Welcome x-dANGEr,

I can confirm 1.3 is a necessary step in the patching process. 1.2 is not required, but HIGHLY recommended.

As to the Marian reforms, I am not inclined one way or the other and will go with the majority.
It is a point to note that the marian reforms also cause changes for most of the non-roman factions. Many of them will be able to recruit legion-like units as well and that can get nasty. One of my campaigns I was very overextended, reforms happened and several turns later my hastati were getting slaughtered by Pontus legionaire-clones. Took me 25 turns to get my first legionaires to the front. My pre-reform armies had been decimated by the computer in the meantime

Technical note : the next version of the M&N mod might not be savegame compatible as it will include the cognomen mod. Anyone who thinks about joining the lower house eventually may want to download the M&N mod soon. The good news is that RTR PE 1.6 will most likely be a 200 MB download instead of a 450 MB download. RTR PE 1.4 wasn't compressed.