"The Best AW Cover: "What Do You Think?"" Topic

If it was for MW I would know immediately: the one with the Emperor Constantine at the siege of Constantinople.
Just beautiful!

For Ancient Warfare there are so many really good ones but I'll probably go for vol XI, Issue 5

I don't understand what I can see. Romans with oval shields, a la Republic. But a 1st century AD legionary in lorica segmentata with the highly convex, rectangular scutum. Also the kneeling "legionary" looks alien. Pila are being thrown individually instead of as a volley. But, the artwork itself is first rate. So I question only the technical details, not the balance and execution of the picture itself….

Great War Ace, Looks like a late empire unit to me. The legionaries are spear armed. The fellow with the curved scutum is almost certainly a centurion or tribune.

It's the centerfold from Vol III #5: Ross Cowan's 'The battle of Nisibis, AD 217: last battle of the Parthian Wars'.

Mr. Cowan has uploaded this article: link

Tough call. They've clearly gotten better over time. I think the Varian disaster special is superb and definitely in my top 3. I'll be picking this artwork collection up for sure…

Ah, the larger, full pic is much better for scrutiny. Yes, late period for sure, even without the specific reference to the battle of Nisibis. The Roman "stragglers" are explained by the "feigned retreat" that would have just occurred. The caltrops are assumed and would not of course be visible in the grass. But the doomed camel and rider are a strange detail. Did the Parthians use camelry? And would they have been mixed in with cataphracts? I notice in the larger picture that pila are soaring up from the rear ranks behind the spear (stragglers out in front could also get hurt that way!). That makes sense. So my quibble about "pila being thrown individually instead of as a volley" was itself an inaccurate assertion due to the small size of the originally posted pic….