Ancient Roman Battle Formations

A Guide on effective Roman Battle Formations for all players.

Introduction

This is a basic guide on how to set up a battle formation using the tactics and layout that the Roman Army used in around 266 BC and onwards through to the Marius reforms, and it can also be applied to later Roman armies as well.

It can be applied right as you start, using your most basic units (Hastati, Velites) although to be truly effective as an early game formation, it is wise to unlock Principes, Triarii and Equites as soon as you can. As I play through my single player campaign I will be adding more formations using later game units as well, such as Legionaires, Evocati, Praetorians and end-game units such as Armoured Legionaries and Praetorian Guard.

A note: The end results of each battle are taken from the exact moment of victory. I will not chase down routing units after victory is gained because I want the results to be valid and consistant with the formation and tactics. This will better give you guys a more clear idea of how well it works, because anyone can chase down a fleeing javelinman.

Basic Formation - Maniple System

Going from the Roman formations, the infantry were divided into sections, and these were then divided into rows.
This formation is called the 'Maniple system' and was devised around 315 BC by the Romans to fight the Samnites. It was used up until the Marian reforms of 107BC.
Let's say you have a full army of 20 units. A well balanced army will have: your general (mounted), 5 Hastati, 4 Principes, 3 Triarii, 2 Velites, 2 Equites and 3 Archers. You can mix and match and vary it to your own preferences, but seeing as Rome loved their infantry this mainly has them (12 of them). You can also have more or less of the Hastati or Principes, though it is recommended to have this balance to maintain your upkeep early game, as well has utilise the correct tactics.

Ok so here is a key to the little diagrams I will be putting here.

General: [X]
Hastati : [^]
Principes: [^^]
Triarii: [^^^]
Velites: {^}
Archers: {^^}
Equites: (^)
One of those symbols stands for 1 unit of the appropriate unit.

So here is the layout of the standard formation you can use with the forces mentioned above.

Defence.....................................................................................Offense
.......................................[^] [^] [^] [^] [^]..................................................................[^] [^] [^] [^] [^]
..................................{^} [^^] [^^] [^^] [^^] {^}
..............................(^)......[^^^] [^^^] [^^^]......(^)...................................................{^} [^^] [^^] [^^] [^^] {^}
.........................................{^^} {^^} {^^}.........................................................(^).......[^^^] [^^^] [^^^]......(^)
................................................[X]...........................................................................{^^} {^^} {^^}
......................................................................................................................................[X]

This is the basic formation you will be using. It is effective and it does work in both attack and defence, I have used it in Rome 1 and it does work, even on Very Hard. Trialing it on Rome 2 has shown success over 70% of battles on Hard difficulty, and is usually fair on Very Hard. Bascially, this is how it works.

Unit Roles

Your Hastati are the screening troops, as they were in real times. The young men who were used in this manner, and while it sounds bad, they are cheap and won't drain your upkeep, so can be expendable. But they are heavy infantry so they can hold their own against many types of units. In offense, your Hastati are the ones who charge the enemy, usually slightly ahead of your main force. This gives your stronger units more marching time, thus keeping them from getting tired. This is why you have them in front another 20 or so paces. In defence you have them back with the rest of the army, and they take the charge and the arrows.

Your Principies are like your elite reserves. In offense they wait til the Hastati have the enemy engaged battle and then they charge the distance. It's like having 2 charges back to back and can be very demoralising for the enemy, not to mention the pila they throw as well. In defence they stay back from the fight for a bit longer, but they are only a few paces back, so when the Hastati begin to suffer a few losses, maybe around 20% or so, your Principes can engage the enemy, adding more men to the fight and giving the Hastati a break. This also allows them to fight fresh heavy infantry against the enemy's tired men.

Your Triarii are the final line due to their superior armour. In Roman times, going "the Triarii" was committing to the task 100%. You may not even need to use these guys, but they are there so you have a minimal chance of losing due to fatigue. You should hold them back for as long as you can, as they not only your final battle line, but also your spearmen versing cavalry. This is why they are along the same like as your Equites. Your Equites can charge and counter any enemy horsemen and engage them as the Triarii run and spear the absolute jimmies out of the enemy cav. They also can come in if needed to help the Principes but this shouldn't normally happen.

Your Velites are just for your harrassing movements, they aren't your key units but they are cheap. If you choose you can have Archers instead and this can be better, but Velites are cheap and they can be a good distraction from your other units. This is the reason they are on the far flanks of your Principes; they can continue to weaken the enemy's front lines, engage their archers, screen your general from flanking before you use your Equites, and when they run out of ammo they fair better in hand-to-hand combat than Archers.

Your Archers are really straight forward; have them behind your army and just have them pepper the high priority targets such enemy heavy cavalry, chariots, elephants or bunched infantry. Disable skirmish mode so they don't run. Running is for the weak and smelly Carthaginians.

Equites are only light Cavalry so don't use them as anything else. Just use them to hit archers and the rears of enemy formations. Never spearmen or heavy cavalry this is a death scentence. Heavy infantry will also wipe them out so only use them in emergencies. They are positioned on the flanks of your Triarii in the case of an enemy cavalry flank, but only use them to screen and hold them in position until your Triarii can come to swap out.

Your General is clearly your main guy so keep him well away from spearmen. Other than that he can be used as effective shock cavalry, but don't abuse him and charge him into Heavy Infantry without support. Use his buffs and rallies when needed, and put the demoralising debuffs on the weaker enemy units to cause more routs.

Using this formation in attack and defence

Attack

You saw in the formation section how to set up your units for Attack and Defence, but I have now included a screenshot of what the formation will look like and how you actually move your men. The picture below is a screenshot I took of the formation in Attack. You can see how the Hastati are around 20 paces or so in front of the rest of the army. You will use these men to run/charge into the enemy as they draw fire. It can be beneficial to use the attacking testudo formation in case the enemy has an abundance of missile units. The Principes and Triarii are behind and will walk up at normal pace to conserve energy and fatigue. If your Hastati are being torn to pieces then rush your Principes forward as well, but this should not happen often as Hastati can hold their own against majority of early game units.

You can also see the Equites have arrows that move forwards and around the Velites. This enables to not only act as an effective screen but to also flank the enemy. The wider you move them around the more devastating their flank will be. You can use the Velites to hold an enemy unit in position as you charge and this will often route the enemy, or simply hit their archers.


So that's a basic form of attacking with this early formation. It is effective and will save you men and money early game. Offensive Testudos are quite useful as well as General buffs so don't hold back on them. Historically the Testudo often won the Romans battles that would otherwise have been crushing defeats. I have trialed the Testudo in this formation in attack, and using base Hastati (no upgrades or experience) charging base Egyptian Archers in both normal ranks and Testudo proved that the Testudo made them suffer 19 less casualties. Multiply this per unit per enemy archer and you'll see how it saves you men for the longer battles.

Defence

Defence has a very similar setup to attack, although the units are all closer together. While this can be a bit of a cluster f**k if you're going against enemy siege artillery, the Roman infantry all posses enough armour to survive a lot of missile attacks. Keeping the Hastati in one solid line at the front keeps your heavier units free from enemy charges and most of the enemy archers. It is recommended that if the enemy is charging your lines with Infantry that you actually charge your own Hastati at them a few seconds before impact, as this allows your Hastati to throw their Pila and do quite a lot of damage. If you're being charged by cavalry however, keep them stationary so they can brace. A moving infantry unit will take more losses if charged by cav than a stationary one.

The rest is the same with the Principes and Triarii forming the heavy reserves, and the Triarii also being able to protect the flanks.


You can see the Triarii have those yellow arrows coming from them? They are the possible routes you can take with them, due to their superior position. They can protect your Velites, they can engage enemy Cavalry flanking charges, or they can continue to reinforce the front battle line. Using your Equites as screens can be good, but try to remove them from hand-to-hand combat once the Triarii have moved in. Prolonged light cav battles can be costly and inneffective unless against archers or missiles. If the enemy charge you with spearmen it can be better to counter with Principes instead, as if 2 units of spearmen battle the outcome is solely based on unit count and armour/weapons grades.

If the enemy has not flanked you then you've got more options to use your Equites to flank around and behind up their unprotected and moistly tender rear. Or you can charge straight forward to engage oncoming enemies, the choice is yours.

Those are the basics maneuvers you have at your disposal but you can obviously change them if the situation demands it, or if you prefer different units.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• This is a trialed formation and does work quite well.
  
• It focuses on Rome's strength with heavy infatry, and places them in good supporting roles with lighter units to maximise potential for countering any move by the enemy.
  
• It has a good mix of powerful early units while not being a burden on your upkeep.
  
• It is easy to keep an eye on all of your men as they are in one disciplined block
  
• Cannot be flanked by enemy cavalry
  
• Usually the men are not fatigued by the end of a battle

Cons

• With 5 units as your front line, it can be difficult to defend againts a much longer line of attacking infantry.
  
• May take a while to unlock Triarii and Principes if you are focusing more on your economy
  
• Has only 2 units of cavalry and a general as your horses, so enemy missile cavalry might be a serious problem if unchecked

Conclusion of Basic Formation

That's pretty much it for the early game formation. Keep your screens and make sure to counter appropriate enemy forces with the right units and you should have a very easy time defeating opposing armies early game. There is another formation in this guide that covers the middle era units however if you wish to keep reading.

So that's it, the basic Roman formation that is effective but also predominantly historically accurate. Feel free to drop a comment or a suggestion, and let me know how you go with this formation!

Good luck on the battlefield, and may the Gods of War show you fortune.

Advanced Formation - Marian Reform System

This formation is one I have trialled over the past few days against various opponents on Hard difficulty, and it uses units that you will be using in probably the middle of your game, or around turn 50-60. Again it utilises the Roman focus on Infantry and discipline, with Cavalry and Archers only giving a supportive role.

*****IMPORTANT NOTE*****
This formation should really only be used if you are facing an opponent of equal or slightly greater strength, as it focuses on risks combined with shock and fixing tactics, and has the possability of losing units. It must also be noted that while this is both good in attack and defence, it is better in defence.

Again we will be using a full army of 20 units, and the fundamental structure is as follows:
3 Veteran Legionaries, 6 Legionaries, 2 Auxiliary Infantry, 2 Auxiliary Cavalry, 2 Wardogs, 4 Archers and your General.

Ok so again here is the key for the units in the diagram setup. I have changed the icons around to make it less confusing with the first diagram in Basic.
General: [X]
Veteran Legionaires: [V]
Legionaries: [L]
Auxiliary Infantry: [Ai]
Auxiliary Cavalry: [Ac]
Wardogs: [W]
Archers: (A)

So here is how you will be wanting to set up your formation.

Offense...............................................................Defence

..........[L] [L] [L] [L] [L] [L].....................................[L] [L] [L] [L] [L] [L]....<--- Testudo formation
.....[W] ( A ) ( A ) ( A ) ( A ) [W]...........................[Ai] [VL] [VL] [VL] [Ai]....<-- Your Ai face outward
.........[Ai] [VL] [VL] [VL] [Ai]........................................(A) (A) (A) (A).........
.......[Ac]..........[X]...........[Ac]....................[Ac]..[W]..............[X].............[W]..[Ac]....


Compared to the Basic Formation, this one is much more 'flat' I guess you could say, with your units closer together by a few paces each.

Unit Roles

The Legionaries are again your front lines, they screen the rest of your army and they take all the hits and do all the charging. Such is the life of a Roman soldier. When attacking they charge forward and attack the front lines of the enemy exactly as you would normally, nothing special here. However in defence, it is extremely important you put them in attacking Testudo formation, as if the enemy has any missile troops you can save yourself unecessary losses. There is no need for Testudo in attack as your legions will charge the gap fast enough that it will not matter. It is beneficial to use the ability Use the Whip to give your men an advantage early on in the fight, but this can be dangerous if the battle goes for a long time.

Your Veteran Legionaries have replaced your Triarii as your heaviest unit, although they are no longer spearmen. This is both beneficial yet hindering as now they can only take the place of your Principes, and you must use Auxiliaries as spearmen. In attack they again simply walk a few paces behind the charging Legionaries, and in defence they hang back like before. Commit them to fighting where the enemy has placed their strongest infantry, and you will simply overpower them, causing them to route. Then you can move your men freed from combat onto other enemy units and simply steamroll them.

Your Auxiliary Infantry are only here to be spearmen. Feel free to replace them with superior Veteran Mercenary Hoplites or similar units, but for the sake of the guide I have used Aux. They stand on the flanks in both offence and defense, yet the direction they face changes. In offence they face forwards with the rest of the army, as that is the direction they will be charging into. But in defence, have them slightly angled out a tiny bit to form a slight |\ shape between your Legionaries and Archers. A more detailed picture is included further in the guide. Your Aux Inf are there to engage any flanking Cavalry, and that's about it. They won't stand up in a fight with mid-game Infantry so don't bother unless they are supported by your own Infantry. Use their Rapid Advance ability to great effect against Cavalry.

Your Auxiliary Cavalry are a step up from Equites, although not by much, Always remember they are still only Light Cavalry and won't hold up in prolonged fights against enemy Generals or Heavy Infantry. Avoid spearmen like the plague. Again all you will be doing here is using them to tie up and hold enemy Cavalry in position until your Auxiliary Infantry spears can come in to finish them off. Towards the end of the battle you can also use them to charge Archers and cause amazing routes. A bonus these Cavalry have above Equites is their 'Draco' ability, which causes other units arround them to become less effective against Cavalry. Use this often but definitely use it if you get attacked by spearmen, then run.

Your Archers are here instead of Javelines or Slingers due to their superior range. By mid game you should have access to them via a conquered province (You can get Egyptian Archers in Libya or Cretan Archers near Spain). They will stand behind your main battle line and pepper the enemy's Archers so that they are not causing your own Infantry as much grief. You don't want to fire into the front line and risk hitting your own men. Using fire arrows can be helpful in most cases. A note: don't be alarmed if the enemy breaks your ranks and hits your Archers, this can and probably will happen. Simply move your General to engage the enemy or move the Archers away from the fighting.

Your Wardogs are arguably the key unit in the success or failure of this formation. If you don't bother using them, hopefully this may change your mind because they're extremely useful when facing multiple archers or infantry. Wardogs are a sacrifice unit, plain and simple. All you use them for are charging enemy Archers on each end of your enemy's missile line. This effectively removes 2 Archer units from peppering your soldiers, and in most cases will cause them to route. Because the Wardog unit is made up of the Dogs and the Handlers, you can abuse the fact that the enemy will only charge them 1 time out of 10, simply because the Handlers are pathetic fighters. NEVER EVER use Wardogs on Cavalry though. They are useless and the horses just crush them. Archers and Light Infantry only. Release the hounds smithers....

Finally your General (again on horseback) should stay back behind your men and use buffs galore. Personally I believe Raise Banner combined with Inspire work really well as the Banner increases your area of influence as well as defence, then Inspire again causes your men to fight harder. Activate this as soon as it is off cooldown.

Using this formation in attack.

So hopefully by now you have a reasonable grasp of your enemy and the units they are going to be using. If you're simply leapfrogging from town to town in Africa and massacring the spearmen-and-slingers-ONLY factions then you should probably war with someone who can actually fight back.

Due to the more complex useage of this formation, I conducted a tutorial mock battle against a Carthage AI. The difficulty was on Hard, and all of our units were anywhere from 1 bronze to 1 silver Chevron experience. I was using this formation's army, and the Carthage forces had:
1 General on horse, 3 Sacred Bands, 6 Lybian Infantry, 4 Citizen Cavalry and 6 Cretan Archers. For the defence battle they swapped 1 Citizen Cav in favour of 1 Libyan Cavalry (No idea why).

Here is a step-by-step guide on what happened during the Battle and what I did to counter it.

I was Attacking. I had the hill advantage.

Firstly, here is a quick image of what your formation will look like (roughly)


This is for attacking, and you can see how all the units are facing the enemy.
March your army in this formation (group them as a locked formation on the grouping tab on the abilities bar when all are selected).

Now when you begin to get closer to the enemy, start pulling your Wardogs, Aux Cavalry and your Aux Infantry a little bit out on both flanks. This is setting them up for hitting the enemy on the sides as well as countering. A good estimate of when to start this is by using the range area on your archers. Wait until you're about 2 lengths away before beginning to move so your enemy has less time to react. You should STILL be walking at thise stage and it looks like this:

From the side


From the front. This is also a good stage to actually give your men their orders, you may consider pausing or slowing down time for this. You want to direct your Legionaries to attack the infantry BEHIND the archers, as the archers are on skirmish mode, and if you attack them but get intercepted by the enemy infantry, you lose your charge bonus, your rhythm, your pila throw and suffer debuffs due to receiving a charge.


So now we have their attention, and like a good little AI they have their Archers set up in front of their infantry. As mentioned before have your Legionaries attack the infantry behind, with 1 unit for each of their unit. If they have more than you, ensure that you don't leave any men separated with a gap. Stick together.
Now give your Archers their orders to attack the enmy's archers. Go for the ones closest to the middle because the 2 archer units on the sides will be taken out by your Wardogs. If they have less archers than you, simply double up on your attack.


Now bring down your Veteran Legionaries and place them a tiny bit behind the main fight. At this stage give your Archers and your Legionaries the CHARGE order, as they will probably be receiving missile fire by now and you want to close the gap.


Ok so you have your Legionaries engaging their infantry in a line, your Archers engaging their archers, and both of your Wardogs have charged forward and taken out 2 of their archers (most times they will cause them to route due to the enemy ignoring dogs by themselves). Now let's quickly move the flank and have a look at what is hopefully happening:


One of their Cavalry units has te the bait of your lonely Auxiliary Cavalry unit and is charging! Counter-charge with your Cavalry, and bring down your Axuliary Infantry. The combined force should tear them to pieces. Use Rapid Advance to totally wipe them out. A note: this may be happening simultaneously on both flanks, so you may again wish to slow or pause time.

It won't be long before those Cavalry are wiped out, which will give you free units. Send your Cavalry around the enemy and being attacking their Archers. Your Archers may or may not have routed by this stage, in this battle 2 of mine had. Use your Aux Infantry to engage any remaining Cavalry in the battle line, chase their General, or attack the enemy infantry if there are no Cavalry to deal with. This whole time your General should have been just behind the battle line buffing til he passes out, and when you needed to you would have charged your Veteran Legionaries in as well. I sent my 3 in against Carthage's 3 units of Sacred Band. The battle may look similar to this:


Basically from here you can't do much except buff and use any free units to keep engaging theirs. If you continue to buff, eventually their men will begin to route, and you can keep pressing to cause a wave effect of routing.



Victory, although I lost a few men (mainly because I was focusing on taking screenshots and not what was going on in the battle :P ). I trialed this on Hard against the default armies of Carthage, Egypt, Iceni, Athens and Pontus. I doubt it would be too effective against Parthai however, or any missile cavalry nations.
It does work however as I did not lose any of the battles I fought, all on Hard. It may not quite work as well on Very Hard as it is a high-risk high-reward formation and tactics, but it does work and usually your units won't lose enough troops that they disband afterwards.

After all that reading, why not go have a drink?

Using this formation in defence.

Welcome back.
Now I was defending against roughly the same Carthage force, although the AI swapped out 1 Citizen Cavalry for a Libyan Cavalry.
I was Defending. The enemy had the hill advantage.

Again here is a quick view of what your formation will look like.


You will notice how the Legionaries are all in Testudo formation, and the Veteran Legionaries are closer together. Also the Auxiliary Infantry are directly in line with the Vets, except they are facing slightly outward in an effort to make the inevitable Cavalry flank charge easier to intercept. In this battle I moved between two light forrests, and while this didn't really affect the battle it did hide my Cavalry and Wardogs from view for the first minute.

Now the enemy will of course move towards you, and in the standard AI formation will have their Archers in front of their main army. Watch these guys carefully, as usually they will be buffed by the General, or begin to run forwards just before firing. Or hover your mouse over them and wait for the Firing icon to appear. This is your GO sign. All you need to do is move all your units forward and do the same as the Attack formation. Get 1 Legionary unit to attack 1 of their own infantry, but make sure to have them in Testudo. Again remember to keep them together and don't space them at all, this will most likely end in defeat.


Notice on the photo I have highlighted the casualties sustained by the Legionaries in Testudo: 1. Just 1 casualty from a barrage of arrows, and the enemy will only be able to make 2 or 3 before you force them to retreat. This is good.

Now as your army is moving up, theirs is still moving towards YOU. Might be a good time to pause if you wish. Regardless, their Cavalry will charge your flanks and aim for your Archers and Cavalry, so counter-charge with your Auxliary Cavalry and bring both of your Auxiliary Infantry in to assist. As you are doing this, unleash your Wardogs onto the 2 enemy Archer units on their far sides. This will remove them from the battle.


As this has been done, your Legionaries should have engaged the enemy, and your Archers are again firing upon their Archers. For this battle I used flaming arrows but you may choose not to. Now it is time to bring in your Veteran Legionaries, so again charge them into the heaviest fighting.


Those Sacred Band!! The fighting may continue like this for a few minutes, so make sure you keep your men buffed from by the General and make sure to keep them all in one group. Soon, your Cavalry and Aux Infantry will have finished with the enemy Cav. So repeat again, with the Aux Infantry moving to wherever they are needed (attacking their General, remaining Cavalry, screening or hitting enemy Infantry) and charge your Cavalry up into the remaining Archers to route them.


As you route their Archers, it should have the affect on their whole army, and they will one-by-one begin to route themselves, save the strongest units... Sacred... Band.... So as your units become free from battle, move them up and around, or straight into the combat to strengthen the units there.


In my battle one of their Cavalry units regained composure and returned to the battle, so in this case simply hurl a unit of Auxiliary Infantry at them with Rapid Advance and that should be enough to route them for good.


By this stage the battle should be over! If not just mop up the remaining units.


Here are the final results....


So again, not a bad result considering it was on Hard against a well balanced force of equal strength. Most units retained over half their men, and none disbanded. They should be ready for battle again in 2 or 3 turns if you replenish them, but there are still enough to finish off a siege, or chase a retreating army.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Can survive battles against an equal or slightly stronger foe in mid-game
  
• Retains the Roman's strengths of Infantry and line battles combined with supporting Auxiliary units
  
• Is appliable in both offense and defense and works effectively
  
• Retain enough units to defend again or counter-attack the following or same turn.
  
• While still being a mid-game formation it can be used with later game units as well to greater effect.
  
• Still uses superior Roman units whilst retaining reasonably low upkeep cost

Cons

• Is not suited to battles against overwhelming numbers or missile cavalry factions such as Parthia.
  
• Even when used against an equal force, there is the possability of defeat if the enemy has more of one unit (say if they have far more Cavalry they could flank in greater numbers and beat your Auxiliary Infantry, etc)
  
• Much more suited for defending than attacking, despite working both ways
  
• High risk associated with using Wardogs in the place of Legionaries or other more powerful standard units

Conclusion of Advanced formation

That sums up that one, and I hoped you liked it because I came up with that one myself over a few years of playing Rome 1. It works better in Rome 2 however due to the higher quality tactics and buffs and more realistic AI. It can be quite dangerous to use, but if you have no other option it can be quite a good formation to use. I have used it in custom battles and the campaign as well on Hard and did win more than I lost (15 wins to 4 losses).
The battle can also sway one way or another depending on unit experience and quality/upgrades, and the elevation can give attacking archers more room to annoy you. If you decide to get rid of the Wardogs or maybe replace an Archer or 2 with more Legionaries then go right ahead, this is just a blueprint for you all to test and build upon!!

Hope this can save your necks in a tight situation, and may Ares give you the stronger shield arm and faster sword arm.

Elite End-game Formation for Attacking - Quincunx

Ok this formation I have been working on the past 3 days against various AI on Hard. I have trialed it in both attack and defence, and the results were; in defence I was utterly anihilated, losing most of my men and hardly scratching the enemy forces.
However when I used this in attack it was the opposite, I hardly lost any men, none routed and I crushed my foes quickly and easily.

Now you will be using this more late-game when you have research the final Military technology that gives you access to Legionary Cohorts, Praetorians, Evocati Cohorts, Eagle Cohorts and Legionary Cavalry. It may take quite a few turns as you will be waiting for the technology to b researched for a while. I researched it around turn 137 (not sure why I put 200 in the coming soon bit, talking ♥♥♥♥ there haha).

Now because these Legionary units are far superior to almost any other infantry unit, this formation focuses on them. You should have majority of your units as Legionaries, with a few elite ones such as the Praetorians and Evocati, having an Eagle Cohort really helps as well.

The units I was using for this formation were as follows: 1 General Legatus, 1 Eagle Cohort, 2 Praetorians, 3 Evocati Cohorts, 7 Legionary Cohorts, 2 Legionary Cavalry, 2 Velites and 2 Auxiliary Infantry. You may or may not choose to change some of these units. You might want more Evocati or Praetorians, or you may want to remove the Velites entirely and replace them with more Cavalry or Auxiliary Infantry. That's up to you and that does work.

So here is the diagram of what each unit will be represented by:
General: [X]
Eagle Cohort: [Eg]
Praetorians: [Pt]
Evocati Cohort: [Ev]
Legionary Cohort: [L]
Auxiliary Infantry: [Ai]
Legionary Cavalry: {Lc}
Velites: (V)

So here is the diagram of what it should look like.

.....................................................[Eg] [Pt]........
...............................................[Ev] [Ev] [Ev]..........
....................[L]..[Pt]..[L]..[L]..[L]..[L]..[L]..[L]........
....................[Ai]..(V)..(V)..............[X]......[Ai].......
....................{Lc}....................................{Lc}......

So you can see that there is a plain concentration of men on the right flank. If you want you can use this on the left flank that's totally fine just flip the formation. It is often easier to use the concentration on the enemy's weakest side, so go with that. The reason I have a Praetorian in the back line on the far side and not up at the concentration is for 2 reasons: 1 is that the Praetorians are just that little bit better than Legionaries, so will hold the line more successfully, and 2 that they have their own influence radius, and it is large enough to cover all of your men, giving them a much needed morale and fighting buff. Again the Auxiliary Infantry are on the flanks behind the main army to counter any flanking horses, and behind them are your Legionary Cavalry. NOTE: It may be better to have the Cavalry on the oncentrated side as well, and leave the other side without Cavalry. This gives you the option to charge 2 units of Cav around the weakest side, instead of 1 per side, but both work. The Velites stand behind your left flank to provide cover fire for your Legions there, also just as some support/bait (you'd rather lose a unit of Velites than Legionaries). Finally your General is safe and sound behind the concentration, boosting morale and throwing buffs around like nobody's business.

Unit Roles

General: Stays out of harm's way unless there is a lone juicy Archer target, or if victory is 100% guarunteed. Stands behind your concentration and gives buffs.

Eagle Cohort + Praetorians: These guys can form as many or as little of your army as you want, however it is recommended that you have at least 1 of each as they give morale and attack buffs to any unit in their spheres of influence. They also have better stats than the rest of your units and you'll need at least 2 to form the first line of your concentration. They will be charging as soon as they are hit by missiles, and they will do alot of damage. Having a second unit of either is also extremely useful and recommended as you can place 1 down the other end of your line for buffs.

Evocati Cohorts: Like the Eagles and Praetorians, you can have as many or as little of these guys as you want. Again they are better than normal Legionaries, so if you have the money you can just have these guys instead of Legionaries. However in this case I used and recommend 3 just in case you are having issues with your financial income, or don't feel the need to spend the extra money. This setup gives ample power without draining your banks from upkeep. Your Evocati will make up the 2nd line in the concentration, and will be the ones charging in immediately behind the first line to give support and shock the enemy with Pila and momentum.

Legionary Cohorts: The iconic Roman Legions will make up the rest of your army's infantry. I used 7 units of them, so combined that with the 1 Eagle, 2 Praetorians and 3 Evocati gives the formation a solid 13 units of Very Heavy Infantry. So 7 will be more than sufficient, however as mentioned before if you have enough money you can have Evocati instead. Your 7 Legionaries plus 1 unit of Praetorians or buff giving units will make up the 3rd line of 8 units. Make sure you have them in line with the first two so you're forming a sort of blunt arrow head (I just decided to call it the ArrowHammer :3 ). On the concentrated end they will be again charging into battle behind the Evocati, however you may wish to use some of them to flank or charge around as you will begin to see a large grouping of your men at this end. The rest of them in the middle and the far side will be charging up in 1 line to engage the enemy and prevent them from joining the concentrated side. Divide and Conquer.

Velites: Stand behind the men on your weaker side to simply give support, harrass enemies and if necessary be used as bait or screens to prevent Legionary losses. These guys can be taken out of your army if you wish and replaced with better soldiers.

Auxiliary Infantry: Two units of these guys may be all you need, but if you take out the Velites then it can be useful to have more Spearmen. They sit behind the rest of your Legionaries and they are there to simply find and destroy enemy Cavalry who will be joining the battle. Search and Destroy. The Rapid Advance ability is extremely useful; use it.

Legionary Cavalry: Again only 2 units, it is recommended to have 2, you won't really need more, however if you choose to not use Velites then swapping them out of more Cavalry is useful. You may choose to sit them on either side or on one side for the battle. Once the enemy units are all engaged you charge them around and behind the enemy to either attack the infantry already engaged by your Legions, or to hit Archer/Missile units that are annoying your troops.

Using this formation (Attack only)

So now we have the unit roles and diagram sorted, here is a demonstration of how to apply this formation when attacking. As mentioned before, this formation will result in a loss if you try to use it defending, especially on Hard or above. Use it for attacking only unless you feel unnaturally brave or suicidal. This has been trialed against Egypt, Sparta, Arverni, Carthage and Pontus on Hard, and Carthage and Pontus on Very Hard, all to success. The battle that is seen in the attached photos is against Pontus on Very Hard. Their army was a generated army made up of their General, 4 Noble Blood Cavalry, 2 Scythed Chariots, 3 Theuros Spears, 5 Celtic Warrior Mercenaries and 5 Pontic Peltasts. Both of our generals were rank 3 bronze and all of the rest of our units were rank 2 bronze.

Here is an image of the formation from the front.


And from the side




Ok so you want to move your men in this formation at a walk. Don't run and tire them out until they are attacked. Now in theory your line should be shorter than the enemy's due to your concentrated flank. Line this up with the side you are attacking, for example if you are concentrated on your right flank, attack their left flank and line it up, like this.

Enemy Right Flank....XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Enemy Left Flank

Your Left Flank.....................................XX Your Right Flank
............................................................XXX
.............................................XXXXXXXXXXX

So when you move your men it should look something like this.


You can see where my men are, and where they are going, and that the concentration is in line with their left flank. This is going to be wiped out basically :)

Ok as soon as you take missile fire, charge your first 2 lines, that is your heaviest infantry such as Praetorians, Eagle Cohorts and Evocatis, like this.


As soon as your lines make contact, charge forward the rest of your men in 1 straight line, so that the rest of the enemy army is engaged and not moving around. It may be useful to pause time to give these orders. It will look like this.



Have your Velites up nearly touching the fight, so they can throw their missiles but if engaged will provide useful distractions.

Ok now this is where you will be doing 2 things at once so pause time is fun here. Firstly, get both your Cavalry units and move them around behind the enemy. You can make one go either side or focus both on the concentrated side. Up to you. Secondly you must grab your Auxiliary Infantry and use them to seek out and engage the enemy Cavalry that has no doubt joined the battle, like this.



Now they have been engaged your Cavalry should be around the back, and can take out lonely units of charge into enemy infantry.


Now you just anihilate the enemy. Use your General's buffs and debuffs, and it may be useful to activate Use the Whip ability on your Legionaries, this refreshes their fatigue levels and makes them attack harder. It does make them more tired after it wears out but the battle should be over before then. Your enemy will begin to route. Don't chase them, just select new targets that are still fighting or are close to routing and simply swarm over them.


The enemy will be at a total disadvantage on one flank, and as you take out their men they will simply fold and a dominoes effect will result in their army routing en masse.

There's no use running, you'll only die tired!!!!



Congratulations you have destroyed the enemy!


As you can see from that image it was a decisive victory, with the enemy being virtually vrushed. They won't be able to take another battle like that, and they are in no state to charge after you again. I had this result from every battle I used this formation on, even on Very Hard.

I will note that as soon as I get the victory notice I end the battle. If you choose to chase down your enemy their casualties will be much, muchm, much higher.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Can potentially destroy an enemy army completely.
  
• Uses a lot of Roman heavy Infantry
  
• You can use this formation early game as well, you'd just be missing out on the elite buffing units.
  
• Was an actual Roman formation that Julius Caesar used against Barbarians.
  
• Works extremely well with a full army and mainly Infantry
  [ *] Can be used with other factions.
  
• Can be used (to some degree of success) in multiplayer. I won 4 lost 2.
  
• Holds up against Chariots and Elephants

Cons

• Terrible in defence due to the thin middle line and lack of support on one side.
  
• Becomes less useful the fewer men you have in your army, or the fewer Infantry units you have.
  
• Difficult to use against Parthia or other missile unit factions.
  
• Takes a while to field these units, and can be rather expensive

Elite End-game attacking formation conclusion.

This formation is histroically accurate and it works very well in attacking. You can use this to great success against enemy armies not only in your campaign or custom battles but also in Multiplayer if your opponent has their army lined up. The sheer force of 5 or more Heavy Infantry units focused onto one section of a battle line can cause it to crumble and be destroyed much faster than if you assigned one unit to each of theirs. Adding in a few well placed Cavalry charges can further tip the balance in your favour, and due to the tighly packed infantry battles it may render their Cvalry without a charge. Your spearmen can then hunt them down and make them eat spearheads.

This formation is more of a quick morale crushing battle, and will end the battle quickly with minimal casualties on your end. Worth using.

Now I think after more reading it may be wise for you to get a snack! :)

Defensive Formation.

There isn't much to really tell about the defensive formations in the late-game stages of Rome. You just recruit Praetorian Guard, Armoured Legionnaries and Legionary Cavalry. A few Auxilliary Infantry and Archers don't hurt, but late-game Rome has infantry that can wipe out just about any force. Their only real weakness is attacking fortified cities with Scorpion towers. Seriously those things are so OP.

Two lines of infantry are all you need, with a few flanking spearmen and Cavalry at the rear. By now you're clearly a skilled enough commander to get this far, so you don't really need any advice in defending. This guide was more about you guys finding out some new tips and tricks and building upon them. So for defence I'm leaving it up to you :)

Guide Conclusion

So thank you very much for taking the time to read this guide. I hope it helped you, gave you some ideas, and makes you a superior commander!

If you have any questions or queries just comment below and I'll get back to all of you.

I do plan to make future guides for other factions now that university has ended for the year, so expect guides on various Successor Kingdoms, Barbarians, Nomads and Hellenic factions!

As requested by several parties, here are a few links you can look at that go into detail about Roman Infantry tactics ranging from their original battles with the Samnites and Greeks, to their military reforms and further into their 'barbarianisation' of their heavy infantry when they begun to rely heavily on Auxilliary soldiers (towards the collapse of the Western Roman Empire over 95% of their cavalry were Gallic Auxilliaries).

How Romans consolidated their power
http://www.the-romans.co.uk/weapons.htm

Julius Caesar's personal attributes; fight like the famous man himself!
http://changingminds.org/disciplines/warfare/commanders/julius_caesar.htm

Roman Infantry tactics: keywords to search (ctrl+f) quincunx, line system, phalanx, triple line, Marian reforms, Caesar
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_infantry_tactics


Cheers everyone

[LowFatMilk]

Thanks for that!! Glad they have helped. Medieval TW uses more distinct battle lines with heavy infantry and spearmen so you'd be easily forgiven for using them, especially as in Rome 2 some spearmen units (Hoplites, Thorax units, Chosen Celtic units) are EXTREMELY powerful and durable in melee.

[Octaviean]

Apparently Julius Ceasar himself lives through you with your strats . Thanks for the guide it's really helpful to learn some new techniques... I've been playing more like Medieval total war and having more spearmen than legionaires.

[Mercy Is Bae]

I love making the more "historically accurate" Legions in my games units wise, but wasn't 100% sure about the tactics used, so seeing these deployments is even more awesome for RPing Rome (Is that weird? I don't know, but it's fun). Thank you for this guide,

[LowFatMilk]

@kasumi27 I don't know what you're trying to say, either your English is bad or you just had a stroke

@Martin Mertens when you're outnumbered it comes down to terrain and unit quality, if you have better troops but fewer of them you might be able to pull through. Use your general to raise morale too.

@IzBad thanks dude appreciate it! It's a game and people get so angry over it haha, but they're few and far between so I don't mind :)

[Spartan_Mk420]

Great guide, and definitely an interesting read. Gotta love all the Karens trying to make themselves feel special by dogging it.

[Martin Mertens]

hey I love these guide, but is there a formation to fight when you are heavily outnumbered?or it just comes to be lucky at terrain?

[JohnPaulJones]

Yep tiny force now how about 60,000 troops in single army then .On China i set my vast army into a fort type SO if i get from any side i will hold even with a force 2 x my sizes

[Vincito The Great]

not shurw if its accurate but i appreceate this <3

[LowFatMilk]

Thanks Druid!! Negative comments don't bother me, I made this to help out and have a bit of fun with the game. Your feedback is greatly appreciated and happy playing!!

[Steve5734]

Well F*ck some of the negative comments, I think this is awesome, this guy has given a lot of time into trying and clearly writing this, better or worse set ups is irrelevant, I appreciate the guide mate, and will deffo be trying the first set up.

thank you.