Light/skirmish infantry for the L. Romans

[ochoin]

After the volcanic eruptions following my last L. Roman post, I'm a bit wary to go another but OK.....

I have no light troops but may buy a box of the HaT Missile troops.
So, I'll need to add rules to our home-groan set.

I came up with these (NB the big bit is they neither shoot nor melee. They screen, die & run away):

"Light Troops
In units of 10 figures.
The unit will move as infantry, ignoring terrain penalties & formation change restrictions. They may pass through & be passed through by friends without penalty.
LI will not fire or melee but only serve to block archery and slow down charges by serving as a screen for units behind them.
If between enemy archers & their target, the bowmen MUST target the skirmishers.
If between enemy chargers & their target, the charging unit must stop to slaughter the skirmishers (ie take two moves to reach their intended target).
Normal targeting practices will be used to determine casualties amongst the light infantry.
After a unit of LI has lost more than 4 figures, it is removed from the table."

I like (naturally!) the simplicity of this. It is time wasting to roll dice for what should be almost useless shooting or meleeing.
The skirmishers are but a speed bump in the scheme of things.

Comments? (keep it civil, chaps. Especially when directed at me or I may cry).

donald

[tim.w]

Personally I'd give them at least a small ability to shoot/throw so they can harrass where opportunity presents but I do take your points about them being a speed bump. If you're wanting to scale back the dice throwing it makes sense.

I don't actually know much about Late Roman light tactics. I've assumed the old velites concept had long gone by then and they were more about raiding villages, baggage etc than doing much in a set battle.

We have an amazing Late Roman re-enactors group here around York. Complete with cavalry. There was a bit of an incident in my local town once when a horse broke free between demos. The riders are professional jockies and explained how hard (terrifying) riding without stirups was, especially a very tempermental horse! They had some interesting weapons too, throwing darts hurled underarm from horseback were quite nasty looking. I may have photos, will check.

[tim.w]

Cant find photos but have a look at www.comitatus.net

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

After the volcanic eruptions following my last L. Roman post, I'm a bit wary to go another but OK.....

Give over - you love it, you shit-stirring Caledonian, you!!!

[ochoin]

Thanks, Tim. There's a shield pattern or two I might use. The darts (plumbata)are a lethal addition to the L.Romans' arsenal.

Give over - you love it, you shit-stirring Caledonian, you!!!

If I wanted to stir the proverbial, I'd simply go over to tmp & post something like, "Guns kill - ban all private fire arms".
Most of the active membership (about 20 people) would post calumnies.

donald

[Norman D. Landings]

Yeah, let's go.
For a 2-litre plastic bottle of Aldi own-brand cider, I'm willing to say any and all of the above is wrong.

[BaronVonWreckedoften]

No reason you can't do both, Donald!