"Shields of the Roman Legions stationed in Middle East?" Topic

Just read or rather looked in the Osprey book "The Jewish Revolt AD 66-74", were the shields used there in that orange color/material or just the 13th legion? Or can I use "normal" shield designs?

Humm! I have not read this book, but… these soldiers are marching and they meet an unexpected attack. Maybe this orange material is only a fabric cover for the scutum to protect it from dust and light damage when marching and other non-combat duties.

They are leather shield covers. You could bodge up the shields on models with a thin layer of filler to represent the covers or just assume that the covers have been removed and do a normal paint job.

Agree – those are shield covers; it is actually quite hard to sort out the shield colours for early Imperial legions – one of my two legions is Legio VI Ferrata who spent much of their time in the Middle East and they have red shields with a conventional design (yellow eagle shield decals from Veni vidi vici transfers)

awesome, thanks for replying! I'll ignore the covers so I can use my figures in any theatre.

From my reading, shield covers were used universally on the march. Not ubiquitous but certainly in every theatre.

John T

ConfederateSwede
I would recommend getting a copy of "Legions of Rome: The Definitive History of Every Imperial Roman Legion" by Stephen Dando_Collins. In it you will see his interpolation of each legion shield color and device.
Dennis

You have to take Dando-Collins shields with a large pinch of salt. Whatever the logic of using the 'guardian' animals of each legion on the shields, I don't think there is any evidence of designs like this being used. He is on stronger ground where there are carvings and these tend to be of the more familiar combos of wings, lightning, thunder and wreaths.