Defeated Romans in other armies?

[Zaknafien]

there is no proof that the Romans ever set foot in Gansu before the Christian era, there are reports that have revived discussion over whether a group of Romans offered their services to the Hun warlord Jzh Jzh in 36 B.C.

This idea was first proposed by Homer Hasenphlug Dubs, an Oxford University professor of Chinese history, who speculated in 1955 that some of the 10,000 Roman prisoners taken by the Parthians after the battle of Carrhae in southeastern Turkey in 53 B.C. made their way east to Uzbekistan to enlist with Jzh Jzh against the Han. Chinese accounts of the battle, in which Jzh Jzh was decapitated and his army defeated, note unusual military formations and the use of wooden fortifications foreign to the nomadic Huns. Dubs postulated that after the battle the Chinese employed the Roman mercenaries as border guards, settling them in Liqian, a short form of Alexandria used by the Chinese to denote Rome. While some Chinese scholars have been critical of Dubs' hypothesis, others went so far as to identify Lou Zhuangzi as the probable location of Liqian in the late 1980s.

So, the question remains, but its plausible, at least.

[CaesarAugustus]

there is no proof that the Romans ever set foot in Gansu before the Christian era, there are reports that have revived discussion over whether a group of Romans offered their services to the Hun warlord Jzh Jzh in 36 B.C.

This idea was first proposed by Homer Hasenphlug Dubs, an Oxford University professor of Chinese history, who speculated in 1955 that some of the 10,000 Roman prisoners taken by the Parthians after the battle of Carrhae in southeastern Turkey in 53 B.C. made their way east to Uzbekistan to enlist with Jzh Jzh against the Han. Chinese accounts of the battle, in which Jzh Jzh was decapitated and his army defeated, note unusual military formations and the use of wooden fortifications foreign to the nomadic Huns. Dubs postulated that after the battle the Chinese employed the Roman mercenaries as border guards, settling them in Liqian, a short form of Alexandria used by the Chinese to denote Rome. While some Chinese scholars have been critical of Dubs' hypothesis, others went so far as to identify Lou Zhuangzi as the probable location of Liqian in the late 1980s.

So, the question remains, but its plausible, at least.

Wow, that is fascinating Zaknafien. I've read something similar, but I wasn't sure to believe it because it was an online source.

In EB terms, would these Roman deserters/mercenaries be made into mercenary units that you could hire in specific territories? If not v 0.8/1.0, maybe EB2?

[Zaknafien]

Paullus, at the time of the Mithridatic wars, most of the Roman settlers in Pergammon were merchants and private tax collectors--publicani. There were no garrisions although each tax-lord surely had his own bodyguard and private forces. Lets not forget that Mithridates incited the locals to murder every Roman citizen in their territory..

[VandalCarthage]

A deserter Roman unit you could get after a certain percentage of major battles would be cool. It'd probably have to be limited to certain factions. Also, are we sure the deserters are Romans, and not allies?

Perhaps make some sort of Roman unit recruitable as mercenaries in certain regions outside of Italy where a defeated Roman force might not have as many options.

[Teleklos Archelaou]

It's a very difficult question for us to try and solve indeed. It seems like we would have to speculate here for the first time if we made a unit. But it seems like that sort of thing really would be necessary, since there's nothing else in central italy if you put a type4 in. Something (unit) a little better and only available in a type3 or 4 would be supersweet though. Pretty much any faction would have access to it though. This is all talking out my ass though - I dunno if there is much desire for such a thing in the team. I just hate conquering italy because I know I get none of my own troops and none of theirs. Blech. Not realistic.

[CountArach]

IMO, the only thing that I would consider likely to fight for any outside invader would be the allied companies, for example Hannibal had several armies conprised of these Southern Italians/Greeks when he was late in his campaign. They never performed too well, in fact they were downright poor, and were no where near his own Veterans, but the point remains that these conquered people would probably fight for outsiders. I don't think that many Romans owuld go to the other side in large numbers.

[pezhetairoi]

Indeed, little incentive for the Republican Romans to do so, since they would invariably be Roman peasant/metropolitan citizens marching to war in defence of their own lands. Perhaps later, after Marius, when the franchise for military service was cut loose from the land-owning (and therefore the interest-holding) group and extended to those whose primary and overriding concern was money.