> The point at hand is that i need more detail on the setting, esp. concerning the Roman army's rank and tactics
> system.
> Soooo..if there are any budding historians out there, or if anyone has run a Roman campain before, please
> help me out.
>
> Also, why did the Roman army have such a mish-mash of armor types, including leather, studded, chain, banded and Plate. Also they seemed very fond of short swords, and knowing how PC's love maxing-out on damage how do you get PC's to use them?
>

OK lets see if any of this will help....I can't remeber the Roman ranks
either( except for legonaire, decturion and centurion) but the tactics
are simple enuf: the basic idea was to use a Shield-Wall formation (eg
tortise) and fight from behind that with Javlins and Pilums (aka spears)
and in later years slings and bows. As Cavalry was almost none
exsistant(lack of saddles and more importantly stirups) then this was a
VERY good battle plan (if you are playing in an AD Rome then you might
want to consider the Elephant, this lead to the need for more missle
troops, who were used to infuriate the elephants before they could start
a'squishing). When the wall didn't work the Gladius (shortsword) came
into play. The reason for the shorter sword is that it is easier to
stab someone in close quarters than it was to slash/bash. Seige plans
were also pretty basic:"a hungry solder can't fight" and "wooden walls
burn". In the few cases where these tactics didn't work, Rams and
Towers were used.
The type of armor worn was based on rank and climate....the higher your
rank the more metal in your armor...this did change in the hotter
climates were horseman/leather armor became the norm (metal being to hot
to wear).
My suggestions for getting your PC's to use Shortswords is to either
have them in the Gladiatorial Fights, or close combat were
slashing/bashing weapons are given negatives, or better yet make weapons
such as Longswords as hard to come by as they were in Ancient Rome ie
almost impossible due to the lack of steel.

Well I hope that helps...

- --
Clint
clintl@ihug.co.nz
}