Latin

The Latin faction group is located in the Latium region of central Italy and consists only of one playable faction, Rome, giving it a distinct set of units.

Overview
The Latins start out with the weakest brigade roster in the early game, only having access to very basic melee and missile light infantry with slightly worse stats than even their Sabellic counterparts. While they can unlock hoplites and decent medium cavalry once their cities are a little more developed, the Latin roster doesn't truly blossom until the late-game. In the late-game, they unlock flexible legionaries capable of both melee and ranged attacks, the versatile Velite skirmishers, and the very tough Triarii spearmen.

"Adapting quickly to each new enemy they encounter, the Latin tribes develop the classical hoplite into the powerful, yet flexible Roman legion. Tip: Rome and the Latin factions are strongest in the mid-to-late game once their military advancements outpace classical Greek warfare."

- In-game Description

Factions

 * Rome
 * Republic of Rome (Non-playable faction in the Pyrrhus Campaign of The Eagle King DLC)
 * Allies of Rome (Non-playable faction in the Pyrrhus Campaign)

History
The Latins are thought to have adopted hoplite warfare at some point in the 6th Century BC, originally supporting their hoplites with light infantry and unarmoured cavalry similar to the Greeks.

Latin warfare gradually changed in the 4th Century BC, as conflicts with the Gauls and Samnites highlighted the need for more flexible infantry tactics. The Romans restructured their infantry into Leves, Hastati, Principes, Triarii, Rorarii and Accensi, the last 2 of which aren't depicted in-game.

Leves were unarmoured javelineers that formed up at the front of the battleline to harass the enemy at range in the initial stage of the battle. They were presumably equipped in an identical way to the light missile infantry supporting the earlier hoplite formations, causing them to be represented by the same leves brigade in-game, as a stand-in for various kinds of light missile support infantry.

The Hastati and Principes were the first two lines of infantry, being similar in their equipment and fighting style but with the Principes usually being wealthier (and therefore able to afford better armour) and/or more experienced. If the Hastati failed to break the enemy, the heavier Principes would take over. Both the Hastati and Principes were originally equipped as lightly armoured spearmen with large scutum shields, but then transitioned to a more flexible combination of short swords and javelins (as how they are depicted in-game) and became increasingly better armoured as the economic prosperity of Rome grew.

The Triarii formed a third battleline behind the Principes and were the heaviest infantry, continuing to fight as heavy spearmen similar to hoplites, though they would gradually move away from typical hoplite equipment and replace their round shields with the rectangular scutum shields also used by Hastati and Principes (as depicted in-game).

The Rorarii and Accensi were placed behind the Triarii as undependable light-armoured support used as reserves or to provide additional missile fire. They were omitted from the game, probably to simplify the brigade roster and because they can also be represented by basic Spearmen and Leves brigades.

The Leves, Rorarii and Accensi had all been disbanded and replaced by Velites in the 3rd Century BC, which then became the specialized skirmishing brigade of the Roman army drawn from the lower classes.

Roman cavalry was originally unarmoured and likely rarely used in battle, but the Equites seem to have gradually adopted heavier armour and were by the early 3rd Century BC described as being able to occasionally hold their own against elite cavalry units such as the Thessalian Cavalry in some specific battles. In-game they are only given their later armoured melee cavalry, presumably to avoid giving more than one cavalry brigade to a faction group that is not meant to have a particularly versatile cavalry arm, while at the same time offsetting their weakness in the early-game.