The Roman Army Today
Well met!
RoninValentina posted recently, asking for help constructing his Main Event GenCon Roman army. Coincidentally, I am entering Islandscape, with its Main Event format, with just such an army. There seems to be a Consensus about certain things, but most issues are subtler and more subjective.
1. Take Marcus. The Romans are very slow. Marcus gives all soldiers +1 movement. Romans are soldiers, which brings us to . . .
2. Be a soldier. AE, 4th Mass., and 10th Reg. are soldiers and thus staples in Roman armies.
3. Take Raelin. Consensus might make this number 2. Roman armies clump.
4. Take Me-Burq-Sa over Ne-Gok-Sa. In a 500 point army, you need the 40 extra points. and MBS is great as the Fifth Attacker.
So the core of a 500 point Roman army is some combination of Marcus, MBS and 2 (or 3) squads of Romans, depending on what units you want in the 200-300 points remaining.
I believe Consensus considers 3 as the ideal number of common squads of the same type in this context. For tactical flexibility, I prefer 2.
Within certain parameters, the rest is a matter of taste. Generally, the Romans are the melee element, the balance is ranged.
For Islandscape, I'm taking the following:
150 2 x 10th Reg.
100 Marcus
100 2 x Romans
80 Kumiko
20 Marcu
500
I like Kumiko over Raelin here because she is a cheap source of Special Attack and suits my personal style of play. Also, if the second round is at 600 points and I take the Krav, they combine well as a mobile strike force that can operate independent of the main body of my army. [I like the 10th because I waste no points at 575, 600 or 640. At 575, I add 1 x 10th; 600, Krav; 640, 1 x Romans & Ne-Gok-Sa. Marcu grabs glyphs and, well, does what Marcu does. Too many spaces . . . must rethink.]
I have heard that Consensus considers Romans obsolete, and would use 2-4 squads of the 10th for melee/range and the balance in, say Rats/Robots/Dragons, etc.
Maybe I'll do that . . . next time [this time?].
David
RoninValentina posted recently, asking for help constructing his Main Event GenCon Roman army. Coincidentally, I am entering Islandscape, with its Main Event format, with just such an army. There seems to be a Consensus about certain things, but most issues are subtler and more subjective.
1. Take Marcus. The Romans are very slow. Marcus gives all soldiers +1 movement. Romans are soldiers, which brings us to . . .
2. Be a soldier. AE, 4th Mass., and 10th Reg. are soldiers and thus staples in Roman armies.
3. Take Raelin. Consensus might make this number 2. Roman armies clump.
4. Take Me-Burq-Sa over Ne-Gok-Sa. In a 500 point army, you need the 40 extra points. and MBS is great as the Fifth Attacker.
So the core of a 500 point Roman army is some combination of Marcus, MBS and 2 (or 3) squads of Romans, depending on what units you want in the 200-300 points remaining.
I believe Consensus considers 3 as the ideal number of common squads of the same type in this context. For tactical flexibility, I prefer 2.
Within certain parameters, the rest is a matter of taste. Generally, the Romans are the melee element, the balance is ranged.
For Islandscape, I'm taking the following:
150 2 x 10th Reg.
100 Marcus
100 2 x Romans
80 Kumiko
20 Marcu
500
I like Kumiko over Raelin here because she is a cheap source of Special Attack and suits my personal style of play. Also, if the second round is at 600 points and I take the Krav, they combine well as a mobile strike force that can operate independent of the main body of my army. [I like the 10th because I waste no points at 575, 600 or 640. At 575, I add 1 x 10th; 600, Krav; 640, 1 x Romans & Ne-Gok-Sa. Marcu grabs glyphs and, well, does what Marcu does. Too many spaces . . . must rethink.]
I have heard that Consensus considers Romans obsolete, and would use 2-4 squads of the 10th for melee/range and the balance in, say Rats/Robots/Dragons, etc.
Maybe I'll do that . . . next time [this time?].
David
Comments 2
Total Comments 2
Comments
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I like that army, but I would go with Raelin over Kumiko. Believe it or not, but the robo rats are a fairly unpopular army choice in this neck of the woods.
Actually, I would personally drop your 80 point unit, as well as marcu, and take one more squad of Romans along with Me-Burq-Sa. This makes it a very popular build that has done incredibly well recently in a Maryland tournament, and you get numbers. Romans can be fairly sturdy, and while Raelin gives a nice bonus, she is not all that effective with squadies. Next time you play with her, roll two Jandar dice for her aura instead of normal dice. Anyway, I think you should try my 3x Romans and MBS build along with what you have. MBS does a ton for them. |
Posted July 20th, 2009 at 10:19 PM by Einar's puppy
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I used Romans for the first time ever at the 600pt 30hex Saratoga Slugfest last month. It went really well (both from a results point of view and a fun one).
My build was: Romans x5: 250 Me-Burq-Sa: 50 Marcus DG: 100 Ne-Gok-Sa: 90 Airborne Elite: 110 Total: 600pts, 28 hexes. For 500pts, dropping two squads of Romans is the natural choice, or maybe one squad and Me-Burq-Sa. Me-Burq-Sa did some great work as an early-game assassin; I'd be reluctant to leave him out. A strategy that essentially won me the game against RobertDD was to clog everything up with Romans and drop the AE behind that wall near Marcus. I usually use the AE as an expendable fast-hitting strike force, grabbing height and getting a rounds' worth of powerful shots off before they die. Marcus's boost and the wall of romans lets a more circumspect strategy work well. The one game I lost with this army was against Onacara's Marcus/10th Foot/Raelin combination, so maybe you're onto something with dropping the Romans entirely. EDIT. Assuming I was dropping two squads of Romans, that leaves 4 hexes for additions. How about: +75: 10th Foot x1. Even though one squad of a common is not ideal, given the synergy I think you can make a case for it here. +100: You can't go wrong with the KMA. Iskra and the Rechets could add pleasingly to the nervousness about not fielding your units. Syvarris could also do a decent job from behind your Romans. +140: DW9K? A great addition to any army, though I know that's a minority view. Kaemon Awa and Marcu is solid, or you could go more defensive and have Raelin (SotM) or the Nakitas instead of Kaemon Awa. |
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Posted July 21st, 2009 at 09:08 AM by ollie
Updated July 21st, 2009 at 09:23 AM by ollie |
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