Saturday, June 22, 2013

28mm Ancients Project - Roman Legion a la Impetvs

For Impetvs, the 2nd Punic War mid-Republican Roman legion may comprise,
    1x Medium cavalry
    1x Heavy foot Hastati
    1x Heavy foot Princepes
    1x Heavy foot Triarii
    1x Skirmisher Velites

Below are two such legions (figures are a mix of Renegade and Aventine):





Four to eight such legions are allowed in a Roman army.  I define this as Option 1 where each component is one stand with the Triarii downgraded slightly to account for its historically smaller size.  Option 2 would have two stands each of Hastati, Princepes, and Velites in each legion.   

Impetvs supplement #4 arrived this week from On Military Matters containing new army lists for Greek hoplites, Alexander and his successors, and Rome and the Mediterranean. 

One of the new rules included in the supplement is specific to the Roman Republican army.  That rule describes line relief between Hastati and Princepes.  Since the Republican army was believed to be capable of line rotation, Impetvs adds this capability as well.  Now, given the right circumstances, supporting Princepes can rotate into battle to relieve the Hastati (or vice versa).  With this addition, the supporting unit can actually rotate into melee to replace the Hastati.  In fact, the Hastati, already in enemy contact, may fight one round of melee before being relieved.  The freshly rotated support is then able to fight a second melee with the same enemy.  Sounds like a powerful tactic for the Roman player.

8 comments:

  1. Lovely work here, Jonathan!

    You can field your Spanish Scutarii as a mercenary unit for this army. With 4 Impetus dice going in fresh, the Scutarii are tough. And your Romans will be able to "throw the pilum" as well. Now that you've got yourself a Mid Republican Roman army, all that's left is for you to go conquer the world. ;-)

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    1. "...all that's left is for you to go conquer the world."

      First, I need an opponent! Work begins on a small Carthaginian force to oppose my basic Roman force.

      Before I rebase and field any more units, I need to receive my Litko resupply...three plus weeks and counting.

      Thanks for the Spanish suggestion. They will be able to play both sides of the fence.

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    2. Litko's product can't be beat but the 4 week delay to fill an order is maddening. Good luck!

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    3. Maddening, yes but I did receive notification that the package should be delivered on Thursday!

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  2. Lovely figures, love those blue shields. Yes, line relief is powerful, but it depends on the Romans keeping a coherent formation. If your opponent can break you up, disorder you, and otherwise interfere with the ability of your units to support each other, the Romans can be ground down piecemeal. Actually works rather well.

    FMB

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, FMB! That is a good tip that I will keep in mind when my Impetvs play begins.

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