimes poorly) 
for historicals.

><humour>
>Can anyone picture John Atkinson's Rhomaioi army with a big red dragon
>and a giant?
></humour>

Ah. . . Well, err. . . I actually own and have played Fantasy Rules! 
2nd Edition.  I use 15mm Essex figures--basing conventions are close 
enough to DBA/M/R to work with that army.  My usual army is Videssan.  
For those of you not familliar with Harry Turtledove's Videssos (As 
seen in Krispos of Videssos, The Videssos Cycle (Legion of Videssos 
etc), and Time of Troubles series), it's basically the Roman Empire 
with magic added.  Krispos is based on (in the first book at least) 
Basil I, the Videssos Cycle deals with a cohort of one of G. Julius 
Caeser's Legions kicked into the beginning of the Comnenians, and the 
Time of Troubles is based on Heraclius's time period, told from the 
Persian side.

So it looks basically like a historical Rhomaioi Army with the addition 
of clerics in blue robes who cast spells.  

My other army is a mythological Rhomaioi--historical Rhomaiois plus 
Griffons (mentioned in the Digenes Akritai legends, albeit as heraldic 
emblems), dragons (St. George, who was originally from Cappodocia), 
mages, clerics, etc.  But my dragon is a metallic blue--so sorry to 
disappoint.  :)  The Archangel is on order, and I do have a 25mm figure 
of Byzantine general filling in for military-saint-of-choice, 
frequently Demetrius.

Those of you with the Fantasy Rules! 2nd Ed rulebook will note that a 
Byzantine army is pictured in several rules illustrations, including a 
shot of a unit of Skutatoi which was quite striking since the shield 
design is identical to the one I use.  Of course, we both stole it from 
the Osprey book on the subject, so what the heck.

I do have some 25mm Varangians and Cataphracts (lance and bow-armed) 
sitting around waiting for me to paint--FMC might be enough of an 
excuse to do so.

John M. Atkinson