Battle Strategy Meetings/Staff Meetings

[Tarbicus]

it is not imaginable, that the romans acted unprepared, unstructured and uncoordinated on the battlefield.

Ah, but nobody's said that. We know the Romans were well prepared, but part of preparation is training which was done on a daily basis and would probably allow for great flexibility in battle - the first casualty in a battle is always the plan, as they say. There's also nothing to say that they wouldn't anticipate events that could happen in the battle, based on reconnaisance, intelligence reports, prior knowledge of the enemy, knowledge of the terrain, etc, and they would most certainly have contingencies in place.

That's all very different to micromanaging the army in battle, which could actually have a negative effect by causing confusion and destroy morale, especially as the commander would not be aware of many factors at the frontline unless he was physically there, which could in turn lead to disaster. Before his first landing in Britain while waiting at anchor, Caesar gave orders for his officers to use their own initiative once they were on the beach. As long as the best choice of deployment was made prior to battle, and everyone was aware of what the enemy was capable of, and also of what was not known, the biggest decision a commander probably had to make was which units to hold back in reserve, and when to commit them to enter the fray which could have been communicated by cornicens playing prearranged signals. But that doesn't preclude individual units taking the initiative, which the unfortunate tribune who was slain by his own centurion had failed to do. That centurion was commended for his action, IIRC.

For instance, if scouts had discovered enemy cavalry in hiding in woods on the right flank, I think it's quite possible that the first they would tell would be cohorts on the right flank so that they were aware and could prepare for an attack, while another would ride on to inform the commander. I dare say that the commander's main concern would be that the cohorts on the right were aware of the possibility, and if so he would let them sort it out by themselves, or deploy a cohort that had been kept in reserve to deflect a possible attack.

That's what I think, anyway