Auxiliaries troops in the Roman army

[Maleventum]

In RTW1 they were equipped with oval flat shield and spear, but storically they often represented at least half in numbers in a Roman army , an they served also like heavy infantry (yes with spears, but also armed with javelins and sword like a classical legionary) like the famous Batavian auxiliares , light infantry , archers (like the Syrian and Thracian archers represented in the Trajan column) and cavalry (like gallic, german, thracian, ispanic, numidian\moor and sarmatian cavalry).
I hope will be reserved their rightful role in RTW2...........

[Destraex]

I too hope that once the correct provinces are conquered these units will be available.
It is a fact that some auxiliaries fought better than the legions themselves on occasion.

[eighthgear]

It is a fact that some auxiliaries fought better than the legions themselves on occasion.

For sure. The Batavi people, a Germanic tribe living in the area around Belgium and the Netherlands, revolted and regularly chewed up Roman legions that were sent to deal with them. Most of their fighting men were auxiliaries. They were eventually forced to surrender, but they got pretty lenient terms by Roman standards - they had to relocate their capital, for example, to a less defensive position, and had to host a Roman legion, but that is better than what many other enemies of Rome got, and Batavi auxiliaries were integrated back into the Roman Army.

What a lot of people don't realize is that most auxiliaries were actually better armed and equipped than just about anyone besides the legions, and between the auxiliaries and the legions, there wasn't a huge difference in armour and equipment. The auxiliaries perhaps lacked the pure discipline of the legions, but they were very useful.

[LeicsFox]

I too hope that once the correct provinces are conquered these units will be available.
It is a fact that some auxiliaries fought better than the legions themselves on occasion.

very true, I liked how auxiliary troops were done in Barbarian Invasion, showing quality local units. Hopefully we will see more of this in Rome 2

[Lavrentivs]

Ah, the auxilia, the unsung warriors of the imperium. I certainly hope there will be a variety of auxilia units.

Also, let us not forget the Italian socii. I highly doubt we'll be seeing any unique soccii other than the italian spearmen/swordsman showcased in previous videos. A shame. I would loved to have seen an allied unit looking something like this (Aventine Miniatures):

[Slydessertfox]

Having some Samnite auxiliaries such as in EB would be nice too.

[eighthgear]

I remember being quite fond of a unit of Samnite mercenaries that I recruited way back in my first ever total war campaign, as the Scipii Romans. That unit of mercs were with me for nearly the entire game.

[Argon Viper]

Auxiliaries are difficult for CA because they're not just a single model. EB did a very good job with it because they made an AoR system available to all factions and included dozens and dozens of models for various auxilia that you could recruit. CA, on the other hand, usually wants to include auxilia as a single faction specific unit which means they have to standardize it. What they standardize it as probably depends more on what kind of units they need to properly balance the Roman faction than anything else.

[Razor]

Don't forget the auxiliaries fighting and dressing according to their native custom. Germanic auxiliaries (Batavi?) on Trajan's column actually fight with clubs and some are bare-chested and wear un-Roman banded helmets of which some also have a bear or wolfskin over it. I also remember reading in Speidels Ancient Germanic Warriors that a Roman unit from Palestine attacked an enemy cavalry unit with clubs following their old tribal customs, of which he believed it was a Roman unit recruited from the Rhine area (and therefore Germanic).

[HuangCaesar]

I think "Auxilia" could be used for allied troops, mercenaries, or professional non citizens. The term " the Auxilia" refers to the Non-citizen corp created by Augustus(90 percent of the Roman population, 2nd class citizens really by definition). The Italian allies like the Samnites and later the Gauls of Caesar are not technically Auxilia despite being called that by historians. Auxilia are professional soldiers that were designated by units, depoloyed at any time, and led by Romans most of the time. "Allied" are usually allied mercenaries, raised locally, not national troops, and are led by foreign chiefs(like Caesar's cavalry or later the Late Roman mercenaries like the Visigoths) In terms of equipment by the time of Augustus all Roman cavalry looked basically like a Legionaire with chainmail and a longer sword. The ones that dressed in native clothing on Trajan's collum are mercenaries or Federottii I believe. Batavians wear chainmail and Gallic helmets I believe. (Which Roman legionaires do too)