Share your tactics! (Rome)

[zznɟ ǝɥʇ]

I was wondering how others used their legions--their troop numbers and how they have them fight.

I keep full stacks--1 general, 1 first cohort, and 9 cohorts, then 9 auxilia troops (usually 4 cavalry, 3 of those auxilia legion guys, and 3 archers.)

I always have my first cohort deployed on the far left or right of the line, depending on where the enemy army is coming from. I deploy my archers (skirmish mode on) behind the first line of legionaires, and set the legions to throw their pila at will.

Julius Caesar felt it was best for an army to charge at the enemy, but I usually let them absorb the first charge of the enemy--is this a good tactic?

I keep my cavalry together and drive them at the strongest flank of the enemy, and have fire arrows going at it at the same time. Usually this can cause a rout and sometimes it's a mass rout.

I rarely engage my general unless it's getting pretty desperate or I'm angry and want to run down all those peltast bastards.

How do you use them? Hopefully I was clear without the use of illustration...

[MarcusTullius]

I use a similar setup as you but i use 5 cavalry and 2 auxillaries- the aux spearmen being used to absorb and counter attack any immediate attacks on my cavalry

Normally setup in 2 rows with 1st cohort in the second row on the right of the enemy. I leave gaps in between the cohorts in the 1st row to allow for my second to use pila and push through

My cavalry is often more on one side than the other depending on terrain

I prefer to sit back a bit and use archers to soften up the target and then expend pila before charging leaving a cohort in reserve to shore up any weaknesses

And then my legions win

[Matse]

I'll just ignore the part in the thread title about Rome and post my tactics in my Bosporan campaign (screenshot is made in a custom battle though since I don't have a perfectly retrained army in my campaign right now, just in case you wonder why I am using militia hoplites which you will see at the first glance).



battle:
1. archers shoot at the enemy, enemy charges
2. archers draw back behind my lines, stop autofiring and start firing at targets I give them manually
3. Cimmerian Armoured Swordsmen autothrow their pilae (sp of plural?) and receive the charge
4. Falxmen go through gaps and around the enemy to cut down their elite troops

The hoplites serve as a protection of my Falxmen against cavalry and are used any kind of cavalry charges.
The cavalry is used to charge in the enemy's back and hunt down routing enemies.

It works pretty well except for the fact that usually a lot of Falxmen are dying especially when I am outnumbered and the Swordsmen can't bind all the enemies to them.

[Globalhead]

My standard Roman Legion is similiar...

1 General
1 First Cohort
9 Cohorts
4 Archers
4 Cavalry
Remaining slot can vary (generally an extra Cohort, Archer, Cavalry or Merc)

My standard formation is 5 Cohorts abreast...with 2 archers behind. Each flank has 2 Cohorts abreast with 1 Archer behind. My Cavalry usually is all stacked on one flank or the other, unless fighting an enemy that uses alot of cavalry...then I'll put 2 units on each flank. My general,1st Cohort, and extra unit form the reserve, and are usually behind the main body.



My cavalry will range out, usually drawing off ill-disiplined enemy troops to be killed later. Archers weaken enemy skirmishers and main force. My small flanking forces either defend against flank attacks or collaspe onto enemy's side or rear once battle engages. My reserve just sits there...pursuing defeated units or filling the gaps in a rough fight.
I also use a formation similiar to MarcusTullius's at times...though this one is my favorite.

[Mordrorru]

My armies consist of 18 named Legions battalions, nothing else most of the time. I then have 2 rows of 9 battalions. Attacking or defending makes no different. I have my infantry throw their pilum and then go in for hand to hand combat.

This actually works, despite the lack of archers or cavalry.

[Matse]

Quoting the house rules for the mod (You can ignore them if you want to I just thought I should tell you):

6. You should have no more than 9 cohorts and 1 1st cohort in a Legion. That is the historical composition of a Legion, along with other units. A Legion must also be commanded by a General, and is considered 'out of action' if the General is killed, until commanded by another.

The other 10 units of a legion should be auxiliary units.

[rory o'kane]

Quoting the house rules for the mod (You can ignore them if you want to I just thought I should tell you):


The other 10 units of a legion should be auxiliary units.

actually, you could have a portion of another legion fighting alongside your legion in one army. the point of it is, you can't have more than 1 of each named legion (made up of one First and 9 normal Cohorts) in your empire - how you split them up and re-combine them is up to you - the romans took bits of legions on campaign with other ones, and these "bits" were called Vexillations, after the Vexillium, which is a square flag carried by the troops to indicate which legion they're originally from.
and example of a legion fighting alongside a vexilation would be the battle of Wattling street, where a roman army consisting of one whole legion (XIIII Gemina Victrix), a vexillation of 2000 from another legion (XX Valeria Victrix), 2000 auxiliary infantry and 1000 cavalry (so, 10,000 men all told), fought Boudicca's army of (according to Roman sources) 200,000 men, and won, so it's not unrealistic to have an army composed of a few cohorts from different legions, if you're so inclined!

[century x]

The man has a point.

[Matse]

actually, you could have a portion of another legion fighting alongside your legion in one army. the point of it is, you can't have more than 1 of each named legion (made up of one First and 9 normal Cohorts) in your empire - how you split them up and re-combine them is up to you - the romans took bits of legions on campaign with other ones, and these "bits" were called Vexillations, after the Vexillium, which is a square flag carried by the troops to indicate which legion they're originally from.
and example of a legion fighting alongside a vexilation would be the battle of Wattling street, where a roman army consisting of one whole legion (XIIII Gemina Victrix), a vexillation of 2000 from another legion (XX Valeria Victrix), 2000 auxiliary infantry and 1000 cavalry (so, 10,000 men all told), fought Boudicca's army of (according to Roman sources) 200,000 men, and won, so it's not unrealistic to have an army composed of a few cohorts from different legions, if you're so inclined!

I know, but I read his mind so I knew he didn't use two different legions and in order to prove this I already forced his mind to post a screenshot.

[century x]

I use a standard army composition for my field armies. THese are the ones who fight battles. One 1st cohort, 9 cohorts, with 6 to 7 auxilia units two cavarly and a general. I set up my cohorts in blocks with gaps in between the units for my missle units to have a good affect. I have at least 3 to 4 units of auxilia in reserve to releive the front and to out flank the enemy. I usually let the enemy come to me. but on ocassion I charge them. I depend on my cavarly and I always put them in a position where the enemy can't see them and at the right moments make raids into the enemy line and then due a powerful charge on their backs. I always have 2 auxilia legions in reserve to fill in the numbers if it requires it. Now this I just described to you is my basic tactic. In my years I have read the works of Napoleon and Julius Caesar tactics and beleive me. They freakin work. I have plenty more tactics I use on the field like when i'm seriously outnumbered or outclassed and how I win those battles.

[rory o'kane]

Thank you, Century X. the Romans had about 28 named legions at any one point from Augustus' regin onwards (he slimmed down the 59 legions that were around in 27 BC due to the civil wars started by Julius Ceasar to this more manageable number simply because he couldn't afford to pay for them all!) , though this number fluctuated a little bit (3 were destroyed in Augustus' reign, in 9 AD in the Teutoburger Wald in Germany, causing Augustus to abandon the idea of a province covering germany between the Rhine and the Elbe, but by the time Trajan came to the throne in 98 AD it was long back to 27 (it had been 28 until the XXI Rapax was destroyed by the Sarmatians in 92 AD), and he in fact raised it to 30 at the start of the 2nd century; and Septimius Severus raised it again to 33 in 193 AD by recruiting the Legiones I, II and III Parthica for his sucessful and lucrative wars against Parthia), and they had lots of auxiliary troops (around 250,000) and they had fleets and various militias (including the retired veterans of the legions, the Evocati, and the Praetorian Guard), but it's estimated that the romans never had more than half a million men in the field at any one time - and with an empire whose population was (at its height) 88 million, and given that the size of the empire was 5,000,000 km² approx., that's quite an astounding thought, given the sheer length of the Empire's borders! So, you have to make do with what you've got in terms of legions, just like the romans did! Recruit as many auxiliary units as you can afford, by all means. but you're only allowed 1 first cohort and 9 cohorts of each named legion at any one time on the strat map (i.e. in your empire).

[century x]

I have a system. For every named legion I recurit I also recruit 3 to 4 auxilia legions to back up the named legion. Like my favorite legion is Legio III. When I recurit her I muster up 4 auxilia legions to support her. And within those 4 auxilia one of them is a siege auxilia legion which carries the siege equipment. The other three back up Legio III.

[Dark_horse_spirit]

Hi,

I use up to 10 slots for my reserves. The bulk of my army is usually 4 pikemen2 swords, 2 horses a general and bowmen. I usually control the bowmen personaly.The better the Pikemen the less armoured my swordsman are. If I have really well armoured Pikes I use the swords for speed for fighting in the pikes and retreating back through the pikes to rest and let the other swords through. If my pikes are peasants I use heavy hoplite swords to absorb the impact, and run them through the pike lines as well. The pike lines should be 4 deep to utilize the phalanx, and the swords should be shaped like an arrow for maximum penitration. Once the enemy front line is routing redraw your front line to overlapthe routers, rally your swords and drive deep. this is where your heavy calvary can support your swords untill your pikes can catch up, and reform a line. 4 pikes, 2 swords, 1 bowmen, 2 horse, and a general, The rest are reserves. I ususaly take enough reserves to replace the dead. If I lose 100 pikemen during battle I want to replace those 100 pikemen right away, so in my reserves I will have pike men to fill in the missing ranks, as soon as the battle is over. By filling the ranks in the feild you can utilize on the experience gained as well, a full unit with gained experience.

DHS

[Samuel Adams]

depending on who I am fighting my legions are made up differently. Also, of course, my stage, if I'm pre or post reforms.

In early (H-P-T days) I take a general, 2 Triarii, 4 Principe and 4 Hastati for my line. In these times, my line is long and thin and in 3 rows, as per history. As support I take 4 velites, which also as per history take the front row, making four rows, and then fall back behind the triarii as the enemy comes closer to be used as a last-ditch. Then it depends on who I am fighting. If I am fighting a Hellenistic army, I take also 4 Tarantum Hoplite companies, and the last slot is generally left for a single cavalry auxilia unit; these are used to harass the phalanxes as they advance, scout ahead of the army, and at the battle's close to chase the army of the enemy away if it was a victory.

If it is a barbarian faction I take only 2 hoplites (merc or tarentum) if that, sometimes only one, and the rest are cavalry. This gives me 3 horse companies to charge the enemy rear, flank protection, and maraud enemy cavalry and lure them to my legions.

After the reforms I take the standard 1 & 9 cohorts, with 3-4 archers and cavalry. This is my OOB (Order of Battle).

Tactics must change to adapt to the situation, so there is no real way to have the best single tactic. The majority of the time my legions are 1 on 1 with hellen armies, but can be up to 1 v 3 with Barbarian stacks. In this case my tactics vary, with the majority of the time my legionares formed in two lines. This line is set on a hill, with the peak of the hill to their rear and held by archers supported by cavalry. Auxiliaries form the flanks and stand to the rear, so they can charge the enemy as the enemy tries to flank the legion.

As the barbarian hordes arrive they are met by arrows from the Syrian or Auxilia Archers. Then as they come closer the first line of the legion pummels them with pila, and teh archers cease fire. The legion will hopefully beat back this first series of assaults without engaging with the second line. Hopefully too, only half the pila are used. I repeat this until the last of the front line's pila are thrown, and the assault these were used on thrown back. Then the first line falls back and the second advances, showing a solid array of fresh troops to the enemy.

As the enemy makes their final and worst attack (an entire army and the remnants of 2 others) my cavalry ride. They will generally take a long route around the fray, and come down on the enemy rear; kill their general if he is not dead, kill routing units or just-rallied units. They then form in wedges (the only time I use them) and charge the enemy rear as it fights the legion. The second before they engage, my second legion line, rested and recovered if all has gone well, charges down the flanks with the two flanking cohorts and into the center with the center cohort. This allows me to finish off the enemy flanks engaged with the Auxilia, and sweep the enemy from there, then turn in and box them in. Generally the combined flank and rear charge causes a chain route, and the enemy flees, my cavalry riding them down like dogs and my archers running down the flanks to finish off whoever the cav can't.

I also throw my general into the fray at the last minute to avoid getting cowardly traits.

With hellenistic factions it is a bit different, but only in that my Auxilia are generally light Auxilia with javelins that flank the phalanxes and destroy as many as possible before they engage, and that I take less cav and more of the light Auxilia.

[Mordrorru]

Here is a standard legion and formation in my empire.



That's a Legion trained in Byzantium going up against the Iberians. I don't remember how they ended up there...they should've been used to fight in Asia Minor.

[ciprianrusu]

The composition of my legion:

1 General (G)
1 First cohort (FC)
9 Cohorts (C)
3 Archer auxilia (A)
2 Light auxilia (LA)
2 Light infantry (LI)
2 Cavalry (CV)

-----LA------LA
---C---C---C---C---C
-----C---C---C---C---FC
---LI---A---A---A---LI
CV-----------------------CV
------------G------------
(I can't arrange the diagram as i would like to, but the cohorts are arranged in a chess pattern, and so on.)
I set the missile troops on skirmish mod and fire at will. The cohorts are also set on fire at will. I approach the enemy in this formation, and then, when my archers are in range i stop and let them fire at them. If the enemy has more powerful range units, i get close enough that my infantry can throw their pilla. I use cavalry only to flank the enemy or chase down routers. The light infantry is for protecting my archers or general from enemy flanking, and if the AI doesn't try this maneuver, i use them to outflank the enemy.

[MarcusTullius]

Here is a standard legion and formation in my empire.



That's a Legion trained in Byzantium going up against the Iberians. I don't remember how they ended up there...they should've been used to fight in Asia Minor.

Why are you using all 1st cohorts?

[Fargham]

All First Cohorts and no General.... playing on VH battles I can tell you even first cohorts will tuck tail and run once and a while... having the general there has turned the tide in almost all of the battles in my Rome AAR. I have yet to play with any of the named legions in RS yet, so we will have to see how that goes.

Also of note, I also make sure my General has a Physician or similar in his retinue... they are invaluable in keeping a campaign going. Its not uncommon to see over 50% of casualties returned to the ranks after a battle. (Its usually a lot less, but I'm not really sure how the game decides this)

[MarcusTullius]

All First Cohorts and no General.... playing on VH battles I can tell you even first cohorts will tuck tail and run once and a while... having the general there has turned the tide in almost all of the battles in my Rome AAR. I have yet to play with any of the named legions in RS yet, so we will have to see how that goes.

Doesnt that defeat the point of having a Roman "Legion" and having a 1st cohort in the first place?
To each their own i guess.......

[Fargham]

Doesnt that defeat the point of having a Roman "Legion" and having a 1st cohort in the first place?
To each their own i guess.......

Exactly. It seems a bit misleading that you are quoting me, when all I was referring to was Mord's lack of a general.