Roman PSC box

[JamesS]

Time for another silly question from me.

Am I right in assuming that the minis in the Roman box are good as both east and west? And were there any real differences between the 2 (up to the point where the army lists specify that east has its own list that is).

Thanks

[lionheartrjc]

A far from silly question.  Up until Caesar's time, the legions mostly originated in Italy.  In the later civil wars, some legions were recruited in the East and may have had a more Hellenistic look to them. I investigated the Later Republic Roman legionaries and could not find any reliable images of Eastern legionaries.

In the Empire, the look was probably more uniform as troops could move throughout the Empire, but after the mid-third century crisis, differences may have started to appear between East and West. These probably increased during the 5th century, but were probably.  Remember throughout this period troops would be recruited in one part of the Empire and then serve in another part of the Empire.  Once on campaign, kit would have been repaired locally with whatever was available.

In short, you can use your Romans in Eastern or Western armies and you will be fine.

Richard

[JamesS]

Excellent, thank you.

[Simon Meg-Meister]

Welcome aboard James.  As Richard says they work for east or west and indeed you could mix the mailed and less protected in the same units.  It was all a lot less formulaic by then.

S

[JamesS]

Back again, and thought I might as well add to the same query.

So I'm looking at the foederate roman list and wanted to check if the box still works for this.
Assuming they all still look the same, based on the contents of box the listed on PSC website  I would be using:

Armoured/Unarmoured Infantry for Legionaries/Auxilia
Archers individual units as there are no longer integral shooters to represent
Equites Sagitarii as named in the list
Cataphracts as Equites clibinarii (East only)
Equites Alares as Equites

What would Foederate Cavalry need to be? Do the Equites Alares serve for this or am I looking for other minis?

Thanks, James

[lionheartrjc]

Just to be clear, you are referring to the Late Imperial Roman box here.  (Late Romans are very different in appearance from the earlier Imperial Romans).

Legionaries and auxilia could bearmoured or unarmoured.  Body armour might have been quite rare for the infantry - but we all like troops in nice armour! 

The equites sagitarii would be horse archers.
There has been a huge amount written as to the differences (if any) between cataphracts and clibinarii.  The figures are appropriate for either.  If you wanted to, you could even attach small shields to some of them.

Cavalry from the Gothic pack would be quite appropriate for the foederate cavalry.  Infantry from the Gothic pack would be quite appropriate for foederate infantry.

Hope that helps.

Richard

[JamesS]

Yes sorry that's right the Late Imperial Roman box.

And that does indeed help, thanks. The box and one of the small packs of Goth cavalry will have me set then.

[lionheartrjc]

I should probably mention that the only reason we don't give the Foederate Roman integral shooters is that they have shooting weapons already.  It would be perfectly accurate to include an archer or two in the rear ranks of a unit if you wanted to.