I. ORGANIZATION

Our interest in the warfare of Ancient Rome actually started upon Airfix's presentation of the Roman series of figures. Although I had purchased a set to examine the new figures, I really did not have the gung-ho interest needed to write rules and recreate an era of history--then came QUO VADIS. The rerun of this movie started the Roman Bug and pretty soon I was an the phone with Henry Bodenstedt of Continental Hobbies purchasing, for the Society, approximately six dozen boxes of the plastic things. This started preliminary research on Warfare and background of the period. I was surprised to find such well written articles on the Roman Legions in Armchair General. This, along with acquiring copies of Vegetius Renatus' Military Institutions of the Romans, Parker's The Roman Legions, Caesar's War Commentaries, The Roman Conquest of Britain by Webster and Dudley, and writings of Tacitus and Polybius, I was able to get a pretty good Idea of the tactics and formations and weapons of the time.

Now came the problem of the figures themselves and the organization of the Legion. There are, of course, some figures and equipment missing. The most important item is the Eagle itself. Being somewhat of a nut on conversions, I was able to sculpt my own Eagle out of Epoxy and mount it on a heavy needle, and convert one of the standard bearers to the Aquilifer.

Another important item missing is the Roman Cavalryman. Although they were not used to excess, we felt that they would add something to the game, a long with this idea--we wanted mounted officers. As officers seldom brought their chariots along with them or rode them into battle, we felt that officers mounted on horses would be more appropriate. Other conversions we wanted were: Musicians, Horse Archers (Parthian), Gauls, Slingers (Baleric), Numidians, Nubians, and anything else we could think of.

Starting with the first idea, to get Roman Cavalry was surprisingly easy. All you need is a small soldering iron, or wood burning set, or something similar; an X-acto knife; a suitable Roman figure (I used the extra officers for this purpose) and a set of Airfix ACW Cavalry. Cut the Roman and the Cavalryman at the waist. Join the Roman top with the ACW bottom--with a little more work, you can eliminate the trouser to look like the Roman garb. This same process is used for the mounted officer. A cape can be added by using ordinary tissue paper coated with Elmers' Clue-All. Drape the cloak while wet, over the figure in the position desired, and when it dries it can be painted. it looks like cloth, is very thin, is hard, and will not come off the figure.

The musicians were standard Bearers with medium wire wrapped around them to simulate the Horn. Horse-Archers were done the same way as the Roman Cavalry--using ACW and Roman archers. Gauls were the soldiers with the skull-caps without sheilds from the Sheriff of Nottingham set to which were added the characteristic Large round shields made out of thick paper and glued to the figure with Elmer's glue. Slingers were made out of American Indiana with a deft use of the Iron and X-acto knife. Numidians were Arabs and Nubians the Zulus from the Tarzan set.

My organization was of a Julian nature with the actual Legion 3600 strong. My model Legion was 360+ or about 1/10th scale. We formed four Legions out of our Romans. A century was 6 men. (5 Legionaires and 1 Centurion) A Cohort - 38. (30 Legionaires, 6 Centurions, 1 chief Centur- ion, Commander of Cohort, and 1 Standard-bearer) The Entire Legion was as follows:

300 Legionaires
60 Centurions
10 Chief Centurions
10 Standard Bearers
1 Aquilifer
1 Legatus
6 Tribunes
6 Primus Centurions
3 Centuries of Slingers and 3 of Archers
TOTAL: 430 men

II. THE RULES

A. FORMATIONS

a)Testudo - "tortoise", TURTLE: A formation of at least one cohort strength. Totally surrounded by shields. impervious to Javelin or Archery fire. A slow, cumbersome formation used to get to the enemys' line with minimum losses from archers.

b) Orbis - "Shield Ring": A defensive ring one cohort or less.

c)Phalanx: 2 cohorts or more. Very effective attack formation. Is a driving attack. Flanks vunerable.

d)Cohort Column - "Century Line*': Principle all-purpose formation.

e) Lone Century: Used only for flanking purposes, raids, etc.

f) Wedge: Attack formation used to penetrate line at point, to split line. Countered by PINCER.

g) Pincer: An inverted wedge. Used to counter WEDGE.

h) Disarray: Result of loss of officers and disorganization.

B. MOVEMENT

a) THE LEGION:
Testudo: 8"
Lone Century: 18"
Orbis: 0
Wedge: 12"
Phalanx: 12"
Pincer: 12"
Cohort 15"
Disarray: 20"

b) LIGHT TROOPS: Only in Orbis or Lone Century: 22" ; In Disarray 30"

c) CAVALRY: Only in Lone Century (squadron): 30" ; In Disarray 36"

Maneuvering

If a unit is in one formation and decides to march, decide FIRST the desired formation. THEN add up the points in the cohort. If the total is less than needed, unit is automatically in DISARRAY.

Formation Now In : Needed Points to Form
TESTUDO 10 pts. : 26 pts.
ORBIS 0 : 18
PHALANX 10 : 24
COHORT 10 : 22
CENTURY 0 : 2 per century
WEDGE 10 : 30
PINCER 10 : 30
DISARRAY 0 : 0

Points:
Chief Centurion: 5 pts.
Centurion: 2
Standard Bearer: 3
Tribune: 8
Legatus: 8
Aquilifer: 8
Primus Centurion: 8

A unit operating at a strength of more than one cohort needs a Tribune to command.

A UNIT IN DISARRAY: 1. Cannot Attack, 2. Fights while defending at 1/2 effectiveness, 3. If unit falls to 35 strength, is routed-only the Eagle can rally.

D. COMBAT

a) The PILUM AND THE JAVELIN

Ranges

Pilum: Long 8", Short 4"
Javelin: Long 18" Short 9"

Firing is done by Century--a roll of the dice.

Target	PILUM die roll						JAVELIN die roll
	1	2	3	4	5	6	1	2	3	4	5	6
TESTUDO	1	2	3	4	5	5	0	0	0	1	2	2
ORBIS	1	2	3	4	5	5	0	0	0	1	2	3
PHALANX	2	3	4	5	6	6	2	3	4	5	6	6
COHORT	2	2	4	5	5	6	2	2	4	5	5	6
CENTURY	0	1	2	3	4	5	0	1	2	3	4	5
WEDGE	2	3	4	5	6	6	2	3	4	5	5	6
PINCER	2	3	4	5	6	6	2	3	4	5	5	6
DISARRAY	3	4	5	5	6	6	4	4	5	5	5	6

Long Range: 1/2 Hits Short Range: Full Pits
2 Points to kill Centurion
1 Point to kill Legionaire

Century vs. Individual Target:
Long: 1,2 Hit Short: 1,2,3,4 hit

b) ARCHERY
Ranges

Long: 24"
Short: 12"

Archers can move and fire in their turn only. If they move less than 11", then their firing is at half normal accuracy.

Target	ARCHERS die roll
	1	2	3	4	5	6
TESTUDO	0	0	0	0	0	0
ORBIS	0	0	0	0	0	1
PHALANX	3	3	4	5	5	6
COHORT	2	2	3	4	4	5
CENTURY	0	1	2	3	4	5
WEDGE	3	3	4	5	5	6
PINCER	3	3	4	5	5	6
DISARRAY	2	3	4	5	6	6

Points are the same as Pilum and Javelin for casualties.

c) GLADIUS COMBAT

Fighting is by Front Line Centuries only. One dice per man. Total roll is added up and casualties to the following table:

5 pts to kill Legionaire
8 pts to kill Centurion
10 pts to kill other ranks

• In the WEDGE, to demonstrate its superiority as a tactic, the first 3 men of the point fight as a Century, directed at only 3 men on the opposing line.
• A TESTUDO must break up its first century when engaging an enemy line. They fight as a Century line.
• A PINCER nullifies the WEDGES' superiority. Fighting is an normal.
• When attacking the flank of a COHORT COLUMN, PHALANX, or PINCER, the attacker may strike but the defender may not strike back.
• When men are lost in a Front line Century, men from other Centuries may not reinforce that century. This can only be inforced in the PHALANX or WEDGE, as they are DRIVING attack formations and can thus virtually crush a line in improper formation.
• Add an extra point to kill a member of the FIRST COHORT as they were the cream of the Legion and thus better fighters.

These rules will give a workable game and provide some very interesting situations. We have had some very enjoyable times with Roman Civil War Battles and we encourage you to try this period in Wargaming.