History Characters / RomeTotalWar

** Urban Cohorts and Arcani were ''not'' elite troops. The former was simply the name given to a city's police force and firefighters, being closer to Town Watch than Praetorian Cohorts. The latter are based on Roman agents in Britain during the later years of the empire who ended up being disloyal to the emperor, so they were disbanded. It's safe to say that they didn't dress like ''ninja's''.

* CripplingOverspecialisation: Despite having largely the same unit roster as Parthia, Armenia averts this trope thanks to the presence of one unit: Eastern Heavy Spearmen. While essentially a slighter weaker version of the Greek phalanx hoplite, they're significantly better than the low-morale, poorly armored East Infantry otherwise available.

* GrimUpNorth: Very much so, with their homeland being the secont closest to Scandinavia, apart from Saxons.

* PaletteSwap: Along with a bit of a CompositeCharacter. The Burgundii are an exact copy of the Alemanni, both in the units and buildings. They are, however, able to form a horde and their horde troops are copied from the Franks.

* PaletteSwap: Along with a bit of a CompositeCharacter. The Lombardi are an exact copy of the Alemanni, both in the units and buildings. They are, however, able to form a horde and their horde troops are copied from the Franks.

By the time of Barbarian Invasion, the Roman Empire is well and truly in decline. The Western Roman Empire is the larger, but poorer part of the old Empire. It is most at risk from the oncoming Barbarian Hordes. The shine of Roman legions is long gone, the western army now employs many barbarian units in her ranks. However, it can still field strong heavy infantry, crossbows, siege and supporting cavalry. The Wester Roman Empire starts the game as a largest faction, controlling half of British Isles, Gaul, Iberia, Italy and northern Africa. Though that is bound to change very soon.

* AchillesHeel: Egypt has a unit roster that allows for flexible ground army that can stand toe-to-toe with any faction, but it cannot recruit ships better than a trireme. This makes their navy easy to sweep away in the mid-late game for any faction that can recruit quinqueremes (Rome, Carthage, Greece, Macedon). It is a simple matter of landing armies at two or three locations to take the momentum out of the powerful Egyptian forces.

* LastStand: Rebel armies controlled by the player can't retreat from combat - they are annihilated whenever they lose. Turns every battle that favors the enemy into a glorious LastStand.

* LastStand: Rebel armies can't retreat from combat - they are annihilated whenever they lose. Turns every battle that favors the enemy into a glorious LastStand.

* BladeOnAStick: The most basic non-peasant unit in the Roman faction roster are Town Watch units. Given short spears and basic shields, they are essentially slightly better equipped and trained peasants. They remain on the roster even after the Marian Reforms. The Reforms also add Auxilia, who use spears and who get even better armor and training. Their purpose is to reinforce the legionaries at the front of the line and protect their vulnerable flanks against cavalry attacks. Both make for surprisingly good defensive troops. (In the case of Town Watch, this is essentially the only thing they are good for.)

* BladeOnAStick: As with most of the barbarian factions, their basic infantry unit is the Spear Warband, a low-discipline and lightly armored unit best used to [[ZergRush overwhelm enemies with sheer numbers]].

* BladeOnAStick: Their City Militia units use spears, and are essentially equivalent to the Roman Town Watch units. They actually avert the "basic infantry uses a spear" trend, along with Rome, as their Iberian Infantry use short swords.

* BladeOnAStick: Spear Warbands are their most basic infantry unit.

* BladeOnAStick: Above their basic Desert Axemen, Egypt has several varieties of spear units, each of whom can form a phalanx.

* BladeOnAStick: As with most of the barbarian factions, their basic infantry unit is the Spear Warband, a low-discipline and lightly armored unit best used to [[ZergRush overwhelm enemies with sheer numbers]].

* BladeOnAStick: Germania has the same Spear Warbands as every other barbarian faction, with one key difference - their spearmen can form a phalanx. They're good enough to handily beat other spearbands and about even with mid-tier hoplites.

* BladeOnAStick: The primary weapon of their hoplite units, just as the case was in RealLife.

* BladeOnAStick: Much like the Greeks, their armies are built around their spear-wielding hoplite units.

* BladeOnAStick: The spear is the weapon of their primary infantry unit, Desert Warriors.

* BladeOnAStick: Like the other Greek and Eastern factions, their infantry are primarily equipped with varieties of spear.

* BladeOnAStick: Like the other Greek factions, their infantry is primarily made up of spear-wielding hoplites and pikemen.

* BladeOnAStick: The primary weapon of their Militia Hoplies and Phalanx Pikemen units.

* AmazonBrigade. They are the only playable faction that can recruit two [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely historical]] units of female warriors: Sarmatian archers and Virgin cavalry.

* AmazonBrigade. They are the only playable faction that can recruit two [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely historical]] units of female warriors: Sarmatian archers and Virgin cavalry.

* HundredPercentAdorationRating: The closer a Roman faction comes to achieving it with the people, the more the Senate will begin to dislike the faction out of [[ProperlyParanoid a fear that they may try to take over Rome]].

* BarbarianHero: They can train a whole units of them, the mighty, dual wielding, shirtless Golden band.

* GrimUpNorth: Not to the extend of the Saxons, but they are still your standard non-Roman barbarians.

* ACommanderIsYou: Balanced/Generalist, with shades of Specialist. The Alemanni combine the best of barbarian warfare in their army, while having several specialized troops. They can train spear and axe infantry, as well as the mighty Golden Band. They have a strong archer line, with Lombard archers being the best foot archers in the western part of the map. Their melee cavalry is on par with the Western Roman Empire. Their special units are Lombard Berserkers, warhounds and Night Raiders, that all accomplish their specific tasks like no-one else.
* AwesomeButImpractical: Their Berserkers. They have a massive stamina pool, can take down a row of opponents with a single swing similar to an elephant unit's attack, and are the fastest infantry units in the game while berserking. They wreak havoc on enemy formations and a few units of them can almost single-handedly win a siege. However, they also come with numerous crippling flaws. They count as light infantry, lack armor, and although they have a high "defensive skill" stat, that stat is ignored by missile fire so even low-end archers can turn them into Alemanni cheese. Furthermore, they're a high-tier unit in the tech tree, so you likely won't be able to get them until late in the campaign, when their usefulness drops, since both you and your opponents will be getting high-end heavy infantry and cavalry with plenty of armor and high discipline as equivalent units in the tech tree. Finally, when they go berserk, you can no longer control them until the rage wars off.

* ACommanderIsYou: Balanced/Pariah. Despite its' impressive and well-rounded unit roster, it starts the game dirt-poor and undermanned. It takes a lot of strategy, micromanagement, calculated losses and luck to bring the West back from the brink of collapse.
* AloofAlly: Enforced. The western and eastern parts of the Roman Empire start allied. But the victory conditions for West require the control of Constantinople. A resurgent West will eventually have to attack their eastern brothers to claim total victory (if the East does not lose said province to rebellion or other factions). AI will also often break the alliance over something petty, like an undermanned border province.

* JokeCharacter: The Western Roman Empire starts with a general called Gratianus the Lily-livered who has every negative morale trait that a general can have. His retinue contains a mother-in-law, who decreases his influence and morale of troops on the battlefield. And he's not even married.

The Romano-British are an emergent faction that does not exist at the start of the game. They are a coalition of romanized people of Brittania that mean to rule themselves and perserve Roman way of life. They show up as an army without a city once the Western Roman Empire is pushed out of Britannia. Like their Western Roman forebearers, the Romano-British posses a well rounded unit roster with strong Roman infantry, advanced siege and barbarian support troops.

* EliteMooks: Graal Knights, the super-heavy cavalry comparable to cataphracts, available to train only to them. they are the only cavalry in the game that has a fighting bonus in snow.
* HomeGuard: They initial army is a collection of former Roman soldiers, romanized barbarians and British people in general who were happy under the Roman rule and want to preserve the civilized Roman ways. Their Limitanei equivalent is even called Coastal Levies.
* PaletteSwap: Many of their units and their building options are copied from the Western Roman Empire.
* OutsideContextProblem: They are this to anyone who manages to drive out the Western Roman Empire out of Britannia. Once the Roman troops are gone, the conqueror will have to fight against another army assembled by the locals who formed their own Roman faction. This does not happen anywhere else in the game.

* RapePillageAndBurn: It's what they were known to do and need to do to prosper in game. The term vandal comes from their sacking of Rome.

* TheCycleOfEmpires: Together, with the Senate, the represent Stage 1 for the eventual Roman Empire.

* AnAxeToGrind: Desert Infatry, Egypt's basic infantry unit, wields one-handed axes.

* AnAxeToGrind: Axe Warbands are a second tier infantry unit. Berserkers are a top tier unit, wielding massive battle axes.

* ActionGirl: Along with AmazonBrigade. They can recruit two [[VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory loosely historical]] units of female cavalry - [[AnAxeToGrind axe-armed]] Head-Hunting Maidens and Horse Archer Noble Women.

* AnAxeToGrind: Their basic non-peasant melee unit wields axes, as do their Head-Hunting Maidens.

* AnAxeToGrind: They have access to Chosen axemen, who have armor-piercing attack, which gives them significantly more punch against heavily armoured troops than even their decent stats would indicate.

* AnAxeToGrind: They are THE axe faction, with their top-tier infantry being heavily armored axemen.

* AnAxeToGrind: They can train Chosen Axemen, an armor piercing infantry unit.

* AnAxeToGrind: They can train Chosen Axemen, an armor piercing infantry unit.

* AnAxeToGrind: They can train Chosen Axemen, an armor piercing infantry unit.