Help me dress my Romans

[Natholeon]

I’ll soon be embarking on building a 15mm Polybian Roman army for the Second Punic War/Macedonian Wars, and I’d like some help. In the past when I’ve painted Romans they have been in uniformly white tunics with white shields. The whole army. I’m wondering if this time around I should go for different colours of tunic for each unit? And if so, which colours should I use? Obviously red and white are both options, but would we have seen Romans in green, blue or red? Should my shields be all the same colour army wide, or different depending on unit? Is it more likely that the Triarii would wear a different colour to the Principes? Should I be mixing tunic colours within units?

I understand that there is probably no right or wrong answer here, and I’ll probably just end up with ‘go with what you like’, but I am terribly indecisive I’d really like some suggestions to guide me.

Thanks

Nate

[Mark Ketteman]

I think it is anybodys guess as to how the real Romans looked. I am doing my Polybians (28mm) is shades of white/linen. Sheilds will vary by legion (LBMS transfers). One has red, the one I am painting now has yellow with a pair of boars. I am going to go for different plume colours to denote Triarii, Principes, Hastati. This is for quick identification on the table. I think  there are historical references to black plumes so I am going black for Triarii , red for Principes and White for Hastati.

 

hope that helps.

[Cerdic]

As Mark has said, nobody really knows! Your best bet is to do either what you think looks best or most probable.

I have done a couple of Marion legions and have done all the tunics white, a different colour shield for each legion, and a different design on the shield for each cohort. It may not be historically accurate but nobody can prove it isn’t. And they look like Romans to me!

http://28mmreview.blogspot.co.uk

[Simon Miller]

These days I’m more inclined to mix tunic colours, as the tunics were provided by their owners.  I use off-white, terracotta, red, dark red and sometimes browns, but I don’t think it would be wrong to use an even wider range of colours.

[warren coleman]

Mark,

Check out Olicanlads blog.  He has done wonderful armies for the Punic Wars.  He has inspired me on my 15mm quest.  The Carthaginians and allies are done, just waiting for the Romans from the War and Empire Kickstarter and then they will have their foe!

[Natholeon]

Thanks for the replies, people. This is all pretty much as I thought, but I just wanted to make sure I haven’t missed a valuable bit of new research somewhere that reveals the Romans bought their clothes off the Celts and therefore wore plaid.

I’ll probably go with white tunics mixed together and different coloured shields for each unit. That will give the army some consistency throughout while still maintaining some individual identity per unit.

Cheers

Nate

 

[Simon Miller]

Romans wearing plaid isn’t impossible; a friend recently painted his Alaudae legion, raised in Gaul from Celts, with plaid cloaks.  And the Roman General Caecina scandalised Roman society by wearing plaid in 69AD.

http://bigredbat.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/aulus-caecina-alienus-and-salonina.html

 

[Natholeon]

Simon, that is a fantastic story I knew nothing about. Thanks.

[Author]

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