Roman troops of the Third Century AD

[Diocletianus]

Beautifull legionnaires ! I don't like the helmet though ( I would love Auxilary E or Niebender ) but it was exactly like that they looked like during the reign of Diocletian and Maximian.

[Diocle]

I agree with you o.c.! (Niderbieber = awesomeness and infinite beauty!), but as you said, really from the Tetrachy the Ridge helmets and the Spangenhelms started to prevail! 'Sic transit gloria moundi!'

[tomySVK]

Magnificient legionaries! Excellent mini preview!

And very nice miniatures First Citizen Gallienus, now I´m thimking about a new hobby

[julianus heraclius]

Thanks folks for all of your reps. And here is one more sneak peak. FYI the next preview will be the Armenians.

These are legionaries from the western provinces. Again, shield designs by Joar. LS armour courtesy of RS. These are still works in progress.





Hopefully this will keep you all satisfied for a while.

[tomySVK]

Waw! This is incredible work! And yes it will keep me satisfied for a while
I can´t give a rep beacuse I did it only a few hours before

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

Epic units, Julianus!

[Constantius]

Fantastic...again, never cease to impress

[Diocle]

.....Really we will able to use thes magnificent units??? Really??? But it is a dream!!!....Newstead, Imperial Italic helmets, mail, scale armors, and shield, magnificent III c. shields!....No words! really it is a dream which became reality!!! Thanks for all this magnificent work!!!.....Proskinessis is mandatory!!!!

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

pant . . . pant . . . pant . . . (see an new AAR forming in my mind) . . . pant . . .

[First Citizen Gallienus]

I first saw Julianus' post last night when he berly posted it, but I was so gone from drinking last night it felt like a dream.

[Emperor Caesar]

The Roman Army is really shaping up. This is going to be amazing. I can't wait to step on the corpses of dead barbarians and persians with these legionnaires. +rep

[tomySVK]

You have a great dreams when you drink First Citizen Gallienus Anyway looking forward for Armenian preview.

[Diocletianus]

Is...Is this....is this real ???

[First Citizen Gallienus]

I've been wondering something. You know how Roman legionaries in the 3rd century started using long lances against the Parthians and Sassanids? Well, is it possible that maybe they had some kind of sling for their shield, that way they could hold the lance/long spear with two hands?

If this is really the case, is it possible to model this correctly within the mod? The phalangites in Roma Surrectum II are rendered in this fashion.

Igor Dviz's Battle of Nisibis painting seems to back up my hypothesis as well.

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

You know how Roman legionaries in the 3rd century started using long lances against the Parthians and Sassanids?

They did? IIRC even Pila were long enough to stop cataphracts.

[First Citizen Gallienus]

(Edit): I could be spreading false info about what type of spear they were using, so I do apologize.

It is said that Septimius Severus' Parthica legions were some of the first 'new model' legionaries to be created with oval shields etc. If I'm not mistaken they also developed this new legionary around tactics designed to counter Parthian cataphracts.

Perhaps it was because of these 'new model' legionaries that Caracalla fancied himself the next Alexander the Great, looking to conquer the East with tactics that were somewhat similar.

I'm basing my idea on two Igor Dzis paintings, even though the latter is the Battle of Calinicum which takes place in the 600s. This latter painting clearly shows Byzantine infantry with a type of sling for their shields, but whether or not the legionaries of old adopted a similar method is up for conjecture.

[First Citizen Gallienus]

I found some links you guys might be interested in looking at. And I found this bit of text from the first link which essentially debunks my theory.

"Spear 2 – the sarissa

Scholars have assumed that the ‘kontos’ is thrown as well as thrust, but as we have seen above, that assumption is false. Could this then mean that Arrian was being very archaic in his ideas, looking to describe a classical Greek or Macedonian extremely long stabbing spear, the two-handed sarissa?
About this possibility we can be short. Although Caracalla later seems to have wanted to revive a Macedonian phalanx, complete with the sarissa, it is also clear that because the Roman infantry has a large shield, a two-handed sarissa or indeed any other two-handed thrusting spear is out of the question."

Arrian and the 'kontos'
http://www.fectio.org.uk/articles/arrian.htm

Roman pikeman and spearman
http://www.romanarmytalk.com/rat.htm...d=17&id=289184

[Blatta Optima Maxima]

I find the sight of a Roman trying to pierce mail with a spear quite amusing. That situation is as likely to end in his death as the cavalryman's. If I were him I'd smash the Persian's skull in with the shield.

[First Citizen Gallienus]

Yeah, I thought that was pretty odd as well.

To be honest, these one-handed spears seem kind of cumbersome.

[Constantius]

They appear the same size as a Hoplites Dory