Roman Legion: slashing???

Stuie · October 20, 2001, 10:39

Guess I'm joining the ranks of the overly picky, but the Roman's did NOT use their swords to slash at opponents, which is what the unit animation does in Civ3. The short sword used by the Roman's was made to thrust at the less armored mid-point of an opponent.

I'm sure that slashing action looks real cool, but just a wee bit of historical accuracy would have been nice.

[/picky rant]

Dauphin · October 20, 2001, 11:22

I thought you meant the legions were pissing in the bushes or something.

Stuie · October 20, 2001, 13:45

Quote:

Originally posted by Big Crunch
I thought you meant the legions were pissing in the bushes or something.

Ha! Thanks for broadening my vocabulary!

Alfonsus72 · October 20, 2001, 17:18

Totally agree, Stuie.

The Impi animation seems much more apropiate for the roman legion. They used the short sword to thrust, after launching the pilum, and protected by a big and hard shield to stop enemie´s charge.

Well, I guess that an animation seeing them launching the pilum and thrusting with the sword is asking so much

But at least they should have took care with some small details, like the sword (that of the animation is so long and thin compared with the historical "gladius"), the shield (should have been bigger and squared) and the helmet (also inacurate), and of course, the most important thing, the "thrusting not slashing" question.

player1 · October 20, 2001, 17:25

You are right Short Swords were not used for slashing, they didm't
have enoght power & lenght to do any considerable damebe by slashing.
Even an AD&D player knows that

Fiil · October 20, 2001, 18:45

Actually early Roman soldiers and auxillaries featured both longer swords and round shields, but you're right the famous legionaries never did. And Of course he shouldn't have feathers or hair on the helmet as these where only used for military parades.

But he looks cool though - and that's what it's all about.

Mars · October 20, 2001, 23:52

Quote:

But he looks cool though - and that's what it's all about.

Damn Straight

Alfonsus72 · October 23, 2001, 14:16

Quote:

Originally posted by Fiil

But he looks cool though - and that's what it's all about.

I agree with you, it´s cool, but I won´t have the feeling that I´m commanding the mighty roman legions with that "slashing pumpkins".

Pseud0nym · October 23, 2001, 19:53

Yeah; I was in a local legion unit for a while (SCA), and we marched around in a shield wall with our swords at waist level for stabbing. We also had people with spears (pilums) behind us, who would poke their spears out from between our shields(another legion just had short swords in their shield wall, we slaughtered them with our spears). We even had a guy with arms the size of my legs who us used a shield and spear at the same time. But there was no way that you could do any kind of slashing in that formation.

Lorizael · October 23, 2001, 20:00

Quote:

Originally posted by player1
You are right Short Swords were not used for slashing, they didm't
have enoght power & lenght to do any considerable damebe by slashing.
Even an AD&D player knows that

They also only did d6 damage, I don't think Legions should have attacks of three if their weapons only do d6 damage. What's the AC of a Spearman?

Kenobi · October 26, 2001, 01:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Lorizael

They also only did d6 damage, I don't think Legions should have attacks of three if their weapons only do d6 damage. What's the AC of a Spearman?

Isn't it funny that AD&D combat stats are now taken as gospel truth? It always bugged me that a "broadsword" only did d6 damage, but a "longsword" did d8 (and a whopping d12 against large beasties). Don't even attempt to tell me that there is a significant difference between the two weapons - they're the same.

Back to the original point: Gary Gygax has a lot to answer for.

[/OFF TOPIC RANT]

Back on topic: Roman legionaries had a wide variety of kit. Shields weren't always square - sometimes they were oval or even round, depending on what was available/ in "fashion" at the time. Same for body armour. The gladius (i.e. the classic Roman short sword) was about the only item of a Roman legionary's kit that didn't change much over the centuries.

Sarxis · October 26, 2001, 05:10

Quote:

Originally posted by Stuie
Guess I'm joining the ranks of the overly picky, but the Roman's did NOT use their swords to slash at opponents, which is what the unit animation does in Civ3. The short sword used by the Roman's was made to thrust at the less armored mid-point of an opponent.

I'm sure that slashing action looks real cool, but just a wee bit of historical accuracy would have been nice.

[/picky rant]

Good point

But here's my point: V*ck History!