Yeah, ok; you have more scope for camouflage than I appreciated at first. It will eventually become obvious that you’re training an army (you’ll have to train them to fight in formation, and volley, and things like that), but when the provincial governor shows up wanting to know what you plan to do with it, you might well be able to get away with saying “I’m planning to conquer Rome and install myself as emperor, and if you go along with it I’ll find you a nice fat province in the East to be governor of”. And if that doesn’t work, well, you probably can win a long campaign, it’s just really messy.
The Romans as a culture placed a lot of stock in the notion that victory in combat represented worthiness as a person.
Indeed, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop fighting you. Consider Cannae: most states would have sued for peace after so brutal an upset. Same deal after Arausio; the Romans were as proud and stiff-necked a people as have ever existed, China and America by no means excepted.
(you’ll have to train them to fight in formation, and volley, and things like that),
I’m planning on 20-man units, using modern infantry tactics (not much in the way of volleyed fire, nor pretty much anything in the way of formation firing). Also, air guns are quiet. So these aren’t really much of an issue.
Yeah, ok; you have more scope for camouflage than I appreciated at first. It will eventually become obvious that you’re training an army (you’ll have to train them to fight in formation, and volley, and things like that), but when the provincial governor shows up wanting to know what you plan to do with it, you might well be able to get away with saying “I’m planning to conquer Rome and install myself as emperor, and if you go along with it I’ll find you a nice fat province in the East to be governor of”. And if that doesn’t work, well, you probably can win a long campaign, it’s just really messy.
Indeed, but that doesn’t mean they’ll stop fighting you. Consider Cannae: most states would have sued for peace after so brutal an upset. Same deal after Arausio; the Romans were as proud and stiff-necked a people as have ever existed, China and America by no means excepted.
I’m planning on 20-man units, using modern infantry tactics (not much in the way of volleyed fire, nor pretty much anything in the way of formation firing). Also, air guns are quiet. So these aren’t really much of an issue.