The Ancient World covers everything from Ancient Greece through the Late Roman period, around the 6th Century AD. We have Greeks vs Persians, Romans of all periods, Carthaginians, Gauls, Spanish, and more for your ancient miniatures wargaming enjoyment!
The Classical Ancient period for the Western World was dominated by the struggle between the Greek City States and the Persian Empire. For millennia the major powers in the region had been the great empires of Mesopotamia but a shift of power to the Mediterranean was seen during this period.
The Punic Wars were a series of three conflicts fought between the Mediterranean super powers of the ancient world, Rome and Carthage. From 264-146BC, these two powers fought bitter battles over control of Sicily and the sea trade of the Mediterranean, and in this maelstrom some of history’s greatest generals are found; Hannibal of Carthage and Scipio of Rome. The Punic Wars escalated into a conflict for survival that ended in the final defeat and destruction of Carthage, ultimately establishing Rome as the dominant world power of the day.
By this period the Roman Republic had ended its Civil Wars, from which Augustus emerged victorious as Emperor of Rome. Already dominant around the Mediterranean, Rome set about strengthening her grip on areas further North and East engaging in conflicts with many different opponents.
This period covers Septimus Severus’ reforms of the Roman army at the end of the 2nd century AD to the fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. The surviving Eastern Roman Empire continued until the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In addition to a long series of civil wars and internal conflicts, Rome's greatest rivals were the Sassanid Persians who overthrew their Parthian overlords in the 3rd century AD. Warfare between the two empires was almost continuous for the next 400 years which led to the eventual exhaustion of both protagonists and the destruction of the Sassanids by the Islamic Arabs in 651 AD.