Roman army

[Maion Maroneios]

I believe I remember Legion compositions varied from place to place. Especially after the Marian and Augustan Era, Legionnaries tended to be equipped according to the region tasked to defend. For example, legionaries in Dacia would generally be better equipped against the terrible Thracian falxes, while Eastern Legionaries would have other equipment, like "cheires" (armguards) IIRC.

Maion

[Watchman]

The laminate armguard was AFAIK used by front-rankers in Dacia to help cut down on the rate of amputations... I'd imagine the Eastern legions would have been fond of scale cuirasses instead of mail, as it works better against arrows (which were something of an ubiquitous hazard in the region).

As for World War casualties, yeah well. At least French and English units were normally regionally based, which had the aforementioned benefits RE "knit" and general sense of togetherness but also the flipside that heavy combat casualties could have disproportionate effects on the demographics of smaller locales. There aren't too many towns in either country that didn't have their war dead remembered in a monument or few, I think...

[Xurr]

The laminate armguard was AFAIK used by front-rankers in Dacia to help cut down on the rate of amputations... I'd imagine the Eastern legions would have been fond of scale cuirasses instead of mail, as it works better against arrows (which were something of an ubiquitous hazard in the region).

Yep AFAIK Trajan introduced Lorica manica in Dacia for that reason.

[Maion Maroneios]

Good to know. Seems I mixed up the regions, after all.

Maion

[antisocialmunky]

The laminate armguard was AFAIK used by front-rankers in Dacia to help cut down on the rate of amputations... I'd imagine the Eastern legions would have been fond of scale cuirasses instead of mail, as it works better against arrows (which were something of an ubiquitous hazard in the region).

As for World War casualties, yeah well. At least French and English units were normally regionally based, which had the aforementioned benefits RE "knit" and general sense of togetherness but also the flipside that heavy combat casualties could have disproportionate effects on the demographics of smaller locales. There aren't too many towns in either country that didn't have their war dead remembered in a monument or few, I think...

Of course the fallacy was that being close knit doesn't do anything againt massed artillery and machine gunfire.

[Watchman]

Of course the fallacy was that being close knit doesn't do anything againt massed artillery and machine gunfire.

Not much you could do against either anyway, other than keep your head down in a pit and hope for the best. Ergo irrelevant. Unit cohesion and "knit" is, however, important for motivation, morale, cohesion and suchlike, all of which are very important for particularly infantry combat effectiveness, so you do the math.

[ARCHIPPOS]

it makes sense that people from the same region/town/villages would prefer to stick together... army life is harsh ,cruel and unpleasant so it would be nice to go through it along with some amigos... bear in mind that topicisms back then were infinitely stronger than today ,so people would be inherently suspicious to "anyone-not-them" and instantly welcoming to compatriots ( same customs,same gods,same dialects )...
I remember reading an article abt the French legion Etrangere ... supposedly amongst its ranks there are power feuds between the different ethnic groups ... it's up to the officers to channel all that violence into a common goal and build the "unit spirit"... how to do that???
Through psychological conditioning: recruits learn to hate and love the same things... they hate their drillmaster (=badass centurion) , the "barbarous" scum and so on... they love their "charismatic" commander, the youngest guy (=mascot) in the outfit etc etc... the use of totem-like-objects which everybody respects like flags,battle standards,eagles ,relics and ceremonial practices can also be very important in building unity and cohesion out of non-homogeneous populations ...

[Celtic_Punk]

I believe I remember Legion compositions varied from place to place. Especially after the Marian and Augustan Era, Legionnaries tended to be equipped according to the region tasked to defend. For example, legionaries in Dacia would generally be better equipped against the terrible Thracian falxes, while Eastern Legionaries would have other equipment, like "cheires" (armguards) IIRC.

Maion

They put an extra layer of mail on the shoulders or something, and reinforced the helmets because the falx could cut right through the regular one without ANY trouble. :) I love Falxes.

[Julius Augustus]

They put an extra layer of mail on the shoulders or something, and reinforced the helmets because the falx could cut right through the regular one without ANY trouble. :) I love Falxes.

Who doesn't love falxes, they and rhompheias(I think that's how you spell it) just kill everything.