"Marian Romans were better" Topic

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Andy Offen, writing in Slingshot 331, remarks that "…the question of whether Marian Romans were better than Polybian Romans is still to be answered." What say you?

48% said "Marian Romans were better"
13% said "Polybian Romans were better"

Well they were certainly on the whole a more professional force, in a technical sense. But it would depend on a lot of variables. A Polybian era Roman force that had been campaigning for years in Spain for example, engaging in frequent fighting, probably knew what it was about. I'll always bet on experience.

A Polybian era Roman force that had been campaigning for years in Spain for example, engaging in frequent fighting, probably knew what it was about. I'll always bet on experience.

I would agree with this, the roman force as Zama would have been very effective, however I have to also admit the Marian roman army's sent a lot of time fighting other romans and I suspect there were a lot of uber veteran's in that army as a result.

I had 15mm armies of each of them for GWR Ancients wargames & they were both good forces, but I'd rather play the Polybians with their mix of Triari, Hastati & Priari + Equite. I also preferred the Heritage figures to the MiniFigs. Both lists also had a wide choice of allies & mercenaries.