Choosing Your Army?

[spedius01]

Ave,

Continuing the thought process began in "What To Recruit First?", the following is my interpretation of your possible choices.

There are four basic types of armies available to you as commander of the Roman forces.

1. A Militia army
2. A Republican/Hoplite Army
3. An Imperial Army
4. A Hybrid/Evolutionary Army

1. A Militia Army
A Militia army could contain the following troop types:
A Legate, peasants, militia, skirmishers, scouts, spearmen and nobles.

2. A Republican/Hoplite Army
A Republican/Hoplite army could contain the following troop types:
A Legate, velites, scouts, nobles, hastati, pricipe, triarii, elephants.

3. An Imperial Army
An Imperial army could contain the following troop types:
A Legate, velites, scouts, auxilia, auxiliary cavalry, auxiliary archers, legionaries, praetorians.

4. A Hybrid/Evolutionary Army
A Hybrid/Evolutionary army could contain any and all of the above.

Those are the basics.

Where you go with your choice is determined by your selection at the beginning of the Roman campaign.
Do you disband all, some or none of the start-up army? And, having made your decision, you then fight your way through the battles, taking one at a time, and basing your next and subsequent choices on your own temperament,
are you agressive or defensive, cautious or adventurous? Whichever you are will determine your style of play and choice of army.

I believe, inevitably, on the first run-through, most people would choose a Hybrid/Evolutionary army. You have no
ideas about what types of armies on what types of terrain you'll be faced with in the next seventy or so battles. It makes sense to evolve as you learn, it's human nature.

On the second and subsequent run-throughs, with the knowledge, experience and confidence gained from your first taste of the game, it would be unusual if you chose the same army again. It may well be another Hybrid/Evolutionary army but not the same composition. It could even be one of the other armies, trying them out just to see what they can do against a known enemy. Maybe you can be more comfortable with a disciplined army? They are easier to control.
Whatever you decide, it's all useful experience gained in order to achieve a better end result. A high fame total at the end of the campaign, higher than the last time you played. A target you've set for you to beat.

I'm currently fighting my through the campaign with an Imperial army (see "My Final Army (Mk. 1)). I'm about to attempt scenario #32. Yes, I did manage to beat them pesky elephants in #31. (see "How do you kill elephants?")
Scenario #32 should be quite a challenge!!

It would appear that gamers develop an attachment to certain units that they favour and would choose no matter what the style of army is. My particular favourites are the auxilia, these are tough little guys, they can chop down most opponents if given the right set of conditions to fight under. Woods and rough terrain are two of their favoured elements and they are capable of performing prodigous feats of excellence in combat against all-comers in those settings. It's a pity they don't get additional javelins in equipment or become expert throwers as a skill in promotions, like their big brothers, the legionaries!!

I leave you with a final thought. If you win battles with your chosen army and can keep the losses down who's to say you're wrong. Go with your own instincts, develop your own skills and style of fighting your battles. We can't all be Scipio Africanus, but we can aspire!!

Most important of all, enjoy the experience!!

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

PS. Keep your eyes open for future postings ie. Promotions, Equipment, Recording Your Battles, and others.

[venividivici]

I'm definately a hybrid/evolutionary fan all the way. It feels as though you need to develop the army much faster in the Roman campaign than the Celtic one. Militia are a surprisingly useful unit in both campaigns and can be used effectively right up to the end of the hard level scenarios. I never disband armies, even the weaker units are allowed to improve and pretty much every unit has a role to play in this game.

I tend toward armies that use elite units such as the triarii/praetorians for Roman and the veterans/nobles for Celtic. With the latter I don't need to worry about enemy archers or cavalry as upgraded elite units will wipe the floor with them every time.

[spedius01]

Ave venividivici,

Welcome once again, I trust you are well?

I can see that you've really got stuck into Legion Arena, your final scores look quite impressive. I'm still stuck at #32.

Thank you for being the first to use the voting system on this posting. It will be interesting to see how it pans out.
I rather suspect it will come down very heavily in favour of Hybrid armies.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

PS. I'm working on a series of interconnected articles, what do you think of the idea?

[venividivici]

PS. I'm working on a series of interconnected articles, what do you think of the idea?

Excellent idea! You are clearly quite knowledgeable on the subject and I look forward to reading more. You obviously like to play as close to the authentic deployments as possible judging by your posts.

Strength and Honour!

[spedius01]

PS. I'm working on a series of interconnected articles, what do you think of the idea?

Excellent idea! You are clearly quite knowledgeable on the subject and I look forward to reading more. You obviously like to play as close to the authentic deployments as possible judging by your posts.

Strength and Honor!

Ave venividivici,

Thanx for the compliment, as someone not driven by an overbearing ego, any and all praise is most welcome.

I'm an old table top wargamer and to see the equivalent of my little Airfix Romans come to life, is, in my view,
quite exhilerating. Also, as an ex-army man my lack of choice re. the troops' formations and evolutions is a bit
frustrating. The subject of one of the pending articles perhaps?

You might consider using "Strength and Honour" as your signature?

Keep well,

M. Spedius Corbulo

[warmaster]

My armies mainly consist of Triarri and Praetorians with some back up archers/velites and cavalry. If you want to spice things up, Elephants are awesome too. Either way I pick my units from the top tier soldiers.

[miki]

Hi gents,

I choose the 2nd option, the Republican army. I humbly think that the first, early Roman army, was an hoplite army. Therefore, the first option would be early/hoplite. In fact, the first Legion was an hoplite/militia mass of nearly 5.000 citizens.

And, the Republican army was the Maniple army for excellence, made of Velites, hastati, principes, triarii and a very weak cavalry contingent. Add to that the Allies, mirror legions, with greater corps of cavalry (and perhaps of better quality too).

Just a grumpy thought.

[warmaster]

I see it as taking the best of the Republican/Hoplite Army 'Triarri' and the best of the Imperial Army 'Praetorians' in order to make my uber mixed army.

[spedius01]

Ave venividivici, warmaster and miki,

Thank you for your thoughts and ideas,

So far the poll seems to indicate a preference for Hybrid/Evolutionary armies. I'm not totally surprised, even though, logically, the Imperial would appear to be the most modern iteration of the evolutionary variations. Each troop type is represented by the best, in my opinion, of its' kind. Take the Auxilia for an example, they are indisputably the finest in their classification. With the promotion's option of "Disciplined Formations" they become simply formidable! The Auxilia could well be adjudged as Light-Medium Infantry, a entirely new classification, within the context of Legion Arena! Who knows how powerful they could be with the addition of "Expert Thrower" from promotions and "Extra Javelins" from equipment? Do you think that could be an oversight or deliberation omission by the Slitherine team?

In conclusion, an army is a personal thing, it is a choice made to suit the style of play developed by each of us. Do you continue to choose the same army each time you play? Or, are you open to the wide array of alternative choices? There are so many permutations and combinations available it makes the head swim. Whatever your choice, there is something we can agree on, we all enjoy the experience of playing Legion Arena, each in our own way.

Vale

M. Spedius Corbulo

[scarfacetarraff]

Hybrid for the most part. But, I'm reaching a point in the Roman campaign that I could field an entire Imperial Army, in that I could select only Imperial divisions to battle in particular scenarios.