Different Coloured Legions

[ICantSpellDawg]

What is the history behind the variations in color between the armies?

were there really Romans running around in blue, green, purple and red at the same time?

would get confusing for the enemy

i had always thought that there were different colors at different points in history

oh well

whats are the facts?

PS - i know of other armies doing similar things, like the Waffen SS and so on, but usually for the sake of camoflauge or beurocratic distinction

[Nelson]

Shields and standards were different among legions. That's about it.

Dying material was expensive and some colors were very difficult to manufacture. In addition, I believe that purple was prohibited for general use for at least a certain time. How much purple one could display, if any, was regulated.

[The_Emperor]

Purple was the colour of the Emperor and was indeed very much associated with stature and authority as a result. I'm afraid the Lime Green of the Brutii and the Blue of the Scipii are indeed false colours that the Romans never really wore.

Kind of like the MTW bright colours we have... Especially the funky Aragonese PinK!!

[Tamur]

I'd recommend you check a good bookstore/library for the Osprey books on the Roman and Roman-era military. These are nicely presented, well-researched books on exactly that question -- what did they wear, colours, textures, etc.

[TinCow]

I believe the different colored armies in RTW are to allow us to distinguish between friend and foe/ally. While in ancient Rome it may have been easy for a commander, centurian and/or legionary to distinguish based only on shield design, you cannot expect the average RTW player to be able to do so without severe difficulty. Given the fact that any Roman player is required to fight the other Roman factions at the end of the game to achieve victory, it only makes sense that different colors would be used, regardless of the historical inaccuracy.

[ICantSpellDawg]

i think the colors should only be used in a battle where another roman faction is fighting

i thought that they did,in fact wear blue

ive seen pictures/drawings in reputable books where soldiers are wearing blue

[lars573]

I too have seen red and blue on legionary sheilds but as for the tunics not so much they probably would have been coloured rust red.

[Sir Robin]

I believe different cloaks were also dyed different colors in addition to different shield emblems.

However there is no real historical evidence to support this.

[Nelson]

Here is what one reenactment group has discovered. They believe that tunic colors were red or plain natural fabric.

http://www.legionsix.org/Uniform.htm

[Tamur]

The only colour I know for sure was a given was Spartan hoplites, who wore red or scarlet cloaks going into battle, but threw them off when they were engaging. The Roman legions are almost always pictured in media as wearing red, but as was stated above, natural was not any less used.

Thanks for the read Nelson!

[Silver Rusher]

Kind of like the MTW bright colours we have... Especially the funky Aragonese PinK!!

Don't mean to be pedantic, but the aragonese flag was and still is yellow and red. I don't know about the soldiers themselves running around in those colours, but still... Anyway, in Rome, the colours are not only used to distinguish factions, as mercs working for any faction are green. (that is stupid as well, but... meh

[The_Emperor]

I was actually talking about those funky football-style coloured shirts that all the warriors seem to wear in MTW (cmon you've noticed).

Then we also have the Hungarians who also sport their own unique shade of Pink...

[Servius]

yeah, Roman armies are usually shows in red (if any color). Before purple was the color of the Emperor it was the color of the Senate. I have no idea if it was also the color of the Taquin kings (but I doubt it). They're there merely as a visual aid. Because there are thousands of units on the field, the zoom level is usually pretty far; too far to mark units by their shield design. Plus, as another poster said, dyes were expensive. As such, only ceremonial pieces were dyed, like standards and some cloaks and shields.

The Romans were extrememly functional in their design, they left it to the Greeks to be artistic, and then they stole it and called it Roman :-)

[Sjakihata]

stole the greek design and mixed with etruscian = roman

[Alexander the Pretty Good]

"Re: Different Coloured Legions"

Can anyone say, "MOD"?

[Oaty]

Well unless I had a 1000 inch monitor that allowed me to distincly see the differences in the shield emblems(also speed would have to be scaled down on a monitor this size) I'm all for green, red and blue guys running all over the battlefield. I'm just wondering when the game will advance to having over 100,000 men on the battlefield at once