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A sixth century army reconstruction
#1
Hello all!

I've signed up here in an effort to get some backup in a discussion I'm having regarding the creation of a unit roster for the Maurice-era Roman Empire, for a modification of the video game Medieval II Total War. Our campaign is (for now) a small and focused one, running from 591-626, and detailing the wars around the Balkan peninsula at the time. Accordingly, we've decided to present only a "minimalist" Roman army, made up of ten units, that will be expanded on in various patches. The unit roster I've come up with is as follows.

Light Units
Militia
Sagitarii
Limitanei

Heavy Infantry
Comitatenses Contaratii (armoured spearmen)
Comitatenses Plumbatarii (armoured swordsmen with Plumbata darts)
Excubitors (elite imperial bodyguards)

Cavalry
Comitatenses Vexiliatones (cavalry armed with bows and lances)
Equites Illyricani (light cavalry, armed with lances)
Optimates (heavy cataphract cavalry, largely made up of Goths)
Bucelarii (general's bodyguard unit)

All of these will be given their Greek names too in the finished game, I'm using Latin as I'm slightly more familiar with Latin terms as an English speaker. As a note of explanation, I've split up the heavy infantry into two units because the Medieval II game engine does not allow for a single unit to wield shields, javelins and swords all at once, as is recommended in the Strategikon. The two infantry units would have identical armour, shields and helmets, though.

The helmet mention brings me on to my next point- what sort of helmets should our Romans be wearing? I've argued strongly that by the later half of the sixth century, the only helmet in use in the Roman army was the Spangenhelm, although various different types of Spangenhelm could be seen. Our main modeller, though, disagrees, and cites a Greek historian called George Kadaras- does anyone hear know of him? Anyway, he thinks our Romans should have non-Spangenhelm helmets looking like this, with Spangenhelms only present as a minority helmet.

So, some of the views of this forum would be VERY much appreciated! Thanks.
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#2
Damnit, in my inexperience with this forum I've placed this in entirely the wrong place! Would a moderator please be able to help me out here and move it...? :oops:
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#3
Done.
M. Demetrius Abicio
(David Wills)

Saepe veritas est dura.
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#4
Sounds great! Will there be artillery and naval units ?

any chance of you posting a photo of the helmets? :-)
I cannot access the link here.
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
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#5
Yes, there'll be artillery, and naval units, though the latter won't be playable.

I attach the image with the helmet (which I think is either incorrect, or actually a simplified Spangenhelm) here. Can it be seen now?


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
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#6
Hi yes, it can be seen now, thanks!

I don't think that represents a spangenhelm though.


[attachment=6219]P1140196_2013-01-06.JPG[/attachment]

I'm wearing the Dier el whatever spangenhelm in this pic, which may actually date to the 3rd century.


Attached Files Thumbnail(s)
   
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
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#7
Quote:The helmet mention brings me on to my next point- what sort of helmets should our Romans be wearing? I've argued strongly that by the later half of the sixth century, the only helmet in use in the Roman army was the Spangenhelm, although various different types of Spangenhelm could be seen. Our main modeller, though, disagrees, and cites a Greek historian called George Kadaras- does anyone hear know of him? Anyway, he thinks our Romans should have non-Spangenhelm helmets looking like this, with Spangenhelms only present as a minority helmet.

Never heard of George Kadaras, cannot find any university presence or any work book/paper/etc. in the most important bibliographies. I have not done an extensive search and I could be very well wrong, but I suspect he is an amateur historian. Not that this makes him wrong automatically, it is just that the only helmet type we can verify in this period by excavated specimen is the Spangenhelmet.
The helmets shown in your reference picture, which is from the seemingly ubiquitous WRG Armies of the Dark Ages, are based on artwork only. It is a question of philosophy if you want to recreate your soldiers on the basis of artworks. This has been discussed here quite often btw.

However be aware that most of the Spangenhelme are extremely elaborated and costly designs. Saying only such were present in the Maurician army is probably a bit of a stretch too. Lamellar helmets e.g. may be possible too. Or the helmets we see in artworks.
(In any case, avoid ridge helmets; they are not in your timeframe, even though many mods tread these types as generic late Roman helmets).

The only modern and most respected, exhaustive work on Spangenhelme is by Mahand Vogt. I would trust her judgement any day considering the amount of research in this volume:
http://web.rgzm.de/470.html


The general problem is that people often think the Spangenhelm were 'barbarian' (due to a number of reasons, including older scholarship and TV) and thus cannot stand the idea to have Romans equipped with them. But in the late Roman military they were as Roman as spatha or torques.


Quote:I'm wearing the Dier el whatever spangenhelm in this pic, which may actually date to the 3rd century.

Deir el-Medina, depending on how you transliterate the Arabian name... To date that helmet is a personal hell of mine. I would like to put it into the third century, and I have reasons for that, but I also could put it quite convincingly into the 4th century. 5th and 6th are also possible, even though a little less likely imo.
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[Image: regnumhesperium.png]
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#8
Quote:Never heard of George Kadaras, cannot find any university presence or any work book/paper/etc. in the most important bibliographies. I have not done an extensive search and I could be very well wrong, but I suspect he is an amateur historian. Not that this makes him wrong automatically, it is just that the only helmet type we can verify in this period by excavated specimen is the Spangenhelmet.
The helmets shown in your reference picture, which is from the seemingly ubiquitous WRG Armies of the Dark Ages, are based on artwork only. It is a question of philosophy if you want to recreate your soldiers on the basis of artworks. This has been discussed here quite often btw.

However be aware that most of the Spangenhelme are extremely elaborated and costly designs. Saying only such were present in the Maurician army is probably a bit of a stretch too. Lamellar helmets e.g. may be possible too. Or the helmets we see in artworks.
(In any case, avoid ridge helmets; they are not in your timeframe, even though many mods tread these types as generic late Roman helmets).

The only modern and most respected, exhaustive work on Spangenhelme is by Mahand Vogt. I would trust her judgement any day considering the amount of research in this volume:
http://web.rgzm.de/470.html

Thanks very much for your thoughts. Ironically, we used to have a Kai who helped out our team a lot, and was just an excellent historian- you're not the same person, are you?!

About Spangenhelms being expensive- thanks for that, I didn't know it. I would have imagined Neiderstozingen type S-helms to have been rather expensive, but surely simpler Baldenhem-types would've been much cheaper and easier to mass produce for the Roman army? Certainly for the heavy infantry, even if lighter troops had to go entirely without.

If that's not the case, please could you point me in the direction of some alteratives to S-helms? Do any of these lamellar helmets you talk about still survive?

Regarding artwork, I'm somewhat reluctant to base ourselves too much on that, given the love of antiquarianism displayed by the later Romans and Byzantines. I'm personally much happier basing equipment on archaeological records, although I'm more happy to acknowledge that antiquarian-style artwork could display something quite similar to what ceremonial troops might've worn.
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#9
I think the main cavalry distinction in the Strategikon is between cursores and defensores.

Units of Cursores and Units of Defensores both combine lancers and archers. The Cursores tend to be lighter cavalry though, and are preferred for ambushers, flank guards, flankers, and the units on each side of the formation of Defensores. The Defensores are preferred for the center of each Meros.

I'm not sure how the game handles mixed units, but you could probably start with these two types, and experienced-vs.-average splits within each type.
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#10
Hi Marja

Yeah, I'm aware that the majority of cavalry as described in the Strategikon used both bows and lances. Our problem is that in gameplay terms, it's quite difficult to have the cavalry use their lances before they've first used up all of their missiles, meaning the battle could well be decided before your horsemen are ready to charge!

The result is undoubtedly a fudge- but we needed to provide at least one cavalry unit that will be ready to charge from the get-go, as it were! Fear not, though, the lance-and-bow Vexiliatones will be the primary Roman cavalry.

Any further thoughts on helmets?
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#11
Koursorses (Cursores) can be scripted to use both the lance and the bow, Julianus Heraclius did it in Invasio Barbarorum for Rome: Total War - Barbarian Invasion.

I can help you greatly with this project, I do Rome Total War Modding myself. And although I'm not sure Naval Battles might be able to be made playable if it's similar to the way you do it in RTW: Alexander.

As for units I'd argue you still ahve a couple main types:

Milites (Militia)
Cohors Ripenses (Limitanei arranged into Cohortes)
Legio Limitanei (Limitanei Legions, although their strength would be uncertain although maybe 100 or 3000). - These men could be re-named Menavlatoi for a lighter version of the Skoutatoi possibly.

Most Foederati units would be around here in quality, with the training of Limitanei maybe, but not the quality equipment of Comitatenses.

Skoutatoi (Legio Comitatenses - Comatatensian Legions) - I'd reccomend the V Macedonica which lasted until the mid-7th Century, although their Garrison in Oescus ont he Danube was disbanded in the mid-6th century.
Auxilia Palatina (Palantine Units organized into Cohorts)
Legio Palatina (Palantine Units organized into Legions)
Bucellarii

Archers:
Toxotai (Saggitarii)
Arcuballistae (Crossbowmen)
If it goes into the late 7th century then Cheirosiphones (Greek-Fire Flamethrower men) could be added maybe

Cavalry:
Equites Comitatenses (Comitatensian Cavalry)
Hippo-Toxotai (Horse Archers)
Koursorses (Lance-And Bow Style Cavalry, like the kind Aetius introduced int he 5th century)
Kataphraktoi/Klibanophoi (Cataphracts/Clibanarii without Armored horses to distinguish)
Optimatoi (Better Cataphracts with Armored horses to distinguish)
Equites Bucellarii (Another Bodyguard unit)

On the palantines they may have been phased out by this point. The scholae Palatinae was a parade unit. Spatharioi (Palace Guards) may be a good replacement for the Palantine Units.

Excubitores I don't know if they were guard units. The Protectores Domestici were the Imperial Guard until the late 5th or Early 6th Century, except for the Scholae Palatinae (there was a specific Decury for the emperor inside that unit but I forget what they were called)

In Regard to helmets:
Better (Comitatenses Grade or higher) troops would probably have Spangenhelms. I'd imagine lower grade infantry would have Chainmail Coifs, and some would have only a Pileus Pannonicus (Pannonian Hat) on their head.

Superheavy infantry would probably have both a spangenhelm and a coif.

There is a certain 2-piece bowl type helmet I've seen depictions of, but they were mostly western images. They were on a Frankish or Frisian Mural from that era.
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#12
Quote:The general problem is that people often think the Spangenhelm were 'barbarian' (due to a number of reasons, including older scholarship and TV) and thus cannot stand the idea to have Romans equipped with them. But in the late Roman military they were as Roman as spatha or torques.
How about a 'banded' helmet like the Leiden example? Although they are difficult to date they do occur into the early Middle Ages and beyond. They seem to be a crossover between a ridge helmet and a spangenhelm, easy of construction and therefore probably widely used.
Robert Vermaat
MODERATOR
FECTIO Late Romans
THE CAUSE OF WAR MUST BE JUST
(Maurikios-Strategikon, book VIII.2: Maxim 12)
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#13
Quote:How about a 'banded' helmet like the Leiden example? Although they are difficult to date they do occur into the early Middle Ages and beyond. They seem to be a crossover between a ridge helmet and a spangenhelm, easy of construction and therefore probably widely used.

If you could provide me with a decent image or two, I'd be very grateful!
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#14
Quote:

Gaius Julius Caesar post=327790 Wrote:I'm wearing the Dier el whatever spangenhelm in this pic, which may actually date to the 3rd century.

Deir el-Medina, depending on how you transliterate the Arabian name... To date that helmet is a personal hell of mine. I would like to put it into the third century, and I have reasons for that, but I also could put it quite convincingly into the 4th century. 5th and 6th are also possible, even though a little less likely imo.


Yes, and this helmet is also less ornate than others so less expensive imo.
A good alternative to the ridge helms, and being so ambiguously dates, can be used for a long time span, wit ha convincing argument as to why. I tend to think they may well have been used as early as Trajans campaigns.
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
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#15
Yeah the helmet just looks like something simple that would have been made for a long time and used for a long period of time.
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