Rome v. USMC

[Speaker to Animals]

An airship could last a while as well.

[Smitty-48]

If you can have unlimited resources, then all you need is petroleum, with pertroleum flame throwers, it would be over real quick, the Romans could deal with all sorts of projectiles, but all their defenses were based on wood, they come at you with the Phalanx, squirt-squirt; and you'd melt the flesh right off them.

I mean, if you can have all the ancient armies of the world, then you can just bring an atomic bomb instead, defeats the purpose of the OP.

Technically, a Marine Expeditionary Unit could be equipped with backpack nukes; put them in a cart, walk them into Rome, set the timer, walk away.

[Smitty-48]

Would a Marine be unable to adjust to the disruption to the supply chain (especially given a meta awareness of the disruption; we are assuming the transported unit retains all of its historical knowledge and wisdom)?

You guys suddenly sound like a bunch of swivel chair jockeys at the Pentagon fidgeting with your pocket protectors.

Are Marines even any good without Unca Sugar shoveling in the frozen dinners, petrol, and xbox?

The Marines are a combination of a training system and logistics, that's all it is, and that is all a product of Unca Sugar, indeed, America's military power is financial power, which is then translated into logistics, that is the edge that America has, without Unca Sugar, you wouldn't be able to train and support a Marine Corps at all.

Without the constant traning and sustained logistics, the Marines would indeed wither on the vine, and it wouldn't take long.

It's the same thing for the Roman Legions, they served 20 years, all they did was train and fight, and they required a logistics tail as well, and it all had to be paid for by Unca Ceasar.

[Martin Hash]

How come a noncom has to tell you guys how to do this:
1) Fortressize a hilltop.
2) Trade with local people. Give them small pox & plague.
3) Tact-nuke Rome.
4) Wait for history to catch up with them.

p.s. Romania speaks Rome-like Latin.

[Smitty-48]

The OP is clear, the scenario is single battalion of Marine infantry only, no nuke, no chem, no bio, and no resupply.

[Martin Hash]

The OP is clear, the scenario is single battalion of Marine infantry only, no nuke, no chem, no bio, and no resupply.

A "modern" army is NOT the men. One guy carries the vials, one truck carries the missile launcher.

BTW, 5) Claim to be gods.

[Okeefenokee]

The OP is clear, the scenario is single battalion of Marine infantry only, no nuke, no chem, no bio.

You might be assuming that Romans would have no negative reaction to firearms, or artillery.

You probably wouldn't have to kill everyone. It's possible that before the rounds ran out, the Romans would be in retreat.

One or two battles that start with massed troops being obliterated by indirect, and the will to fight might wither away.

Just one round into a massed formation could reduce it to nothing. They wouldn't be ready for it.

I agree that after the ammo is gone it's a fucked scenario, but that's assuming they can hang through the first ten minutes. I don't give ancients that much credit. One salvo of WP on the first engagement, fight's over.

[Smitty-48]

I guess you hillbillies can't read too good, but the OP is "destroy the entire Roman Empire", the Romans are going to figure out your tricks pretty quickly, in addition, you don't get resupply, so that's not many rounds of 155mm, to conquer 4.4 million square kilometers of territory and 60 million people.

The Romans had artillery of sorts, they would understand the concept, they would no doubt be impressed by 155mm, but they wouldn't think it was magic or anything like that, and they would dig trenches to defend themselves from bombardment, and it wouldn't take them long to fugure out, that you have a finite number of those shells, and could only use them very sparingly.

You don't give the ancients enough credit, the Romans were actually mathematicians and engineers, their approach was very sceintific.

[Martin Hash]

Dude, Small Pox? Plague? "The Sun" falling on Rome because The Gods were displeased? Who needs resupply?

[Smitty-48]

Dude, Small Pox? Plague? "The Sun" falling on Rome because The Gods were displeased? Who needs resupply?

One. Marine. Battalion.

What part of; no nukes, no chem, no bio; did you not understand?