Marian Roman

This is the 25mm 350 AP Marian Roman army that I took to Roll Call 2012.

Command 1:
Lucius Lucinius Lucullus as Reg Cv(O) Brilliant C-in-C
8 x Elite Legionaries as Reg Bd(S)
2 x Spanish Scutarii as Irr Ax(S)
3 x Numidian Javelinmen as Irr Ps(S)
1 x Cretan Archers as Reg Ps(O)
1 x African Elephant as Irr El(I)
29 ME

Command 2:
Appius Claudius Pulcher as a Reg Cv(O) SG
6 x Elite Legionaries as Reg Bd(S)
4 x Spanish Scutarii as Irr Ax(S)
24 ME

Command 3:
Gaius Sornatius Barber as a Reg Cv(O) SG
6 x Greek Thureophoroi  as Reg Ax(S)
2 x Legionary Antesignani as Reg Ps(S)
2 x Cretan Archers as Reg Ps(O)
16 ME

Baggage Command:
6 x Tents and baggage as Reg Bge(O)
10 Temporary Fortifications (camp ditch and palisade)
12 ME

For a grand total of 81 ME.

Although I was probably the smallest army there at only 52 elements including the baggage, I think I had more ME than most of my opponents because of the Bd(S). OTOH, that means that the commands  can be lost pretty quickly if you start losing the Bd(S). But they are as tough as old boots.

The army is a refinement of the one I took to Warfare last year. The main changes were to make the commands more asymmetric to allow one to have the low PIPs (which involved concentrating the Bd(S), to drop the Cv(O) (that just got themselves into trouble), to add the El(I) to try and counter the nasty wedged Kn(F) and to have space to put some real elements to defend the camp.

The strategy was that I would normally try and deploy on just one side of the table and turn a flank, hoping that I could destroy that before the other flank of the enemy could wheel across and engage. Against a mobile steppe enemy I would just hunker down and rely on the toughness of the Bd(S) and Ax(S) rather than advance and risk the flanks as they just evaded away. Lucullus’ command would normally go in the centre as the main fighting command, and get the middle die. One flank command would then be the hinge and would deploy with its auxilia in the camp, giving them a factor of 6 behind the TF and making them very difficult to winkle out. The other flank would then get the high die and push forward as far and fast as possible, using the Auxilia to deploy in the flank zone and push through any terrain on the side of the table. Depending on the terrain and opponent this would either be the Regular or Irregular Auxilia (Regular if there was Difficult Going, Irregular with the legionaries if it was open or needed more punch. If I defended then a BUA could help push the hinge point as far forward as possible.