Roman army with differing color schemes

[Cydonia]

Hello everyone! Hope this post is OK; I looked for similar threads but didnt find one.

I am currently painting a 28mm early imperial Roman army with Victrix models, which are absolutely beautiful. The thing is, I first painted a unit of legionaries, and I painted their tunic red and used red decals for their shields.

Now, however, I intend to paint an Equites unit, followed by a regular Auxilia unit. For these models, however, there either are no red shield decals available (auxilia) or I don't really like the ones that are available (equites). For this reason, I intended to paint them blue, using blue decals.

My doubts are as follows:

1. Is it OK to mix different colour schemes on a single roman army? My intention was to use Red for legionaries and praetorians, while saving blue for auxiliary units. Would this be a big issue? I read some historian (Vegetius) mentioned soldiers using dead enemy soldiers' shields to confuse their enemies, so I'm unsure at the level of standarisation of shield colours and designs, hence my question.

2. Would blue tunics make historical sense? I know the general consensus is soldiers used to wear off-white tunics, and that dark red tunics are also considered to be likely due to the cheapness of the dye and their association with Mars, but I never read anything about blue tunics; if they're ahistorical, then I'd rather just paint the Auxilia with white tunics, and save the red ones for the legionaries (as my completed legionary unit already wears red).

Thank you again for your help!

[Praefectusclassis]

Hi Cydonia
If you want to amuse yourself, do a search for tunic colours on this forum. I think it's safe to say there's no known correlation between tunic colour and shield colours/designs. Blue is often suggested for units with some kind of naval association, but that's stretching Vegetius' comment on tunic colours for the British fleet. That doesn't mean it's impossible, just avoid rich blues, which are difficult to make.

[dadlamassu]

Hi Cydonius
As already said there is no known colour correlation of tunic and shield.  I use Warlord figures and so my legion (scaled at 1:20) uses the red transfers supplied in the box (Legio VI Victrix) and wear either dull red or off white tunics.  The half dozen legionary cavalry have the same device on their shields as the infantry and the General's escort have yellow shields (just to make them different). The auxiliary cavalry ala is in blue and the auxiliary infantry are red, green and dull blue using the transfers in the box for decoration.  The western archers are in green, eastern archers in a washed out pale blue.  The Balearic slingers are in mixed earthy colours.  The Officers (Optio and above) in my legion have brighter colours than the legionaries.  For no real reason other than to make them different.  

So really, paint and decorate them as you see fit.

[Hanny]

http://byzantinemilitary.blogspot.com/20...unics.html

[Praefectusclassis]

http://byzantinemilitary.blogspot.com/20...unics.html

Yikes, a trigger warning should be put above that link for that first photo...

[dadlamassu]

Graham Sumner's book "Roman Military Dress"  pp112 to 118 covers this topic in very readable detail discussing colours and materials.

[Praefectusclassis]

Indeed!

[LorenzoTergestino]

With regards to the early Imperial period, I am of the opinion that there would not have been a high level of standardisation - both in terms of equipment and tunics/tunic colour. In fact, that's one of my gripes with Victrix's legionaries; though they are probably my favourite by far in terms of detail, they are all wearing the same helmets and body armour, so I tend to mix in some foundry minis in mail, too.

Personally, I have chosen a mix of off-white, browns, mustard, and faded reds. Shields can identify the legionaries as a unit whereas different tunic colours give a bit of contrast and character.

[Praefectusclassis]

Sounds good. How do the Victrix and Foundry figures compare in size though? I know the latter are very small.

[LorenzoTergestino]

Sounds good. How do the Victrix and Foundry figures compare in size though? I know the latter are very small.

Victrix tend to be larger than most 28mm ranges, especially the Foundry EIR and Warlord imperials. You can get away with mixing a few foundry in to an extent, but unfortunately I have found Victrix are too large to use alongside Warlord.

This review covers their scale quite well https://bloodofkittens.com/wargaminghub/...ct-review/

[Cydonia]

Thank you all for your input! I've started painting the Equites with off white tunics and using blue shield transfers. I think I may do the same with the Auxilia too. Thanks for all your help!