Heraclea(Romans) AAR - No historian

[andersm73]

I thought it would be fun to do a turn by turn AAR, historian kindly enough agreed to play against me. The battle we have chosen to play is Heraclea, historian will play the Pyrrhics and I have the Romans.

T1 Start


Historian has made a general advance with the Pyrrhics first turn, having played Heraclea a few times the Roman left flank is the weak end of the line for me, with all those average Legions. I shall look to be aggressive on my right flank and refuse on the left trying to reform the average legions to the right of the marsh hex

[andersm73]

T1 End


My first turn I've put the cavalry on the right flank into a line, in case the Pyrrhics get aggressive with their lance cavalry on that wing. In the centre I have moved up the Superior legions to form a line with the right flank average legionaries. The rear legionaries have begun to cross the river, these will form up on the left flank of the legionaries ahead, once impact with the Pyrrhic Pike phalanx is imminent I shall try and refuse with the legions on the left of the line. The average legions on my extreme left I've held for now, hopefully they will delay the Pyrrhic right for a while before I pull them back to the right of the marsh hex. The medium foot yet to cross the river have moved towards the right flank, if I'm successful on the right wing these shall be used as additional flankers their.

[Surtur]

Ahh I like AARs

They will be even cooler with a Fog of War

[andersm73]

T2 Start


My plan on the left seems to be working so far as the legionaries on my extreme left are drawing a substantial amount of Pike away from where I'm hoping the main clash is going to be, on my right and centre. I think the Pyrrhic wings are moving away from their centre a bit too far, so will try and take advantage and move heavily towards the right to try and bring on a confrontation their. I'm going to have to be careful with my positioning of the cav on the right, as the Pyrrhic lance cav will probably chase them away if in range, hopefully I may be able to set up rear / flank attacks on them if they do and try and use superior numbers against their quality.

[andersm73]

T2 End


I've tried forming a skirmish line with my cav on the right, so they aren't scattered to the winds if charged by the Pyrrhic lance cav as they would be if in a solid line, not used it before so will see how it works out....!!

I continued to advance to the right with my legionary line and bring up the legionaries from across the river, medium foot continues to move up to support the right wing behind the cav.

I was in two minds with the average legions on my extreme left as to wether to hold them for another turn or not, hopefully they will draw the right flank of the Pyrrhics on for another turn but they are likely to be caught before they can withdraw and redeploy east of the Marsh.... Time will tell I suppose.

[andersm73]

T3 Start


Hostilities commenced this turn with the Pyrrhic lance cav chasing away the Roman cav on my right wing, historian pinned one of the Roman cav units with his LH(going disrupted for it's efforts) and followed up the attack with a lancer cav unit and the Pyrrhic general Leonidas into the same units flank. The Roman cavalry must have had three shredded wheat for breakfast this morning as they shrugged off this onslaught(very good dice!!) and remained steady, though this won't last long without support....

The Pyrrhic left flank Pike retired to form up with the centre, this buys me some time to bring more of the Superior legions upto the front line in the centre and possibly push across to the right to bring more units to bear against the Pyrrhic cavalry which seem fairly isolated from the Pike at the moment.

On the right I'm going to have to respond aggressively to the push from the Pyrrhic cavalry, I think the cav unit behind Manulus Albinus(Right flank general) can hit the Pyrrhic general Leonidas in the rear this turn which should knock him down to disrupted. Will bring up the cav and MF along the river to threaten charges next turn where I can, need to two for one the Pyrrhic cavalry in numbers where I can.

The Pyrrhics seem to have halted on my left flank, so will continue to hold the four units on my extreme left for now, as the longer I keep his right tied up the better, looks like historian is switching his lance cavalry away from this flank....

Still feel the right flank is where the battle is going to be decided at the moment, if I can win their the Pyrrhics are going to have a tough time defending their left flank.

[andersm73]

T3 End


Things look very good on the right flank now, Roman cav unit has routed the Pyrrihc LH that charged it last turn. Managed to charge Leonidas the Pyrrhic general in the rear and after the impact combat his unit is now fragmented!!

I shifted the legions across a bit to cover against possible charges from the Pyrrhic armoured MF and Lance cavalry that is not engaged in combat yet.

Held the extreme left again, the Pyrrhic right flank is going to have to move soon...

[andersm73]

T4 Start


Things are hotting up on the right flank now, the two engaged Roman cavalry units have been knocked down to disrupted and fragmented. Fortunately I have four or five further units that can join the fray here this turn, if I can rout Leonidas this turn I should still have the upper hand here I feel. Historian may regret sending in his MF here if Leonidas does rout and causes disruption to his other units as Leonidas has no clear retreat path now. I'm looking at making a rear attack with my average legionary unit into the left most Pyrrhic lance cavalry, doing so exposes it to a rear attack from the Pyrrhic armoured MF next turn but I feel it's probably worth it if it helps to win the right wing quicker.

The Pyrrhic Pike phalanx has now offered battle by moving in charge range of the Roman legionaries. With the skirmish battle in between the lines and the right still undecided I'm reluctant to take the offer yet though. I shall push forward with the right end of the line to try and deal with the Pyrrhic skirmisher but still hold the left end two hexes away to delay the Pyrrhic Pike being able to make flank attacks against the left end of the line.

I like historians move with the skirmishers on my extreme left, I was considering making a feint across the river with the four units here, but feel that would be foolish now and tempt historian into engaging the disordered units the with the number of skirmishers he has here. Will start retreating them to the east of the marsh now and hope they have time to link up with the left flank of the rest of the legions.

[andersm73]

T4 End


Leonidas proved tough taking three units to finally rout him, he died valiantly in the last attack!! The Pyrrhics whole left wing is now at least disrupted but four of the Roman units have also lost cohesion, so have moved Manulus Albinus across to try and restore some order.(bash heads) Things didn't go quite as imagined on the right this turn...

Due to where Leonidas's units rout ended up my average legionary unit may be safe from a rear charge by the armoured MF, unless he commits the pike on the Pyrrhic left that is...

The rest of the line is bracing for impact if the Pyrrhic pike phalanx decides to engage!!

[andersm73]

T5 Start


Not a good turn for the Pyrrhics!! Their left flank has virtually collapsed now with only two fragmented lance cavalry remaining, will try and finish them off this turn and form up to swing around the left flank of the Pikes.

The Pyrhhic Pike phalanx only partially contacted the legionaries and suffered three disrupted units for their efforts. Leading the attack with the armoured MF was probably an error, as their chances againts supported HF can't have been good. I also feel positioning Pyrrhus(Inspired General) one hex south east would have improved the chances to recover cohesion with two of the Pike units.

The Pyrrhics only contacted one unit on the left of the legionary line, the unit is out of command though, which I believe reduces their combat effectiveness as well...?

The Pyrrhics are going to have to go for it in the centre and bring up their right flank as fast as possible if they are going to turn this one around I feel.

[andersm73]

T5 End


The Roman cavalry routed the remaining Pyrrhic lance on the right, I grouped the three disrupted / fragmented units by the general to improve chances of them regaining cohesion at the end of turn.

The Superior legions didn't perform as well in melee as expected but still knocked one of the Pikes down to Fragmented.

Held the rest of the line buying time to hopefully sweep around the Pyrrhic left, that Elephant may prove tricky though, if I can I'll try and tackle it with the MF and greater numbers.

[andersm73]

T6 Start


The Pyrrhics pushed on hard against the left flank of the Roman legions this turn, putting a lot of pressure on the elite Triarii holding the hinge of the line their, they dug deep though and remain steady for now. One of the Pyrrhic pike units has routed but quickly been replaced in the line with an offensive Spear HF unit. The left of the Pyrrhic line ist still reeling from the might of the superior quality legions, with a pike unit fragmented and the armoured MF unit at disrupted.

My plans this turn are to push on with the right, if I can break through the left end of the Pyrrhic line I may be able to pin Pyrrhus in combat and swing the cavalry unit behind the elephant round to threaten a rear attack on the general next turn. Not sure how I am going to deal with the elephant yet, may charge in the the MF unit and move round cavalry units to threaten it's flank, depends how the combats on the right flank go this turn. Will charge in with the two superior legions in the centre into combat this turn to help support the rest of the line.

On the left I'm going to have to try and support the Triarii holding the hinge, may move the superior legion behind them across into the Offensive Spear. This would leave them open to the lance cavalry next turn though, as I'm planning to move the left away from imminent cavalry charges... Need those three units across the river to help bolster my left flank, still feel it's too risky to send them across the river though, so will push across to the fjord whils't threatening a possible crossing against any cavalry attacks on the end of my left flank line.

Pinning the LH on my left next to the General with an LF unit may be worth while as it could hold up the Pike on the Pyrrhic right and / or the lance cavalry, the LF may refuse such an order though!!

[andersm73]

T6 End


Bolstering the line with an inspired general stymied my attacks this turn on the right as the Pyrrhic line stood firm, couldn't break the fragmented Pike unit and the armoured MF hedl out at fragmented. I have a cav unit behind the Pyrrhic line now, if the routing pike unit gets out of the way I may be able to hit the pike phalanx from behind, I expect Pyrrhus will turn to face this threat. Charged the elephant with an MF unit but it went disrupted, probably should have bided my time here to bring up numbers to deal with the nellie...!!

On the left I moved across the superior legionary to support the Triarii that have taken a pounding, managing to disrupt the Offensive Spear unit. I also managed to pin the LH in combat with an LF unit, will lose the skirmisher but it may buy me some needed time on the left. Retreated the average legions back hoping the legions across the river will be able to cross in time to aid them if the Pyrrhic cavalry keep coming.

[andersm73]

T7 Start


The battle is really moving on now, the left flank of the Pyrrhic pike phalanx has been breached, with both the fragmented pike and armoured MF routing. The elephant didn't fare so well this turn being knocked down to disrupted by the plucky MF allied Romans. Pyrrhus had to retire from the frontline to guard against the encircling Roman cavalry. The Pyrrhic pike are fareing better along the rest of the line though and routed the Triarii that had been holding the hinge of the line, the Triarii had taken a severe mauling before breaking with only 34% of the unit left!! You can't ask for much more from your troops than that.... The general behind was disrupted by the rout and now is facing a pike unit in melee.

The LF sacrifice to hold up the Pyrrhic right really paid off, as it took four units to deal with them and as a result the Pyrrhics couldn't contact my left as fully as they would have liked. The Pyrrhic general and lance cavalry charged in against the average legionaries to little effect, the lance cavalry going disrupted upon impact. If the general doesn't break off from combat he'll have company on his flank from the legionaries across the river shortly.

[andersm73]

T7 End


The Roman legionaries are beginning to waver a bit now with a fragmented and two disrupted units, though the Pyrrhics have the same issues with their line. I'll have to hope the generals can knock them back into shape at the end of the turn.

Both flanks still look good, the Pyrrhic elephant and lance cavalry both now fragmented. The legionaries crossing the fjord are hoping the Pyrrhic general does not break off from combat.

Now have two cavalry units threatening behind the Pyrrhic line, will be interesting to see if Pyrrhus decides to chase them off or not. They are doing the job of drawing away units from supporting the Pyrrhic pike phalanx well at anyrate.

[batesmotel]

I'm a little surprised that Pyrrhus moved away from being adjacent to the pikes in combat. He could have stayed adjacent to them so that his CT modifier would have applied to the adjacent pikes and still faced your cavalry so it would not have been able to charge any of the pikes. At this point that might still be his best bet since your second cavalry is still fairly far away for at least another turn.

Chris

[andersm73]

Hi Chris

I think your right and Pyrrhus would have been better off turning on the spot to face. The only reason I can think of for the move was that historian wasn't sure if the routing pike would block my cavalry from hitting the rear of his pike phalanx...

At the end of my last turn both Pyrrhic cavalry on my left flank broke off from combat, unfortunately so did my general at the hinge of my line leaving a gap in the ranks!! Thankfully I had turned the superior legionary on the rights facing before sending my turn, so it will be able to fill the gap next turn, still I'm getting badly pressed at this point of the Roman line!! Really concerned about a rout going all the way down my average legions....

Thanks for the comment by the way, good to know their are some readers, even if it is only to see how it's not supposed to be done

cheers
Matt

[Surtur]

Well I am learning a lot from this

So thank you for posting this AAR

[andersm73]

Thanks Surtur, glad it has been of some use. It's amazing how much doing an AAR changes the way you play, makes you really analyze every move you make knowing it's all going to be scrutinised!!

[andersm73]

Hi Chris

I've looked at it again and I think I now see what you mean, if Pyrrhus had moved west rather than west, north west he could still have protected the rear of the pike phalanx whilst also improving the CT rolls and combat ability of the pikes in combat. I'd agree that would have probably been the best option.

cheers
Matt