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Roman Weapons and Armour mod for Skyrim
#1
Notes on historical accuracy of the Roman Imperial Weapons and Armour mod for ESV Skyrim


[Image: fin.png]


I have always imagined Elder Scrolls games as being stationed in Roman times. And since my modelling interest was born in January 2012 and my interest in the Roman Empire was already in full speed, I decided it was my destiny to implement Roman armour for Skyrim. Now that I progressed far enough into the mod, it seems appropriate that I write a little something about my experience, though no school is going to appreciate this “paper”.

I did not study the subject matter properly. "Properly" would have included a trip to a museum or two and perhaps camping in a public library, but I instead relied on the internet to provide me with reference material and texts. Sometimes I relied on pictures of replicas and sometimes on books and statues. In case of the former the historical accuracy probably suffered somewhat, but I think myself to have a good enough judgement to detect when a replica looks really bad.


Concerning the armour


On designs

The ornamentation on the armour comes from various sources. In cases where I could not find any specific historical examples I had to merge Greek and Roman styles and come up with my own design, but the unfortunate fact is that, even when I did have historical sources, those sources often consisted of art created by artists, not warriors, and it is always doubtful how much of their work is based on what they actually saw and how much of it is part of the artistic tradition of the time.


On lorica hamata

[Image: hamata.png]

There is not much to say about this one as the Gallic chainmail for most part is just a simple chainmail tunic covering a normal wool tunic underneath. The chainlinks I used I think are larger than on the real thing, but I discovered that the smaller chainlinks looked bad in the game, making the artificial reflection and bump mapping difficult.

In case anyone is wondering, the dagger is on the "wrong" side because the game hangs the character's sword off the left hip only. Let's all just pretend this is a centurion arrangement, which would make it correct.


On lorica musculata

[Image: musculata.png]

The game already had a musculata-like mesh available so I thought it to be foolish to start from scratch. Thinking about it now, it was probably foolish not to start from scratch because the side effect of modifying an existing model is having to spend a lot of time changing little things. Those double pauldrons is an example of something that was too difficult to modify so I left it that way, even though they are not historically correct as far as I know. The overall design you see is taken from various statues of Caesar and Mars, and here again it is doubtful just how much of those statues was based on real armour, but it is the closest I could get to the real thing.

The exact materials and construction of the pteruges is guesswork. I went for brown leather strips with stitched edges as that seems to be the more popular design.


On centurion’s tunic

[Image: centuriata.png]

It seems the layout order of the phalerae (medals) is a bit of a mystery, but other than that the tunic was straight forward - chainmail with pteruges and a medal harness.

It has been deliberated that the centurion would not have worn expensive dangly medals into war, but I don’t see why he would not do so on most other occasions, considering how status-aware Romans were.


On lorica segmentata

[Image: Segmentata.png]

It is uncertain how the metal would have looked back in Roman times. Iron and bronze were used at the time and some have issued criticism towards the polished clean look I gave to the armour, which is what you see in most modern replicas (well, Skyrim doesn't really allow for realistically polished steel so I did what I could). However, I believe that people misunderstand the "iron" part of the "iron age". They expect to see dark damaged rusty cast iron look, but I do not think that is the reality of things. Firstly, the iron that Romans were using was not pure. I mean even the stuff you take out of the ground is not pure iron. Secondly, the earliest known production of steel, a piece of ironware excavated from Anatolia, is about 4,000(!) years old (see Wiki), so the Romans would have had access to steel. Thirdly, a Roman soldier was expected to keep his equipment in good condition, so I doubt the soldiers would let their segmentata turn to ash that easily.


On Arcani

[Image: arcani.png]

I am fully aware that history is for most part silent on Roman spies, as it should be if they did their job right. I have no doubt however that Rome had plenty of them and they would have worn civilian clothes obviously. Northern spies probably would have worn the good old tartarn-patterned tunics, but this is a game and I needed my spy character to look a bit more sinister.


On arm protection


The only armour piece for the arm that keeps coming back in historical sources is the segmented manica armour worn by the heavy infantry, supposedly only on the sword hand (probably because the other hand was being protected by the scutum shield). However, I found no evidence whatsoever for what officers would have worn. In movies you often see golden or bronze bracelets, more jewellery than armour. I tried to find out what kind of gauntlets the Greeks wore, since the officers of Rome would have certainly worn the same, but my Greek sources are silent on this matter too. Therefore, I had to make the officer's gauntlets extra "Roman" through adding classic scenes or Greek-style ornament to its design.

Another issue was that I could not figure out what Roman soldiers wore on their hands. It too is not mentioned in any sources I have read, but there is no doubt in my mind that at least some of those men who would have to do manual labour in the Northern mountains would have worn something on the hands. Did Romans wear mittens that have since long disintegrated? I don't know.

In any case, wraps of fabric for the arms were a natural choice for my light armour set, as a cheap alternative to the segmented Manica gauntlet. There is apparently evidence that Romans wore puttees on their legs, and that Greek and Roman boxers wore wraps around their arms, so it is not farfetched to imagine the soldiers would wrap them around their arms and hands as well. Plus, hand wraps look cool and that is always a consideration when making any kind of game art.


On helmets


[Image: helmets.png]

The officer's bronze helmet was essentially an echo from the attic-type Greek helmet, but I didn't find much in the way of archaeological examples. For most part I had to go by a few pictures of replicas.

The celto-Roman Galea helmet on the other hand looks straight forward, with plenty of examples to find, but I did take a shortcut when modelling it (which I will perhaps fix in the future), and that is with the fastening of the crest to the helmet. It seems the crest was tied to small rings with pieces of string, but I was in a hurry when making the helmets so I improvised with a little metal doodad.


On leg protection


[Image: greaves.png]

I found out from various sources that Romans did wear greaves on their legs. Apparently, the legionnaires may have worn them on their right leg only, since the left leg was covered by the big-ass shield anyway. I opted for double greaves however for the sake of consistency.

Some of the texture and meshes are still unfinished, like the shoe itself. Officers would have worn calcei or something similar but I am yet to make those, so what you see is the games’ own bland shoe or a low quality texture of carbatinae. It's a work in progress...


Concerning the weapons


On the javelins


[Image: javelins.png]

It is difficult to implement something like a javelin into a game like Skyrim, which does not have any throwing weapons by default. It requires scripting, which I have to borrow from people who know how to script. Additionally, the behaviour of a javelin is quite different from that of swords or bows. It is a one shot powerful projectile that was designed to break and bend upon impact. One would have to pick it up after battle and then bring it to a blacksmith to get it fixed for the next battle, something that would require yet more scripting I am not capable of. The heavier javelins would probably penetrate even the heaviest armour of the time so the whole RPGame concept of gradual damage just doesn't work here, hence why my javelins have such a high damage in the game.

In terms of construction, I was not sure how the metal projectile was bolted to the wooden shaft, but the rest of the javelin was quite simple to make.


On the swords


[Image: swords.png]

I found quite a few surviving archaeological examples of the scabbards and their designs; Less so of the swords themselves, but nonetheless enough to identify several types of gladii. However, I did not strictly follow known designs.

The size of the gladii has remained a concealed issue for me. Most people who download the mod probably do not think about it, but the real gladius I feel was a lot smaller than the ones I created. The problem is that in this game, in first-person view, the swords look really small and non-imposing so I felt like compensating.

The spathae swords are essentially just elongated gladii, which is what I understand the first Roman spatha was. The texture needs improvement in quality, but not much else to say here.


On knives


[Image: knives.png]

The large pugio was quite straight forward apart from having to judge its realistic dimensions. However, when I tried to add a more generic 2nd type of knife for use by my Arcani spy character, I had some trouble finding a Roman design other than the pugio. There is a scene in the HBO show Rome when the main characters prepare a whole bunch of blades for a knife fight with some thugs, but I don't know what any of those knives are. I didn't want it to be strictly Roman anyway, so I combined Celtic designs to make a simple blade of my own.


On the sagum

As another post in the Roman Talk forums will show, I have had trouble trying to recreate a sagum or a paenula. They have too many folds and move around the body in a way that I cannot mentally grasp from the pictures I find on the internet. So unfortunately I had to settle on a simple cape for now.


On jewellery


[Image: ring.png]

I simply picked one of the dug up examples to make a legionary ring. Not much to see here. The examples of legionary rings I found were so different from one another that I think there wasn't much uniformity in its design, even within a particular legion.




Well, this should have covered most of the items in my mod. If you have suggestions with regard to historical accuracy please let me know, as I slowly but continuously work on improving the mod, and I can update this thread with new screenshots. I apologize for the low res pictures, but in my defence: A. they don't look as good when zoomed in on :razz: and B. The thread would have been enormous.

Overall, I'd like to say that this modding was relatively easy, even with hours of cussing at the computer screen that I've done. I therefore advise to all to join inSmile.
Regards,

Andre
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#2
Fantastic stuff! Very well done. It's extremely interesting to follow your research, and see the limitations placed by the game engine on how creative you can be. You've explained your decisions very well so I wouldn't have much to critique. Some things you probably can't do much to change, like the sword and dagger being the wrong way round and the former slung too low.

With regards to the armour, I think you're right to not go for a grubby, worn look - in fact, the brighter, shinier and more elaborate the better, which is a bit of a contrast to regular Skyrim armour! The one armour category you are missing is scale, which would probably work quite well in the Skyrim graphics engine, as it has larger individual components than ringmail and should therefore be easier to make look authentic.

I also think the manica should possibly be a bit larger, covering the full length of the arm and sitting on top of the tunic rather than under.

It's an interesting question whether or not the Romans had work gloves - presumably if they did they were of fur or soft leather which would have long since decayed. I'm not aware of any artistic representations or archaeological examples, but it's an interesting issue. With regards to northern clothing - do your models have breeches or trousers at all? Skyrim's climate is all over the place but if you're pushing for that theme it might be more appropriate to have cold-weather dress (including full boots, or at least socks).

Are you planning to do different types of shield, such as the rectangular/oval shields? (Does shield area and shape actually have a noticeable effect in the Skyrim engine?) Also, are there plans to expand the mod to affect horse appearance as well?
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#3
FAN FREEKING TASTIC! I've wanted something like this for a lonnggg time. They are exceptionally done!

Could I intrest you in modding mount and blade for me?
Damian Laurence Zamprogno
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#4
Wow, that is fantastic! What is this game?
Your research is very well done!
Visne partem mei capere? Comminus agamus! * Me semper rogo, Quid faceret Iulius Caesar? * Confidence is a good thing! Overconfidence is too much of a good thing.
[b]Legio XIIII GMV. (Q. Magivs)RMRS Remember Atuatuca! Vengence will be ours!
Titus Flavius Germanus
Batavian Coh I
Byron Angel
Reply
#5
Thanks everyone.

@Robert. Scale armor is somewhere in the back of my mind for when I find more time. A new manica version and braccae are next on the menu though.

Size of the shield in Skyrim does matter I think. It is covered with a collision mesh that stops arrows and I think also sword blows. At the moment the only plan I have is a for a Gallic style oval shield.

Someone I talked to was learning to mod and was planning to take care of the Roman horse equipment.

@Sulpicius At the moment not really :p I am constantly out of time stuck in between a job and school.

@Caesar, This is Elder Scrolls Skyrim. Elder Scrolls games are relatively easy to mod to create a world of your own.
Regards,

Andre
Reply
#6
Quote:Size of the shield in Skyrim does matter I think. It is covered with a collision mesh that stops arrows and I think also sword blows. At the moment the only plan I have is a for a Gallic style oval shield.
Okay, that's pretty cool. I remember the shield feeling quite weighty, but I couldn't remember if it was more complicated than a basic damage reducer. That sounds like it could be quite flexible. Hopefully a curved, rectangular scutum would be an option at some point (although the Gallic oval shield is closer to the normal shield in game in use).

Good luck with the rest of the project, look forward to seeing more!
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#7
Nice!! My son is playing Skyrim (xbox), any chance we could mod that?
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Reply
#8
@Robert
Unfortunately no, I do videogame modding as well and it's quite different

Modding the Xbox requires changes to the system's software, which can cause problems in functionality. This would be overwritten by the consistent updates, causeing glitches as well.

Not to mention you'd be banned from Xbox Live and your console would be Bricked (Congrats! You have a fancy paperweight!) if you connected to the internet for the changes you made to the system engine.

It would technically be possible, but is much to risky to do it.

@Opening Post
I'd definately like to see this mod for Late Roman Armor and Weapons though, good job!
Reply
#9
Quote: (Congrats! You have a fancy paperweight!)
Ouch! Too bad we can't add changes, but indeed, no use even attempting that.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
Reply
#10
Yes I know, I would love to have some mods for my game, but Xbox is restrictive.

However, I'm pretty sure there's a new thing with Windows 8 where oyu can connect to your Xbox with your PC and play on oyur PC, although I'm not sure how it works.

It's worth looking into though.
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#11
D: aw no... now i have to play it again xDDD
awesomely made, great job Big Grin
Vinícius Alexandre Rodrigues
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#12
Absolutely amazingly looking mod you have made! Skyrim is my favorite game, and it's great to see this high quality mod with such historical accuracy!
Although there are some mistakes, it is by far the most historically accurate mod for Skyrim I've ever seen.

I'd like to mention some things, which you may already know, or then not:

On lorica hamata:
The sleeves should probably be omitted, since usually the loricae hamatae used by legionarii at republican and principate age were sleeveless, short sleeves became later, and long sleeves even later.

On lorica musculata:
The colour of it looks a bit more copper than bronze to me. It should be bronze. Or then iron. Or painted. I've read that the pteryges were usually made of white linen, but brown leather is also an option (which is much more popular in movies, games and re-enactment). Double pauldrons are of course not historically accurate (they invented them in Gladiator). And the lorica goes a bit too far down the torso, making the movement of hips harder. It should terminate at waistline with the downwards curving part covering abdomen.

On centurio:
Your centurio with phalerae looks great. It could also have torques awards at shoulders, but it's not obligatory. A cloak on left shoulder only could be nice, as well as vitis, centurio's rod.

On lorica segmentata:
The lorica could be more polished and the belt connecting the two breastplates could be brown leather, now it looks like bronze.

On arm protection:
Manica could go down a bit (one lamella) more, to the wrist (some re-enactors make it cover the back of the hand too). It should also be worn on the front side of the arm. Most people wear and depict manica on the outside of the arm, but it probably really should be worn on the side facing the enemy, defending the arm from thrusts. And maybe, like some have suggested, the lamellas should be in reverse order, the one on the wrist being on top and others below it step by step (for the same thrust defending reason).
Bracers were not used by Romans at all, even though it's the thing in movies which general audience immediately associates as "ancient" or "Roman".

On helmets:
The imperial Gallic G Helmets look great, although it too could be more polished and the earguards should be of bronze instead or iron. Do I see a chin strap in those pictures, or do I just imagine it? The crest suspender is simplified, but you know it already. The crest box could also be made from wood, and painted with the colour of the crest. You found no arhaeological examples of the Roman Attic helmet, because there isn't any. All of what that helmet is based, is reliefs, and it cannot be said if these exact kind of helmets were ever used, or were they just an artistic convention.

On leg protection:
Romans used greaves, mainly officers, but also legionnaires in the republican era, bronze ones, but on their left and not right leg, because left was a leading leg more close to the enemy while right was away from his strikes. In Roman empire legionarii wore greaves on both legs (as well as manicae on right arm) on the campaigns of Trajanus in Dacia. Your greaves seem to have correct leather straps/belts suspending them at the back, but you could remove the fabric straps underneath the greaves.

On javelins:
Your pila looks just authentic, and the bolts should be at the side of the wooden "box" in the middle pilum, and two in number. I've read that one of the bolts was made of wood, so it would break on impact, making the iron rod lop on the wooden shaft and thus throwing the javelin back became impossible. Do they have buttspikes like they should, maybe they do, hard to see in the dark picture.

On swords and daggers:
They look decent, but there were many more types of hilts for example. The scabbards should have suspender rings on them, but because they are also hang incorrectly, in weird position and too low, the rings would probably look weird without a baldric. You have added the baldric (balteus) to your lorica hamata, and you should add it to the lorica segmentata too, if it's impossible to add the the sword scabbard. Pugios hilt should be metal and not covered in leather.

On cloaks:
It would've been very nice to see a sagum or paenula, since I love cloaks, especially Roman ones, and Skyrim doesn't originally have any cloaks. Animating them would although be probably very difficult. But you could at least place the fibula on the right shoulder on the cape you've made.

On shields:
The rectangular semi-circular scutum would be a must have for these imperial Roman legionaries, it is a shame if it can't be done in Skyrim. The game should also be scripted that no damage would be dealt to the character if an arrow or a blow from a weapon hits the shield. But maybe that would ruin the gameplay.

What I'd like to see more, is the signum in the first picture, some other standards, and standard-bearers. Also lorica squamata would be very nice. Only sad thing is that the game won't let a character have a sword on the right side. Even when a character dual wields swords, it draws them stupidly from the same scabbard on the left side. Also all weapons in Skyrim are too big to be realistic, as well as all shields are too small. But would it be possible to make the gladii and pugiones slightly smaller?

Your weapons and armour look absolutely fantastic, and while I've given you this big list of complaints, it doesn't mean that I wouldn't like what you've done. I appreciate your hard work, artistic skills and enthusiasm for detail, which is in the top level amongst game modders. On arcani though, it's quite fantastical compared to the other creations, I'm sure they didn't wore iron masks when they tried to infiltrate into crowd, or in any other occasion either. But it looks sinister as you said, and this is a game, and you've probably been influenced by the appearance of arcani in Rome Total War, which depicts them wearing a mask and a hooded cape.

All in all, excellent work!
Antonius Insulae (Sakari)
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#13
I've always wanted to create a Mod for Skyrim, total conversion, with the map in Late Roman Gaul (and Solstheim being Britain) that starts in 425 and covers the West under Aetius Tongue

Of course I don't have that kind of experience, but I had a ton of Ideas for it.
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#14
That was such a thorough message from Antonius that I had to come forth with reflection, especially because many of these points I have thought about before.

On lorica hamata
I did not know that, but I know what Skyrim players will say if I remove the sleeves. Many poeople had asked me early on to put pants on the knees of the soldiers because Skyrim is so cold Smile I suspect a similar issue with sleeves. I suppose normally the Romans would keep their arms warm with a sagum or two, but I never managed to make a proper sagum that would work even when the player is fighting.

On lorica musculata
Well, I am color blind Tongue, but I asked my girlfriend and she said it looked like bronze to her. Now I have to go pour a glass of cold water on her head. Look what you made me do...

On centurio
Torcs were planned from the beginning but not added due to shortage of time. I will add them in the future.
Re vitis - I only read about this item much later on, but I think it would be a good item for mages if I gave it some special power. Yes, I know, magic - not very historically correct, but I have to think about different types of players Smile.

on segmentata
I think in the later versions it was more polished, but the problem I had and continue to have is how to make polished metal look realistic in Skyrim. It always comes out looking like plastic even when I increase contrast and add scratches. The way Skyrim handles it is to make everything look worn by painting strong texture and using low reflection. I try to do the opposite...with mixed results.

on arm protection
Indeed, most examples I saw looked to be worn on the outside of the arm so that is what I went with. About the manica being a few sizes too small, I noticed that straight away but only after I put it into the game (long story why). I had subsiquently recreated the manica from scratch and it is now longer and also looks better.

on helmets
The helmets do have a bronze rim on the ear guards - that's what I saw in the examples. There are no chin straps for 2 reasons: 1. I was lazy 2. they are incompatible with beards. I would have to bring the cheekguards closer together and they would clip through the beard. I am still figuring out how to make the characters in the game cleanshavene.
Me and another user recently made a new helmet (type D) and it does have a little knot.
Didn't think about crest box being from wood. I think I only saw metal examples in replicas.

On leg protection
Wait...I thought that the left leg and the left arm were both covered by the scutum, which was held in the left hand and that's why the manica and the greave were for the right arm and right leg respectively. No? I might have misread something...I will check this...
By fabric straps do you mean the wraps? I definately read several times that the Romans wrapped their calves in the colder climate. What I am less happy is the texture of the wraps. I didn't know how it would be wrapped around the leg and where the end of the fabric would go.

On javelins,
They do have bolts on the side, but...eh...do they go all the way through the "box" and come out on the other side, held in place with nuts? Did Romans have nuts?
And yes they do have buttspikes (lol it's actually the first time I see this word)

On swords and daggers
I have experimented with suspender rings. Indeed it comes out looking a bit strange due to how the sword hangs in Skyrim. I have also been on different levels of "lazy" at different times. Sometimes I tried to think about what the sword hangs from and sometimes I would skip that step or just thourhg something simple together. I think vanilla Skyrim armor follows a similar formula Smile

On cloaks:
Yeah this has caused a lot of headache for me. There are two problems with Roman cloaks.
1. All the folds and wraps. I started another thread on this website asking if there were any pictures of someone wearing a sagum taken from all 4 sides because, for the life of me, I cannot tell how it's wrapped around the body and all those folds look like hell to an amateur artist like me (a toga by the way is even worse).
2. From all the images I have seen, the sagum and the paenula looked they would be impossible to wear in any significant fight. In the game it would have to fold around your body and wrap behind your back when you draw your weapon. Skyrim animation just can't do that sort of thing so things will clip through one another if a make a proper looking sagum.

On shields:
Yeah, I think the way it works now is that, even if the arrow collides with the shield and gets stuck in it, you still get damaged. What's wrong with having the shield damaged instead of the character?! I guess that would require heavier scripting. I don't use the shield much in the game but when I did and I saw how it worked I hated it.

"would it be possible to make the gladii and pugiones slightly smaller?" yes and I have in the past, but then I would test them out in 1st person view and the gladius looked hilariously small. There is something with the field of view settings in Skyrim or something because the weapons just look noticably smaller in 1st person than in 3rd person view, especially during certain animations.
Regards,

Andre
Reply
#15
I am quite thorough, one might say. And as I said, you may have known those points before or not, and I thought they would be worth mentioning. Let me give you just another reflection of your reflection.

On lorica hamata and tunicae:
You could remove the chainmail sleeves, but leave the fabric sleeves of the tunica in place. The metal will get cold in winter anyway, the tunica is what keeps the body warm. Romans used long sleeved tunicae in cold climate. There could've been two tunicae on another, some illustrations show a short-sleeved one over a long-sleeved one, but recently I heard some complaints about that, probably they would've used two long-sleeved tunicae on each other if the weather was cold enough.

On lorica musculata:
All right, I could not have known that you were colour blind, anyway the metal looks more copperish than bronzish to me. Maybe add a bit yellow and reduce a bit red. Don't pour cold water on your girlfriend if she's not that familiar with different metal alloys, that she should've known better.

On staffs:
If you want staffs, you can add the centurio's vitis and also optio's hastile, that is a longer wooden staff with a metal (iron in the time frame of your mod) ball on it's head, and also a buttspike. Optio was a second in command in a centuria (consisting c. 80 men), after the centurio of course. Optio was in the last line and his job was to keep the soldiers from escaping battle by forcing them back in line with his hastile staff.
I don't like magic in any game, because it's unrealistic and feels like cheating to me. I only play warrior characters, with swords and bows. But if you want magic users in your mod, you should use Roman priests, augurs, pontifices, soothsayers and what not, instead of soldiers and officers. An augur has a curved staff, called lituus, which you could use as a magic staff.

On helmets:
All the examples I've seen from Imperial Gallic G Helmet (both reconstructions and original pieces) have the whole earguard made out of bronze, not just the rim of it. The whole piece which is riveted to the helmet bowl.

On greaves:
It was indeed the left leg which was protected by the greave (ocrea). And it was the right arm that was protected by manica. But these were in different times. In early republic legionaries wore one greave on their left leg because it was the leg close to the enemy. Even when the republican scutum was higher than the imperial scutum, it didn't cover all the leg, especially when raised up. Right leg was always kept away from enemy's weapons. The greave also makes it tolerable to take blows with your shield if you support your shield with your leg. In republican times all soldiers financed their own equipment, so there might have been variations, like wealthier soldiers wearing greaves on both legs and poorer ones omitting them altogether. In imperial times, in the time of emperor Trajanus's Dacian campaigns, legionaries wore manicae on their right arm, since left was covered with scutum, and they also wore greaves. These were shorter, and didn't cover knees, like the earlier greaves had done. Against the Dacian curved falxes, which Romans hadn't encountered before, it was useful the use extra protection for the legs and right arm. The imperial scutum was also shorter than republican one, so it didn't protect legs as well.
Centurion's and all the higher officers wore (possibly elaborately decorated) greaves at all periods of time.

Yes, I was talking about the wraps. It would be more effective to use long-sleeved tunicae and long-legged trousers in colder climates, than some fur bracers or wrappings. I was playing Dovahkiin in last winter (Finnish winter, about -25 °C = -13 °F), and it got pretty cold with a sleeveless shirt. Bracers didn't help any.

On javelins:
The bolts probably go through the wooden box to the other side, and while Romans probably had nuts and bolts, the bolts in pilum could be more like nails in appearance, with a large head. Buttspike is a funny word and they were used in about every spear of ancient times. The spear could then be put standing on the ground, and in emergency, when the real spearhead has broken off, the buttspike could be used as a spearhead. But pilum was a throwing javelin of course.

On cloaks:
Yes, it's extremely difficult to even get the right looking foldings for a Roman cloak, like they have in sculptures. I've tried it with my cloaks. I have to semi-circular ones, and maybe I'll be able to take some photos of them at some point. Normally al the roman cloaks were fastened to the right shoulder, because that leaves room for right hand (sword hand) to operate freely, but centurio's cloak was fastened to the left shoulder, because it didn't go over right shoulder at all, it was only on left side, and it was small in scale too. The cloaks were not used in battle, except for centurio's cloak perhaps, which end could even be tucked under the belt at the back.

And yes, Skyrim's problem is that it shows the weapons in different scales in first and third perspectives. All the weapons look ridiculously too big in third person. I hope you can make the shields, even though they would not be so effective than in real life, and even though their cover area would be smaller than the image of the shield in the game. A Roman legionarius isn't one without a scutum.

Thanks for taking my points into consideration.
Antonius Insulae (Sakari)
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