Roman Legion Standard

In the Ancient Days, if the defenders force the attackers of the field and suffer less absolute casualties, they are considered the winner.

There had been plenty of times Romans lost Legion Standards in lost battles (usually they retreat to fight another day, but with so many campaigns, some of the lost battles were disasters). Commanders were usually disgraced if there was any action during the battle they could have taken to avoid this event, even if such actions are only known in hindsight.

These were humiliations to the commanders and Rome herself that demanded retribution. Outcomes tended to be total humiliation of the offender (Carthage, although there are other reasons the Romans demanded harsh terms) to simply defeating the enemy in a rematch and demanding the standards be returned in a negotiated peace.

Well, what would happen if a commander won a battle, but lost a standard? This isn't very likely because if you force the enemy off the field, you can pick them off of a dead standard-bearer. This is possible however. One example is if the enemy manages to beat back a legion and starts looting before the Roman cavalry punish the enemy for breaking ranks. If this sounds stupid, remember OTL Battle of Kadesh (before Roman times, but I'm sure there are more recent examples of poor discipline), the Hittites started to loot after killing many of Rames's men and getting in the Egyptian camp. The Romans would win, but some of the survivors might have carried away something light and portable like... a shiny standard.

Anyways, so what happens if the Romans lost a standard (disaster) but won the battle (which is usually cause for celebration if you wanted the battle to happen and a relief if you didn't plan on said battle happening at ALL)
 
In the Ancient Days, if the defenders force the attackers of the field and suffer less absolute casualties, they are considered the winner.
Not necessarily. It depends on whose consideration is this.
I mean if both armies are preserved, they can both consider it a victory.

...remember OTL Battle of Kadesh (before Roman times...
For example from what I know in this particular case both parties involved (the Hittites and the Egyptians) claimed the victory in this battle.

so what happens if the Romans lost a standard (disaster) but won the battle
It depends on how final is victory. If after the battle the enemy returned into their camp, the Romans didn't storm it, and the Romans couldn't negotiate the Roman Standard be returned to the Romans...
...well, the Roman general would have difficult time to convince anyone that it was a real victory.

But if the Roman enemies fled in disorder, the Romans took the enemy's camp and there is no enemy's army left... then the lost Roman Standard is a minor embarrassment; a new one will be made, the Romans were very practical after all.
 
In an actual battle, the standard would not be back at the camp. It would be with the commander , prominent in the field. I think you'd need a victory that came about by a near total defeat turned around late, like a Roman Waterloo.
 
If the Romans win the battle then either they press on to try to win the war, or they are at the stage of being able to demand terms. Either way, when the defeated leaders/survivors come to make terms the Romans can demand their standard back.

If they win the battle, press on to win the war but don't,then the issue of a lost standard is going to be secondary to whatever causes the war not to be won.
 
In an actual battle, the standard would not be back at the camp. It would be with the commander , prominent in the field. I think you'd need a victory that came about by a near total defeat turned around late, like a Roman Waterloo.

This is true, however it's not impossible. I'm sure the Hittites were not the first army to lose discipline in the middle of a battle, it could happen to an enemy the Romans are fighting. I know the standard is with the commander. I suppose if mercs betray the Romans (OTL it happened before at separate times in Germany, Spain, the Levant), the commander of at least one of the legions might end up caught flat footed in camp. Alternately, the Roman camp was the target. A third possibility is that the commander came up with a fool-proof battle plan but other legion commanders rode to the front lines during the battles to make corrections if something unexpected happened. The something unexpected results in the legion commander (or his standard bearer next to him) being slain, but the unexpected thing doesn't actually endanger the overall plan and the other side is sent into a rout, but they still carry away the standard.
 
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