Thanks Gepetto! I'm enjoying the process of building the units, and learning more about a subject I only showed a surface interest in before. This is really my favourite part of Playmobil - the connection back to the real world, and the deepened understanding thereof.
The archer is well worth getting from the Malta seller if you can, unless and until Playmobil make him available as an accessory group.
The archer has eight parts (figure, helmet, bow, shoulderbelt, front clip, dagger, quiver, and arrows) compared to five for a regular legionnaire (figure, hemmet, shield, gladius, pilum) so he's going to cost more to reconstruct from DS parts.
Next comes the
Signifer - Playmobil have forgiveably combined four jobs into one here:
The Playmobil standard is clearly a combination of the first two - one is the
Signum that each Century carried, and the second with the red flag used was a
Vexillum, carried by a small part of a Legion removed for specific duties. This standard was carried until the detachment returned to the Legion. The flag carried the Legion's number and symbols, if they had any, to show where they belonged.
The third standard bearer is an
Imagnifer, carrying an image of the Emperor. There would be one per Legion, I understand. A fourth standard bearer was the
Aquilifer, who carried the Aquila, a golden eagle atop a pole. This recreationist is indeed wearing a lion skin. Again, one per Legion, and this standard stayed with the greater part of a Legion wherever it went.
So there was only one Imagnifer and Aquilifer each per Legion. It would be easy enough to re-create these standards from Playmo parts, but for Playmo's purposes they are rare enough to ignore (for now?)
All the re-creationists I have posted pictures of wear chainmail, an animal skin, and their gladius on the right hip. The animal skins might be from a wolf or bear - Playmobil have gone with a lion skin, like the Aquilifer. There doesn't seem to be a fixed animal skin for a particular standard.
