Back in the early winter I started re-listening to one of my favorite podcasts, Mike Duncan’s The History of Rome. For those of you who have never heard of it before, it ran from July 2007 to May 2012; 179 episodes of the history of the (western) Roman Empire, from Romulus and Remus all the way to the deposition of Romulus Augustulus by Odoacer. While I have always been a lover of history (and a teacher of it too), ancient armies have never been something I’ve tackled in gaming, so I decided to research some ancients rule-sets and build matching armies, one Roman and one a traditional enemy of Rome.

For rule-sets, I eventually settled on To the Strongest!. I also believe that this force, on 40x20mm bases and made up of 10mm Pendraken figures, would work for MeG Pacto, but I was not aware of that ruleset at the time and I have not had a chance to try it yet. I will write a review of the Pendraken figures at a later date, but for now, thumbs up!

As for my armies, after thinking about building a stereotypical late-republic/early-imperial army of Julius Caesar matched up with a horde of Gallic “barbarians”, I eventually settled on the middle-Republican Roman army, before the Marian reforms, and Rome’s greatest historical enemy… Carthage! In this article I’m going to post a breakdown of my Republican Romans, what each units are, and a bit about how they are used in To the Strongest! (from now on TtS!). My Carthaginian army will appear in a later post.

The Roman Army of the Middle Republic

“Carthago delenda est!”

Rome’s army, prior to the reforms of Gaius Marius in 107 BCE, was a citizen army, made up of those Romans who owned a certain amount of land and could supply their own weapons and equipment. This was very different from the later legions, drawn from the poorer classes and non-Romans and equipped by the state. Because soldiers had to supply their own arms, this led to a difference in soldier type based on economic class. I’ll be breaking down my Republican Roman army starting with the poorest soldiers (but still wealthy enough to serve) and working my way up to the wealthiest. After the standard soldiers I’ll go over some special and miscellaneous troops.

Velites

Velites – Hungry like the wolf!

Velites were the poorest (and typically youngest) citizens, who could not afford armor or even a sword. Thus, they served as javelin-throwing skirmishers, harassing the enemy until their javelin’s were spent, then retreating thought the main line of the Roman army. In TtS! Roman velites are not meant to go toe-to-toe with the enemy, but are inexpensive to field.

Hastati

Hastati means spear, but they fight with swords? Blame history.

One step up in wealth from the velites were the hastati. These citizens could afford basic armor (often just a bronze disk across the chest), a helmet, a shield, a pilum javelin, and a gladius style sword. Some of the youngest men, they were the main battle-line of the Republican army, suffering the highest casualties. In TtS!, the hastati and principes (next section) fight as a combined unit, representing their ability to switch positions in battle once the hastati had exhausted themselves or were in over their head. This ability, coupled with their pilum extra attack and heavy armor, make them expensive to field, but they will form a difficult to defeat core of any Roman army.

Principes

Principes – The heart of the Republican army.

Forming the line just behind their similarly armed hastati brothers, the principes could afford a full set of armor, usually chain mail. Of all the pre-Marian soldiers, these most closely resembled the later legionaries of Julius Caesar and the early Roman Empire. If the hastati were unable to defeat the enemy, these better armored, more veteran troops would step in to take over the fighting, often winning the battle after the younger soldiers had tired out the enemies of Rome. As stated above, the principes are not a distinct unit in TtS!, but rather fielded as a hastati/principes combination unit. Once per game, when damaged, this unit can use an action to move the principes to the front, removing the damage and increasing their armor save.

Triarii

Rem Ad Triarios Redisse – “And so, it has come to the Triarii”

The wealthiest of the Roman infantry, and the last line in the army, were the triarii. As you can see, each base only has one line of 4 miniatures, rather than 2 lines. This means that the triarii are a small unit, which can take fewer wounds. This matches reality, where the triarii were outnumbered by the other Roman infantry, but made up for their small numbers with their experience (often the oldest and most veteran soldiers). They also fought in the style of Greek hoplites, unlike the sword wielding hastati/principes. Useful for plugging holes in the Roman line, don’t expect them to do all the fighting, just keep your main troops from falling apart if things get bad. The unit with green shields are actually extraordinarii, the elite infantry of the army, handpicked by generals to either lead the army or protect the rear. These troops fought in the legionary style of the hastati/principes.

Equites

Equites – Romans and horses just don’t go together

The wealthiest citizens, those who could afford a horse, made up the Roman cavalry. Armed with light spears, they protect the infantry’s flanks, attacked enemy skirmishers, and served as scouts for the main body of the army. Until the later empire, Roman armies largely focused on the infantry at the expense of the cavalry, and the Republican army is no different. Of the 6 equites TtS! allows Rome to field, only 2 can be Roman, while the other 4 are allied Latin tribes. In practice, there is no difference between them.

Allied Archers

The is the dawning of the age of Sagittarius, age of Sagittarius!!!!

While the Romans didn’t field any archers of their own, they were more than happy to use the archers of their allies to make up for their ranged deficiencies.

Centurions

“Brothers, what we do in life… echoes in eternity!”

In TtS! armies can field a number of heroes, allowing other units, which the heroes are attached to, to temporarily fight harder. For Rome, these heroes are the centurions which led soldiers into battle. In the back you can see I also used some principes miniatures, as I ran out of the centurions (who also appear as generals).

Consuls, Proconsuls, Legati, and Aquilae

Is that Scipio Africanus?! I want his autograph!

No army would be complete without its leadership. In the first pictures you can see four sets of generals on foot, with some standard bearers representing that they are, indeed, a very-important-person. In the back of the first image you can also see some lone standard bearers. In TtS!, these Aquilae bolster your army’s morale, making it harder to be routed. Finally, four mounted generals (including a figure representing Scipio Africanus) round out the army.

Units Not Appearing

TtS! allows you to field armies with a variety of different units, all drawn from historical evidence of what types of soldiers really served. This doesn’t even include the allies system, which would allow the Republican Roman army to fight alongside the Spanish, Numidians, and others. The following units didn’t make it into my army, but could, in the future:

Numidian cavalry

Gallic warriors

Italian, Macedonian, and Thracian infantry

Spanish scutarii

Allied slingers

Allied skirmishers

Cretan archers

Elephants

Ballistae

Thanks for making it this far. I’ll post a write-up of my Carthaginian army in a few days, followed by a review of the figures I used, from Pendraken.