Manlii v Julii Game 18

Game 18 – Roman Era 3: Middle Republic

Republican Roman (Gordon 210 pts) v Macedonian (Alec 200 pts)

Major Defence 197 BCE (ADLG Std, 3-May-2023).

Battlefield Effects: None

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is a Roman Major Defence against the Macedonians with me as the Macedonians so it’s going to up to me to force the pace. After my previous pathetic showing in this era as the Romans in game five I am already two points down, so a win here as the Macedonians would put me back in front. To that end, once the event was determined to be a Major Defence I had to give way a bit on the army points as I didn’t want Gordon to be the Macedonians; I figured a ten point deficit wasn’t too much a game changer.

So this is my chance to turn the era around. In order to do so the game has to be one of total aggression by me, a tour de force of the pike phalanx steamroller helped by decent Macedonian cavalry. In order to achieve this I will want to have the minimum amount of terrain - the least that will give the Romans any advantage, but assuming that Gordon will do the opposite I will have some decent medium swordsmen infantry to screen it while the pikes do the business.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

Pictures below, my forces on the left and Gordon's on the right.

As usual the first thing we did was generate terrain, and place camps. I placed a road and a marsh and Gordon placed a hill, a plantation and two fields one of which I managed to remove. Gordon's camp was fortified, as below:

Then we placed our armies. We basically mirrored each other, heavy infantry in the centre with cavalry on the wings, Greek heavy cavalry on my left and elite Macedonian heavy cavalry on my right; in addition we placed our light troops in front and I placed my medium infantry in support of the cavalry. All very classical - see below. My eight pike blocks I deployed in a long line with the two elite Agema on the ends.

Most worryingly for me were the two Illyrian light horse mercenary units Gordon placed on his extreme left, I had little to stop them marching all the way to my camp. The two Macedonian heavy cavalry I deployed on that flank were going to have to work very hard to try to stop that happening. 

So to battle, as the invader I went first. My command dice weren't great but enabled me to start the advance I wanted - see below.

In his turn Gordon reacted by manoeuvring his cavalry on either flank. I was happy to see that he didn't immediately come around my right flank with the Illyrians but, perhaps more dangerously, was looking to cause some hits on my Macedonian cavalry presumably to soften them up for his heavy cavalry that had also advanced. He failed - this turn.

See below:

In my turn I continued my slow advance in the centre. On my left flank I marched my Greek cavalry right up to Gordon's heavy cavalry to pin them; On my right I charged my elite Macedonian cavalry forward forcing Gordon to evade away with the Illyrian light horse and he also evaded with his Roman heavy cavalry; clearly he wasn't ready to initiate the fight yet. His Cretan archer skirmishers however managed to obtain a hit on my right-most pike phalanx.

The position at the end of the turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he advanced his left flank cavalry back towards me but did little elsewhere except to evade away with his skirmish screen in the centre in order to stop them being surrounded and lost; see below:

In my turn I again kept up the advance in the centre. I moved my left flank medium infantry, the Thorakitai, in to the gap between my cavalry and pike phalanx to fill the gap and moved my Thracian Falxmen into a similar position on my right to face off against his heavy cavalry. This left my Macedonian cavalry free to chase off the Illyrians again. I kept my right hand pike-armed Agema stationary in order to attempt a rally - it worked. My Cretan archers had the honour of achieving my first hit on Gordon's army by disordering one of his left flank cavalry.

See below:

In Gordon's turn all his activity was on my right flank. He moved his Illyrian light horse back into shooting range, advanced his left wing infantry towards my Thracian Falxmen and charged with his disordered cavalry unit to scare aware my Cretan archers. Elsewhere Gordon satisfied himself by straightening his line of battle. 

End of turn position:

So, next turn was to see the start of melee combat. I charged away the intervening skirmish screen with half my pike phalanxes and rolled up on the charge distance roll, enabling me to continue into the waiting Roman heavy infantry. All I had to do now was win the fights!

Unfortunately it was not to be, I drew three and lost two. Elsewhere on the right of my line I contented myself in pinning the Romans in place and scaring off the Illyrian light horse yet again but on the left I managed to sneak a Thorakitai medium spear unit through a gap between his elite Triarii heavy spear unit and his cavalry. The situation at the end of the turn was as below:

So, having initiated the fight between our two main infantry lines, and prompted by the Thorakitai  unit that had penetrated his line, Gordon decided that it was time to commit pretty much all along his right flank - so in he came; he also charged into contact with my Thracians.  In the centre the honours were fairly even but further to Gordon's right I won all three combats; I had the advantage of an overlap against one of his cavalry and against his Triarii but there's no doubt I got lucky there.

On my right though the opposite happened, both my Thracians lost their initial combats; luck has a habit of evening out.

The end of turn position was as below:

In the following turn on my left I had the choice of charging my Thorakitai unit that had snuck through Gordon's line into either the flank of Gordon's Triarii or one of his cavalry - I chose the Triarii as it was by far the more powerful unit. In ADLG a move into contact with an enemy unit already in melee doesn't strictly count as a charge but you get my drift; it automatically gives another hit plus now being overlapped on both flanks I was hoping would seal the its fate.

On my left I used one of my Macedonian cavalry to chase off the Illyrians yet again whilst with the other I charged Gordon's uncommitted heavy cavalry. Gordon chose to evade with them and rolled down - I, of course, promptly rolled up so I caught him in the rear.

On the left the luck continues to go my way, I destroyed both the cavalry and the Triarii as below. There was now nothing between his camp and my Thorakitai but a few Roman light infantry Velites:

Elsewhere the fight continued, I managed to disorder the cavalry that I had attacked in the rear. The position at the end of the turn was as follows:

In Gordon's turn he rolled poorly on CPs so couldn't do much, his Illyrians couldn't advance back from the table edge but he did turn his heavy cavalry around.

In the combat phase however Gordon got his own back, he destroyed three of my infantry plus he disordered my Macedonian cavalry unit that had caught him in the rear! Harrumph! What had been looking like a sure fire win for me all of a sudden was very much in doubt.

In the following turn I charged the Roman camp and on the other flank managed to pin one of the Illyrian light horse against the table edge so it had to accept combat or flee off the edge - Gordon chose to fight hoping that the overlap would see him through. The Roman camp was fortified so I needed a five or six - I failed; the Illyrian  light horse was destroyed. On the right in the cavalry melee I decided to throw my general into the fight, needless to say I lost the cavalry unit and then also lost the general - a bad move by me.

At this point Gordon was only a few points off destruction and as usual I forgot to take a picture.

In Gordon's turn in the centre he started to turn on the flanks of my remaining pike units and did the same with my remaining Thracians. The combat phase was going to be critical, one or the other of us was going exceed their army rout level and lose the battle. In order to stop the rout I decided, given the strategic situation i.e. only a victory would do, to throw my C-in-C into combat - result: another general lost!

So as it happens I was pushed over the army rout level. What saved me from losing the battle was that I took out the Roman camp at the second attempt so it was a mutual destruction but strategically the draw was irrelevant. I felt that Gordon had been a tad lucky in the last couple of turns as I had him on the ropes but 'dems the breaks' as people are wont to say.

The end of game position was as follows:

Gordon's comments

 Pre-Game

Being in the lead and simply not having to lose to gain points I bid low to be the Romans. Alec took on the Macedonians.

He will have a lot of pike probably – they are very effective under ADLG and the legionaries will be equal in the first round of combat and then it all depends on the outcome of that. However, even if the legions win it will still be a straight fight. So, I will need to make the most of the legionaries’ resilience; having been amazed at how effective armour is in the recent games, they all get armour.

I discount the idea of Greek medium infantry allies as that relies too much on terrain against heavy infantry and go for a legion heavy army with limited cavalry support (probably enough to counter any outflanking) and quite a few light infantry. Some light cavalry to support one cavalry flank and threaten a flanking move.

This is likely to be a straightforward infantry slog unless one of us gets lucky on a flank. 

The game

I went for some terrain as the pikes will be more badly affected than the legions, and it might help my light infantry. It didn’t land to help wither of those aims, but at least his right flank was restricted.

I have only to draw to get a point. So, I deploy the infantry conventionally in the centre and two smaller mixed cavalry and infantry wings. That won’t help with command, but both of us get good command points so less of an issue than with many armies. Following completion of deployment I am still going to hold on my right and in the centre, but with my light cavalry and cavalry on my left flank I have some chance of outflanking his centre and causing concern to his elite cavalry. However, it isn’t clear cut because he has a number of medium infantry who are fast enough and hard enough to cause me problems. The leftmost legions are likely to have to advance to support the cavalry. My right flank looks vulnerable, so I am just going to have to delay contact and hope the centres clash before my flank is overwhelmed.

The game starts and Alec advances across the board.

My left flank cavalry advances to attack his cavalry, but shooting is unsuccessful. My right flank cavalry is moved in an attempt to split his units, but even at the time I though it a little optimistic; he could get too close to me to allow me to do much more than pull them slightly off course. I push the light infantry forward to delay his advance a little and maybe inflict some casualties. Everyone else looks on.

On my left flank begins a game of advances and retreats on my part which does not help my plan at all. His cavalry are prevented from doing much but his infantry move to cause me concern. On my right flank I have no reason to start a fight, so I don’t. However, my odd cavalry move has opened a very big gap with which I have only a unit of triarii to fill. Feeling a little nervous about this. His phalanx continues its advance and I tidy up my line to meet it.

His phalanx charges into contact with the legions and more worryingly his thorakitoi have sneaked through a gap – this is bad. In the centre the combat goes well for me – there are few losses but none on the legions. I advance my left flank legions to meet his Thracians. My cavalry advances to slow his advance.

The right flank is very vulnerable and I have no real choice but to charge into contact. I lose all three combats. It is getting worse very quickly. Luckily the legions are still doing the job against the phalanx, even though they start taking losses. Bit of luck here. I also charge into his right flank Thracians who lose both combats. I had the advantage but even so: Phew!

Alec then destroys my right flank. On the left I get very lucky, and despite being hit while evading my cavalry take only one loss. The combat continues to go my way here – with a bit of luck. A Thracian unit is destroyed When my cavalry unit turns in my turn I rally the disorder and win the combat and then in the next turn he throws in his general to make sure they are destroyed but with outrageous luck I win the combat and kill his general.  In the centre I start to destroy the phalanx units. I will have some flanks to attack. On my right Thorakitoi head for my camp but do not initially take it.

Next turn is desperate – if I lose my camp I am lost; if I lose many more units I am lost; if a few new units get disordered I am lost; if I don’t do any more damage to him I am lost. However, he is close to breaking as well and I am in position to hit his units in the flank. So, I do that. He throws another general into combat, so I kill him. I have some big advantages in the combats and the dice support my boldness (I rolled high enough to do a lot of damage, although I don’t recall Alec rolling particularly badly). Unfortunately, he penetrates the fortifications around my camp and starts to loot it.

A draw! We are both broken. 

Post-Game

I got my point.

However, my strange manoeuvring on my right flank didn’t help: it opened too large a gap for me to fill and did not hinder his manoeuvring. It might even have helped in that it allowed his infantry to get into contact more quickly. Alec got to my camp and took it on his second attempt.

Alec countered my left flank very well and it ended up being a straightforward fight in which I got lucky enough to recover from a rear attack and kill his general. However, his Thracians were disadvantaged against heavy cavalry and Hastati, so that bit worked for me.

The heavy infantry fight was decided by dice. Although the pike had an advantage, I was able to rally troops to keep them going and eventually got a breakthrough which meant I could roll up the phalanx.

I probably had too many light infantry – they are unlikely to hurt heavy infantry and a couple fewer can still delay things. Maybe a medium infantry unit to give a little bit more combat power on one flank would have been better. 

Result

 A mutual destruction draw - one Prestige Point to the Julii