We sat down with Fallout: Wasteland Warfare’s designer, James Sheahan, to talk about the Caesar’s Legion Units to understand why they might be different to other factions. Over to James.
Caesar’s Legion is one of the most recognisable factions in Fallout due to their Roman-esque styling. In the videogame, there is no lack of Legion troops which means each type can afford to be more limited in what they can do, plus they have quite a few specialists of various types too. Their equipment is basic but plentiful, their armor is often weak, but their greater numbers means their weaker weapons still have effect (and why equip someone with expensive equipment when more can take their place?).
As a result, I gave the Legion the feel of a massed army equipped for many situations, and personnel to fill specific roles. There are lots of different types of Legion units. The regular troops consist of the inexperienced Recruit Legionary, the Prime Legionary, the Veteran Decanus and Centurion. I like the Centurion‘s By Example ability which means they fight better if there is a Legionary or Decanus nearby as they are inspired to be inspiring. The specialists include the Legion Explorer who is fast, light and built for Expertise skills rather than combat; the Legionary Scout who is a fast, agile fighter who is great for sniping too; and, the Hound Master who can control and boost Legion Mongrels. Then there are the even tougher Praetorian Guard who are highly skilled at close combat. Last, but not least, are the Vexillarius who are not only good fighters but are also the standard bearers boosting nearby Legion models to ignore stun, battle cry and difficult terrain, as well as encourage them to better at their skill tests. Well, I did say there were many unit types in the Legion!
If the troops weren’t enough, they are led by the crafty Vulpes Inculta who can mislead the opposition by moving their Ready token to a nearby model instead; Lucius, head of the Praetorian Guard, who is master of melee and can step forwards and attack in a single action, and finally Legate Lanius who is deadly as well as tough with high armor. Legate Lanius’s presence is so dominant that it can prevent one opposing model using or benefitting from aura powers, plus Lanius gets enraged so gains a yellow dice on the next attack after he suffers damage.
As the Legion has lots of equipment, most Units’ Standard Equipment furnishes models with both a close combat weapon and a ranged weapon. Due to their crude nature, their guns are usually not as powerful as the weapons used by the NCR. As their weapons are basic, the Legion has a gap in their arsenal which is that they do not use heavy weapons. Whilst they often have better Health than the NCR troops, they have less armor.
Overall, the Legion have a Unit for every occasion and expect (and can afford) to lose some troops to get the task done. They are physically trained, so tend to be better at melee, and they tend to have weak expertise skills (as that’s the Legion Explorer’s job), but they are a military force to be reckoned with.
Next time, we will look at the special characters from New Vegas, the Nightkin and take a quick look at the weaponry found in Mojave. Until then, watch out for the Radroaches...