In message <649078.32387.qm_at_...> Chris Lemens writes:
>
>Jane responding to Donald:
>> > Yes, the descriptions are vague but they don't describe the style
>> > of Roman legion you are talking about. E.g. pg. 12 "The soldiers
>> > again pulled back into two squares of long shields and bristling
>> >spears".
>
>> Eh? That describes a regular unit, in close formation, and, as gets
>>mentioned later, uniforms. They perform rehearsed manouvres to order:
>>even forming a testudo to avoid missiles at one point. They don't make
>>the analogue as close as using the exact same equipment as a Roman
>>legion, no, but the basic principle is the same, and totally different
>>from the Orlanthi. Whether they use spear, gladius, or scimitar is a
>>minor detail of implementation (though since what Makepeace breaks later
>> is a scimitar, it looks like they're dual-armed, spear and sword).
>>Could they perhaps be using the same long spear, scimitar, and big
>>shield, as described for the generic Lunar soldiers in the RQ2 books?
>
>Well, to be fair, if they use spears and scimitars, then they are not
>like classic legionaries. The classic late republican / early imperial
>legionaries threw the pila, which was a heavy javelin, not a spear.
>They then closed to melee distance.
Precisely. The similarities are those shared with any drilled close
order infantry from ancient Assyria to the Renassaince. The legions
were primarily swordsmen also equipped with pila which is totally
useless as a spear. I'm surprised Jane doesn't remember the way a
gladius is used in close formation - as a stabbing weapon. Something
difficult to do with a scimitar.
By comparison most spearmen use the spear as the primary weapon
with the scimitar, axe or whatever as a last resort when the
formation is broken. How lunarised the unit is will determine
whether a unit has substituted a scimitar for their traditional
hand weapon.
--
Donald Oddy
http://www.grove.demon.co.uk/