Post marian Army Make-up

[Ciaran]

I keep using the checkboard system in the post-reform army, with Legionaries in the first (well, second) line and Praetorians or Urbans in the second, with Auxiliaries at the outmost of the second line.
That makes five Legionary cohorts, four Praetorian/Urban cohorts, four Auxiliaries (due to the expected losses), at least two heavy cavalry and the rest for ranged weapons, mixing Javelins and archers.

[orangat]

I like realism but the fact of the matter is that the game was designed to be somewhat fair across a number of factions to keep things interesting. If Roman infantry units had rotating frontlines instead of the steady attrition in RTW, nothing would be able to stop them.

I keep using the checkboard system in the post-reform army, with Legionaries in the first (well, second) line and Praetorians or Urbans in the second, with Auxiliaries at the outmost of the second line.
That makes five Legionary cohorts, four Praetorian/Urban cohorts, four Auxiliaries (due to the expected losses), at least two heavy cavalry and the rest for ranged weapons, mixing Javelins and archers.

Is the quincux formation useful in SP or MP? It leaves gaps which exposes the front line to flanking attacks.

[econ21]

Is the quincux formation useful in SP or MP? It leaves gaps which exposes the front line to flanking attacks.

I don't know about MP. It's surprisingly good in SP against phalanx armies. It gives you room to maneouvre and flexibility to flank them piecemeal. (This experience is from all using 1.2 mods (EB & RTR) - maybe the phalanx AI got better with the 1.5 patch).

I think it suffers against barbarian type armies which just line up in a straightline and charge you. It leaves you with a short line, with holes in. Not good.

There's been some good threads on this formation on the RTR team's website forum. Apparently, in reality, it would not leave gaps - hastati in the second line would move forward to fill them prior to contact. So in RTW, it may be not too unhistorical to bring the principes forward to create a solid line against barbarians.

As you say, RTW does not capture the key advantage of such a deep formation - allowing tired troops to be withdrawn and replaced by fresh ones. Try that in RTW and your retiring men will suffer horribly.

[Ciaran]

Well, I wouldn´t be using it if it weren´t any good...

The units that try to attack the flanks of the first line expose their own flanks to my more powerfull infantry in the second line, so overall I deal more damage than I take.
And Roman units take flanking quite well, better than most other.