The Rules.
Unlike the show, I'm going to judge my warriors on a very different grading scale. I'll take into account five of their weapons (close combat, medium-range, long-range, special, and alternate (alternative weapons can apply to any of the prior four criteria)), their defenses (armour or stealth, as it were), tactics (formations against mass rush, etc), mobility, individual strength, and their history (victory against loss records). This gives me ten captions, each worth ten points a-piece. I'll take the results from each and add them together, giving me a percentage out of one hundred for both sides, deciding the contest. Hopefully this will make things more even for both warriors.
Introduction to the Opponents.
An Imperial war-machine of steel, leather, and men travels through time to square up against the garrishly-dressed mercenaries of Sixteenth-Century Europe. While possessing their firearms and trademarked pikes, the altogether shrewd and quarrelsome soldiers-for-hire might have bitten off more than they can chew in the conquerors of the Ancient World.
If the Romans were the very Gods of war, then a Landsknecht must have been the court jester. Whereas the Roman legionnaires went clad in steel and leather, with hob-nailed sandals and crimson cloth, the German mercenaries did all they could to profuse an aura of arrogance. They wore many-layered clothing of equally-numerous colourings and dyes, and placed feathered, broad-brimmed hats atop their forged-steel pothelms. Commanded by their square-jawed Centurions, the Roman Legions were led to bloody victory after bloody victory time and again inside and out of Europe. The Landsknechte, in contrast, cultivated their brutal reputation as shrewd businessmen with a great knack for causing mayhem on the battlefield to obtain success in both gold and bloodshed.
Overview of the Roman Legion.
A Roman legionnaire of the post-Marian Reforms went to battle wearing a complex arrangement of plate armour, the lorica segmentata. He also bore the huge scutum shield, as well as a steel helmet with cheek, neck, and faceguards, and a steel cuirass for personal defence. In terms of weapons, he would have the two pilum throwing javelins, missile weapons unique in that they were made to bend upon impalement, rendering the shield (or targeted enemy) useless. A foot-soldier also would have his trusty gladius, a short thrusting sword for fighting at close quarters. If needed, the bronze-edged shield could be used as a bludgeoning weapon due to iron umbo boss in the center, forcing one's way through the enemy ranks.
Roman auxiliaries were troops recruited from the various countries and peoples conquered by or allied with Rome. They filled in castes necessary to the success of the Legion, such as cavalry, archers, and scouts. Due to their specialized role and importance in the Roman war-machine, I have chosen for them to count as 'weapons' for this article.
Recruited around his mid-twenties, a Roman Citizen would spend about five years at ten hours a day training to serve Rome in her wars abroad and at home. This commitment would continue on into twenty-five years of service, in which the legionary would be granted his own plot of land in a military colony alongside other retired veterans.
Having spent decades of experimentation and evolution in their military machine, a good picture of Rome's organizational abilities presented themselves in the chain of command in a legion. Groups of eight men made up a contubernium. Ten of these contubernia formed a century, making eighty men under command of a veteran Centurion. Six centuries made a cohort and ten cohorts a legion. This gives a number of four thousand, eight-hundred legionnaires. Adding on the various officers, engineers and camp followers would likely bring this number closer to an even five thousand. Auxiliary numbers are difficult to pinpoint, as they varied from Legion to Legion, but for my purposes I will place two cohorts - one of auxiliary cavalry and one of archers - into the grouping, as well as their officers, resulting in about six thousand fighting men.
In regards to tactics, the Romans probably defined the term for over a thousand years. The hundreds of man-hours spent training their Legions was not spent twiddling their thumbs. One historian said that, "It would not be wrong to describe Roman drills as bloodless battles." The Legions employed numerous formations, most notably the testudo, or tortoise, a defensive formation so infallible that some artists of the time (and the much-later Rennaisance) depicted horsemen sending themselves and their mounts on top of the locked-shields of the legionnaires!
However, the Romans were not very mobile in combat or out of it, relying on their closely-made formations and armour. Due to this glaring weakness, three entire Legions were destroyed in the Teutoburg Forest by Germanic warriors in 9 AD. So great was the embarrassment of Rome that the lost Legions (the Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth) were written from the records forever, with no explanation. At another point a task force was surrounded and defeated with slaughter at Cannae at the hands of Hannibal of Carthage. Because of their obvious shortcomings in mobility, the Legion trusted to its auxiliary cavalrymen to make up for it, in which they were all too happy to oblige. Mixed between horse-borne archers and lancemen, with all bearing the longer cousin of the gladius, the spatha, these horsemen literally rode circles around their opponents and pursued them for miles away from the original battleground.
Roman legionnaires were also trained to be combat engineers, and for many a shovel and pickax were included in their gear when on the march. Specialized engineers for operating the seige weaponry - the onager and ballistae - marched with the Legion, and were able to fight on the line if direly needed. However, their true trade lay with their machinations.
Given the various strengths and weaknesses mentioned and explained above, I'll now summarize it for all of you that skipped to the bottom (and I really do hope that you'd go back to the top and give it a read, but that's your choice).
ROMAN LEGION
Close Combat-
~Gladius and Scutum. A small weapon teamed with a huge shield, not very useful in a straight-up fight but perfect for a close brawl.
Medium-Range-
~Pilum volleys. Timed volleys of the heavy javelins from the legionnaires were able to wreck havoc in enemy formations.
Long-Range-
~Auxillary Archers and Slingers. Skilled hunters and mercenaries from the various outlands and border countries of the Roman Empire, easily able to slay foes from a great distance.
Special Weapons-
~Auxillary Cavalrymen. Horsemen, in some cases literally born in the saddle, serving alongside the heavy infantry in flanking and encirclement movements, as well as scouting and shock troops.
Alternative Weapons-
~Siege Weaponry. Can substitute for the Auxillary Archers or Slingers if needed. Few in number, and not very threatening to most of the enemy, but deadly against an immobile target such as defensive fortifications or massed infantry.
Defenses-
~Lorica Segmentata and Terrain Manipulation. A very complex and very protective suit of plate armour, allowing for much freedom of movement while maintaining protection against enemy weapons. Roman Legions were also masters of utilizing the terrain to their advantage, luring their more-numerous enemies into bottlenecks, or fighting them in the open field, leaving them open to the cavalry.
Tactics-
~The Romans had a variety of tactics, including variations on the standard marching column for battle and peace. Their battle formations allowed for a constant stream of legionnaires to go to the front while auxillaries kept the enemy at bay and their flanks unprotected.
Mobility-
~The Romans' true military weakness when in the field. Relying on the auxillary cavalry to protect their rear and flanks has made the Legions too comfortable, and if outflanked, it could make them quite dead.
Individuals-
~Like most military machines, the Legion does not allow for much individualism in its ranks. The average legionary is somewhat small, though muscular and subject to various medical restrictions. The Centurions and banner-bearers provide a beacon and rallying point, which is important among so many men.
History-
~The Roman Legions undoubtedly have one of the least tarnished records of success in history, though several blotches such as Cannae and the Teutoberg Forest fiascos present themselves.
Continue on to Page Two, for an Overview of the Germanic Landsknechte.
