Pharsalus scenario - questions regarding Pompey's forces

[CharlesdeBatz]

Hi all,

I'm currently working on a Pharsalus scenario (with the player as the Roman/Pompeian side), and I'm not entirely clear as to what the appropriate unit choices would be for the Pompeian legionaries.

I currently have the majority as Mediocre Legionaries with a few Roman Legionaries/Veteran Roman Legionaries added in, while Caesar's units are all Veteran Legionaries, although roughly 25% fewer in number. On my last playtest of this scenario, the Pompeian line began to break almost from the beginning due to the unit quality disparity (elite versus average); some accounts of the battle that I've read indicate that this was the case, while others have a smaller difference in "quality" between Caesar's and Pompey's troops. I'm making a copy which replaces all Mediocre Legionaries with Roman Legionaries for better balance, but is this reflective of the actual historical situation?

[rbodleyscott]

All we really know is that Caesar's troops were better than Pompey's. We cannot quantify by exactly how much.

You want your scenario to reflect history, but also to be winnable by the Pompeian side (even if it may have been a foregone conclusion historically) otherwise why bother to play it at all?

If you cannot achieve this with the stock units (unlikely, if you mix and match them rather than having them all the same), you can use a scenario script to tweak their quality.

[CharlesdeBatz]

Right now I've managed to achieve a (relatively) balanced scenario by having the right half of Pompey's legionaries be Roman Legionaries, while the left half is Mediocre Legionaries with a few Veteran Legionaries mixed in. Most of the descriptions I've found indicate that Pompey placed his steadiest troops on his right, while the left was composed of, on average, greener units. I'm still working out the exact balance that gives the player a chance for victory with the correct strategy.