Praetorian Guard Stats

[shadegate]

Hi,I've just received a Warlord Roman starter army and a copy of WAB 2 from Santa.I'm trying to apply the contents of the box to the list in the back of WAB2 and can't seem to find any Praetorian Guard references.I'm assuming they would fit into the legionary category but where would I find their stats? Would they be 'vets' or standard troops?Or am I using the wrong list and need to get one of the army supplements.As is probably painfully obvious Roman history is not my strong point and this is my first foray into ancient gaming from my more usual habitat of elves and lasers.Excellent models though and an order for some cavalry was placed yesterday. After so long playing on 'the other side' I'm not used to the massive value for money you get with Ancients mini's.Also, apologies if this has been covered elsewhere. I did a search but couldn't find anything that appeared relevant.Anyhow, back to the gluepot.Paul.

[Cubster]

Praetorians can be elite, ordinary or raw depending on your point of view about them. Some view them as the elite guards of the Roman Empire, perfect fighting machines and bodyguards without equal; some view them as effete, overpriviledged and pampered show ponies who rarely saw action and were little more than ceremonial soldiers of little military worth; some see them as something inbetween.It's up to you really, enjoy.

[shadegate]

I see, so I can basically use them as standard legionaries as far as the list/points etc are concerned. Thanks for the quick response.

[Samuel Eden]

It also depends on what time period you are modelling. At the time of Augustus they fought very little, but they fought in the year of the four emperors and under Trajan and in several other campaigns accross the later first century and early second century. Note that the Praetorians fought damned hard in the year of the four emperors and certainly didn't appear weak or effete but on the whole they didn't see much action.

[Cubster]

shadegate said:

I see, so I can basically use them as standard legionaries as far as the list/points etc are concerned. Thanks for the quick response.

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 Yeah pretty much. Sam's right, it does depend greatly on the period you're depicting.

[shadegate]

I'm looking at doing initially Roman vs Celt as that's the two army deals I've just got from Warlord.One day I'd like to branch out into the early roman punic war era.Realistically the 200 plus mini's in the two box sets plus the extra cavalry I've ordered are going to keep my paint brushes busy for quite some time so apart from getting some Dacians and Ancient Brit sets to complement what I have any other periods are going to have to wait. Is the starter army the correct period for a 'defending the mile fort from the brits' sort of scenario. Praetorians aside. I don't expect the elite/effete (delete as applicable) troops trapsed all the way here to fight some ginger lunatics from north of the border.The Hadrian's wall and fort is a piece of terrain I'd love to model.Apologies for the ignorance, I have a couple of books on the way from Amazon to allow me to brush up on the period plus a couple of Osprey's for the painting info.

[BigMike]

Hadrian's wall was manned and 'patrolled' mostly by auxiliaries once it had been build - primarily cavalry cohorts in the east and infantry in the west as the ground suited them.  I believe the legionaries were held in reserve in forts a few miles behind the lines and were able to be called upon for punative raids and backup.Northern Britain/Hadrian's wall would make an amazing area for an ongoing campaign/series of linked games, although it's worth knowing that the wall probably wouldn't have been suitable as a fighting platform and was used more like a customs barrier marking the formal 'edge of the empire', while it would have been 'defended' by fighing on the pictish side by columns of legionaries/auxiliaries brought into the right place by Roman infantry scouts and auxiliary cavalry patrolling to the north of the wall.  I can't remember what they're called but there are a number of ruined forts some way north of the wall to house these scout units - and in fact the whole Antonine Wall which was build roughly between Edinburgh and Glasgow and i believe had on paper the strongest concentrated Roman garrison the Empire ever assembled!All of which means not only is Northern Britain a fantastic place to set a campaign or theme an army but you don't even really need to go to the hassle of building a shed load of fortifications! 

[nikgaukroger]

Cubster said:

Praetorians can be elite, ordinary or raw depending on your point of view about them. Some view them as the elite guards of the Roman Empire, perfect fighting machines and bodyguards without equal; some view them as effete, overpriviledged and pampered show ponies who rarely saw action and were little more than ceremonial soldiers of little military worth; some see them as something inbetween.It's up to you really, enjoy.

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I would suggest that it was more a case of what period you are think of rather than looking for a blanket view. Like the legiones when not used in war they would certainly have not been up to scratch, however at other times, such as the C3rd, they formed the core of the emperor's army (well the one they considered legitimate ) along with II Parthica after its formation. So as they had a 3 century existence you can pretty much do what you want