Praelium Military Overview

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Contents 1 Overview 2 Specialised Units 3 Infantry 4 Fire Support 5 Artillery 6 Engineering/Pioneering 7 Mechanised Cavalry

Overview

The Praelium military currently uses groundwork for organisation established in the early 3rd century b.c. by the then Roman Empire. At its heart the strength of the Praelium Legions relies on the courage and reliability of the individual legionnaire. Since their early foundations this doctrine has preached discipline and control in the face of adversity and strict adherence to this has helped forged a state of incomparable power.

The biggest single formation in the Praelium military is the Legion. Nominally consisting of 10,000 combatants, it also sports a support core of between two and three thousand auxiliaries. This unit is broken down into ten Cohorts, each consisting of one thousand specialised legionnaires which are further broken down into Centuries of one hundred men which are then often coupled to form a two hundred man Maniple. In theory, a full-strength Legion is totally self-sufficient in the field and for this reason its ten Cohorts are varied to allow for this. A legion is formed when a call-to-arms is placed among a populace (or drawn using more direct methods). Six Consuls are selected from a panel of distinguished officers. These six Consuls form a second panel and hand pick each and every one of the ten thousand legionnaires and place them in the Cohort best suited to their ability and interests. These Consuls will remain in charge of this legion until it is disbanded, destroyed, or they are released from duty either by a higher authority or death. Of the ten Cohorts forming the Legion, five are designated as Infantry, one Fire Support, one Artillery, one Combat Engineering and one Mechanised Cavalry. These may differ under certain circumstances, but theoretically this combination is a solid choice for stability and independence.

Specialised Units

The purpose of some units didn't fit into a neatly defined army structure the primary units were:

• Praetorians - Empirial Elite Guard
• Spartans - Elite Infantry

Infantry

Each designated Infantry Cohort contains approximately one thousand infantrymen, including light fire support (machine-guns and mortars). They also contain small detachments of heavy infantry and specialists (commandos). Within a standard Infantry Cohort the command structure works like this:

• Primus Pilus – Retains overall command of the Cohort and takes instructions from the Consuls.
• Priums Optio – 2IC of the Primus Pilus.

• Centurion Elect – In command of the individual Centuries.
• Optio – 2IC of the Centurion Elect.

• Primus Signifer – Standard bearer of the Cohort.
• Signifer – Standard bearer of the Century. (One for each Century)

• Cornicen – Each Century contains a Cornicen who is essentially a radio operator.

Within the Praelium military there are no standard rankings for combat troops (Sgt, Lt, Cpt, etc). This structure is the same for all Infantry Cohorts, but may differ in others.

Fire Support

This Cohort contains the majority of the Heavy Anti-Armour and Anti-Aircraft weaponry. It operates in small detachments posted with Maniples. Usually contains one thousand men with up to three hundred pieces of weaponry.

Artillery

The Artillery Cohort works in the same way as the Fire Support, except that it expressly contains heavy artillery (calibre 105mm or higher). This type of Cohort generally maintains unit cohesion in order to achieve effective fire supremacy and accurate support. One thousand men manning two hundred guns of differing calibres organised into smaller batteries of five guns.

Engineering/Pioneering

The Combat Engineers are generally handpicked from the most promising of the Legionnaires in terms of audacity and hardiness. They form (despite their few numbers) the spine of the modern Legion. They are often the first on the field (clearing mines, checking topography and marking ranges) and usually remain the longest (creating bunkers, trenches, laying mines and wire and deploying electronic counter-measures) under fire. Without these troops the ordinary Infantry would have little to rely upon. This optimally consists of one thousand heavily armed and armoured engineers and around eighty pieces of heavy machinery (which may fluctuate to over two hundred given the need).

Mechanised Cavalry

If the Infantry are the ribs, and the Engineers the spine, then the Cavalry are the arms. Mounted in APC’s and Light Tanks they form the heavy, manoeuvrable aspect to today’s army that Equites and knights afforded to ancient armies. A full Cohort consists of around one hundred armoured vehicles organised into turmae of ten. Each turmae is organised so that it carries at least one hundred infantrymen (as some APC’s and Light Tanks carry more than others). Fire power is also generally worked into this equation to ensure equal troop capacity and fighting power among the turmae.