The following unit types are available for recruitment and deployment by Rome. Note that the palatini & comitatenses cannot be recruited; a fixed number of these elite soldiers exist at game-start as the preset legions of the empire, and no more of their kind can be raised, at most their employer (either the Empire itself, or a usurper who has gotten them to defect) can pay to replenish their ranks at 50% of their cost of maintenance. Bucellarii can be recruited by individual characters, and ripenses & limitanei cohorts can be recruited by the Imperial government and any declared usurpers who hold at least two provinces.
The basic unit is the cohort, comprised of 500 men. A legion in this period is approx. 2,000 strong, naturally consisting of 4 cohorts. By default, a pre-existing legion will have 2 cohorts of infantry, 1 of archers and 1 of cavalry.
Palatine legions:
Auxilia palatina: A cohort of elite heavy infantry armed with spears, spathae and scuta. Their ridge-helmets are often gilded and jewel-encrusted to set them apart from the common soldiers, and all of their equipment is of the finest make. The domesticorum pedites are a special unit of palatine infantry, sworn to guard the Emperors & their kin with their lives. Worth 7 points. Costs 9,000 solidii to maintain.
Scholae: A cohort of elite heavy cavalry armed with razor-sharp lances, spathae medium-sized scuta. Quite capable of breaking an infantry line with a single charge, then pulverizing any survivors with their blades. The unit of scholae specifically tasked with protecting Emperors and their kin are also known as 'candidati', after their white tunics. Worth 8 points. Costs 12,000 solidii to maintain.
Sagittarii graves: A cohort of elite armored archers, who fight with long composite bows while wearing gleaming helmets and coats of chainmail. Not only can they shoot farther and with more precision than even the archers of the comitatenses, they can also defend themselves more effectively in close combat thanks to their heavier armor. Worth 6.5 points. Costs 8,000 solidii to maintain.
---
Comitatenses:
Cohors peditata: One cohort of heavy professional infantry outfitted with helmets (ridge helms chiefly), lorica-hamata chainmail or lorica-squamata scale armor and a spatha, rounded scutum and plumbata (heavy darts) to replace the older pila. Still one of the best, and certainly the most disciplined, infantry units in Europe. Worth 6 points. Costs 7,500 solidii to maintain.
Equites promoti: One cohort of professional horsemen equipped with helmets, chainmail and a thrusting lance, spatha and rounded scutum. Decent medium (leaning towards heavy) cavalry, able to charge with their lances and hold their own in a fight, but still best used to charge the enemy flanks and rear instead of rushing them headlong. Worth 7 points. Costs 8,500 solidii to maintain.
Cohors sagittaria: One cohort of professional archers, equipped with helmets and composite bows. Capable foot archers. Worth 5.5 points. Costs 6,500 solidii to maintain.
---
Bucellarii:
Pedites bucellarii: Mercenary infantry (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. Generally they're well-equipped - they're not likely to work for poor masters, after all - though they aren't as rigorously organized and trained as comitatenses, and lack the legions' plumbata. Worth 3 points. Costs 7,000 solidii to recruit and 6,000 to maintain.
Equites bucellarii: Mercenary cavalry (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. They're medium cavalry, outfitted with chainmail and helmets like the regular equites, and most effective at charging an enemy's flank with their lances. Worth 3.5 points. Costs 8,000 solidii to recruit and 7,000 to maintain.
Sagittarii bucellarii: Mercenary bowmen (including veterans of the Roman army) on a private individual's payroll rather than that of the state. Some fight with bows, others use light crossbows that have a longer range and more penetrating power than ordinary bows but are vulnerable to the weather. Worth 2.5 points. Costs 6,000 solidii to recruit and 5,000 to maintain.
---
Ripenses:
Cohors ripenses: One cohort of higher-quality border guardsmen, mostly found along the rivers of the Rhenish and Danubian limes. They are slightly better-drilled and equipped than the limitanei stationed away from those two particular borders. Worth 2 points. Costs 4,000 solidii to recruit and 3,000 to maintain.
Equites scutarii: One cohort of lightly armored cavalry equipped with a helmet, mail shirt, plumbata darts or javelins, spathae and a larger scuta than what the Equites Auxilia carry. They are medium cavalry, leaning towards the lighter end of the armor spectrum, and best used as heavy skirmishers or flanking troops. Worth 2.5 points. Costs 5,000 solidii to recruit and 4,000 to maintain.
Sagittarii ripenses: One cohort of higher-quality border bowmen commonly found at the great riverine limes of the Empire, trained to a higher standard than the milites sagittarii of the lesser limitanei. Worth 1.5 points. Costs 3,000 solidii to recruit and 2,000 to maintain.
---
Limitanei:
Auxilia cohors: One cohort of lower-quality border guardsmen, light footsoldiers who fight with a thrusting spear and scutum and have at most a helmet for protection. Not great soldiers, but useful for fending off barbarian raids and padding out an army's numbers. Worth 1 point. Costs 2,500 solidii to recruit and 1,500 to maintain.
Equites auxilia: One cohort of light cavalrymen from the border, wearing only helmets for protection and armed with light javelins or darts in addition to a spatha and small, rounded scutum similar to the parma of the ancient velites. Light skirmisher cavalry, best used to harass an opponent from a distance and not at all meant for charging or fighting in extended melees. Worth 1.5 points. Costs 3,500 solidii to recruit and 2,000 to maintain.
Milites sagitarii: One cohort of lower-quality border guardsmen, unarmored archers wielding locally made bows of inferior quality to the comitatenses archers' composite weapons. Poor quality missile troops best used to scout and shoot down barbaric raiders. Worth 1 point. Costs 2,000 solidii to recruit and 1,000 to maintain.
---
Special units:
Circumcellions: A 500-strong mob of fanatical Donatist rabble, fighting unarmored and equipped only with slings and cudgels which they call 'Israelites'. While little match for a prepared Roman legionary, these light infantrymen are adept at hiding and fighting in the desert, and are thus able to flawlessly hide on African terrain until the enemy is right on top of them. Moreover, they are so determined to martyr themselves for the glory of God - believing that martyrdom is the highest virtue of all - that they will never flee from the battlefield, even if the rest of the army that they've joined has disintegrated and it is clear that they are doomed. Worth 1 point, free of upkeep, can only be spawned by asking for a Circumcellion roll as a Donatist.
Barbarian foederati differ from tribe to tribe, and will accordingly be assigned differing stats as they come up. Foederati cannot be recruited normally: the Emperor (either the guy actually running things out of Rome, or a declared usurper) must negotiate with the king and chiefs of, say, the Goths or Alamanni, and offer them the opportunity to settle permanently in Roman lands in exchange for their military support. Federate forces are free, being sustained by the land you gave them – the income taken out of the provinces you’ve opened to them is their pay. The size of the foederati forces recruited, the income cuts their presence deliver, and the odds of recruiting them in the first place, will be left to moderator discretion and defined by the size & prominence of the tribe in question (for example, successfully recruiting the Franks or Saxons should be harder, more costly and more rewarding than recruiting the Juthungi or Scirians).
Post-Roman units will also be made available should a region either rebel against the Emperor (whether in service to a usurper, in which case they're only available temporarily and can't be recruited after the war has ended, or to achieve independence), or be cut off from the rest of the Empire. |
Barracks Thread
Reply With Quote
