Imperial Roman Army of Constantius II

 

As a friend (Tommy) posted a blog entry (go read it) about his take on an Imperial Roman list yesterday I thought I'd do the same - maybe a lack of imagination here but its one of my favourite armies. So here is a version I have used with some success ...

The list ...

This is a version I came up with a couple of years ago after much playing around with the composition and a number of practice games. I've used it in two "classical" themed competitions run at Boards & Swords Hobbies in Derby, coming 3rd place in one and 2nd place in the other. Suggests I got something right.

Obviously the list is all about the infantry, with the cavalry being very much a supporting arm. Despite what some wargamers think about the "late Roman" army, it is clear from the writings of Ammianus that this was still very much the case although the cavalry arm was more varied than under the early empire.

Command is quite tight in the list with 11 cards/discs. I think ideally it would have 1 more, however, the points did not stretch to that. Also, with the whole army being Drilled 11 is usually enough to do what you need to do.

I have splashed out on a Talented sub-general as it can be very useful in the list to be able to move a block of 4 units together - especially if you are attacking shooting enemies as it makes a Prompt Through Fire very cost efficient. This is especially important when you are charging as the Shield Cover does not apply in the Charge Phase.

The Army Commander will almost always float rather than be allocated troops. Again this lets you stack cards/discs with the Talented general who is likely to be commanding the attack troops.

The command gets you 7 PBS cards which is fine, and with so many troops being Flexible terrain is not really much of an issue, although as the army is not that big closing down the table width a bit can be useful if facing a mobile enemy.

Scouting of just 2 is not great, but such is the lot of an infantry based army. I've not found it too much of a disadvantage.

The list requires a Fortified Camp which does suck up a few points that you might find usefully spent on fighting troops, but again it comes with the territory when you choose to play the army and it does mean that it can resist a less than determined attacker. I leave it as Poor as that is enough to stop a lot of things that might reach it.

My camp is from Baueda with some spare Lurkio infantry added.

As mentioned the cavalry component of the army is limited and their role is very much to try and keep enemy off the backs of the infantry whilst the latter chew through whatever they are facing. They are most likely to do this by skirmishing and because of that there are 2 units and neither has had points spent on the optional Melee Expert or upgraded to Superior. In many ways if they are fighting, other than into a flank or finishing something off, then something has gone a bit awry - or they are being sacrificed to buy time ...

I find that 2 small units acting in tandem can be extremely effective in holding up enemy as opposed to a single unit, especially when Drilled. Of course it also allows you to have a small mounted presence in 2 places if that would be useful as well.

The meat of the army is the infantry, and all but one unit are capable fighters. All the units are 6 bases strong. Some people like to have their Roman infantry in 8 base units, however, I find having them in 6's is usually fine, and the extra unit or two you can end up with can be very useful with a bit of manoeuvre.

The Exceptional guard infantry head things up. Some like to omit the Melee Expert from their Exceptionals, and it is perfectly valid as they are damned tough anyway, however, I want mine to be able to chew their way through an enemy as quickly as possible and so want the extra Combat Phase claim.

This is the one unit that does not have a Little Big Men Studios shield transfer that is from the Notitia Dignitatum, but it looks too good IMO to not use.

Most of the other Superior legionarii are basically the same as the guard only one grade lower in quality.

The shar-eyed will have spotted a 7th base in each unit in the above pictures. This is to allow them to take advantage of the Special Rule in the army list - "CLUBMEN (from 269 to 350 CE): If the enemy army could have any cavalry with ArmHrs/Fully Armoured; one Impact Weapon, Melee Expert legionary base per TuG can be converted to 2-Handed Cut & Crush at no additional cost. The base must be clearly distinguished from other legionaries."

The base has figures with a small conversion to look as if they have a large club and so fulfil the requirements for a clearly distinguishable base.

One unit of the legionarii is only 4 bases strong. This is because the number of Superior legionarii allowed is 16 and so you cannot have 3 units of 6 - but you could have 2 of 8, but as noted above I like 6's. The 4 base unit differs by having Integral Shooters and Orb which allows it to be used as a pretty tough flank guard if necessary as with all that it can be hard to shift. Another use is, of course, to try and insert itself into a flank.

The single archer on the round base is how I mark units that have Integral Shooters. I find this makes them clearly identifiable to avoid confusion for both players.

The army includes a single unit of the Auxilia Palatina. To be honest I'd prefer them to be legionarii but as noted there are only 16 bases of Superior ones allowed and by usually the Auxilia Platina I get another Superior unit into the army (in fact with 11 TUGs there is a maximum of 5 Superior or Exceptional TUGs allowed and this is the 5th).

Not quite as good as the legionarii as they are Short Spear instead of Impact weapon and have no Shield Cover, but they are a little cheaper. Their Unskilled Javelin can be useful on occasion as well but does mean they are Missile Focused and so always need prompting to charge (but on the other hand re not subject to Forced Charge).

The remaining 3 units of legionarii are all Average. Whilst obviously not as good as the Superior ones they are still very capable troops and are no push over. With their weapon capabilities not requiring multiple ranks they are not affected by base loses which is very useful. One unit has Integral Shooters and Orb and so like the small legionarii unit is good for a more defensive posture perhaps covering a flank.

The final unit of the army very much comes under the "filler" category. Their whole reason for inclusion is to bring the army up to 11 TUGs and so a break point of 6. If they're doing anything other than standing still all game something as gone badly wrong. They get deployed somewhere I never expect the enemy to get to.

So there we go. Like Tommy's list the strength is in the infantry, but hopefully the different composition gives players thinking of this army a bit of a different approach to think about.

The infantry figures I have used are all from Lurkio - these are my current favourite figures for the period, although Legio Heroica are a close second. (Sadly I write this blog entry on the day after I found out that Giuseppe who ran Legio Heroica has passed away - he will be very much missed and it is hoped that somebody will be able to take over and continue the production of his very wonderful figures)

The cavalry are from Khurasan Miniatures and the generals a mix of Lurkio, Legio Heroica and Donnington.