The Roman army marches on the field...

[Sun Jetzu]

The field is a flat plane, with a few trees throughout the battlefield. It is cold windy day, and it looks like rain is coming. The Romans muster there force. It consists of Cavalry, Skirmishers and a huge main body of post Marius legions. They aim to defeat you, and take your lands, towns, woman and children.
How will you defeat them, and who will you be? Are you the Suebi, Parthia, Macedon?
Or are you someone else another faction faced with the overwhelming might of the Roman army. How will you defeat them on the field? Your numbers are equal to theirs, what tactics will you use to send them back to Italy?
How would you defeat a Roman Army and who would you be?

[PlacidDragon]

I'd have loved to say that my Carthaginian forces would "pull a Hannibal" on the enemy, but....

hmm... generally, present a solid front line, outflank, and try to roll up their line as a carpet

[Sun Jetzu]

I'd have loved to say that my Carthaginian forces would "pull a Hannibal" on the enemy, but....

hmm... generally, present a solid front line, outflank, and try to roll up their line as a carpet

what forces would you use to outflank? Chariots, elephants, horses?

For me I would Carthage also and send a huge force of mercenaries in the center, attack their flanks with archers, and once they go into testudo I"ll ram my war elephants straight into their side.ull back my mercenaries, let the elephants do their work for a moment. More arrows as the testudo get broken to pieces. Then send in a huge wave of silver shields to finish them while they're not in formation. After encircle them with the rest of my mercenaries and kill as many romans ass possible. ide also have some hoplite protecting my flanks from their cav, not that many though...I ran out of money

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Well since I am Suebi and if I unlike in history actually have as many men as the Romans then I guess all I have to do is advance with my berserkers and the Romans will turn tail and run instantly as the cowards they are. Historically Romans only won by grossly outnumbering their foe anyway.

[PROMETHEUS ts]

Well since I am Suebi and if I unlike in history actually have as many men as the Romans then I guess all I have to do is advance with my berserkers and the Romans will turn tail and run instantly as the cowards they are. Historically Romans only won by grossly outnumbering their foe anyway.

Perhaps you should write that unlike history you had less men than romans . but anyway if you pick suebi you can win only with Swarms of men or some ambushes ... you cant' make it othwrwise .

historically germanic could win only by sheer numbers since they played in home most of the time ...

[Doe3000]

Perhaps you should write that unlike history you had less men than romans . but anyway if you pick suebi you can win only with Swarms of men or some ambushes ... you cant' make it othwrwise .

historically germanic could win only by sheer numbers since they played in home most of the time ...

It's not impossible to defeat the Roman army in open battle as the Barbarians. Very, very, very difficult, but not impossible. I believe the Silurian tribe (from Wales) managed to defeat the twentieth legion in battle by luring the auxiliary cavalry to a place of their choosing, but were eventually defeated and incorporated into the Empire. Mostly, like the Cherusci (from Germany) and the Iceni (from England) they defeated legions in ambushes.

[Doe3000]

Can it be a Civil War, with Roman vs Roman? Otherwise I have my job cut out for me in defeating the legions in open battle. But if I had to choose, I'd go with Macedon, and just hope for the best. Maybe on a flat open plain I'd be able to defeat the Romans if my Companion cavalry can take out their left wing. Then I'd use the phalanxes to roll up their lines (if the Roman pila haven't decimated my Pezhetairoi).

[Sun Jetzu]

Can it be a Civil War, with Roman vs Roman? Otherwise I have my job cut out for me in defeating the legions in open battle. But if I had to choose, I'd go with Macedon, and just hope for the best. Maybe on a flat open plain I'd be able to defeat the Romans if my Companion cavalry can take out their left wing. Then I'd use the phalanxes to roll up their lines (if the Roman pila haven't decimated my Pezhetairoi).

well that was the point lol
They conquered the known world, and had the edge in soldiers and technology.
From what ive read it was nye impossible to defeat the romans in open battle very few can say they did

[Knight of Heaven]

well that was the point lol
They conquered the known world, and had the edge in soldiers and technology.
From what ive read it was nye impossible to defeat the romans in open battle very few can say they did

Not exactly. the amount of miss information about how the Romans are portraied in this forum of late is stagering.
Its not that the Romans were superior, or more technologic advanced, Their bigest strengh was to be able to adapt to their enviroment and the respective scenario, and that reflects as well on their legions, it did reflect on the Polibian Legions, as well on the Marian legions.
In fact much of their technology and designs were copyed, and sometimes perfected for centuries, from other cultures. Even military strategies were copied. Rome begun to win against Carthage, when started to use Hanibal stratagies, against him. Roman naivy, was strongly inspired on the carthaginian naivy, and even the way of fighting of Ibérian mercenaires, as well the use of the Ibérian Falcata and the scutum had a strong influence how roman legions would be eventualy shaped, and incidentaly the creation of the Gladius for example.

Romes engineering and Law making was a process, and a result of a legacy of great numerous cultures, and took centuries, in the making.
As the saying goes "Rome and pavia werent built in a day." even the "barbarous celts" were more advanced then the romans in some areas, mainly in the manipulation of metals for example, they also invented something that in modern day would be called soap.
The cartaghinians were superior sailors, and ship builders, with designs way ahead of what the romans could build. And the Greeks, well we all know what is the helenistic hegemony in the mediterranean.
Its not that the romans were technologic inferior. They were though quite pragmatic, and adaptive despite their xenophobic panache actualy they absorbed cultures like a sponge in way, from Etruscan, to Greek, to Cartaghinian, to ibérian, to Phoneacian etc. I would say their ability to adapt and use the enemy strategies and weapons against them, was Romes great strong point. That alowed them to carry their legacy, and thus becoming the Roman empire we all know.
The notion that the roman legions were superior, its not exactly true. It depends, of the eras for one, and their enemy, much was about what you do with said legions, then anything else.

[Vlaanderen Vrij]

Perhaps you should write that unlike history you had less men than romans . but anyway if you pick suebi you can win only with Swarms of men or some ambushes ... you cant' make it othwrwise .

historically germanic could win only by sheer numbers since they played in home most of the time ...

You know the Germanic tribes brought down the Roman Empire? They conquered Gaul, Britain, Italy and the Iberian Penisula? They created the proto-states of France, Germany, England, ... Very hard to do so if you only fight on your own ground most of the time. You ever heard of the Gots, Franks, Burgunds, Vandals, ...?

[kamikazee786]

hmmm well i like strategy above anything else and for this scenario i think ill play as Sparta.

to start off, ill be in my camp and i know that spies are the key to understanding the enemies plans and actions.

so i'll secretly relax my guard so as to encourage the enemy spies into my army, after this they will only see what i want them to see

i will let them see me being harsh on one of my top generals, we'll make it look like we had a massive argument about tactics, he'll push for an attack and ill push for a staunch defence with no attacks allowed

eventually the argument will lead him to swear at me and call me a coward upon which i will severly punish him ( in reality he's in on the whole thing )

next that very general will then write a letter to the romans saying that he and about a third of my army (including the heaviest and most well trained soldiers) want to defect because of my injustices to him and at the same time, the report of the roman spies will hopefully reach the enemy commander and confirm this.

unable to resist the offer of having highly trained spartans on their side the romans will trust that general of mine and he will take a third of the troops with himself under the guise of friendship

once his troops are mixed with the romans then i will give the signal for him to attack them from within while i attack them with the rest of my army, it should result in an utter defeat for the romans and the biggest victory for the the Spartans ever

[Sun Jetzu]

hmmm well i like strategy above anything else and for this scenario i think ill play as Sparta.

to start off, ill be in my camp and i know that spies are the key to understanding the enemies plans and actions.

so i'll secretly relax my guard so as to encourage the enemy spies into my army, after this they will only see what i want them to see

i will let them see me being harsh on one of my top generals, we'll make it look like we had a massive argument about tactics, he'll push for an attack and ill push for a staunch defence with no attacks allowed

eventually the argument will lead him to swear at me and call me a coward upon which i will severly punish him ( in reality he's in on the whole thing )

next that very general will then write a letter to the romans saying that he and about a third of my army (including the heaviest and most well trained soldiers) want to defect because of my injustices to him and at the same time, the report of the roman spies will hopefully reach the enemy commander and confirm this.

unable to resist the offer of having highly trained spartans on their side the romans will trust that general of mine and he will take a third of the troops with himself under the guise of friendship

once his troops are mixed with the romans then i will give the signal for him to attack them from within while i attack them with the rest of my army, it should result in an utter defeat for the romans and the biggest victory for the the Spartans ever

I commend you, that was awesome!
Win without fighting kinda, very Sun Tzu and I applaud you my friend lol

[roarer]

hmmm well i like strategy above anything else and for this scenario i think ill play as Sparta.

to start off, ill be in my camp and i know that spies are the key to understanding the enemies plans and actions.

so i'll secretly relax my guard so as to encourage the enemy spies into my army, after this they will only see what i want them to see

i will let them see me being harsh on one of my top generals, we'll make it look like we had a massive argument about tactics, he'll push for an attack and ill push for a staunch defence with no attacks allowed

eventually the argument will lead him to swear at me and call me a coward upon which i will severly punish him ( in reality he's in on the whole thing )

next that very general will then write a letter to the romans saying that he and about a third of my army (including the heaviest and most well trained soldiers) want to defect because of my injustices to him and at the same time, the report of the roman spies will hopefully reach the enemy commander and confirm this.

unable to resist the offer of having highly trained spartans on their side the romans will trust that general of mine and he will take a third of the troops with himself under the guise of friendship

once his troops are mixed with the romans then i will give the signal for him to attack them from within while i attack them with the rest of my army, it should result in an utter defeat for the romans and the biggest victory for the the Spartans ever

Exactly like the battle at Red Cliff in the 3 kingdoms period in China = =???

[The True Roman]

I would march my Hoplits on the field of Mars and fight them head on using pure skill of my free Greek solders to hold the line while my mercenary companion cav makes quick work of theirs and rout them by having the cav wedge them selves into the flanks.

[LewisVee]

Take the mighty 300. Job done

[|Sith|Galvanized Iron]

Not impossible to beat, just need to neutralize the effect of the pilum, their mobility and capitalize on the lack of reach of their melee weapon. For a field battle I would equip my army with haldberds and dummy shields. The Romans would be drawn to a naturally restricted battlefield such as a canyon. There a general advance is ordered, the Romans would throw their pilums and they would render the shields useless, but it is dummy shields! Not been robbed of anything of worth the haldberdiers advance on the Romans, Roman shields and armor offering no protection against the haldberd they would be massacred and would be unable to do any damage back with their short gladiuses. It would be a massacre, there is of course the option of also putting missile troops on the ridges but it would be overkill.

[RGA]

A massive cavalry charge on both wings will rout the Roman cavalry and encircle their infantry. With their rear and flank threaten, the Romans will have to retreat or face the second Cannae.

[Sun Jetzu]

The reason I came up with this little scenario is because in Rome I had difficulty conquering Rome as any faction on very hard.
Especially on the field of battle. My guess is in Rome 2 they will be much harder to defeat. Depending on witch army you bring to the table, and what strategy you decide to go with. I just hope legionnaire vs phalanx, I hope the Romans close in through the cracks of the phalanx like they did when they faced it in history.

[DarthRuanek]

Hannibal's tactics at Cannae would work fairly well against a standard Roman strategy, I would think. And he was outnumbered by quite a bit there, and had a great victory. Unfortunately that was a pre-marian legion, but with equal numbers a similar strategy would definitely still have its merits.

In an open battle a phalanx wouldn't be too bad (they were weakest in broken terrain, where groups could be separated), but it could lack the flexibility to take on the Roman front line. Some of the Greek factions would probably have better or at least equal quality missile and cavalry troops (compared to the Romans), so harassment with these groups would be important with any of the successor states.

Realistically speaking, though, the best way to beat the Romans is to choose the terrain yourself, rather than letting them choose it. Most of the time, that's how the Romans were defeated by the "barbarian" tribes, and it can help all the other factions as well.

[DogSoldierSPQR]

The field is a flat plane, with a few trees throughout the battlefield. It is cold windy day, and it looks like rain is coming. The Romans muster there force. It consists of Cavalry, Skirmishers and a huge main body of post Marius legions. They aim to defeat you, and take your lands, towns, woman and children.
How will you defeat them, and who will you be? Are you the Suebi, Parthia, Macedon?
Or are you someone else another faction faced with the overwhelming might of the Roman army. How will you defeat them on the field? Your numbers are equal to theirs, what tactics will you use to send them back to Italy?
How would you defeat a Roman Army and who would you be?

Where is that pic from? It's badass!

I'd be in control of the Greek City-States, making the most out of Spartans. Hoplites are the best defensive troops in my opinion.
I'd do what the Spartans did against the Persians. Have a long line of infantry and let the Romans put the pressure in on the middle. Slowly envelope them. There's no other way. The Roman skill and fashion of fighting is very tough. You literally have to mess with their heads, which you could achieve by encircling them. Hannibal achieved this at Cannae, but those dudes were Pre-Marian. Sun Jetzu has put Post-Marian into the picture. Now that's a whole different thing altogether hahaha!

In all honesty though, Post-Marian legions were the ****! It would be hard fighting them full stop.