Roman Battle Formations Mid Republic to Late Rep.

[Tarbicus]

Get yourselves copies of Rome: Total War and hack the unit formation text files to test out your theories - the AI is very good, and the game very straightforward to customise, including the spacing of the men. Just tell your enemy where to go in the game and see what the Romans do in response. When I tried it using the different theoretical formations based on Polybius, etc (Lendon?), there was never a problem with quickly moving units back through the maniples. The legionaries just step aside and step back into place, for example. If celts rushed into the gaps in the checkerboards, the Romans at the edges just turned and attacked them from three sides, i.e. did to the celts what the celts were trying to do to them, but the Romans had the advantage of remaining organised and not being on the move. This was years ago and I've since lost the files, but there are plenty of RTW forum threads and tips to be found on the web describing how to make your own units and formations.