This one is the best light unit of the game. They can go toe to toe with Warriors (W) in the right circumstance. Good movement, ranged fire, and lower retreat make them useful.
Be aware of their inability to evade. They're not nearly as good and medium/heavy infantry in close combat, they're less maneuverable than the other light infantry and lack of evade generally makes them the best target to engage in close combat. Other units either hit back much harder or can simply evade, slowing down the attacker significantly. It's easy to forget that they can't evade, which can be really ugly when heavy infantry comes calling.
Auxilia are just weaker medium infantry with missle fire. Use them to close against the other lights, but try to stay out of the way of anything else.
Auxilia can be the most useful troop type, since they can do a little of everything. Being "dual purpose" they are maybe the most subtle units in the game.
Auxilia on hills are as powerfull as Medium and Heavies. Foot units CC fight with 3 dice downhill and from hill to hill. All units CC fight with 2 dice uphill.
Screening: Use the auxilia's 2 hex movement ability to effectively screen heavier units from missiles. They give up their attack, but the enemy cannot get a shot in.
The double bump off: try to attack an enemy twice, covering the evade path with a second Auxilia unis.
Pinning: Use the 2 hex movement ability to trap a would-be evader and give the attacking unit a chance to score big with a banner.
Two important things to remember about Auxilia: They hit on swords and cannot evade.
Someone considers Medium, Warrior and Auxilia roughly equal in strength: - Medium Infantry (MI): 4 dice, Move 1, cannot fire. - Warriors (W): 3 dice (4 at full strength), Move 2 (if going into attack), cannot fire. - Auxilia Infantry (A): 3 dice, move 2 (no attack), may fire The extra movement and firing makes up for the lack of a single die.
Auxilia are useful for their extra movement to plug holes in a line and for the fire capability: try to keep them out of the heat of battle with heavies and mediums, but use them against lights and to knock out solo heavy or medium blacks.
The best use against lights is moving 2 hexes till contact with lights. Even if you cannot attack them (they would have evaded anyway), next turn they will not be able to fire and, if they attack you, you'll be able to battle back with your 3 dice and hitting on swords. So you gain terrain and may force them to fight.
Don't forget that there is a bigger card spread for light troops than there is for any other class. There are 4 order light cards plus 2 move-fire-moves. When you contrast that with 3 order mediums and 2 order heavies, it works out that lights are significantly more "commandable" than the other troop types.
