Looking to paint my new Late Imperial Romans from Legio Heroica. One of the attractions of LIR is the shield patterns from the Notita Dignitatum (spelling optional). LittleBigMenStudios provide some of the best and most detailed shield transfers out there, but unfortunately don’t have any for Legio Heroica. They do have some for Khurasan Miniatures though and Lord Mather has some Khurasan LIRs for me to compare. The figures are very similar, such that I would add some in for variety if Khurasan had a UK distributor, and the shields are a similar shape if a tad smaller, so the transfers will fit.
The next step is to work out which units the transfers are for, which is possible with a moderate level of accuracy given the aforementioned Notita. Using Luke Ueda-Sarson’s excellent website on the Notita, I have identified some of the patterns, as shown in the table below. Some of them are also pre-Notita, so I have divided them by period as well.
Middle Imperial Roman
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Herculani Seniores (one of the most senior active legions in the Empire, created by Diocletian) | LIRI(KSM)2 15mm
LIRI(GB_LARGE)1 25mm |
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Ioviani Seniores (the other senior legion of the Empire, created by Diocletian) | LIRI(KSM)1 15mm |
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One of the Dura shields I think. Probably a bit earlier than the other shields in the Notita. | LIRC(GB_SMALL)4 25mm |
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Another one of the Dura shields. Also probably should be for an earlier period than the shields in the Notita. | LIRC(GB_SMALL)5 25mm |
Late Imperial Roman (Western)
All of these shields do appear in the Notitia, so are extant at the end of the western empire).
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Schola unit? | LIRC(GB_SMALL)2 25mm | |
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Herculani Seniores | Legio Palatina | LIRI(KSM)2 15mmLIRI(GB_LARGE)1 25mm |
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Ioviani Seniores | Legio Palatina | LIRI(KSM)1 15mm |
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Secunda Britannia | Legio Comitatenses | LIRI(KSM)4 15mmLIRI(OG 15’S)3 15mm |
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Secundani Italiciani | Legio Comitatenses | LIRI(OG 15’S)2 15mmLIRI(GB_LARGE)6 25mm |
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Lanciarii Gallicani Honoriani | Legio Comitatenses | LIRI(OG 15’S)5 15mm |
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Menapii Seniores | Legio Comitatense | LIRI(GB_LARGE)7 25mm |
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Septimani Seniores | Legio Comitatense | LIRI(GB_LARGE)8 25mm |
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Prima Flavia Gallicana Constantia | Legio Pseudocomitatense | LIRI(GB_LARGE)2 25mm |
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Petulantes Seniores | Auxilia Palatina | LIRI(KSM)6 15mmLIRI(GB_LARGE)10 25mm |
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Leones Iuniores | Auxilia Palatina | LIRI(KSM)3 15mmLIRI(OG 15’S)1 15mmLIRI(GB_LARGE)4 25mm |
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Equites Cetrati Iuniores | Vexillia Comitatenses | LIRI(OG 15’S)4 15mm |
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Scholae of some kind | Vexillia Palatina? | LIRC(KSM)1 15mm |
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Equites Honoriani | Vexillia Comitatenses | LIRC(KSM)1 15mmLIRC(GB_SMALL)6 |
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Equites Mauri Feroces | Vexillia Comitatenses | LIRC(KSM)1 15mm |
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Comites Iuniores | Vexilliatione Comitatenses | LIRC(GB_SMALL)1 25mm |
Late Imperial Roman (Eastern Empire)
All of these shields are in the Notitia. There are no eastern cavalry shields in the Notitia unfortunately – those pages have been lost.
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Quinta Macedonia | Legio Comitatenses | LIRI(KSM)8 15mm |
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Falchovarii | Auxilia Palatina | LIRI(GB_LARGE)5 25mm |
Byzantine
These look like they have been inspired by Byzantine frescos, especially those at Ravenna.
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Not in the Notitia, apparently some sort of guard shield from the Column of Theodosius. | LIRI(KSM)7 15mm |
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Can’t Find in Notitia – looks like a bodyguard from the Chi-Rho symbol. | LIRI(KSM)5 15mmLIRI(GB_LARGE)3 25mm |
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Don’t know | LIRC(GB_SMALL)3 25mm |
The oval ones are for Khurasan miniatures, the round ones for Old Glory (who presumably have LIR legionaries with round shields because they have read the Notitia rather than looking at the sculptures).
So unfortunately for me most of them are Western, and I fancied an Eastern army. Not many people will notice, but somehow it feels wrong.