Flexibility of the Legion

[sonic]

On a large scale, I was always fairly convinced that the average Roman general would not bother with scouting too much, since they were confident in their ability to beat the enemy using the sheer power of the legions - a fact that Hannibal used against them at Cannae. Moreover, wasn't Cynoscephelae an 'encounter' battle, with the two sides meeting at the crest of a ridge and being unable to deploy fully before the battle began? Hardly an excellent use of scouts!! :lol:

Although it must be acknowledged that the Roman system of Consulships in the Republican era resulted in some excellent generals coming to the fore, we should also remember that there were many 'not-so-good' generals who either didn't bother to use scouts, or refused when scouts were recommended by more experienced senior officers under their command.

I believe that the concept of the Roman army as a professional force run in an exceptionally professional way along modern lines does need to be tempered with the realisation that in many cases forces were ad hoc groupings of troops with no experience of working together under leaders whose arrogant belief in the superiority of their troops led to complacency and error. Thankfully (for them) their senior officers and troops often managed to pull the general's fat out of the fire!

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Ian (Sonic) Hughes