Legionary Cohort (RTW Unit)

Legionary Cohort (RTW Unit)
Class	Heavy Infantry
Unit Size	161 men
Weaponry	Pila; Sword;
Morale	10
Melee Attack	9
Ranged Attack	13
Defence	22
Charge Bonus	3
Accuracy	N/A
Range	35
Ammunition	2 per man
Region	Global
Recruitment Cost	740
Upkeep Cost	210
Turns to Build	1
Unit Limit	Unlimited
Building Requirements	Army Barracks
Technology Requirements	Marian Reforms
Attributes	Can sap; Can hide in forests; Can form testudo;

Well-armed and armoured infantrymen, who go into combat flinging heavy spears that are followed up with hand-to-hand attacks.

Overview

Roman legionaries are tough, professional troops with good armour and superb weapons. Their hallmarks are discipline, obedience and tactical flexibility. When approaching enemy fortifications, for example, they can use the turtle formation, or testudo, overlapping their shields for protection.

Every legionary’s flexible banded armour, the lorica segmenta, is of very good quality, as is the rest of his gear: a metal helmet and a large curved shield. They fight with two throwing spears (the pilum, plural pila) and a short stabbing sword, the gladius. Each pilum has a soft iron shaft behind the piercing head that is designed to bend as soon as it hits a target, making it impossible to pull out and throw back. Embedded in a shield a pilum hampers an enemy. Embedded in a man, it usually kills. Once the pila have been thrown, legionaries close and continue fighting with the stabbing gladius.

The lorica segmenta armour was adopted because it was cheaper to make and offered more protection as the earlier chainmail.

Details

Legionary Cohorts are a solid upgrade to the Early Legionary Cohort. Like the rest of Rome’s standard legionary infantry, they are armed with two pila and a sword. They have the same number of men, weapons, attack, morale, and charge bonus as the earlier Legionary Cohort. However, Legionary Cohorts have 5 more armour than their earlier counterparts, a large advantage which makes them much tougher and longer-lasting. In addition, Legionary Cohorts are from the Army Barracks and have a higher recruitment cost, although not by too much.

With their improved defense, Legionary Cohorts are tough enough to deal with almost any Infantry opposition they will encounter, and virtually all barbarians. Any unit that might have been able to defeat them probably can't after a good pila volley in their chests, especially lighter units. This unit is the first Legion that is tough enough to charge head on onto even the best Phalanxes and survive a long time, while grinding the enemy down as well. If they manage to flank the Phalanxes they will annihilate them; only Spartans will put up a fight. Against the very best cavalry, Legionaries still have to be a bit wary, but their pila will do a lot of damage. Lighter cavalry will just not do enough damage and can be fought off without trouble.

They are the strongest Roman Cohort unit that only takes 1 turn to train; this makes them a solid backbone later in the game. In campaign it is often good to replace Early Legionary Cohorts with this unit, although sometimes it is not because of their higher retraining requirements. Notably, the barracks that trains Legionary Cohort also trains Praetorian Cohort, who have mostly better statistics but are more expensive and require 2 turns to train. They can eventually be replaced by stronger units such as the Praetorian or Urban Cohort, but remain very useful throughout the campaign.