Of what do you comprise your Roman legion.

[Jezza93]

For me I split it into cohorts on large unit sizes because its closest to 80,which is the amount of men a roman century contained,not 102.

First cohort is 3/4 legionnaires (-1 century leaving 6 spaces in the cohort),this cohort gets the eagle,a member of the imperial family gets the honour of leading this stack. The remaining 5 spots are taken up by one unit of heavy cavalry,2 archers,two auxiliary units.

Second to fifth cohort is 1/2 legionnaires,1 cavalry squadron,two units of archers and two auxiliary units. These cohorts led by generals

Sixth cohort contains 4 centuries of legionnaires,6 auxiliary units,two cavalry units and one archer along with two Lithobolos',led by a general.

So then what do you put in your legions?

[Royal_McKeogh]

I usually go with 2 first cohorts witch have the eagle, 2 cav and 1 or 2 archers. And a general. the rest are regular cohorts

[Jezza93]

I usually go with 2 first cohorts witch have the eagle, 2 cav and 1 or 2 archers. And a general. the rest are regular cohorts

I used to pretty much do that but Im going with a slightly more historical version.
Not perfect but it does the job.

[Ferdiad]

I usually go with 2 first cohorts witch have the eagle, 2 cav and 1 or 2 archers. And a general. the rest are regular cohorts

Thats wrong don't do It.Pls

[vampiric_canniba]

Republican: 8 cohorts, 4 velites, 4 triarii, 2 equites, a general and something else
Imperial: 1 First Cohort, 9 Cohorts, 4 Auxilia, 4 archers, 2 cavalry and a general.
There is a thread somewhere with the realistic legion composition, which I base my armies on. I think its under playing guides in the stickied threads.

[edit] here it is http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=389536

[rometotal]

with 2 cavalry how can you fight ? Without Cavalry it's impossible to rout the enemy in this mod , especially if you play Christ submod Five Good Emperors then in most cases the enemy always fight with the best units so to rout them is near impossible with just 2 cavalry units.

[I3enjaIvIin]

with 2 cavalry how can you fight ? Without Cavalry it's impossible to rout the enemy in this mod , especially if you play Christ submod Five Good Emperors then in most cases the enemy always fight with the best units so to rout them is near impossible with just 2 cavalry units.

It is not impossible, it is just not easy anymore. Big difference imo and that's why the mod is also meant for veterans. Your roman infantry is still more than capable of holding the line and grinding the enemy infantry down without cav support, just as how it was in the real world.

[rometotal]

It is not impossible, it is just not easy anymore. Big difference imo and that's why the mod is also meant for veterans. Your roman infantry is still more than capable of holding the line and grinding the enemy infantry down without cav support, just as how it was in the real world.

Roman infantry can hold the line and even beat the enemy ? Not in my case , one Elite Galleci or Arveni , Boii Champion can easily take down 2 Roman Infantry Units with only slightly loss , and in Five Good Emperors there are a lot of them .

[General Brittanicus]

Roman infantry can hold the line and even beat the enemy ? Not in my case , one Elite Galleci or Arveni , Boii Champion can easily take down 2 Roman Infantry Units with only slightly loss , and in Five Good Emperors there are a lot of them .

Well obviously the enemies elite troops are going to be more than a match for your legions, but you should still be able to hold them for long enough to pull off whatever tactic you were trying to use.

with 2 cavalry how can you fight ? Without Cavalry it's impossible to rout the enemy in this mod , especially if you play Christ submod Five Good Emperors then in most cases the enemy always fight with the best units so to rout them is near impossible with just 2 cavalry units.

Chris's submod is good, but i don't think you can compare him to Christ yet . It isn't impossible to rout the enemy without cavalry, it just takes longer, because you dont have the same maneuverability- it should still be pretty easy to break an AI army.

[Caesar_1991]

Pre-Marian 15 cohorts(five of each) 2 skirmish and 2 cav and General
Post-Marian- 9 cohorts, 1 first, 2-6 cav, 4-8 of skirmish and General

[naq]

pre-Marian: one general - 7 cohort - 4 triarii - 2 velite - 2 archers - 2 light cav - 2 campanian.

[Grimlin]

I'm simply not trying to rout all the enemy at once but instead just one unit after another. Usually I have the numerical superiority in terms of infantry making it possible to bind the enemy infantry atleast, sometimes even encircling part of a flank. Then I go after the enemy archers and finally charge the flank I encircled... after that I can mop up the whole line one after the other. Big exception: I catched the general which usually makes the enemy line break very fast.
On Topic: I use this composition 1 General, 1 First Cohort, 9 Cohorts, 4 Auxilia, 3 Archers, 2 Cavalry. Works like a charm for me.

[Guga]

Playing on huge unit size, 0 turn recruitment, for numbered legions, I assume that one RTW "unit" equals to 3 centuries, 6 centuries form a cohort and 10 cohorts form a legion. In that time period cohort's nominal strength was 480 man. Assuming that, in reality a cohort was never up to it's nominal headcount, having max of 404 man ingame is, in my opinion, as close to cohort's real full strength as it can be. So a legion is compsed of 4 "stacks":

I Stack (cohorts 1,2,3 - 20 RTW units):
1 first cohort, 5 cohorts, 4 "spear" auxilia, 2 "sword" auxilia, 2 "archer" auxilia, 4 "cavalry" allae, 1 stone thrower
+ 1 commander - most experienced one - a legions commander

II Stack (cohorts 4,5,6 - 20 RTW units)
6 cohorts, 4 "spear" auxilia, 2 "sword" auxilia, 2 "archer" auxilia, 4 "cavalry" allae, 1 large balistae
+ 1 commander - second in command

III Stack(cohorts 7,8 - 14 RTW units)
4 cohorts, 2 "spear" auxilia, 2 "sword" auxilia, 2 "archer" auxilia, 2 "cavalry" allae, 1 scorpion
+ 1 comander - junior commander

IV Stack(cohorts 9,10 - 14 RTW units)
4 cohorts, 2 "spear" auxilia, 2 "sword" auxilia, 2 "archer" auxilia, 2 "cavalry" allae, 1 scorpion
+ 1 comander - junior commander

So a field force of a roman legion + auxilia is composed of 68 RTW "units":
20 roman cohorts (19 regular + 1 first)
20 auxilia infantry
8 auxilia archers
12 auxilia cavalry
4 artillery
4 commanders (rank based on merit, not beeing a family member or a recruited general)

Each field force is responsible for an area of operations - at least one border region or multiple "inside" regions (for ex one legion in Spain, one legion in north west Africa, one legion in Britain). It is suplemented by either city garrisons in inside regions (composed of evocatii or local units - as many as required to keep order) or city and fort garrisons (composed of auxilia - 4 spear, 2 sword, 2 archer, 1 cavalry). Forts are always placed on border river crossings or border chokepoits to imitate limes fortifications - also my usless FM's\Generals get "banished" to an eternal command of one of those , otherwise those are comanded by a captain.

[♔DARTH LEGO♔]

Hmm toughy:

Sieges:

As few spear and cav. units as possible. Loads of light infantry but not skirmishers. Usually all my veteran tough cohorts and at leat 3 eagle cohorts.

Open Battle

For me its mostly who im fighting. My Germanic legions have a far different makeup from my Syrian legions, in style and composistion.

Eastern legions theme is archery with light troops and a couple of 'eavies for the flanks.

Where as a Germanic legion will typically have no archer units and consist solely of Legionnaires and maybe a couple of elite merc. units.

But if i am fighting the Iberians or the Averni i normally follow a pretty standard setup with no more than six aux. units and the rest Legionnaires... and always 2 generals/tribunes/ legate etc.

To fight Phalanxes i have heavily employed Triarii or merc. phalanxes. and the rest Light armoured and fast Hastati, no cav. save for the Legate.

[rory o'kane]

All post-Marian legions should comprise 1 First Cohort and 9 regular Cohorts - that goes for the generic Roman Legionnaires, and the named and numbered ones. You can support them with whatever you like, but if in doubt, auxiliary infantry>cavalry>archers.
If you're actually trying to match the real numbers, then that's a different matter, but I prefer to accept the scaled-down legions as they are, and simply pretend that the cohorts are roughly double their size (or triple, in the case of the first cohort).

[Head of the Heavy Chargers]

Romans... those toga-wearing rich bastards, I don't play them. I like to ride down all "civilized" people with heavy cavalry and burn their marble towns. Barbarians for the win!

Ok, back in the ancient past when I played Rome my army was:
1 1st cohort
9 normal cohorts
4 Archers
4 Cavs
1 General + Siege weapon

[dragoon47]

Pre-Marian:
-1 tribune
-2 equites
-10 cohorts
-3 triarii
-2 velites
-2 slots for mercs or Campanian Cav in the case of allies.

Post-Marian:
-1 Legate
-2 auxiliary cav
-1 first cohort
-9 cohorts
-3 auxiliary spears
-2 light infantry
-2 missile troops

[Dramatic Cat]

lulz, I honestly dont understand how can ppl play with less than four cavalry units. honestly

And even if you can finish off the enemy cav and rout the army with 2 units, after the battle you can barely have enough numbers for another fight.

lol

[Ferdiad]

I sometimes only use my general for cav dutys