Front line troops for WRE?

[Ruswarr]

I'm trying to think of an WRE army and I'm torn between what I should use as its core/anvil - legio line of units (ones with defensive testudo) or spearmen. Basically I'm kinda tempted to use a lot of spears as front line because, well, Huns will come but I also think that it can (and probably will) cripple my armies to some degree when I will be fighting infantry-based armies...therefore core of legios mixed with some spears should probably be better in general?

[WilliamTheLion]

build walls and use the doble garrison mode until huns are gone,, best army is 4 spears, 6 sword or axes, 4 archers, 4 horsemen strong enough to push cavarly back, 2 artilary........ online battles .....thats different

[Boulder]

I use the same setp as William the Lion except I use 2 units of shock cavalry instead of the artillery. For melee, I prefer the armigeri defensores until I unlock the herculini seniores. Just try not to encounter the huns in an open field battle unless you have a fort set up and they are attacking you. I kept fortified armies at every eastern/northeastern entrance into italy in my campaign to deter the huns. you wont need massive spear armies if you just make use of the fortifications.

[Hat8]

Originally posted by Ruswarr:

I'm trying to think of an WRE army and I'm torn between what I should use as its core/anvil - legio line of units (ones with defensive testudo) or spearmen. Basically I'm kinda tempted to use a lot of spears as front line because, well, Huns will come but I also think that it can (and probably will) cripple my armies to some degree when I will be fighting infantry-based armies...therefore core of legios mixed with some spears should probably be better in general?

The Roman factions have horrible infantry. They have low stats and no charge bonus.

The armor bonus is only really useful against the huns. Against the AI you should be able to win easily but against a player you're always going to be a a disadvantage.

[Ruswarr]

@Boulder @William The Lion
I already know about the fort trick.
I was planning a melee focused army though, without ranged units aside some arty, with legio/spears as frontline and palatina line units as flankers (no changes for cavalry role though) - in a case I do go for an open field battle ofc - is that a viable option? I'm also kinda biased towards using Sagittarii as it's literally the only WRE archer unit (with no further upgrades) and my experience with Ballistarii in custom battle tests was not exactly good and therefore I'm very unsure of using WRE ranged unints in general.

@Hat21
Well I was talking about campaign, not MP.

[Boulder]

For me, the ballistarii are very good at thwarting off the hunnic horse archers if you do happen to encounter the huns in an open field battle. Just keep the crossbowmen protected and they can tear cavalry down. I also like to have a missile unit in the event that I kill their general, so then I have the chance to make the enemy army route by using a combo of whistling and flaming shot. Or you can move your missile units on the flanks and once your frontline engages the enemy frontline, move your missile units behind the enemy while protecting your missile units with your melee cav. But ballistarii are hard to use if you can't get them in a clear shot of the enemy, or you end up killing your own men. So there are times where it is definitely better just to keep them on hold fire and until you can do something useful with them.

[Ruswarr]

So basically ballistarii require some good micro. I'm not good at micro but guess it's worth a shot - and good for some unit diversity anyway. And damn I need to actually start WRE campaign and look how it will actually work in campaign lol. I'm thinking too much without actually trying...