Faction symbols

[Cybvep]

I was always curious about the usage of battle-banners and such and especially about how much widespreaded they were?

Roman uniformity is almost legendary, but did it function before the Marian era? And what about the other nations? Soldiers were fighting without any uniformity and with the organization and discipline (or lack of them) of the peasant rabble or with the recklessness of medieval knights or what?

What was the situation with the battle communication? I guess that RTW is highly unrealistic with its "easy to control" armies, when the orders where given by runners or by special signals played on the drums?

BTW, what strategy game has the most realistic battles, in your opinion (besides EB)?

[keravnos]

Saka Rauca symbol has been found on funerary steles, including some on Mongolia which are believed to be tombstones of dead kings. Those were dated at about 800 BCE.

The symbol was part of a treasure dug out of Tilya Tepe, in what was Baktrian lands, after the Sakarauca took over, not a coin.

[L.C.Cinna]

Roman uniformity is almost legendary, but did it function before the Marian era? And what about the other nations? Soldiers were fighting without any uniformity and with the organization and discipline (or lack of them) of the peasant rabble or with the recklessness of medieval knights or what?

well, the romans did not have "uniformity". we know from tacitus that legions or cohorts had some indivitual shield designs and from some texts like the HA, where we have a sentence mentioning that the praetorians wore their swords on the right not on the left (like it was common by the 2nd century. see vita semptimii severi), that there were some things which were common or different between units. equpiment was more influenced by the factories nearby, so you get some similarities but in general there's no indication of "uniformity".. there are also field modifications found and some of the artistic depictions (like the adamklissi metopes or the arch of severus which i posted in the thread about romans in films) inticate a variety of equipment from hamata, segmentata, squamata, shields, pila and spears among the legionary troops, probably depending on situation and purpose.

[Eduorius]

The Carthage Faction Symbol

Represents the arms of Carthage that displays a horse resting under a palm tree. The first emigrants to land on the heights of Byrsa are said to have dug up the skull of a horse at the foot of a tree, at the spot which commands the entire landscape, and to have adopted the emblem for the city they proposed to build.

[mcantu]

The Carthage Faction Symbol

Represents the arms of Carthage that displays a horse resting under a palm tree. The first emigrants to land on the heights of Byrsa are said to have dug up the skull of a horse at the foot of a tree, at the spot which commands the entire landscape, and to have adopted the emblem for the city they proposed to build.

I just ready that same sentence in a book this morning. You might want to cite the source as its a pretty good book...

[Dyabedes of Aphrodisias]

I was always curious about the usage of battle-banners and such and especially about how much widespreaded they were?

Roman uniformity is almost legendary, but did it function before the Marian era? And what about the other nations? Soldiers were fighting without any uniformity and with the organization and discipline (or lack of them) of the peasant rabble or with the recklessness of medieval knights or what?

What was the situation with the battle communication? I guess that RTW is highly unrealistic with its "easy to control" armies, when the orders where given by runners or by special signals played on the drums?

BTW, what strategy game has the most realistic battles, in your opinion (besides EB)?

Romans still had relative uniformity before Marius, but I doubt it was nearly as spectacular. They had legions and formations, but as someone above said, shields and armor were often different among different men. Other nations had different systems, and even "barbarian" peoples had degrees of organization, but they had little to no uniformity. The Greek powers (Seleukia, Ptolemaioi, Makedonia, etc.) were extremely uniform, because they were using phalanx-based armies.

Battle communication didn't exist, mostly. The general had many subcommanders who were given specific instructions before the battle and told to go with it. So in reality, the position of the player in the game would have been one of almost zero control. The Romans though, as I understand, used horns to direct various actions, though I don't know what. Perhaps the changing out of units with fresh ones and such. Barbarian factions I know nothing about, but I can assume that they had a lesser degree of complex battle plans and the troops acted more individually.

However, I am no historian and don't claim to be one, so I leave myself open to be corrected by one of the actual historians here.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

To change orders midbattle, a general could use banners or flags. Generally, they had to stick to their main plan and all be prepared to change it based on enemy actions. The Romans used horns, which they copied from the Celts.