Game 5 – Roman Era 3: Middle Republic
Republican Roman (Alec 170 pts) v Cisalpine Gauls (Gordon 160 pts)
Minor defence 225 BCE (ADLG Standard, 18-Jan-2023).
Battlefield Effects: Romans: Battlefield manoeuvres 3 - Ready and waiting, and 4 - Quick march! However, the Romans suffer Battlefield effect: Special adjustments 3 - Fear against the Gaesatae (only). Gauls: Quality & Cohesion variations 3 – Fragile morale
The scenario is based on the
Battle of Telamon 225 BCE, where the Romans attacked with a full consular army
from both front and rear, forcing the Gauls to deploy facing both directions. The
mercenary Gallic Gaesatae that accompanied the invaders were forced to retreat due to Roman missile fire
causing confusion in the Gallic ranks ultimately leading to their defeat.
This is the first battle we have
rolled that is based on an actual battle with specific Battlefield Effects that
can be used, not only that there are four of them, two benefitting one side,
two the other. In addition if opting to follow the extra conditions the Gallic player has to select the maximum number
of Gaesatae.
The first challenge for both of
us was to consider how all those Battlefield Effects should affect the bidding,
made particularly difficult as they benefitted both sides. In the end I bid the
lowest to play the Romans, at 170 points to the Gauls 160 points. Had I gone
too low? We were about to find out.
The Plan (penned in advance)
The Romans won the battle by
severely distressing the Gaesatae with missile fire and co-ordinating attacks
from front and rear; I will endeavour to do the same or similar. So this time,
as the battle is yet to be fought, I can lay out my thoughts in advance. What I
want to do is take out his weaker units whilst avoiding the Gaesatae by
utilising my superior mobility as the Romans.
I have three commands as follows:
1. Competent commander (Family nominee), 2 x Heavy swordsmen armour impact elite, 2 x Heavy swordsmen armour, 2 x Light infantry.
2. Competent commander, 2 x Heavy swordsmen armour impact elite, 2 x Heavy swordsmen armour, 2 x Light infantry.
3. Brilliant commander, 3 x Heavy cavalry, 3 x Javelinmen
My thoughts:
- I have included several light infantry and Javelinmen in the army in order to have sufficient missile fire to damage the Gallic army prior to engaging it melee. Any attempted interference with the missile troops by Gallic chariots/cavalry will be dealt with by the Roman heavy cavalry.
- One of the two heavy infantry commands (with the Brilliant commander) will be brought on as soon as possible on the rear edge to use the superior Roman manoeuvrability to attack in co-ordination with the other.
The Battle
Deployment
In order to give my Italian Javelinmen and light infantry some place to hide from Gallic mounted troops I chose several areas of difficult terrain which largely fell on my left hand side and I placed my fortified camp centre left also, which turned out to be a mistake as you will see as I was unable to defend it.
I went for a right flank attack rather than a rear attack, deploying my Javelinmen/cavalry command on the left and heavy infantry command on the right. Gordon deployed his Gaesatae command consisting of six heavy swordsmen impetuous elite in the centre, a command of mixed medium swordsmen, light infantry and chariots on his left and a similar command but with medium cavalry instead of chariots on his right.
The Action
The fight did not last long as Gordon had obviously read the history of the battle too. Rather than standing to await being caught in Roman pincers he pointed his elite Gaesatae at my camp and charged forward with his whole army!
It was a simple battle-winning tactic. My Javelinmen were swept away along with my cavalry in short order – Gordon using the Fragile Morale Battlefield Effect (see Appendix 4) to good use to take out most of my cavalry. My flank march, which came on in turn two, wasn’t able to catch up in time and I, frankly, messed around with the on-table heavy infantry command not getting it into a position to have any impact on the game; Gordon avoided both it and the flank march by the simple expedient of turning and marching away across the table. Before I knew it I had lost my camp and was virtually on the point of destruction having lost 14 points to his 4.
At that point I conceded.
What a disaster!
In hindsight I have realised that I made several mistakes, including:
- The main one I believe was in coming up with a game plan that did not take into consideration my opponent’s strengths, weaknesses or possible courses of action. My choice of selecting Javelinmen to fight against Gordon's infantry was definitely a mistake.
- Choosing terrain that actually suited my opponent better than me.
- Not taking into consideration the Battlefield effects that were available to my opponent.
Photos of the battle as it developed are as follows, my forces are on the left of the picture:
The turn of my flank march arrival is shown below, Gordon's Gaesatae can be seen in the centre already well on their way to capturing my camp:
Gordon presses the attack with his centre and right wing and retreats to his right with his left wing forcing my legionaries to give chase:
End game - camps both sacked - (Gordon's camp is off table to the right).
Gordon's Comments
Pre-game thinking
The Gauls get lots of infantry. The Romans get lots of good heavy infantry and potentially some very good (elite and armoured). I did not want to mess with them. But, I couldn’t see an alternative. The impetuous charge is cancelled by the Roman swordsmen and it then becomes a grinding down of the Gauls in my experience. However, not completely hopeless and I chose six units of elite Gaesati. I will put them in one group and then point them in the right direction.
Then two wings of weaker impetuous infantry with some cavalry and chariots to protect them. These to take any advantage they can find and delay any outflanking of the Gaesati centre.
The battle itself
Some bits of terrain, but apart from my right flank, it is not likely to make much difference.
Alec has the magic appear where you want when you want effect. My camp is dead and I am not even going to try to protect it with an army of unmanoeuvrable troops. However, with a lot of his army off the board and very little in the way of cavalry to delay me, this is one game where a quick advance to attack a temporarily weaker foe might work. My experience is that it never works, but seems the only real option here.
To my delight Alec was determined not to fight my gaesati with his legion. I moved my gaesati towards his camp and he moved his legion away from them. I could outnumber his right flank and although it had some good cavalry the rest was vulnerable. And, I had the Effect to make the cavalry instantly a lot weaker. So, his flank march turned up and one unit went for my camp. I was far enough away to be able to turn my flank from his legion and faster than him so I could keep out of its reach while the big boys hit his camp, and my right flank beat his javelinmen and cavalry.
Post-game
Blimey! I won! Not sure there is anything else to add. Concentration of force worked. Losing my camp was not a big deal when I was confident that I would destroy his too before my units started to break.
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