Fantasy/Alternate history unit request: Roman Grenadier

Some talk of Julius Caesar, and some of Hadrian,
Of Trajan and Constantine, some of Justinian,
But of all the empire's heroes, there's none that can compare
With a tow row row row row
To the Roman Grenadiers!

Well, this is just my take on what this unit might look like. I haven't picked up a pencil for a decade, which is why it looks like this - but you should get the general idea. I imagined this as the predecessor to Kinboat's Industrial Legion, at http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=89196

Grenadier.jpg


His jacket is long, so that below the belt it looks a little bit like the skirt of a real legionary. The breastplate is thin and made of a single sheet, with those lines embossed on it to resemble the "clinker" construction of a real legionary's armour. The helmet is a fairly standard late eighteenth-century sort of helmet, but with the cheekguards.

His rifle has no bayonet, of course, because for close combat he's armed with his gladius (the scabbard is on the wrong side, the reason being it was 4:00am when I was drawing it). The rifle has a strap so he can sling it over his back when engaging the enemy hand-to-hand. BUT I had a nice idea: perhaps he could be trained to use the rifle in close combat as well, using it like a staff in one hand to parry the enemy's blows while he attacks with the gladius at the same time, rather like Gandalf in the films. Not very likely, perhaps, but I thought it might be exceedingly cool and give a unit creator an interesting challenge for an attack animation other than just firing a rifle. The gun might need to be a bit longer than it is shown in the picture for this.
 
Looks quite good, I think The ideas are all a bit crazy though.
An officer might be dressed and armed a bit like that, or perhaps an elite unit like marines (with a pistol instead of the rifle), but for the bulk of napoleonic era troops, being armed with two expensive weapons would be totaly extravagant. The whole idea of nationalistic 18th century armies is that people are cheap, while weapons and horses are expensive.

That doesn't mean I think its a stupid idea, but I'd go for two units, one rifleman, and one elite trooper/marine (Because of Rome's position within the mediteranean they would likely have a large navy had they survived to that time). The elite trooper would be a bit like Kinboats man at arms, with a sword and pistol, and very extravagant volouminous clothing, or lots of exposed flesh, in a short toga style garment with dashing short cape... Being an elite soldier after all would be very much about getting all the chicks! The main thing is that much of thier outfit would evolve from civilian fashions, along with mixed influences from adjacent civs.
Take the frock coat for instance, which was a large part of european armies uniform. It was originaly influenced by middleastern fashions, and was taken up by civilian proffesions like doctors or bankers, and also became part of military colthing.
 
@Plotonis; interesting stuff; but I dont think the design takes in enough "post high Imperial" Roman concepts; such as the longsword Spatha, and that during the third century, left side haning swords became the norm for all soldires, not just officers.

thiers also practicality; I can see a Roman infantry man making use of cuirassier armour; its a good design, and has its uses; a paiece of embozzed plate mail, seems to be only dead weight to me, but, these units are so different, one coul dmake both, and each woudl have its place.

perhaps I'll try my hand at making a unified vision, mereging the two elements together
 
I've got a cuirasser breastplate plus most any weapon model you'd want. I've someone with poser would like to start this project I've got a ton of models I can donate.
 
Yes, clearly he's an officer (and a gentleman). As for the breastplate, I was thinking of something like what this chap is wearing - http://www.launchbury.com/sigs/cuirassier.jpg - very lightweight - and the ridges, I was thinking, would be purely decorative.
 
@Wrymshadow- most awesome, most awesoem indeed; on behalf of everyone whom might want such a unit, thank you :)

@Plotonis- I think our ideas coem from slightlly different eras of technolofy as well; your perhaps from a more Napolenonic war era; mine, because of what the unit it woudl be replacing looks like, I decided to go with an idea based on uniforms from the U.S civil war/British Zulu wars/Franco-Prussian war era stuff :)

anyway, perhaps later today, I'll try to make a combined pictre; the early refernce towards making both unitsl one a trooper, the other a sort of eltie marine has its appeal though ;)

perhaps someone cas kinboat to do one, and Zulu to do the other, that way we coudl potentially get both of them fast :D
 
Yes, I was definitely thinking of a Napoleonic-era soldier, since Sword of Geddon mentioned that it his original post. But certainly it would be fun to have them both. Or it might be interesting to see if you were to do a more "accurate" (given that this is fantasy anyway) version of what a Napoleonic-era Roman officer might look like.
 
I'd depict him similer, but with more lavish clothing and decroations, and of course, no revolver ;) perhaps a head crest instead of the helmet ridge present on my first design as well
 
What about this stuff? All these pieces I put together using models I have but I cannot animate it myself (Damn Bryce!) So if someone with Poser can animate it, PM me.
 
Or closer to the original drawing.

parts:
body,kit of grenadier model
helmet, top armor, equipment from legionair
grieves from centurion
french cuirass
prussian eagle and spike on helmet
dragoon helmet's horse tassel
musket model
flintlock musket model
 
Or how about this one from the Marine description?
This would be a heavily armored trooper for assaults and vicious shipboard fighting. May be a bit too early for Xen's idea of ACW timeframe. Inspiration from gladiator armor.

parts:
same as above except:
centurion's plume (rotated)
centurion's legs arms and kilt
japanese armor for lower body
medieval knight's armor for gauntlets and arm armor
gladius model
 
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