Editing Pirazzo's Lost Legion

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::Motto: Trained in Lustria.
::Battle Cry: Death or Riches!

'''Pirazzo's Lost Legion''' are one of the [[Regiments of Renown]] in [[Warhammer Fantasy]], making appearances in both 5th edition in the [[Dogs of War]] army book and in 6th edition via [[Conquest of the New World]].

The story of the Lost Legion goes thus: when the Merchant-Princes of the Tilean city of Tobaro scraped together an expedition to [[Lustria]], one of the three mercenary captains they hired was a young but experienced man named ''Fernado Pirazzo''. A master of the traditional Tilean weapons of pike and crossbow, before the expedition was launched, he demanded that the men under his control, - largely drafted from Tobaro's most reckless and impoverished youths - master these weapons in turn, just to be prepared. This turned out to be a really smart idea, since Lustria is a tropical rainforest and those tend to be defined as, y'know, ''fucking '''wet'''''? Meaning, the kind of environment where blackpower weapons do ''really badly''?

Anyway, upon arrival in Lustria, thing went disastrously wrong. Pirazzo sensed trouble at the first landing and argued with the two other Captains against it, having sensed potential mutiny from the sailors they were sailing with. They overruled him and, sure enough, no sooner had the last of the mercenaries decamped from the ships than the sailors betrayed them, sailing off with the paychests and leaving the mercenaries stranded in the hostile terrain of the jungle. The other two companies promptly mutineed against their incompetent captains and sent them adrift in the mangrove swamps before agreeing to follow Pirazzo, calling his newly enlarged army "The Lost Legion". However, he didn't set out immediately - instead, he made them fortify their landing zone and began drilling them in the art of pike and crossbow. This took several weeks, but it was, again, a good idea; by the end of the training, all of the most incompetent, treacherous, disloyal or otherwise deficient recruits were either dead or had run away into the jungle to try their own luck, leaving only the best and the brightest.

Now finally ready, the Lost Legion set out into Lustria, and soon they were plundering an apparently ruined [[Lizardmen]] city. Natural, the local scalies didn't take kindly to this, but they found themselves stymied; the Lost Legion's discipline combined with its unique mixed-weapon formation of crossbowmen backed by ranked pikes was more than a match for the skinks and sauruses, and the Lost Legion reaped a bloody toll. In fact, they killed so many and took so relatively few casualties that it seemed the only way the lizardmen would win was through attrition, pushing the Lost Legion to death through heat, thirst and fatigue. That was when the Slaan Mage-Priest commanding the lizardmen decided to take a more subtle approach, using its formidable powers to first read Pirazzo's mind, and then to "communicate" with the mercenary - read, plant subconcious ideas in Pirazzo's head.

When the fighting suddenly stopped, Pirazzo became convinced that he could bargain with the lizardmen for the lives of his men (and a nice profit on the side). He ordered them to put down their loot and retreat back into the jungle. It was a good thing he'd spent so long drilling order and discipline into his men, because they all obeyed him. The lizardmen allowed them to leave and make camp; the next morning, the startled mercenaries awoken to discover that most of the treasure they had been looting had been returned to them, as well as masses of food and fresh water.

The Slaan, you see, had come up with a cunning plan. Obviously, these warmbloods were well-suited for fighting. But they didn't particularly care ''who'' they fought. Since the lizardmen regarded the various gems and other valuables they collected as little more than pretty baubles, they were more than happy to part with those (but ''not'' the golden plaques used to record the sacred plans of the Old Ones and their Slaan mage-priests, thank you!) in exchange for pointing the Lost Legion at some of their more pernicious enemies... namely, the [[Zombie Pirates of the Vampire Coast]].

Pirazzo had no idea of any of this. He just knew that a) they had their treasure back; b) they had been given all the supplies they needed to leave; and c) they were surrounded by row upon row of saurus warriors, save for an opening to the south. Not being an idiot, Pirazzo read the obvious implications, loaded up his men, and hit the road. They marched for weeks, being obviously steered away from the cities of the lizardmen, but constantly resupplied, until finally they hit the fetid swamps that marked the border between the realms of the lizardmen and the kingdom of [[Luthor Harkon]]. The Lost Legion put the mad vampire commodore's unholy realm to the torch as they fought their way to the coast, where they rebuilt the most seaworthy ships they could and sailed away from Lustria, pausing only to loot as many shipwrecks as they could find.

Their makeshift vessel got them all the way to [[Araby]], and they've been fighting ever since, marching from Araby to Sartosa and even back up into Tilea once more.

==6e Tabletop Stats==
In 6th edition, Pirazzo's Lost Legion can be hired both in regular games and in [[Lustra]] campaigns. In a Lustria Campaign, they will work for both Good Armies (as a Special choice) and Neutral Armies (as a Core choice). In regular games, they can be hired as a Special choice by any army apart from [[Bretonnia]] or [[Vampire Counts]], who they won't work for. A [[Dogs of War]] army can take the Lost Legion as a Core choice.

The Lost Legion's default size is ten men for 160 points; Pirazzo, four crossbowmen (which also includes the Musician and Standard Bearer), and five pikemen. The Lost Legion can be expanded at a cost of +9 points per crossbowman and +10 points per pikeman. It has the Special Rules of '''Mixed Formation''' and '''Pikes'''.

Fernando Pirazzo himself has Movement 4, Weapon Skill 4, Ballistic Skill 4, Strength 4, Toughness 3, Wounds 1, Initiative 4, Attacks 2 and Leadership 8. He wears Heavy Armor and wields a Sword.

A Lost Legionnaire has Movement 4, Weapon Skill 3, Ballistic Skill 3, Strength 3, Toughness 3, Wounds 1, Initiative 3, Attacks 1 and Leadership 7. A Crossbowman is outfitted with Light Armor, a Sword, and a Crossbow. A Pikeman is outfitted with Light Armor, a Sword, and a Pike.

'''Pikes:''' A Pike uses two hands. Pikemen fight in 4 ranks and Always Strike First (unless the target has Always Strikes First as a special rule or magical effect), even when charged. Pikemen attacks have +1 strength against charging chariots and monsters. None of these special rules apply against opponents attacking pikemen from the flank or rear, only the front.

'''Mixed Formation:''' The Lost Legion fights with crossbowmen (plus Pirazzo, Musician and Standard Bearer) in the front rank and pikemen in all subsequent ranks. Casualties are still removed from the rear rank first, so crossbowmen are only removed as casualties once all pikemen have been slain.

[[Category:Regiments of Renown]]
[[Category:Warhammer Fantasy]]