07-02-2014, 08:37 PM
Quote:Mark,
Serious question. Say a century only has 47 men in it, after getting hammered in a couple previous battles and dealing with a flu epidemic. How would the box like formation work then?
Whilst noting that over 20% casualties is rather significant from what we read.......
The answer is obvious - some men may get redistributed if some conturbernia/files are particularly hard hit and some of the files will only be 4 and not even 5 in depth. The optio may have additional work to move men from one file to another when in combat; and it is more than likely that more inspiration is needed as things could go sideways sooner.