How to Represent a Roman Legion

On page 13 of his book THE ROMAN ARMY AT WAR, Professor Goldsworthy informs that a Roman legion contained 10 cohorts, each one - ideally - at a strength of 480 men. The “indicative game scale” for IMPETVS is 1 unit of heavy infantry represents something like 600 - 1,200 soldiers.

How then, to represent a Roman legion if one is interested in conducting a battle against the Gauls?

We could say that 8 units of HI could be used. From a points perspective, this would make a legion worth 224 points, not counting command structure or general. I suppose 6 units of HI could be employed, figuring 800 men per unit, so that the cost becomes a more manageable 168 points.

How have others approached this question?

Thanks.

Chris

Since the scale of the game is 1U equals 7 metres a Roman legion Impetus unit would represent approximately 40 men wide by 6 deep or about 1/2 a cohort. Obviously that isn't going to work for most gamers. Since Impetus has a degree of abstraction within it I have given up really being worried about what a single unit represents. If I had to be pinned down I'd say an Impetus Roman legion unit represented 2 cohorts and a Roman legion is represented by 5 Impetus units.

GC -
It's regrettable that I came across as worried about how to represent a legion. I was simply interested in how others have tried to address this or even if they have. Judging from the number of replies versus views, it appears that this question is not all that important. OK, I get it.
I accept and appreciate your position as well. I guess my interest stems from wanting to use IMPETVS to refight historical battles - or at least quasi-historical battles.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.

-AW

AW, I think you can fight historical battles with the right proportions but I think it would be at a scale distinct from the ground scale. I have 8 units of Hastati in my collection and I see this as representing 4 legions with each Hastati stand representing 500-600 men. But in truth that doesn't conform to the ground scale of Impetus as the ranges are distorted (I presume to allow a good representation of movement and fire rates.) Its a fudge but a good one in my opinion. Consider FOG where the ranges conform to the ground scale but the overall effect is not that appealling.

what Gaius says. 8 units per Hastati/Principes to represents 4 legions are the best visual approach.

Distances in Impetus are distorted to allow a playable game. Distortion of game scale and timing is the best way to achieve the so called fog of war.

Gentlemen,

Thanks for responding and advising. Technically, I was looking at a Gallic Wars scenario, so the Hastati/Principes division does not apply but still.

I guess I will just have to review what rule books I have and see what can be done. Interestingly, some folks on other forums say that it can't be done.

Thanks again.

Chris

So, if I want to do an Early Empire Legion, I am not aware that the numbers in a cohort are markedly dis-similar, but would there be anything additional I should do for basing my army?

Personally I would use 10 separate units, 1 for each cohort. Would the 1st cohort be double size? so maybe a large unit in impetus terms?

Steve

The 1st Cohort was usually double strength but the tactics were the same as other Cohorts and the frontage, not the depth, was the big difference. Large Unit would not necessarily apply.

Scale is not so important but if you work out the size of your battlefield you can use X number of Impetus Units to represent X number of historical units depending on the ground coverage. All depends on the size of the battle you want to portray. You could use 1 Impetus Unit to represent 1 Legion or you could go right down to individual Maniples.

Dennis

Yeah, so you could use an Impetus unit to represent a century if you wanted to, so 6 units would be a cohort, its pretty flexible.

Steve