Slitherine

I have a Maccabean Jewish army. I bought this as army deal from Essex and I've added some Thracians to it but I am considering a few 'imitation legionaries' as well. The Thracians I could work out with a bit of use of wiki to check that the Rhomphaia was what I needed. However this is my first foray into making my own ancient force up and Im sadly lacking in knowledge of the period and imitation legionaries in particular.

What would these imitation legionaries look like? Were they really lookalike Roman legionaries (which are rated armoured or protecte) - in which case Im looking at the Marian Roman range from Essex, or is that simply equipment that they would try to replicate - in which case there is a 'Marine Legionary' that looks lighter armoured from the Early Imperial range and seems to suit the protected rating of the imitators.

Im slightly worried that most legionaries are marching round with spears/pilum and they are not obviously swordsmen and the imitations are Impact Foot (the spear bit I assume) and Swordsmen - do most people expect to see swords on their opponents swordsmen or would the pilum armed troops be considered normal for such troops.

Any help appreciated from simple descriptions, to Essex codes people use themselves, to other manufacturers that look ok alongside Essex that make figures actually labelled imitation legionaries. Im UK based if that makes any difference.

Thanks
Tim

Most figs show pilum as it was chucked at the enemy just before contact, not braced like a FoG "Spearman" spear. I would use the Marines. Cheap imitations.

Don't worry too much about how the figures were armed and literally representing the troop classification - its not part of the design philosophy of FoG that anyone with a sword is a "swordsman" anyway.

Also if your opponent cant spot a "legionary" you are in trouble anyway..

Thanks guys, I've now ordered me some Marine Legionaries as imitators