Manlii v Julii Game 16

Game 16 – Roman Era 2: Early Republic - post Camillan army reforms

Camillan Roman (Alec 135 pts) v Samnite (Gordon 110 pts)

Major invasion 321 BCE (ADLG Reduced, 19-Apr-2023).

Battlefield Effects: Samnites: Terrain advantages 1 – Outmanoeuvred; and 5 – Completely outfoxed; Special adjustments 5 – Nightshift engineering works

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

The battle that never was!

This is a Major Invasion and so as the Roman player I will need to take the initiative to earn the three Prestige Points. Unfortunately this battle is based on the situation the Romans found themselves in at the Caudine Forks in 321 BCE. As I do not wish to surrender without trying to defeat the Samnites, as the Romans did - historically passing under the yoke, I will attempt to win the fight; consequently the Samnites will be able to take advantage of three Battlefield Effects that I will have to contend with in addition to the Samnites themselves. This is going to make it a tough battle, just as it would have been for the Romans historically; particularly as all the Samnite main battle line infantry are medium foot which can operate well in bad terrain whilst few of the units available to the Roman player are.

I am hoping that Gordon, knowing that I need to bring the fight to him, will play fairly passively and stay stationary in the bad terrain until I force him to commit when I have a local advantage. My plan will be to try to launch an attack on a part of his line led by those troops that can cope in bad terrain with the hope of getting the upper hand and giving him no choice but to commit his other troops into the open to retrieve the situation. Out in the open I can defeat them. If I can get my medium foot in ambush near a weak part of his line it might just work as he might not be expecting it when it comes.

It ain’t going to be easy and it could all go badly wrong from the get-go if he gets the luck early on, but nothing ventured nothing gained – and I only lose one Prestige Point on a draw/loss so I will still be three Prestige Points up in this era even if I do draw/lose.

That’s the plan; wish me luck Fortuna!

The Battle

Terrain & fortifications

Unsurprisingly Gordon maximised his terrain placement whilst I minimised mine. He successfully obtained a coastal area, placing it on his right, a wood and two steep hills, I placed a road. Following that he placed his two extra pieces from the 'Outmanoeuvred' Battlefield Effect and chose another steep hill and a marsh which he placed across his front line. Clearly I was going to have my work cut out winkling him out of the bad going. The marsh is the brown area and the two steep hills are the light green areas, fabric courtesy of my partner who had some surplus from her crafting. Viewers may find some of the terrain to be a bit stark in their appearance; the idea is to make them easy for Gordon to see via Skype rather than blend in too well.

Luckily for me he left 1-2 element wide gaps between his placements so there was scope for getting through; I suspected these were traps designed to sucker me in. Once we had completed that he had the option to swap the side his army deployed using the Outfoxed! Battlefield effect - he chose not to. 

Lastly Gordon placed his two free fortifications allowed to him anywhere on his half of the table under the 'Night Shift Engineering Works' Battlefield Effect - he placed them on the road in the widest gap in his defences. Clearly that would now be a challenge to take on. See the photo below:

Having placed the terrain Gordon started deploying his army. Unsurprisingly he placed his army in the bad stuff, why wouldn't he? It consisted, as expected, of a line of medium swordsmen with impact weapons all in a line with some cavalry in reserve. He kept it fairly central, ready to respond either way. Seeing an ambush marker on his left I decided to try a left hook to try and overwhelm the other end of his line as per my plan, requiring the shifting of my four centrally deployed Hastati leftwards in support. 

This would leave my right wing forces. two heavy spearmen Principes and two light infantry javelinmen, a bit vulnerable should he come out of his terrain fortress, but I needed to advance there as a feint too to stop him reacting too strongly to my left hook if my plan was going to succeed.

The position at the end of deployment is as below:

So we were off. Turn one saw me advance and begin to shift my Hastati to their left as below.

Turn two saw Gordon advance his line to take up position on the forward slopes: 

In turns three and four we continued to close, I got as near as I dared on my right whilst pushing forward as fast as possible on my left. Gordon, seeing my plan unfold reacted by pulling back a bit on his right whilst sending his cavalry out on his left. Obviously he wasn't just going to sit still as I had hoped. Clearly the race was now on - could I turn his left flank before he turned mine; I wasn't too optimistic but I was committed and had no option but to see it through.

The position at the end of turn 4 was as follows:

In my turn five I continued the advance on my left whilst my light infantry on my right ran back as fast as their little legs could carry them - Gordon's cavalry would be able to make mincemeat of them if they lingered.

End of turn position was:

In Gordon's turn he continued the cavalry left flank advance and revealed his ambush - another two medium infantry. Clearly I was heavily outgunned on my right.

Turn seven saw the first charge into combat - one of my Hastati headed into the gap between the marsh and the steep hill supported on the left with my Latin auxiliaries - medium infantry. On my far left my Command Point roll was poor so I had to choose between sending my reserve cavalry over to the right flank or continue pressing forward on the left; I continued to push forward my newly-raised Principes. At that point my most forward units consisted of my worst troops - mediocre heavy spear, how did that happen?

I took advantage of the rule - not having to conform if it would take you into difficult terrain - to keep the Hastati out in the open (I think this surprised Gordon), scoring the first hit on its opponent.

The position at the end of my turn was as below:

In his turn Gordon obviously decided he couldn't leave his disordered medium infantry to their fate so charged in to my medium swordsmen with his. He had a first turn advantage here as he had an impact bonus, my guys unfortunately did not. Typically, of course, the dice gods let him down, I scored two hits on one unit and held the other to a draw. My engaged Hastati unit meanwhile scored another hit on him - he was clearly in trouble; I was beginning to believe in my plan!

On his left he continued his ominous advance.

End of turn eight:

So, of course, just as I was beginning to hope - the die rolls went against me. Not only did I fail to finish off either of his badly wounded units he scored two hits on two of mine. Ho hum.

In the centre my advance stalled, I couldn't see my heavy infantry doing well trying to force their way up steep slopes against his elite medium swordsmen and on my right I barely managed to withdraw the light javelinmen before his cavalry rode them down. My only hope was to tough it out in the marsh whilst my mediocre heavy spear shock troops! continued their advance on my far left.

End of turn position:

In Gordon's next turn he continued his left flank hook, beginning to get round behind my Principes with his cavalry, whilst on his right he took out one of my medium infantry.

So, it all looked like it had gone horribly wrong. It was beginning to look desperate on my right whilst my left flank attack appeared to have not only stalled but Gordon had commenced to pick it apart; advancing a unit of elite Samnite swordsmen into the gap as below:

On my turn I decided that I just had to go for it wherever I could: 

• I charged my left-flank mediocre heavy spear into Gordon's cavalry, he stayed rather than evading;
• I moved another Hastati to fight his victorious elite medium swordsmen;
• I charged my right flank Principes into his medium swordsmen.

The results were - One hit on his cavalry; I destroyed his medium swordsmen unit in the marsh and two draws on the right with my Principes. At last some progress on my left but all I had done on my right was to put my neck in the noose. It really was now going to be a race to see who's flank collapsed first.

The position at the end of my turn:

In Gordon's turn he charged in to flank attack both my Principes, amazingly I achieved a draw with one whilst the other took three hits, not unexpectedly. Elsewhere the fight continued. 

Position at the end of Gordon's turn:

So, round to my turn, all of a sudden things started to go right. Not only did I take out two units on Gordon's right flank but the Principes that had achieved the draw in Gordon's last turn managed to do it again. Ok, the other succumbed but all of a sudden hope had returned, he wasn't far from army rout. 

Position as below:

In his next turn Gordon finally took out my other right flank Principes as below:

At this point, in all the excitement it seems I had forgotten to take pictures. In the last couple of turns of the game I just managed to get Gordon's side to army rout level before he could capitalise on his left flank breakthrough. Final honours went to two light infantry Leves who punished one of his medium cavalry with some well-aimed shooting.

All told a great game, man of the match goes to the Principes unit on my right that held up his advance just long enough for me to do the business on my left. I was pleased that my plan sort of worked, I managed to overwhelm part of Gordon's line and forced Gordon to come out into the open as planned. I was hoping he would be a bit slower off the mark than he was but the brave stand of the Principes did the same job in the end by slowing the Samnite advance. At the end of the day a win is a win.

Gordon's comments

 Pre-Game

Samnites vs Early Roman. The Samnites have a number of terrain advantages. In a fit of unjustifiable optimism I give Alec a 25 point advantage and opt to be the Samnites – why I think I will be any better at using terrain than usual I do not know. Anyway, he will also have lots of heavy infantry against my medium infantry. And he can upgrade to armour. I am doomed. Unless I can get and play the terrain to my advantage as the medium troops are less disadvantaged. But, in my favour, as the invader he has to win, so worst case is I sit tight in whatever natural fortress I can create.

So, I go for lots of medium infantry, but also 2 heavy cavalry and 1 medium cavalry to protect flanks and form a reserve. Minimum number of light infantry: bit of a risk, as I have no way to reply to any that he chooses.

 The game

I choose a deep water flank to minimise his advantage in numbers/points. Then difficult terrain – I suffer but he suffers more. Steep hills and one marsh (I don’t know why I chose a marsh; another hill would have been sensible). A bit more thought and I would have chosen wooded hills to reduce the effectiveness of any shooters Alec chose.

I get some luck with the terrain placement dice and Alec didn’t get to remove any. I start to form a defensive line on my half of the table and complete it with the extra Battlefield Effect terrain (including the marsh! Why???). I put the two fortifications across the road, with a gap on one side to allow my cavalry to sally forth.

Line up the swordsmen across the table. Put two in ambush on my left (it might be a surprise for Alec) and the cavalry in reserve.

I am defending and while my natural tendency (character failing) is to attack I am aware that will get me beaten in short order here. So, patience plus the option to respond to him if he tries to concentrate on part of my line.

Alec starts to move his troops to my left. I wait a wee bit and when I think he is committed I move my cavalry out to move around his relatively weak right flank. Also reveal the ambush and move two units of swordsmen to engage his left flank frontally while the cavalry outflank.

Combat starts on my right: he wins well on the first round but I recover on the second (hurrah! for the randomness of ADLG combat). Combat sways back and forth but his numbers and the benefits of heavy infantry start to tell and I regret the choice of the marsh rather than another hill.

BUT! He charges into combat with my swordsmen on my left. And they hold. Yay! Next turn my cavalry hit his infantry in flank and rear for an instant disorder. In the combats I am 5 and 6 up. But it takes me three turns to break the two units (bloody randomness of ADLG combat dice). Meanwhile my right flank starts to disappear. For some reason I choose not to evade his spearmen when they charge my right flank cavalry. Bad mistake as I lose the ability to restrict his movement and I am not going to win that combat without outrageous luck (and I am not Alec).

My slow destruction of his right flank allows him to move units to cover the centre and, more importantly, to destroy enough units to break my army.

 Post-Game

The luck flowed back and forth. My right held on well, and certainly better than feared against his heavy infantry once Alec reminded me that troops don’t have to confirm into disadvantageous terrain.

My plan worked well in that I was able to respond to his movements and take advantage of his exposed and relatively weak right flank.

My choice of terrain could have been better. Given the battlefield effect and the terrain placement for the “normal terrain” I might have been better off forming an arc of hills in one corner and just waited. It would have been difficult for Alec to manoeuvre to any great benefit, and his medium troops would have been at a disadvantage and probably beaten. He would have had to commit his heavies, which would have been interesting.

An interesting variation on our normal games and a lot of fun. 

Result

Roman win - three Prestige points to the Manlii