Camillian
Camillian-era legions were divided into 75 maniples. Each maniple (60 men) consisted of two
30-man centuries. It had equal numbers of hastati (900), principe (900), triarii (900),
rorarii (900), accensi (900), with reduced leves (300) and cav (300) = 5100 total. Thus if you
should aim for:
1 leves (120), 2 hastati (160), 2 principe (160), 2 triarii (160), 2 rorarii (240),
2 accensi (120) (11 units) as the core of your legion. The other slots should be made up of
the General, and ‘up to’ 8 Italian (samnite) allies (allies MUST include one unit of pedites
extraordinarii (if you can produce them) if you have 5+ allies.
I haven’t included any extra cav unit because they made up such a small part of the legion
(and Roman military tactics) that the general becomes the cavalry (stick him on the
right-hand side; the default position for cavalry). If you want to include another cav unit,
include only equites romani, and then make the general the ‘equites extraordinarii’.
Formation arrangements consist of the usual pattern (triplex acies formation with wide gaps),
with the Romans making up the centre (dependable core) and the allies guarding the flanks.
When assembling consular armies, I can take 2 horse units (gen + equites);
1 leves, 4 hastati, 4 principe, 3 triarii, 3 rorarii, 3 accensi, 1 equites, 1 gen
Polybian
Polybian-era legions were divided into 40 maniples (10 velite, 10 hastati, 10 principe,
10 triarii). Each maniple (120) consisted of two 60-man centuries (except the Triarii which
had only 1 century per maniple). It had 1200 velite, 1200 hastati, 1200 principe and 600 triarii (4200 total). Thus in a ½ roman ½ allies, your army should consist of;
2 velite (200), 3 hastati (240), 3 principe (240), 3 triarii (120), (I mod the size of my
Triarii units by half) as the core of your legion (11 units).
Allies MUST include one unit of pedites extraordinarii (if you can produce them) if
you have 5+ allies. The rest must be ‘Italian’ allies (samnites).
When assembling consular armies, I can take 2 horse units (gen + equites);
3 velites, 5 hastati, 5 principe, 5 triarii, 1 equites, 1 general
Marian
Marian-era legions had 10 cohorts, and approx 10% antesignani. Thus in a ½ roman ½ allies,
your army should consist of;
2 antesignani (120), and 10 cohorts reformata (1000) as the core of your legion (12 units).
As allies, take a bit of local ‘produce’ (gauls in Gaul, greeks in Greece) since you are
fattening out your legion with locally raised troops. Use only one auxilia cavalry
(applicable to the region; Gaulic, Germanic, Hispanic, Thracian).
When assembling consular armies, I can take 2 horse units (gen + aux cav);
2 antesignai, 15 cohort reformata, 1 evocata (bodyguard), 1 aux cav, 1 general
Imperial
Imperial-era legions had 10 cohorts, and approx 5% archers. Thus in a ½ roman ½ allies,
your army should consist of;
10 cohorts imperatoria (1000), and 1 Eastern Archer Auxilia (80) – if operating in that area -
as the core of your legion (10/11 units).
As for allies, same restrictions as per 'Marian'.
When assembling consular armies, I can take 2 horse units (gen + aux cav);
16 imperial cohorts, 1 praetorian (bodyguard), 1 archer (replace with another imp cohort
if operating in the west), 1 aux cav, 1 general
Its worth noting that the allies referred to in the sources almost all 'fought in the
roman manner' by 272 are best represented by hastati, princeps, triarii and eqvites with
the occasional extrondarii (both foot and horse) being thrown in for good measure. More
exotic allies don't fit the bill for what is being described in the sources when these things
are mentioned. The more exotic allies are generally mentioned more specifically when they were
present.
In imperial armies praetorian cohorts should only accompany members of the imperial family.
Also you should increase the number of cavalry in your imperial armies. Even in agustan
times each legion of an army was usually supported by one ala, in the east 2. For example
the Roman garrison in Egypt (Strabo Geo: 17.1.12): 3 legions, 3 alae 9 auxiliary cohorts;
Varus army in Judea, 4BC to supress riots after Herods dead (JB 2.5.1): 2 legions,
4 alae + allied troops; Tiberius army in Pannonia, ca. 7-9 AD (Vallaeus 2.113):
10 legion, 10 alae, 70 auxiliary cohorts, 10000 veterans plus volunteers and allied Thracian
cavalry; Varus army in Germania, 9 AD (Vallaeus 2.117): 3 legions, 3 alae 9 auxiliary cohorts
or finally Germanicus army ca. 14-16 AD in Germania : 8 legions, at least 8 alae and
26 auxiliary cohorts (Tac. Ann. 1.49), in 16 AD (Ann. 2.16) he had additionaly 2
praetorian cohorts plus contigents of archers, horse archers and various additional
Germanic and Gallic allies including a large Batavian contingent.
An ala had a paper strengt of ca. 500 troopers compared to the legions roughly 5000 soldiers,
thus for 10 EB legionary cohorts you need 2 of our ala units to simulate one.
