Need reasons to make an early Principate list..

[Fulgrim]

Ok, this is turning sour. My aim was not to "fix my list plz" - my point was that it would be nice if lists were not so onesided/topheavy as i percive this one to be.

That would have increased the enjouyment of listbuilding and lessen the risk of sterotyped lists on tournaments. The only real advantage of an EPR/EIR list is Corvus Bellis exellent miniatures

I concede to ars_bellis superior knowledge regardning the romans, you are correct: greaves were only used by centuriones and such and not the lower ranks.
I didnt belive that the Late rep. legions lost edge quite that repidly considering the the time the legonaries were required to serve but im no scholar in this and stop my theorycraft at that.

I will leave this topic now.

[nikgaukroger]

Actually there is evidence for other ranks using greaves - and some of it is at Adamklissi if you have look at some good photos.

[Draka]

I suspect that as in most armies old and new, what was issued is standard - what the troops managed to purchase/steal/scrounge during field maneuvers ain't - and that parade troops don't normally show off their booty as it just may get confiscated by REMF idjits ....

[ars_belli]

My sincere apologies if my post came across as "sour." However, I'll have to stand by my assertion that the EPR list looks entirely appropriate and historical as it is. It also appears to me that most of the later options are actually downgrades (e.g. legionaries can be either Armoured or Protected, rather than exclusively Armoured), which would also be historically appropriate.

As for the Late Republican Roman list, the justification for optional Elite legionaries would appear to rest entirely with Caesar's Xth legion. As someone whose favorite army has always been LRR, I must say that I have not yet seen any real reason to field Elite legionaries in any of my battles, and I would be perfectly happy if that option was not available at all. On a similar note, I think that the Early German list, with fewer optional troop types, is more historically viable than the Gallic or Ancient British ones, so at least I am attempting to be consistent in my views on the subject.

Cheers,
Scott