Caesar's Legion Tactics & Overview v5.1

 CEASAR'S LEGION TACTICS & OVERVIEW, V5.1

 

Confession time: I never, EVER sided with Caesar's Legion for longer than it took for my cannibal to kill Caesar and eat his heart for the Meat of Champions perk. Even setting aside the goody-goody RP type who'd hate the sexist enslavers creating an empire doomed to collapse on the death of one man, there never seemed a good reason to back them even if creating a sociopath who wants all the power and glory: Why not just kill House and take over New Vegas if that's your jam?

With that said, I kinda like Caesar's Legion in FWW. What makes them SPECIAL is solid all-round HP, sharply specialized models so you're not paying for stats you won't be using, and solid auras. What makes them not SPECIAL? Well... no Heavy Weapons aside from the Courier who's bad at it; no Chems or Power Armor; much like the BoS they have no cool special rules just restrictions and tactical choices that makes the Super Mutants look nuanced: Shoot with a couple of guys and charge with everyone else. 

As I said under that entry, though, it's not a BAD thing. A peril with wargames is being overwhelmed with too many choices and not knowing which way to play properly. Caesar's Legion is quite straightforward which makes playing them easy, but also difficult to stop - and a good challenge as AI opponents.

COMMON

CENTURION
Centurion + Thermic Lance. Bam. Done. Expensive, yes. But it will kill whatever you point it at. Make sure to have a few Legionaries around to buff the Centurion's melee skill. Starting with a base of two Centurions + Thermic Lance, a Vexillarius (heretofore referered to as Vexii), and 3-5 Legionaries or Decani won't steer you wrong.

Other than that? Yes, he's got decent Rifle skills, but the Scout beats him and is cheaper. His armor is great, but he's sorely lacking in the HP department, so buying Military Fatigues and/or Lifegiver is a good investment to keep that Thermic Lanc - er, Centurion alive. 

HOUND MASTER + LEGION MONGRELS
These are basically entwined, so I'm lumping them together - you shouldn't take Legion Mongrels without Hound Masters and vice versa. But should you take either? Probably... not.

Hound Masters increase the Mongrel's to hit chance by 10% - this is not insignificant as it means they go over 55%. But he has to be within 8" to do so, which is difficult considering how large the Mongrel's charge range is and how (comparatively) squishy he is for how much of a force multiplier he provides - if he's dead, your Mongrels are neutered. The game plan is to move him closer to the enemy so he can hit them with his dogs safely, which is asking to have him picked off. While you could make him tougher with Armor, Clothes, healing food... that's throwing points into a bad model to make it average, when you could be spending more points on already good models. 

LEGION EXPLORER
Explorers are your objective runners, and that's it. With only two combat skills (and one of them at only STR 4!!), they should only be armed with a Machete and a Baseball Grenade in case you catch some enemies clumped up. But having INT 7 for all three Expertise, along with Quick Action Movement, makes this a very reliable objective runner.

Being 6"/8"movement lets them compete with Vulpes Inculta despite his superior stats and existent combat skill; I think he's overall better but either could be the right pick.

LEGIONARY SCOUT
As per James Sheahan - look at the front of your rulebook if you're not sure who that is! - Legionary Scouts are NOT "Legionary" for the Thermic Lan- er, Centurion's By Example rule. As per a post on Facebook, "The use of Legionary as a descriptive word as well as a rank in the F:NV videogame leads to this confusion. Ideally the Scout would be called a Legion Scout (and Legionary Assassin would be a Legion Assassin if one was to be made) but I stuck with the exact names from the F:NV videogame."

That said...

These guys are your snipers. Give them Sniper Rifles, Cowboy Repeaters on a budget, or Grenade Launchers for some reliable AoE dropping - who cares if you kill a few Recruits with friendly fire? More where that came from! They also have solid Search and decent Lockpick, so not bad objective runners in a pinch. 

Generating AP 33% of the time is also reliable enough to trust for extra shots, but still handy if it works! Lastly, they ignore Difficult terrain, which is always a good ability.

PRAETORIAN GUARD
The Praetorians are a solution looking for a problem. The problem: People will want to kill your Vexii. The solution: Models that can take a hit for it. 

Their 8" Charge range and access to High Tech gives them access to Power and Ballistic Fists, though with their Quick Actions the Chinese Officer's Sword + Stun Pack is worthwhile to make them swing  more often. 

LEGIONARY
Legionaries have one job: Trigger the Thermic Lan- er, Centurion's ability By Example, and hopefully an Outnumber bonus Green as well. Centurions don't have spectacular skill, Thermic Lances don't have Greens, and they need Legionaries nearby (or Decanus, but we'll get to them) to trigger By Example. So with that said, why would you spend 8 Caps more for the Prime Legionaries? Yes, it gives +5% to their primary attacking, but that's not what they're there for. It's just a happy accident if they hit something. At most they should have Spears or Gladii; anything more is a waste of Caps. 

VETERAN DECANUS
By contrast, the Vet Decanus is there if you want the Thermic Lan- er, Centurion's backup dancers to be combat capable. With their Pistols off PER 5 they can make use of the double Green guns like the Hunting Revolver, and their STR is high enough to make use of pretty much any melee weapon - I'd reach for Batons, though as STR 6 is still only a 55%. 

VEXILLARIUS
Vexii have solid Rifles and excellent CHA with an outstanding Aura range - these alone would make them solid models for any Aura Leader/Perk cards. Giving friendly non-Uniques a bonus Green for their first Skill Test and everyone else Immune to Stun, Immune to Battle Cry, and ignoring Difficult Terrain is four abilities packed into one very valuable model. 

And any opponent with a brain will realize it quickly. Since at 90 Caps these are a little too expensive to afford multiple copies of, it's better to protect them with Praetorians, Armor/Clothing upgrades, and Perks. 

UNIQUES

BURNED MAN
I don't much care for the Burned Man. His DLC is almost entirely boring and he does nothing unique. I said it. Yes, he comes with A Light Burning in the Darkness, but his Pistols skill is mediocre and his gun doesn't improve it. Basically he's an 85 Cap model with AGI 7 backing up an Improvised Weapon with Damage 1 + Black Black Green.

COURIER
The Courier is a pinch-hitter, capable of doing anything that his faction ordinarily can't. In this case, it's Heavy Weapons. While his STR 4 is quite garbage, access to Power Armor fixes that - PA Frame + Bruiser makes him reasonably reliable, and going up to a T-60 isn't a terrible choice if you're focusing more on the cheap side of the Legion. Lucky helps, but with only LUC 3 he'll want Tech instead of Bruiser to make using it more reliable. 

But that breaks my usual rule of spending points on a bad model to make them average; and in this case he's a bad fit for the Legion as a makeshift Heavy Weapons guy. Best to leave that to Grenade Launcher Scouts.

He's also a reasonable objective runner,  which the Legion is short on, and his Companion perk gives a solid buff to a chosen model. In the Legion's case, I feel like a Centurion or one of the Uniques is your best bet. You want someone reasonably tough, since it's such a debilitating debuff if the chosen Companion goes down.

LEGATE LANIUS
Lanius is a ferocious beater, tank, and control piece, worth every Cap. First, his combat abilities are exemplary with that STR 8, 8" charge, Battle Cry off that crazy STR 8, and the Brutal rule. Second, his solid armor and 9 HP make him hard to put down, with immune to Fire, Poison, and Radiation stacked on top of it. Third, Dominant is unique in that it shuts down Aura abilities - Enclave will hate him, but it's hardly the only reason to take him so if you don't get value from that it's fine. The extra AP is also a great bonus. 

LUCIUS
I... want to like Lucius. Free movement = extra AP, which is the lifeblood of the game. But it's only 4" and it's conditional on spending a Close Combat action, which is pretty restrictive. He's reasonably tough, with Strong Armor and 7 HP. Unhindered also locks out a fair few upgrades. I feel like a second Vexii or another Praetarian would be a better bet than Lucius.

VULPES INCULTA
Vulpes is an unparalleled objective runner - just as Caesar used him - with his excellent INT 8 for two Expertise and a mediocre but workable LUC 5 for Hacking. Feint is... unusual... but really only useful for one thing: To Ready (but not activate!) Vulpes early, then use it to activate two models in a row instead of Vulpes. It's a roundabout way of replicating the "Ready an Unready model when this model activates", but also has the benefit of leaving Vulpes available to activate later - and letting you activate two potentially similar models, such as a pair of Centurions. 

CHANGELOG
v5.1 - revised the Legionary Scout to account for James Doohan's semi-official word.