What would a historically accurate post-Marian army look like?

[Olimpian]

In 1.0 I used in 1 stack :
- 2/3 roman troops : 8 cohors,2 cohors evocata,2 antesignani,1 general
-1/3 mercenaries and allied troops.These varied depending on the enemy I faced,what mercenaries I had available in the area and what regions with allied troop recruitment were near : virtualy any good range:cretans,persians,balears,...,HA,cavalry:greek and sometimes thessalian,hoplites,thureophoroi,etc...
The idea was that the cohors would just go for the enemy,while the antesignani and other spear-armed allies/mercenaries would hold the flanks.1-2 units of cavalry would either take care of skirmishers,be used as bait,or just wait till the enemy is wavering to hit them from the back and rout them.Ranged units take care of enemy range/HA or light troops.
Sounds pretty rudimentary,but depending on the situation on the field(enemy army composition,terrain)the general arrangement/composition/movement of my own troops greatly varied: no two armies were the same,no two battes were the same.Roman flexibility

[QuintusSertorius]

Only problem is having such a big Roman core makes most battles far too easy. Plus it doesn't do a good job of simulating multiple legions in the same army. As before, in the Camillian/Polybian army, 3-4 units would represent one legion or ala, I think that's a fairly good model for doing the same with a post-Marian army.

[Bacchus]

I've been using 3 and a half stack representing a legion since the beginning because its numbers match what is known near historical accurate.
The only problem is that if I want them together in a battle, i need to position them against the army force just right. Secondly, I can only control on of three manually, the other two, i have no choice, to let the ai handle it and the ai is really stupid...
I find myself correcting with my controllable army the actions of the ai.

Ofcourse, this is a major force and hacks through any resistance but, a legion was a force to reckon with.

Hope this adds something...

[QuintusSertorius]

To be honest Bacchus, that's the opposite of the direction I'm trying to go. My original army was one legion was most of a stack, and I felt that was too legionary-heavy. One legion as multiple stacks is rather too much.

Huge unit scale does a reasonable 1:10 ratio to real life, thus a "full stack" of around 2500 troops is about equivalent to a real army of 25,000. Thus a legion should only be around 4-5000 men, and thus 400-500 soldiers (ie two to three units).

I'm thinking that a legion should basically be thus:
1 x First cohort
1 x Cohor reformata
1 x "Veterans" - either evocati or antesignani

That gives you a legion of around 500-ish men, or 5000 multiplied up in scale. Each legion would merit the addition of a single unit of skirmishers, and perhaps one of cavalry and one artillery for every two legions present. Having a first cohort in each legion adds to survivability quite a bit, and having one of veterans in each adds flexibility.

As an option, perhaps a unit of allied line infantry for every legion as well.

Thus a two-legion army would be thus:
1st Legion
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of antesignani

2nd Legion
1 unit of First Cohort
1 unit of cohors reformata
1 unit of cohors evocata

Support
1 unit of Scorpions/arrow throwers

Allies
1 unit of allied javelin-men
1 unit of allied slingers or archers
1 unit of allied cavalry
Optional: 2 units of allied close-order foot

Plus a general and perhaps a legate/tribune for 11 or 12 units as a "full stack" (or up to 14 if you're including some allied infantry). You might just squeeze in a third legion if you were going with one general.

[Tiberius Nero]

Ofcourse, this is a major force and hacks through any resistance but, a legion was a force to reckon with.

A single legion in real life was too small a force to act alone; major battles included many legions together; the model Quintus presents is the one I have been following (or at least similar): in pre-Marian times 1 Hast/1 Prin/ half Triarii is a legion (the core without the light troops) and three post-Marian cohorts represent a legion as well.

[Bacchus]

I know I differ and the reason is that for the battles I don't take the 1:10 ratio in account and want the number of men on the field which resembles a legion. ie 5000 to 6000 indeed(although the exact numbers differ and are questionable: 10 cohorts of 400 to 500 where one cohort is 5 maniple; maniple in fact about 80 and not 100 men; +120 cavalry)

major battles in my game concern sevral stack against eachother(needs some smart movement on the strat-map)
Well, just explaining my way of doing this, sorry I could not add something to what try to achieve.

Cheers

[QuintusSertorius]

Problem with that Bacchus is that the game isn't scaled for 1:1 representation. Rome and other major cities didn't have a population in the tens of thousands at their height, but hundreds of thousands. Everything is scaled already, if you move around armies with 25,000 actual soldiers in them in the game, that's the equivalent of armies of quarter of a million men, which didn't happen for anything longer than a season.

[Bacchus]

That's is why my cities are drained from inhabitants, true.

I will think about this. Perhaps I should change but as for the fun-factor: it works for me ;-)

(change script so numbers are 1:1 is also a possibility... hahaha ...)

[alatar]

Your problem would be very easy battles, having 5,000 men on your side, when the ai rarely feilds more that 1500 is to easy.