Imperial Legionary

This article is about the Scenario Editor unit in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. For other uses, see Legionary.

Imperial Legionary
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten
Type	Infantry
Training
Food	60
Gold	30
Training time	20 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	75
Melee attack	12
Attack bonus	+2 vs Eagle Warrior +2 vs Standard building 0 vs Infantry
Reload time	2
Melee armor	2
Pierce armor	2
Armor class	Infantry
Speed	0.9
Line of Sight	5

“	Heavy infantry unit.	”
—Age of Empires II description

The Imperial Legionary (simply called Legionary before Return of Rome) is an untrainable infantry unit featured in some campaign scenarios of Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. Statistics-wise, they are similar to the non-Elite Obuch, losing the special ability and 5 hit points and gaining +4 attack.

The Legionary was created as a reskin of the Elite Jaguar Warrior, with major exceptions being the increased pierce armor and slower movement speed. Since update 42848, Legionaries appear in the Battle Royale game mode, acting as Guardians of buildings. Higher numbers of Guardians appear near Castles. It is also available in the Scenario Editor.

The unit was re-introduced with some minor changes as the Roman unique unit in Return of Rome. The two units are visually identical, but differ in their statistics.

Campaign appearances

Alaric

In the Alaric campaign, Legionaries appear throughout each scenario as enemy troops.

In the first scenario, All Roads Lead to a Besieged City, there are Legionaries serving the "Legions of Rome", most notably those marching in the forest in the east, and those guarding the civilian Docks in the west bank of the river.

In the second scenario, Legionaries on the Horizon!, there are Legionaries serving both the "Legionaries" and "General Mageius' Camp". In the beginning of the game, there are a few Legionaries defeating a group of much weaker Gothic troops. Later, there are other Legionaries among another group of enemy troops, crossing the bridge from the northwest.

In the fourth and final scenario, The Sack of Rome, there are Legionaries in both the "City Guard" (in Rome) and "Imperial Legion" (reinforcements outside Rome). There are several Legionaries coming in attempt to destroy the player's Battering Ram while the player is besieging Rome from the east. Later, among the small groups of reinforcements coming from the southwest heading towards the player's camp (inherited from Athaulf), there is one Legionary in each batch.

Bari

Legionaries feature in the second scenario, The Rebellion of Melus‎, as friendly units, renamed as "Tagmata", serving the Byzantine Empire. As Melus sends Michael Nautikos (the player) to meet the leader of Brindisi, he gives the player a group of Legionaries.

Definitive Edition

Legionaries appear in most scenarios of the revised Alaric campaign composing the professional armies of the Western and Eastern Roman Empire. They don't appear in the first scenario, The Battle of the Frigidus.

Some Legionaries also appear in the reworked Attila the Hun campaign. They replace the Western Roman Empire's Champions spawned after defeating Orléans in Attila's fourth scenario, A Barbarian Betrothal.

Legionaries no longer appear in the Bari campaign.

In the Bohemond and the Emperor scenario of the The Hautevilles campaign, Legionaries were the main troops of the three Byzantine armies protecting Greece from Bohemond's raid. Unlike the Bari campaign Legionaries, these aren't renamed to Tagmata. They have been replaced with Long Swordsmen in an update. A few remain in western Greece next to some Pavilions.

Return of Rome

With the addition of the Legionary unique unit, Imperial Legionaries have been replaced by them in every scenario, and the few remaining Legionaries in Bohemond and the Emperor have been removed entirely.

Trivia

• The original appearance of the Legionary was taken from the mod Rome at War, that replaces the Aztecs and Mayans with Romans and Greeks, respectively. The Legionary's appearance was edited in turn from the Long Swordsman in Age of Empires, replacing its round shield with a tower shield.
  • The unit appears to bear a Corinthian helmet and an Iberian falcata or a Greek kopis as weapon, rather than the more typically Roman Galea helmet and gladius. Real-life Legionaries also carried javelins called pila, for use in range.
  • This appearance is even more anachronistic for Age of Empires II, as by the fifth century AD, the traditional rectangular shield had been replaced with a more versatile (but no less protective) oval shield (both called a scutum). The lorica segmentata plate armor considered the traditional armor of a Roman soldier was only in use during the 1st and 2nd Centuries AD, with a final appearance in the mid-3rd Century; instead the later Roman soldier was armored in a long mail or scale coat (lorica hamata and squamata respectively), both of which were quicker and easier to produce, provided an equal amount of protection (if not more) and allowed the later legionary to fight in a much more flexible combat style.
• In the Definitive Edition, Legionaries receive a new appearance based on Late Roman weapons and armor, wearing a ridge helmet based on the Berkasovo II find, a shield based on some of the zoomorphic patterns carried on many legio and auxilia palatina units (larger and smaller palace-grade units respectively) and the longer spatha sword traditional of the later period. The shield pattern was later changed to a corniacenses unit style.

Gallery

Many views of the updated Legionary in the Definitive Edition

A Legionary in the Definitive Edition on release

The updated idle animations of the unit

The updated attack animations of the unit, some of the direction attacks are stabs and some are slashes

Legionary Guardians in the Battle Royale game mode.

A group of Legionaries in the HD Edition

Legionary walking in the HD Edition

An artist's depiction of a Legionary from the 1st-to mid 3rd century AD

A re-enactor resembling a Legionary from the fifth century AD

A re-enactor using the Late Roman armor and weapons