"Romans in Red?" Topic

I shall probably paint my Baccus EIR legion in a dark red, cause I like how it looks. And if anybody comes up to me as I'm playing and says with a smug sneer, "You know, Roman legionairres didn't wear red," I shall reply, "What? You have photos?" and then mentally note not to play that person in a game; I have the suspicion such a one would not be an enjoyable opponent.

I do find the discussion interesting, of course. But I think it's rather hard to determine exactly what colors a Roman legion may or may not have been attired in because their garments simply haven't survived the millennia, and the documents aren't likely to bother to mention attire because, well, "everyone" (who might be reading such things in those days) already knew what it looked like.
As for orders for unbleached linen or wool, well, yes, that's what state such things are in before you dye them. It really doesn't tell us definitively what the final color was.
The paint on Trajan's Column and various artworks are more likely to give us an idea of what the colors were than anything else, and even those are subject to whatever message the artist intended to convey (which could have been "reality" or the colors associated with the patron or leader being honored, so that the viewers would know which "who's who in Rome" was responsible for the triumph in question).
In the end, I think it's okay to go with a reddish color, or the linen (better make it dirty, 'cause it would be in short order), or the olive drab, or brown, or whatever strikes your fancy. Because the truth is, we really don't know, and absent a time machine, never will.

Mine are mostly in red (the Marians more so than the Polybians). I don't have a great deal of confidence in the historical accuracy of this, but it's not like I'm going to repaint them on the basis of a Spiegel article either.

Red, linen, blue, grey, green….PINK…who really gives a crap as long as they look smashing (borrowing that word from my friends in England) on the table-top. I think the Romans wore what could be easily requisitioned in time and was affordable. I am sure a newly constructed legion during the civil wars, wore what they got (most likely unbleached linen). While those legionaries kitted up during prosperous times might have wore more expensive tunics and cloaks.

NOW LET' MUDDY IT UP EVEN MORE AND TALK ABOUT AUXILIA…LOL

The Roman reenactors I see alway seem to wear red. But when you are wearing wool shirts and long handles and they're running around in the tunics and those studded leather groin aprons [jockstraps and jammies]….

I suspect Der Spiegel's conclusions are in error, and that the Romans could reaaonably be assumed to have worn red for the same reason they did most things military and political: in imitation of the Spartans, whose reputation still carried a fearsom cache down the ages to Roman times.

"Romans in red… are dancing with Meeee… Cheek to cheek… There's nobody here… just Legio Vee…"

My understanding is that red was used as well as green, blue, white, yellow, and grey. mine are a Technicolor mix (different for each cohort), but I'm planning to repaint in all one hue.

Which one remains an open question at present.

As dyes were generally vegetable in origin (some animal), there is a restricted palette to work from. I use the same thinking as I do for English Civil War or Meidevals.