Through out the testing we had seen how powerful the Roman legions had been and thought for the closed beta test tournament we'd try out of of these.
A sneaky peruse of the lists and we came up with a carefully constucted Dominate Roman list (LIMP in DBM speak). Large in number, but all of of the fighting troops were of the best quality we could muster. With a definite killer/filler mind set we put pen to paper. We came up with 16 battle groups
1 Field commander
3 tactical commanders (definitely assigned to the front rank)
4 of light horse (poor quality)
4 of best quality Auxiliary (allowed to be heavy infantry in the later list!)
4 of best quality Legion
4 of sundry rubbish (poor archer, Javelinmen etc)
The list restriction of the later Roman was that 1/2 of the groups in the army had to be average or lower quality
we reckoned as long as we only fought with out best 8 units the others could stay 'hidden'... at this point we didn't realise the flaw in our plan
Game 1 - Principate Roman.
We won the initiative dice off (neither side having an out scouting advantage) and picked to attack through the developed area of Italy. A selection of fields,vineyards, a village,and lake were selected. Combined with our opponents remaining choices of plantation and a little rough going of inconsequential type. Terrain was placed. It was our intentions to create a narrow'ish' valley of good going through which our legions could march. Even though we had few troops able to tough it out in the furrows, our list allowed lots and hopefully our opponents thought that we had a multitude of Auxiliaries and deploy accordingly. The terrain fell appropriately with a open area about 1m wide. The armies deployed. The earlier Romans had bigger legions (9 strong battle groups). While ours were 6 (of which 2 were light archers).
We did have more
Quality wise - we were the same. The deployment was predictable. Roman heavies faced off in the centre. Our opponents line was extended with auxiliaries (of the traditional type). In our practice games the Legions had little trouble with
medium foot of any type - So, we thought we might be OK here. On the opposite flank, a group of enemy auxiliaries were deployed in the field.
Flank protected was their game. However, when our heavier Auxiliaries deployed opposite - not wishing to enter the bad going - they had
more of a pre-active role. Our line was extended by poor Auxiliary archers and our distinctly average mob of light horse (archers and
Javelinmen)... at the rear
So the game began. We were wider, with faster moving troops. In the centre we had a weight advantage on our right. The only thorn was
the auxiliaries placed in the field to out left. They could advance in the rough with relative impunity.We took the decision to sent
light cavalry out wide to encircle , or threaten the camp. While our inner flank we would refuse. Definitely trying to delay!
We had taken a time to setup - once all the pleasantries had been exchanged. So the game began and it was apparent that everyone was up
for fight, and the lines closed at full speed.
A reserve of enemy Auxiliary cavalry moved out quickly on our right. We countered with the archers - who being of poor quality were a bit reluctant to leave the safety of the rear and advance out of the vineyard in which they were ensconced. Skirmishing on the flank was of little consequence. Light troops of both sides manoeuvred with neither side having much of an advantage. The lines closed with little delay. Hostilities began with a little desultory shooting from our archers. We threw sixes ! hurrah - only to realise that being poor , we had to re-roll sixes! boo! never mind perhaps we would lure them into a false sense of security :-/
The lines were now close enough to contact and the game of chicken began. Both being classed as 'impact' foot meant that the legions would have to test not to charge! Both sides had the usual scatterings of trainee lawyers and consuls (tactical commanders) to help. However, who wanted fail the test and charge in isolation? It certainly clarifies the mind on who does what ! It was in our benefit to stand (we had archers that would contribute to the initial impact) However, we chose to charge en-masse. We thought we could win on the right , before our left was outflanked. The legion vs. legion we trusted to luck. In the impact there was a mighty crunch. All generals available were committed and the superior troops began to hack at one another. However, despite high casualties high morale prevailed. Where we expected to win the Auxiliaries stood firm - dicing their way out of trouble. In the ensuing shooting our archers inflicted a hit on the cavalry who didn't like it as much this time and began to disrupt. In the next turn our opponents were working around our left flank. The field we placed provided great cover for a unit of their palatina
The writing was on the wall for our flank battle group of heavy Auxiliaries. We hoped to hold on and send a general close by to bolster morale. In the following turns the centre ground out. The quality of the troops meant they were going to hang around. On our optimistic right more arrows from the archers hit the cavalry who got a bit closer, this time they threw low again and fragmented. It we could get a rout we could cause a collapse! However, the enemy auxiliaries had other ideas and beat off their betters !! A fantastically timed throw of 5,5,5,5 & 6 on the combat dice fractured our legion - and all of a sudden we were on the back foot. On the other flank our we were now fighting in two directions (not good) In the following turns we broke the auxiliary cavalry. But we had a break on our right also. On the left we were crumbling slowly. The game was up. A couple more bounds and we had another legion rout... The fighting was close, but always just seemed to be on the receiving end - is this a perennial Wargamers problem ? - It was white knuckle ride of cohesion tests and death throws - quality really counting! However, we were being ground down.
Time was called and we had lost sufficient to lost by the largest margin without the army breaking!
Game 2 was against the Goths!
do you want to know more?
Cheers
Simon
