Legions and Auxilia

[deltafan]

I've got a few questions about auxilia and legions.

1. On the campaign map the red shields in the territories mark those territories that can recruit true legionaries. But the black shields can recruit immatation legionaries. What are the main differences between the two?

2. Should auxilia armies be sent into a battle before a legion to preserve it, or should I let the legion fight it out and use the auxilias to fill in the gaps until replacement legionaries can arrive?

3. Would it be a good idea to concentrate legions to one major area of an area while auxilias fight it out in the more minor areas, of said area?

4. Until the Marius reforms occur, I am stuck with Hastati/Principe/etc legions, can I recruit those units in territories without the red or black shields?

[Garnier]

1: Imitations are similar in every way except they look different and are worse quality.

2: I usually put the auxiliaries on the frontline of the battle, since they are easily replaceable. Also I try to keep my 1st cohort alive as they are hard to replace.

3: I usually have only 1 or 2 campaigns going at a time, which is where the imperial legions are. The rest of the fronts that I am defending on, I have auxiliary legions. Of course, I make exceptions here and there.

4: You can recruit hastati anywhere, but princeps and triarii are only recruitable in the red shield lands.

[deltafan]

2: According to LT's house rules, that would be the 3 Auxilia Spearmen right?
3: What if I have Imperial legions with Auxilia legions, then would I send the Auxilia legion to battle first in order to try to defeat or soften the enemy before using my Imperial legion, in order to preserve it? Or do I send the Imperial legion first, and if it is defeated, use the Auxilia force to finish the enemy off and act as a legion until I can repair or replace the Imperial legion (or if the Imperial legion wins, do I recruit new auxilias to fill in gaps in the Imperial legion, or do I take auxilias from the existing auxilia legion to do this, and recruit new auxilias to it to fill in those gaps)?

New Questions:
1. This is going to sound stupid, but Auxilias can be recruited anywhere, right? Are the legionaries, cohorts, triarii, and principes the only units with limitation?

2. Naming the legions: Is this done by only recruiting one first cohort from each red shield province?

[Hoffman]

My Preferred Legion attack is like this: You've got 9 Legionairy cohorts +1 first cohort, 2 Archer Auxilia, 2 Roman Cav, General, 2 Light Auxilia, and 3 Auxilia Spears.

5 Legion Cohorts form a Battleline in shield-wall formation, maximum width with the First Cohort centered immediatly behind them.
Behind the First Cohort centered are the 2 Archer Auxilia.
About 20 yards behind them in boxed marching formation are the remaining 4 Legionairy Cohorts holding their pila fire.
Behind THEM, in marching column are the 3 Auxilia Spears who can then swiftly deploy to either flank to intercept flanking units.
The second array of Legionaires can flank or bolster the main line while the Archers exploit gaps in enemy lines to rush through, form up behind the enemy and pepper them with arrows point-blank from behind. Cavalry distract/defeat enemy cav/archer units and the whole battle lasts all of five minutes.


Now, 2A: Yes according to house rules that's 3 Auxilia Spears.
3A: Send the Auxilia first, you can retrain those at will, the Imperials can only be retrained every 20 turns (10 or 5 years depending on how you play), but Imperial Legions can be supplemented with Auxilia Swords for lost Legionaires.

1B: Auxilias are trainable everywhere, even Timbuktu, Legionaires are only trainable in 28 provinces in Italy/Macedonia/Southern Gaul.

2:Yes. Only 1 First Cohort of a Legion can exist at one time per the House Rules. Now if your Legion is in a far off place, and at like 10% Legionaires remaining and 90% Auxilia I imagine you can disband the Legionaires, convert it to an Auxilia Legion, and rebuild the Legion back home.

[Hoffman]

So the whole thing looks like so:

===============
..........-----
............XX

......========
......========
.......|| || ||

[deltafan]

OK, so the Imperial legions are only for use as a backup to auxilias on the campaign map or to fight in the more prestigious battles?

Also, in case I forget which legion is which, how do I tell where each legion came from?

And do Immatation legions make for a good auxilia legion, or should I stay away from them entirely?

[Garnier]

When I was talking about auxilia in the front line, I meant the auxilia swords. The spearmen I use on the flank.

And about imitation legionaries, I dont use them at all. they don't seem to fit in with my armies very well, but Im sure some people use them.

[Hoffman]

The First Cohort, which holds the Legion name, can only be recruited in one city. So you merely have to go to the city, compare the name of the Legion's First Cohort, and the City's trainable First Cohort and poof there you go.


I use Imitation Legionaires because it adds a twinge of storyline, and their not as good as Legionaires but I do believe they perform as well if not better than Auxilia, and if an imitation Legion performs well enough I may just reward their city

[deltafan]

Do recruitment of the Immitation legion's First Cohort work the same way
as the Imperial legions?

Do you use Immitation legions more than auxilia (ie, no auxilia legions)? And do Immitation legions perform better than pre-Marian Hastati/Principe legions?

And would I deploy the auxilia legions into battles on the campaign map (ie fighting smaller armies, forts, etc) and save the Imperial legions for battles like taking cities or fighting larger armies with high-ranking generals? Then of course, use Immitation legionaries or auxilias to fill in the gaps of the Imperial legion?

[Atticus]

and if an imitation Legion performs well enough I may just reward their city

what do you mean by rewarding their city Hoffman? i'd like to know and maybe it's something i can practise.

[Hoffman]

Over-all battle strategy is for you to determine, Legate!

As far as reconstitution goes, I like to reinforce my Imperials with immitations, then auxilia... with the way I generally command it doesn't make much of a difference to me, because all I have to do is stop the enemy army cold, and thanks to Napoleonic columns, outmaneuvering him is fairly simple.

Since I spent alot of time playing N:TW for Medieval, my battle tactics center alot around Napoleonic style warfare, a screen of skirmish battalions ahead of the main army to pick off/scout out enemy armies.
A skirmish Battalion consists of 2 Roman Cavalry, and 4 Light Auxilia, these operate as independant units designed to ambush, bloody, and retreat. As well as take out targets of opportunity. I first developed this tactic in Sicily with Equites and Velites to knock out Cretan Archers in Greek armies since they tore my Pre-Marian Legions apart. And while some would find that cheating, I like to win and managing a Skirmish Battalion against an entire Army isn't exactly the easiest thing in the world. It requires alot of planning, good terrain, and good use of one or two volleys before having to retreat to preserve the battalion.

Surprisingly despite the danger of the job, my Skirmish Battalions suffer a lower %age of casualties than the regular Legions.

Next I advance the actual Legions, because I like to have my best troops up front and in the thick of the fighting, Imperials for me are like the Coldstream, or Napoleon's Old Guard. They clear the way for the lighter Auxilia Legions to pour through and exploit the assault.

I use Auxilias as just that, the weight needed to exploit the thrust that the Imperials make, and after the Imperials crush the enemy army I pull them back and let the Auxilias mop-up.

The only time I've ever really used Auxilia as heavy front line troops was during the Macedonian Wars, where my 7 Republican Legions were involved in such heavy combat that nearly all of their Republican Cohorts were replaced with Auxilia Cohorts due to the house rule of not retraining Legions for 20 turns.