"Late Roman Infantry" Topic

With my Punic Romans I distinguished the Hastati from the Principes by using figures with a brass chest protector for the former and chain mail for the later. This isn't probably exactly historical. I imagine that there were Hastati with chain mail and Principes without it. But it works well as a gaming convention and seems to be commonly used.

I am just getting ready to embark on my first Late Roman army and I was wondering if there are certain gaming conventions that distinguish between the different Roman infantry units? For the Palatina I was thinking I would use exclusively chain mail infantry. But to distinguish between Comitatenses and Pseudocomitatenses I was wondering what others have done? Is there a simply system you have followed?

I don't know of a specific system, but I tend to simulate the Palatina & Comitatenses with armor, and the pseudocomitatenses (remember these are Limitanei absorbed into the field army) with poorer equipment & no armor at all. Though as you say above with the Republican Romans, there's no reason to assume Limitanei might NOT have armor, but as a handy tabletop reference it works well enough…

Damon.

In a similar vein, I have helmeted, cap, or bareheaded troops as another way to mark troop differences.

The barbarians employed as Feoderati have a mix of tunics with some resembling uniforms, as a way to distinguish them from their barbarian opponents (gifts from the Emperor).

Maybe you can use shield designs, as shown in the Notitia Dignitatum. It distinguishes between Auxilia Palatina, Comitatenses and Pseudocomitatenses.

+1 ToysnSoldiers (check out the Little Big Men Studios transfers)
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Although it sounds silly, I've been looking at helmet crests as a distinguishing factor. 'Regular' comitatenses would be without, while palatina & more elite units such as the Herculiani would have bright crests matching their shields.

I think the further they were from the Emperor the less armor they should have is a good rule of thumb.