With the Legions

[Karvon]

The first of a semi-historical series of battles using Republican Rome

1. Meeting on the Plains.

Our legion was dispatched to deal with an incursion of raiding Gauls. We found them on a rather broad plain, bordered by some woods and rough.

We deployed the legion in the traditional three ranks of heavy foot, screened by our velites. We placed some assorted medium foot mercenaries on the woods on our right. Our noble horse we held in the rear in reserve.

The Gauls had a massive block of densely packed warriors in the center, screened by a few lights. Their horse formed up on their far right.

Our plan was to shift our heavy foot to the right and use the woods to anchor our left and rear. Some of our mediums we'd leave in the woods and the rest would lead a wide march to the right to secure a large rough patch which would serve as the right end of our line. Our horse would move around and support this. Our lights would drive off theirs and then try to soften up their advancing foot.

The Gauls advanced directly for us, but they kept their horse on their right as they advanced, rather than shifting them to potentially counter our advance on their left. This led them into trouble as they ended up facing off vs our medium foot in the woods and some of our Triari covering the end of our line.

The two lines engaged between the woods on our left and the rough on our right. It was a grinding fight in which we took heavy losses, but our superior armor and morale kept us in it and Gallic units began to buckle and break. Our encircling move on the right around the rough with our mediums and horse, supported by a few Triari, turned the Gallic left and led to the final collapse of the Gauls.

Final Score: Romans 62 - Gauls 35

[Karvon]

The 2nd of a semi-historical series of battles using Republican Rome

2. Battle of the Hills.

Our legion pressed on after the Gauls, who rallied and regrouped to face us in some hill country. A large steep hill rose in about the center towards our left with a smaller steep hill a bit beyond it. Some woods along the edge of the left narrowed that sector. The center and right were fairly open with some gentle hills and a few woods scattered along the right edge.

Our plan was to seize the steep hill with our lights and mediums while our legions swept along the left side supported by our horse.

The Gauls deployed a large block of medium warbands opposite the steep hills with heavy warbands on each flank. A few horse and chariots covered each extreme flank with a few light foot screening their center.

Both sides aggressively advanced on the large, steep hill, and we managed to secure the slopes just ahead of the onrushing Gallic hordes. The Gauls attempted to flank us with their mounted on our left, but we parried and drove them off with our Triarii and horse, while the rest of the legion advanced along the flank of the hill.

Unfortunately, our lights and mediums were overawed by the numbers facing them and, despite holding the high ground, simply melted away before the fierce warband charges. This forced us to redirect a few of our legions to mask off the hill,

The warbands charged into our legion formed up between the two steep hills. Again, a couple of our legionaire units simply folded at contact and despite some heavy losses, none of the warbands lost their elan, even when flanked, and the Romans had enough and fled the field; a most disgraceful performance.

Final Score: Romans 5 Gauls 40.

[Karvon]

The 3rd of a semi-historical series of battles using Republican Rome

3. Death on the Plains

The army was reconstructed with fresh levies from home and a punitive expedition set up to punish the troublesome Gauls. We met the enemy on a plain bounded by woods along our right and with a couple of small hills in our center, facing a long gentle ridge running across the center closer to the Gallic side. A pair of hamlets lay in the valley between the two opposing slopes.

We initially deployed between the woods on our right and the hills on our left. We placed a few velites and Italians in the woods to secure those with the rest of our velites screening our legion. Our cavalry formed up on the right in reserve.

The Gauls formed up with a mass of warriors in the center with a large mounted division of horse and chariots covering their right and a few lights screening their foot.

The Gauls immediately surged forward all along the lines towards our positions. We shifted our legion to the slopes of the hills on our left and shifted our cavalry to cover our left in reserve behind our Triarii. The Gallic mounted swung wide to envelop us, while their foot shifted a bit to the left as they advanced towards the hills. The Gauls then surged out the woods on the left with another smaller chariot division and sent that to threaten our right. We briefly delayed that with our velites hidden in the woods, taking some shots at them, but they then ignored us and swept on by. We refused our right using our reserved Triarii.

Rather than sit and get enveloped on both flanks, we decided to take the initiative. We attacked on our left, driving off the enemy horse with our Triarii and medium foot while our legion swept forward to tackle the right flank of the Gallic warbands. On our right, our Triarii drove off the enemy chariots, but that took them out of position to cover the right end of our line, and Gallic warbands began to work around our right.

On our left, we caught and surrounded some of the enemy horse, but they fought stubbornly to the last man, greatly delaying our attempt to flank the warbands. Battle was joined between our legion and the warbands all along the front. Despite our advantage in armor and morale, we simply didn't have much success in this grinding fight and more and more of the warbands joined the battle, turning the odds against us.

Then disaster struck; two generals firming up our left died in the same hour and our troops lost heart and several units weakened. A fleeing warband rallied. A Gallic chariot swept in on the flank and our left disappeared in a cascade of failed morale checks. This was all too much for the Romans and they fled the field.

Final Score: Romans 20 Gauls 46

[Karvon]

The 4th of a semi-historical series of battles using Republican Rome.

4. Skirmish along a River.

With our legion filled out with fresh recruits, we marched into the Gauls' territory again in our continued efforts to pacify these wild people. The armies met along the banks of a large river with a few hills overlooking the river at both ends. Large woods lay in the center of the Gallic sector, a medium woods along our far left edge, a small woods along the river on our right. A couple of hamlets lay on our side of the field, one in about the center and another between the small woods and ridge near the river on our right.

We deployed our legion on our right, garrisoning the hamlets with some of our medium foot. We placed a few medium foot on our right to defend the small woods. Our token number of horse formed up to cover our left, supported by an elephant. Our light foot formed a screen across our front.

The Gauls surprised us by raising an almost all warband close order force. These deployed on the ridge on their side along the river, facing our right. A couple of light foot served as scouts. A couple of horse and light chariots covered their right.

Facing such an overwhelming number of foot, we decided to shift to our right and deploy our foot along the slopes of the ridge, securing our flanks with the woods, hamlet and river. We sortied out with our lights and mounted to the left to skirmish with his small force of horse and chariots.

The Gauls ignored our main body and swarmed towards our small force on our left, sending most of his warbands plodding after his small mounted contingent and lights. A half-a-dozen or so warbands remained on the slopes to cover their rear.

We shifted our left wing further left, chasing his mounted. We abandoned the central hamlet in face of the oncoming swarm, sending the garrison off to the woods on our far left after our lights and mounted. The Gauls doggedly chased us into the woods. Our lights and mounted ran down and dispatched a couple of his horse and chariots, but our survivors retired away from the oncoming wave of warbands. Our mediums made it to the woods, where they made a stand against the chasing swarm of warbands, who undaunted by the trees, surrounded and attacked them.

As night fell, our mediums finally succumbed to the superior numbers and broke. Our wayward mounted and lights chased a surviving Gallic horse into the arms of our infantry, but it survived in the failing light and escaped into the darkness.

Final Score: Romans 7 - Gauls 14.

[Karvon]

The 5th of a semi-historical series of battles using Republican Rome.

5. Death Beside a Pond.

We met the enemy on a wide plain divided by a small pond and a gentle slope looking down it. A large forest filled most of the right flank.

We deployed our legion in the center, screened by our lights, and with supporting horse on each wing. A few mediums formed up in reserve along with our elephant.

The Gauls arrayed themselves in a dense column, with warbands in the center and horse and chariots formed up on their right and in the rear. A few light screened their front.

We planned to advance along the left side, using the pond and slope to cover our right. The Gauls had similar thoughts as their horde swerved to their right and plodded forward to meet us.

Unfortunately, our elephant got hung up in the rear and didn't get out on our far left to support our horse as soon as I hoped. This significantly disrupted our fight vs the Gallic mounted. We lost our horse, before our supporting foot could drive off the Gauls. This prevented our enveloping of the warbands in the center.

The Gauls sent some of their reserves around the pond to counter a probe we launched. We fell back to the slope with the Gauls in hot pursuit.

The center fight did not go well at all. None of the warbands were weakened by impact, and they fought with elan through some bad losses in the ensuing grinding melee. Our own line faltered a bit with the death of our consul and sagged back in a couple of spots, which led to some flanking attacks. While our troops fought on grimly, the superior numbers proved overwhelming in the end.

Final Score: Romans 9 Gauls 45