"Single Roman army that can stand in for almost any?" Topic

Is there such a thing, if one is going to have a Roman army from just one period? What is the best army, or mongrel hypothetical army, that could reasonably be used from early republic to the fall..that might not look too out of place for any time? Is there such a thing as a generic Roman army?

My first thought is "no, and you'll also need different Greek armies to fight off the Persians and to win independence from the Turks." You're talking--even if you mean the fall of the Western Empire--about more or less 1,000 years of history and serious changes in armor, weapons, tactics and organization. That said:

Late Republic/early Empire is in all the best "B" movies, and lets you conquer Gaul, invade Britain and besiege Jerusalem. Heavy on DBA "Blades" and backed up by exotic auxilliaries. Go closer to the fall, you get chain mail, oval shields, more cavalry and are generally headed in the direction of Arthurian Romano-Britons. Drop back and you get a Punic Wars army--more spears and fewer exotic types. A purist could probably name six more, but I suspect three is about as little as you can get away with and not look seriously out of period. I'm looking at two in a much smaller period--Pyrus to Cynocephalae--and I'm not any happier than you are.

Broadly, the answer is no … the equipment changed sufficiently in appearance over the 700 years or so that in most of the visually detailed scales, you would not manage it with one set of figures.

Of course if you were not going for something historical it might not matter to you that much. And if you play a very abstract system like DBA, the troop types themselves, in some configurations, could be quite similar.

Phil
SoA Shows North

The more you read and study the more differences you will note and the more interest and excitement you will have with exploring all the different eras.

I have Punic wars, Caesarian, Early Imperial, Late Romans. Those 4 cover most, I think.

Are you making the army to game? If so, are you making the opposing army as well? Or a friends'? Or a club?

Plastic? Metal? What scale? Budget?

I agree with all the above. I have Punic Wars Rome and Carthage with plenty of allies and a close second Spanish. Early/mid Imperial Rome vs. Parthian/Persian, with again lots of allies. And really late Rome/Early Byzantine vs. Arab Conquest, and allies. As a desert I have Carolingians.

Kev

My first Roman Army was pretty generic. Late Republican with the principes and triarii in mail and red or white tunics. Good enough for most things, including early Imperial. Fleshed out with various auxiliary types (who also did fir Italian Allies).

As ever, it depends how fussy you are and how much you care about oval vs rectangular shields.

Does depend on how fussy you are – my Romans are mostly Early Imperial but I do have some late Empire armoued cavalry; the people I game with have not objected yet!

If you're looking for an opposing army, Celts are a great choice.

I would say Germans are a close second.

Thanks, all.

I got back into historical miniatures with a Middle Imperial Roman – because I didn't have the figures, then, to complete either an Early or Late Imperial army ;-)

I think one has to decide which enemies they want their Romans to face.

For battles against Carthage, Greece, etc I would choose a Polybian type army; to cover the slave revolts, the early emperors, thru conflict with Palmyra I would get an early Imperial type army; from then until Justinian I would want a later Roman army (maybe with a few tweaks; like more cavalry).

I think it's hard to use just one of the above type armies to represent either of the other two. My two cents.

I think one has to decide which enemies they want their Romans to face.

+1