So in my fantasy world, my Emperor has recently come into control of a declining empire and managed to restore its control over the continent he lives on. This empire, a continuation of previous empires, has had a long history of its armies. This Roman-style army has existed throughout since the founding of the first empire and continued to exist even when the empire was dissolved/fractured.
Now here's the problem; this army while powerful had suffered major losses during the Emperor's war to control the empire. The Emperor can restore the army back to its previous numbers however he wishes to reform the army's organization. This is due to the fact that the empire was on a decline against a rising power and was only able to defeat it due to the Emperor's own powers. Thus he wants to reform the army in a way to where it can deal with any situation that it faces whether it be guerrilla forces, mages, monsters. It can adapt quickly to its confines.
What should the Emperor do to move his force's in this new direction?
Now there are some parameters the Emperor must work in:
- He has 100 years to work with as he plans to invade another continent
- He has no political or social impediments to his changes due to his popularity and his own power
- The most soldiers he can possibly have as a standing army is 400,000
- The max tech level that can be achieved is comparable to 15th century Italy/Germany
These are the current characteristics of the army:
- It is organized in the tactics of the Roman army during the reign of Augustus however there are no slaves
- Weapons and equipment are the same standards during Augustus though infantry don't carry pilum
- Promotion is meritocratic but there is some bias towards nobles
- The gender makeup is 65% men and 35% women
- It is considered honorable and righteous for citizens to join but the pay is about just enough to get by in life
- 5% is made up of mages/ soldiers proficient in weapons and magic
The current organization also as follows:
- The army is organized the same as during Augustus up to a legion and then divided between the 9 regions of the empire; each region has a head General of all the legions in a region
- The regional generals respond to a General of the entire army who in turn responds to the Emperor
- Communications are handled through a magic spell that works like a Star wars communicator; only those from a Legate to the Emperor have access to such a spell either through themselves or from a mage within their units
- Supplies are carried over baggage trains of horse wagons or mages levitating them over rough terrain
And finally to what the Emperor can't do:
- No guns or cannons due to how versatile the magic is
- No full-on mage armies as there are spells that prevent magic from being cast
- He also does not want to copy the organization of the rising power he defeated; it relied heavily on skirmishing and magic