Roman Cohorts: Gladius, Pilum, or a Mix?

[WuZhuiQiu]

Considering Warlord's Caesarian Romans, which are available with either gladius or pilum, but not both in the same box, how do you model your Roman cohorts:

• Do you tend to arm the figures in each with only gladius or pilum; or
• Do you mix weapons in the same unit? If you do mix them, do you model gladii [?] in the front rank and pila behind?

Ave!

[Hu Rhu]

I am just about to start a Roman Republican Army for the Punic Wars.  I intend to use mostly Pilum/Hasta but with the odd figure armed with gladius.  I think that Romans (and for that matter Greeks and other organised/trained units) need to be more uniform to give them a sense of purpose but with enough subtle variations in poses to make the unit realistic (and to spare me from painting the same figure 240 times).  In my opinion the new Vixtrix Roman Republicans and their Italian Allies combined can make some fantastic units that are both purposeful and realistic enough.  Mixing and matching figures from all three sets with some Agema miniatures seems to do it for me.

[AdamPHayes]

Go with the gladius. The Romans were essentially swordsman and it gives them a distinct look compared to everyone else with some manner of pointy stick.

[LotB]

We use FANTASY WARRIORS as a regulation for which a Unit must be armed with all the same weapon. For the Roman Legion we gave it two pilum (throwing weapon) and gladius (1 hand weapon); for the pilum, we adopted home rules for thrown weapons at short range, so even javelins, throwing axes, slingshot, ninjia stars, etc. The Unit is a Cohort. They can use the pilum at the round of throwing weapons, or - our new special rule - even in the movement phase when they have to engage the enemy Unit. They can use the rule "obscure the sky" (such as all Units armed with bow), using both the two markers representing the two pilum, with the -1 penalty to shot to hit test. They also can shoot on multiple lines, up to 4, with another  -1 penalty to shot to it test. In combact they use the gladius.

[Redmist1122]

For my Ceasarian Romans I have staright Gladius or Pilum Roman equiped units.  Though I like the look of the Pilum, the tips tend to break, so I don't have many units sporting the pilum.  I do have a mix of weapons in a few Early Imperial Roman units also with a mix of round/oval and square shields.  Now in my Republican Roman units, the first three ranks are Pilum and the last rank is Spear.

Hope this helps.

[JW. Akers]

Front rank is armed with gladii, rear ranks with pila

[Monophthalmus]

I tend to go with the same - Gladii in the front rank (sprinkled with a couple of figures getting really stuck in), with pila at the ready / being hurled in the rear or supporting rank.

Greg
Agema Miniatures

[warburton]

I personally tend to agree with Adam P Hayes - the Romans were swordsmen so the units tend to be armed with Gladii. (My period is Cesarean).

I also agree with  Monophthalmus that rear units should still have the pilum, and I do have a few such units, as yet unpainted.

In an ideal world I would have several different variations for each unit before and after throwing their darts, but there are too many other projects for that!