Reman Legions Tactica

• Forward:
  
  Centuries before the Empire of Sigmar, the Old World was dominated by the great Reman Empire. Legionary Swordsmen marched in massed battle formations against their enemies using their bravery & tactical skill to grind down their opponents in long battles of attrition. Powerful artillery and the occasional cavalry charge supported these infantry elements, but provided little killing power compared to the unstoppable juggernaut that was the Reman Legion.
  
  The Reman Legions are an Empire fighting style variant that limits the choices of the general to a much smaller selection of troop types based mainly upon the historical armies of the Roman Empire during the 1st century BCE and early 1st Century CE. Many of the troop types can of course be swapped for greater flexibility if one does not wish to use a heavily themed army composition, but the general tactics used will work with any style of play.
  
  
• General Principles:
  
  Much like the TVI Tactics that so many players on the Warhammer-Empire.com use to great effect, the Reman Tactics follow a similar style of play. A Legionary Commander must be able to force the enemy to enage the large blocks of Swordsmen and counter-charge with Detachments, but as most players have found keeping these detachments from perishing to enemy missile fire or light cavalry charges is very difficult and once in combat lightly armored halberdiers and free companies tend to find prolonged combats to be very deadly. The primary goal of the Reman Legions Tactica is to prevent the untimely death of these detachments, so that they may be used for their primary purpose of counter-charging an enemy that charges your parent unit in order to generate max CR bonuses. Psychology control, screening, artillery and massed infantry all are vital components to fielding a successful Reman Legion.
  
  Other key components include heavy artillery, cavalry and character choices. All these components are necessary to guarantee that your infantry blocks are not overwhelmed by monsters or the opponent's heavy cavalry and to preserve the infantry's leadership so that enemy spells, missiles and psychology do not adversely affect the infantry.
  
  
• Building the Legions:
  
  My Reman Legions follow the Roman Maniple system. The Maniple is the smallest fighting unit within the Legion, it consists of 2 Centuries each with a Centurion and approximately 80 Legionaries. In WHFB terms a Century equates to 2 units of 29 Swordsmen (full command in 5x6 formation) each with a detachment of 9 Swordsmen (3x3 formation) and a Single Captain to lead them (the second unit is raised to a full US of 30 by the addition of the BSB or General). The total is then 4 units of 29 Swordsmen, 4 detachments of 9 Swordsmen, 2 Captains, the General of the Empire and a BSB. This gives us 8 maneuver elements of fighting infantry equaling about 160 sturdy soldiers (more than enough to make an opponent think twice before advancing toward your lines).
  
  To support these fighting infantry elements I include an additional detachment of Archers for each Swordsmen unit, these perform many roles, the least of which is actually killing anything). Archers are kept to a minimum since they are 8 points each, compared to 6 for a sturdy Swordsman this is extremely expensive for an unarmored WS 3 infantryman, so 5-7 is the range I'll use, but 6 seems to be the most efficient for my style of play.
  
  I also include 2 units of heavy cavalry, either Dogs of War Heavy Cavalry or the standard Empire Heavy Cavalry and even Dogs of War Light Cavalry or Empire Pistoliers could be used, it all depends of which elements you prefer to include for your own playing style. Cavalry can be used much like the TVI style, but typically the infantry dominates the field so much that there is little need (or room) for the cavalry to actually be embedded between infantry units. Because of this difficulty, the cavalry tends to cover the wings of the army in a more traditional manner. They either kill or divert enemy flanking units and rarely survive the battle, so keeping these cavalry units to an absolute minimum is essential to a good battle plan. Usually 5 is the max I'd recommend and the only upgrade worth the points is the musician.
  
  Artillery was a key component of any successful Roman Legion, the sheer power that these machines could wield was extraordinary for the times and while the Empire's artillery is indeed powerful it is also expensive and vulnerable. I make use of 4 artillery pieces, the best comboes I have made use of is a mix of area effect and direct fire artillery. 2 Great Cannons (or Dogs of War Light Cannons) and 2 Helstorm Rocket Batteries (or 2 Mortars). My current thinking is that the larger versions are better since they can easily slay monsters or kill tough elite infantry! I use 4 since I have the points from limiting the frilly extras that most generals like to take and much Like the TVI tactica each piece should cover one Battalion of infantry. Their goal is not to scratch dozens of tally marks on their guns for personal kills, but to support the infantry in such a way that the enemy is depleted just enough that the Swordsmen can effectively fight a frontal battle with higher starting CR than the enemy, which will require the enemy gambles on making more kills against our WS 4, 4+ save infantry (a difficult task even for the hardened Dwarfs or Chaos Infantry).
  
  Finally we come to character selection. Characters can make or break an army and tend to dominate the battlefield in most games. The Reman Legion way requires that characters carry only minimal personal protection in the form of mundane armor and hand weapons or maybe a great weapon if points are left over. They do not take fancy toys to war like magical rings or powerful swords, instead they tend to fight on foot with the infantry and are used defensively. Their goal is to accept a powerful character's challenges so that their 2+ armor can be used to prevent the enemy from generating massive CR from kills and they give their units and the detachments valuable leadership bonuses! One character is required per infantry element unless in higher points levels this isn't possible, but at 2000/2250 you should have 2 captains, 1 BSB and 1 General each in a Swordsmen unit.
  
  The General should be a General of the Empire, while not the favored character, he is the cheapest character for giving the Legions a LD 9 and the can upgrade one unit's banner to a magical one, such as the War Banner or even the Valorous standard (if you plan on leaving a regiment on the far wing beyond the BSB/General's range. An Archlector is tempting, but requires multiple magical equipment upgrades to give him the same fighting ability of even a captain and by this point you have easily doubled the cost of the general and perhaps reduced your artillery or cavalry elements by one unit... and you need all the support elements you can get! No the GotE is by far the best choice and equipment should be FPA, Shield and the Rod of Command. The Rod should make the general sturdy enough to accept the charge from pretty much any enemy unit, toss the champion into a challenge, and then crack the Rod to hold the charge; once held the enemy is now vulnerable to a powerful cavalry charge or further infantry charges in support. I've broken many armies’ most powerful regiments by use of the RoC including chosen Khorne Warriors and Chosen Khorne Knights (with characters supporting them).
  
  The BSB always, that's right, ALWAYS uses the Imperial Banner; no exceptions. The Imperial Banner is expensive, but when there are 14 maneuver elements all packed in a tight space you realize just how cheap 100 points is to prevent over 2000 points of troops from failing panic, fear, terror, and rally tests. Once your densely packed army faces a pair of screaming skull catapults you'll realize just how wonderful that re-roll really is! Plus when you must flee from overwhelming charges you really need that re-roll on the rally for the detachments do prevent the loss of possibly hundreds of points by the end of the game. Also re-rolling restrain pursuit rolls helps to keep your battle line in good order so the enemy isn't able to draw you out into flank charges.
  
  Captains usually carry no magical items at all, just FPA and Shields. They are 60 points and are used solely for leadership benefits and combat support. 60 points is the same price as the 10-man unit of Swordsmen in my detachments, I throw Swordsmen detachments away and will do the same with my captains. they are there only to provide support for the infantry if their death means the infantry will sustain fewer casualties and give me the edge in a combat, then I'll risk the life of the captain to break a foe much more powerful than my own unit! Fortunately in most battles the Captain is superior to the Rank and File troopers of the enemy and can actually add extra CR in the form of kills! The only magic item even worth mentioning is the Icon of Magnus, sometimes on dense battlefields, you have to place on regiment on a far flank and if that unit carries the Banner of Valor and the Captain has the Icon of Magnus, the unit is essentially immune to psychology allowing for a single unit to effectively fight on its own away from the BSB and General's supportive leadership.
  
  Characters should include only cheap effective leaders, not magic users since offensive magic requires a heavy investment in points and characters and defensive magic requires the loss of leadership characters as well as many points that could purchase artillery or other support elements. Characters are on foot for theme reasons, but being on foot also doesn't draw extra attention to them, most opponents are too focused on the cavalry or artillery that is the immediate threat and since the characters are minding their own business usually no undue attention is given to them especially since very few missiles/magical attacks can even see them due to the archer screens. Only in combat can the opponent target the characters and with better armor, toughness, and weapon skill many opponents won't bother attacking these vital heroes since they are more worried about killing your rank and file for beefing up their very low CR compared to your own! However mounting the characters on horseback isn't a bad idea and can be used to increase the armor and even charge out of the unit, if a key moment is reached, and you need the extra speed to run down fleeing enemies.
  
  
• Deploying for Battle:
  
  Proper deployment is essential for the Reman Legions, improper placement of units could potentially give enemy an easy way to eliminate key components of the army in the early game severely reducing you ability to counter his initial charges.
  
  

  (Reman deployment: Solid wall of Legionaries, flanking Cavalry & Artillery in the rear)

  Infantry should be placed first, usually starting from the center and working outwards. Both the BSB and General's units should be very close to each other, you want these units to support the other regiments, but more importantly they must support each other. The swordsmen detachments will be placed on the outside edges of the units. Next place the final two units of infantry with their Swordsmen detachments also on the outside edges. The archers for all these units need to be placed in a forward position screening both the Parent and Detachment from enemy missile fire, magic and enemy charges. Combat detachments need to be deployed about 2-4" behind the front lines to prevent the enemy from easily charging them. Alternative placement of Swordsmen can vary, but in tight spaces I tend to place the general and the two captains on the front lines in tight formation with the BSB unit behind the general's swordsmen detachment where he can move up to fight later and will still give leadership bonuses the whole battle without the threat of being assassinated.
  
  

  (Alternate deployment for tight spaces: BSB's unit is in the rear)

  
  
  Artillery needs to be placed so that it can see as much of the battlefield as possible. You only have a couple turns of shooting before the infantry reaches combat, so make sure that you can shoot this whole time from the position you choose. Also make sure that you spread your artillery out as much as possible, so any artillery hunters must spend extra turns to make a second or third kill. If a unit of flyers can destroy all machines by turn 3 with a couple good overruns, then the artillery is nearly worthless!
  
  Cavalry should be placed on the wings of the army, ready to counter-charge enemies threatening the flanks of the army. You can alternatively place cavalry in the rear where it will not be able to counter enemy flankers, but can protect the back field from flyers and fast cavalry that may try to engage the rear of your army or artillery. Light Cavalry, like Pistoliers, are great for war machine protection and rear guard duty, due to their "Free Reform" ability and missile weaponry. The tight battle line of the Reman Legions leaves only an inch or so of space for cavalry to move between, but light cavalry can easily utilize this space to squeeze between infantry blocks. This ability will allow the cavalry to move forward quickly once the enemy has managed to get within close range, then unleash missiles or bait the enemy chargers. They could alternatively protect the war machines by deploying along the back board edge to limit ambushing units' ability to deploy close enough to the war machines to effectively engage them, giving extra time for artillery barrages.
  
  

  (Light Cavalry Artillery Guard Duty)

  
  
  The completed battle line should spread from one side of the board to the other, limiting the chances of your flanks being exposed for charges. The enemy will be forced to fight your infantry center as you advance, because the support elements are keeping the flanks clear and diverting the enemy away from the table (where they won't fight you at all) or back towards the center (where they must fight your infantry).
  
  
• Advancing the Legions:
  
  Usually the first turn includes a fast march forward at full speed. The primary purpose of this is to distance yourself from the table edge, so if things go wrong you have room to flee without leaving the battlefield. Once this initial move is made, your archers are within range of most enemy units and your artillery still has some room to fire without hitting your infantry, so advance at normal speed. This allow you to maximize the effectiveness of the missile fire to deplete the enemy formations. Your archer screens need to also change their formation from a straight line to a more tactical formation to maximize the potential of forcing the enemy to charge the parent unit rather than the detachment of Swordsmen.
  
  

  Archers can sometimes get in the way and can't march to move out of the path of your advancing swordsmen. If this happens and you need the archers to stay safe while getting the heck out of the way, the standard placement allows you to move only 4" with each archer towards the center of the parent and detachment forming up into a column between the two units. Then the swordsmen can freely advance without archers being in their way, while protecting the archers from enemy missiles and enemy charges. This is primarily a problem when facing stationary enemies that either are shooting you or know they can't win when charging; forcing you to charge.

  
  
• Engaging the Enemy:
  
  As a general principle you want the enemy to charge you. If you are doing the charging, detachments may not be able to keep up and you'll be sending soft humans to fight a losing battle in a head-to-head fight. If you accept the charge correctly you can divert the enemy into the parent unit allowing for a flanking counter-charge from your detachment. Doing this can be tricky at times, so here are a few tactics for proper detachment use: Detachment Tactics
  
  Once the enemy has been engaged properly you should go in with 5 or more CR than the enemy unit (Flank, 3 Ranks, Outnumber, Banner), then it's just a matter of using the high weapon skill of the Swordsmen and their good armor saves to keep your Legionaries alive so that the CR continues to stay in your favor. Since the enemy engaged you in their turn, if you manage to break them the turn they charge, you now have the initiative and can charge them as they flee. Either with your infantry or the supporting cavalry. The most important thing to remember is that charging out of the battle line exposes both flanks of your unit; it also may bring the combat detachment and parent unit too far away from each other for mutual support; so only do this if you do not have enemies ready to counter this advance. Also the General and BSB need to stay near the fighting so if a battle is occurring nearby and you charge off in search of glorious combat you leave the rest of the army vulnerable without your leadership units! So think ahead before committing to a pursuit; if you can't leave the line, send just the detachment it has a decent chance of catching them and its loss is way less devastating than an entire parent unit with banner and character! Remember you have a dozen expendable units on the field, but those 30-man units can't be lost without good cause!
  
  

  (While tempting to pursue with both units, sending just the detachment after the enemy will keep the battle line solid and won't expose your expensive parent block to potential flank charges)

  
  The detachment tactics should take care of all but the most powerful units and monsters, even lone Treemen or giants will break eventually to the power of our overwhelming CR. Only powerful kill-generating units like the Chosen Knights/Warriors of Khorne and Savage Orc Big-uns with double Choppas have any serious chance of breaking us with their massive numbers of high strength attacks. Sometimes in these situations it is best to throw as many cannon balls ("Ballista Stones") their way and reduce their total number of warriors to a more manageable size. You can also delay by allowing them to charge the screening archers as they overrun you can have knights ready for a flank charge, since they have superior armor you might not lose too many compared to a flanking detachment allowing for max CR without giving away too many kills. Of course as the battle starts unfolding you might realize that your artillery or infantry just can't be effective enough and in these cases having lots of detachments and cavalry units allows you to divert these super-powerful units away and perhaps save you the trouble of trying to beat them in combat.
  
  
• Dealing with Enemy Magic/Missiles:
  
  Of course no plan survives first contact with the enemy, but you can limit the effects felt by the enemy's plans if you build a solid Legion. First you should have massive units, 30 is the smallest a parent unit should be and since you have plenty of units there is no need to spread out too wide, so 5-wide is perfect for maintaining max CR bonuses for ranks. Having 30 Swordsmen allows you to take 10 casualties without losing combat effectiveness and the Sword detachments should have 10+ models allowing the loss of 5 models before losing effectiveness... that means that 60 men, nearly 50% of your fighting force, can be lost and you won't lose any effect in the initial stages of combat. Detachments are always targeted first by good players, so make sure the Archer screens cover them primarily, since the parents can accept more casualties, if the archer screens can't cover both the parent unit and detachment then let the parent take the hits while the detachments move up unmolested. Casualties should be expected so the Imperial Banner should be used and should be close by to take care of these random panic checks that occur from heavy damage.
  
  

  (Archer screens should have casualties pulled so that the Swordsmen detachment remains covered as best as is possible. Parent blocks can accept heavy fire without losing effectiveness, combat detachments can't!)

  
  Magic is no different, few spells can adversely effect massed infantry formations, so allow all the various magic-missiles and other damage spells go through, only use those 2 dispel dice for the smaller spells you can guarantee will be stopped. You have to accept that magic is just like shooting where casualties are just expected. The enemy still has to roll to cast and be in range, so there are several chances for the spell to fizzle rather than harm your troops. Once you get used to allowing magic to get through you realize how unimportant magic defense is and how nice it is to have several backup units to replace those that get harmed by the random good dice rolling during a spell.
  
  
• End Game:
  
  After the Legions have made contact there should be multiple units of Archers behind your lines and perhaps the odd Swordsmen detachment that was delayed and couldn't keep up. Early in turn 5 you should be looking for way to capture quarters with these random elements that have broken off the battle line. Any cavalry left alive should rush towards the back field to kill Artillery once you are sure the enemy has been defeated by your infantry.