04-22-2013, 05:10 PM
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.
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)
