Auxiliaries & Scorpions

[Suetonius Paullinus]

I would like my Auxilliary force to have a battery of scorpions
but I have no idea if that would be historically correct.
Does anybody know how likely or unlikely this would have been?
Or was sophisticated weaponry for the almighty legions exclusively?
I appreciate any advise

Cheers

S.P.

[Biggus Dickus]

It seems to me that if Auxiliaries were tasked with working independently of a legion (and this did happen) then they may well have had or been given their own artillery support. I don't know if the crews for such weapons were legionaries or Auxiliaries, but I can certainly see a situation where the 2 might need to be working together.
Given that archers were auxiliaries i assume weapons crews were also......although in all the books i have read I have yet to have this confirmed.

Rightly or wrongly i treat my weapons crews as Auxilaries!
So much is unknown and so many things are all ready guess work and fantasy i wouldn't worry too much!

As a last clutching of straws..........A Legion commander could form a battle group for a special task (A Vexillation) this could consist of any forces under his control, in any mix he thought would be needed. If he chose to send a couple of centuria of auxiliaries and a battery of scorpions, who are we to argue?
Until evidence comes out of the ground to prove other wise everything is possible, even complicated shield blazons with wings lighting bolts and wreaths......hehehehehe

Blimey I actually sounded a bit po faced there.....I don't really want people taking me too seriously

[mikeland]

BD's logic sounds pretty good to me. I certainly think there is no evidence to outright say they didn't have Scorpions with auxiliary troops. So until Dando-Collins tells us otherwise I'd go for it.

[Invisible officer]

The integration of artillery into auxilia is not documented in any ancient source. And the few ancient images show Legionary crews.
The machines look very simple on first sight but Schramm and Marsden give a lot of proof in their books that it's far from easy to build and serve them.

The Legiones had a core of expert craftsmen, producing a lot of military items. Including the Scorpions and other machines.
I would use them in defence of the Auxilia Castell but not in the field. My main reason is that Auxilia's big advantage was fast movement to catch raiders or do raids themselves.
If a cohors Auxila had 10 Scorpiones with it the effect was not very great. On a pitched battlefield or in siege the massed machines of a Legio could play havoc but in a skirmish the effect would be neglectable.

To treat the Legionary crew as Auxila might have an advantage in the rules you use but the crews came from the cohors miles. Heavy Infantry in dress and training.

But if you like to use the Scorpio in an Auxilia setting, why not. It's to see your opponent's chieftain nailed to a tree Or the savages taking revenge.........

[Biggus Dickus]

The integration of artillery into auxilia is not documented in any ancient source. And the few ancient images show Legionary crews.
The machines look very simple on first sight but Schramm and Marsden give a lot of proof in their books that it's far from easy to build and serve them.

The Legiones had a core of expert craftsmen, producing a lot of military items. Including the Scorpions and other machines.
I would use them in defence of the Auxilia Castell but not in the field. My main reason is that Auxilia's big advantage was fast movement to catch raiders or do raids themselves.
If a cohors Auxila had 10 Scorpiones with it the effect was not very great. On a pitched battlefield or in siege the massed machines of a Legio could play havoc but in a skirmish the effect would be neglectable.

To treat the Legionary crew as Auxila might have an advantage in the rules you use but the crews came from the cohors miles. Heavy Infantry in dress and training.

But if you like to use the Scorpio in an Auxilia setting, why not. It's to see your opponent's chieftain nailed to a tree Or the savages taking revenge.........

Invisible officer did you study at the Sorbonne?
A scorpion is at best a support weapon.....and by that token Auxiliary....i'm hoping you grasp that minor fact.
There is no actual proof that legionaries manned these weapons, none...there is actually no proof, for all we know it could have been 10 year old school girls with melons on their heads.....prove that it wasn't...you can't can you?
I'm not saying i'm right, i don't know, i wasn't there, but I would say stop believing everything you read, my advice to you would be to lighten up.

[Invisible officer]

No, Friedrich Meinecke Institute of History (Old and New History) and Institute for classical Archaeology (Obviously A...) . And some other Institutes all over Europe, including UK. Far too much time in archives and libraries Not enough in old graves.....

[Centurio Marcus T]

I say do what you want.No one can say Auxiliaries did or didnt have access to Scorpions for sure.My understanding of these weapons though indicates they requireds experienced crews. More so the gunner for want of a better term(im sure some one will know the correct term)So therefore they would of had to be trained by experienced operators to begin with which would lean toward the Legions rather than auxiliaries .But really there is no reason why Auxiliaries cant have been trained to use them either So go for it SP no one really knows