06-26-2014, 06:40 PM
About the battle duty of the centurion, one could assume that it was his role to "aim" his century during the movement to contact.
Which is not as simple as simply going forward or backward. If he deviates to the right or left, he's gonna mess with the order of the unit to his right or left.
And then, he might even had to aim for a specific spot in the enemy battle line. And the centurion of the century the further to the right (so either a primus hastatus or pilus depending on the period) would have to make sure not too aim to short of the end of the enemy battle line, but also not too loose contact with the century to its left.
An interesting situation to picture is two roman battle line walking toward each other. Assuming there are small intervals between centuries/maniples which would leave a little room to maneuver, I think there'd be a strong incentive for two centuries roughly facing each other to walk and then charge head on. If a centurion deviates from that, then the centurion on the other side would have the opportunity to hit head on the side of the century and get an initial advantage in the fight.
Also, the field of battle might contain various obstacles and the centurion might have to lead its century right around it without messing up the good order of the formation, and the sooner he aims the trajectory of its unit around the obstacle, the less trouble it should cause.
So the way I see it, a centurion duty would involve at least that. I think he'd need to be in the front rank to do so properly. But its actual position might vary depending on the status of the battle, and the fact that we have no known position for him (contrary to his greek/hellenic counterpart) might be an indication of flexibility in that regard.
Could be something like:
- initial movement to contact: he leads from a spot on the right and front. He tries to find the right balance between keeping his century in his "lane",avoiding bad ground and aiming at a good spot in the enemy battle line.
- he comes withing pila then charging range: he's the calling out the two orders when appropriate
- first moment of the initial melee: he fights from that spot because really he has no choice after the charge.
-the situation is stabilized but the century is still in contact, he might withdraw behind his formation to help his optio organise the rear ranks to respond to the enemy unequal pressure on his century.
- first lull: he walks around his century to dress the ranks as best as possible. Might walk over or yell to the next century to coordinate a bit.
- after a moment, he has to resume combat, but his men might not be too enthusiastic about that and might not know where to even go exactly. Once again, it'd be his job to aim for a specific spot and lead by example.
- In a prolonged melee, he might indeed be better off letting his men do the fighting, and instead manage them, shove them forward or to the side of the formation, grab men that seem to be tired and replace them 1 for 1 when possible.
-And repeat till there is no more fighting to be done.
Which is not as simple as simply going forward or backward. If he deviates to the right or left, he's gonna mess with the order of the unit to his right or left.
And then, he might even had to aim for a specific spot in the enemy battle line. And the centurion of the century the further to the right (so either a primus hastatus or pilus depending on the period) would have to make sure not too aim to short of the end of the enemy battle line, but also not too loose contact with the century to its left.
An interesting situation to picture is two roman battle line walking toward each other. Assuming there are small intervals between centuries/maniples which would leave a little room to maneuver, I think there'd be a strong incentive for two centuries roughly facing each other to walk and then charge head on. If a centurion deviates from that, then the centurion on the other side would have the opportunity to hit head on the side of the century and get an initial advantage in the fight.
Also, the field of battle might contain various obstacles and the centurion might have to lead its century right around it without messing up the good order of the formation, and the sooner he aims the trajectory of its unit around the obstacle, the less trouble it should cause.
So the way I see it, a centurion duty would involve at least that. I think he'd need to be in the front rank to do so properly. But its actual position might vary depending on the status of the battle, and the fact that we have no known position for him (contrary to his greek/hellenic counterpart) might be an indication of flexibility in that regard.
Could be something like:
- initial movement to contact: he leads from a spot on the right and front. He tries to find the right balance between keeping his century in his "lane",avoiding bad ground and aiming at a good spot in the enemy battle line.
- he comes withing pila then charging range: he's the calling out the two orders when appropriate
- first moment of the initial melee: he fights from that spot because really he has no choice after the charge.
-the situation is stabilized but the century is still in contact, he might withdraw behind his formation to help his optio organise the rear ranks to respond to the enemy unequal pressure on his century.
- first lull: he walks around his century to dress the ranks as best as possible. Might walk over or yell to the next century to coordinate a bit.
- after a moment, he has to resume combat, but his men might not be too enthusiastic about that and might not know where to even go exactly. Once again, it'd be his job to aim for a specific spot and lead by example.
- In a prolonged melee, he might indeed be better off letting his men do the fighting, and instead manage them, shove them forward or to the side of the formation, grab men that seem to be tired and replace them 1 for 1 when possible.
-And repeat till there is no more fighting to be done.
Timothee.
