Roman Rock Paper Scissors

[uneducated]

For Roman armies fighting each other, which troops are best used to defeat each opponent?

[SnuggleBunnies]

Depends on the terrain, and which era of Romans to be honest. But speaking in generalities, you'll want to sink as many points as you can into your heavy infantry, with just enough lights and cavalry to cover your flanks. The fearsome head on attacks of the legions are what will win the day.

[Geffalrus]

Examine the map, decide on a plan that is adjusted for the available terrain, and then pick units to execute that plan. For example, let's take the 105BC Roman Army List. That list has a wide spectrum of Heavy Infantry, the focus of all Roman armies. Those units run from super powerful 96 Veteran Legions down to Raw Legions for a fraction of that cost. You don't have enough points for everything, so decide on how you want to rout 40% of your opponent's army ASAP. In general, you want to either be crushing your opponent's weak units with your strong units, or outflanking your opponent's strong units with your own. One way or another, you need to achieve local superiority when you attack, while avoiding your opponent doing the same to you. Then you can turn on the remaining units and cruise to victory.

The Classical way to do this is to you put your best units on your right flank and a bunch of expendable/skirmish capable ones on the left. The Left avoids combat, while the Right seeks it out. You can do that easily enough with Roman units. Crush his weak cohorts with your veterans, while doing your best to keep his Veterans from doing the same, by falling back, hiding in difficult terrain, using a skirmish screen, etc. Alternatively, you can try and crush his best troops first with an attack that combines your best troops with superior numbers of other troops. All units collapse if flanked properly. If you do it quick enough, the other side of his line won't shift fast enough to compensate.

All these things are easier said than done, and take a lot of practice. But in general, I'd say the major R-P-S dynamics are morale (Superior/Average/Raw) and unit type (heavy vs. medium) in rough terrain.