Manlii v Julii Game 29

Game 29 – Roman Era 3: Middle Republic

Republican Roman (Alec 176 pts) v Gallic (Gordon 180 pts)

Major Invasion 216 BCE (ADLG Std, 13-Sept-2023).

Battlefield Effects: None

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is a Major invasion by Rome against the Cisalpine Gauls, so three points up for grabs for the Romans on a victory and only one at stake on a defeat. As I am currently at minus two Prestige Points in this era to Gordon’s plus one this is a good opportunity for me to turn things around and bring it back to a one all tie; all I need to do is win!

Gordon let me have the Roman’s for 176 points to the Gauls 180, so not a lot in it. My plan is going to be to maximise the number of Roman heavy infantry units I can deploy and shove them forward into the face of the Gauls. As his men are going to be impetuous, and his maximum command capability is quite woeful, he won’t be able to stand for long before he is forced to charge in to commence the fight. All I will need to do then is roll better than him!

If I can inveigle some tactical advantage such as a combat bonus from a well-placed hill, an overlap or even a vulnerable flank prior to the commencement of combat, using my superior command and control, all the better.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

 Terrain as below:

Waterway on my left (the river Po?), Plantation on my left rear, Gentle Hill in Gordon's centre, a Plantation and Field on my right.

Deployment as below:

I had initially thought about putting my largest command in the centre with cavalry on the wings. Seeing the way the terrain fell I changed my plan to put my big command on my right, with its two Velites light infantry units in ambush in the Plantation. My two smaller commands I placed in my centre and left. This was because I was concerned that Gordon may stuff his left flank with medium foot that could operate in the rough terrain with impunity.

I wasn't surprised to see that Gordon had minimised his heavy infantry and placed them on his extreme right. Given his practice for the 2023 Devonian Classic competition later this year, where he is pondering on playing with a Gallic army, he has had plenty of practice at producing an effective combined arms army designed to work with the limited Gallic command allowance. He also went with a good number of heavy cavalry (identical to mine) and a fair number of chariots. 

End of my first turn as below:

I have advanced strongly on my right but have hung back on the left, no point in getting to grips with Gordon's main infantry force until I need to plus I want to clear the hill and swing round with my right before I engage with Gordon's right wing if at all possible. To do that I will need to clear the hill.

Gordon has other ideas of course. He moves forward with his right and begins to redeploy his left wing infantry across to his centre covered by the chariots. Additionally Gordon moves forward all his missile-armed troops to begin to whittle down my troops. The redeployment of his left wing infantry is risky as Gordon's commander on that wing is only Ordinary so he could get caught out if I can advance quickly enough to cause problems for his chariots enough to tie up that commander's command points.. 

He scores hits with his chariots on my heavy infantry.

End of Gordon's first turn as below:

In my turn I charge his chariots, which evade away, whilst angling my heavy cavalry around to face his. My right wing legionaries continue their advance. Despite the two shooting hits everything is looking good, I can already see where the crucial sector is going to be - the cavalry. At some stage there is going to be a clash between Gordon's and mine and the winner will be able to clean up against the opponent's infantry.

End of my second turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he continues his plan to envelope my left and pull back his left wing infantry - aided by some good command die rolls. He continues to be lucky with his shooting too, I'm now carrying four hits.

End of Gordon's second turn as below:

In my turn I continue the advance on my right. Elsewhere I try to rally the hits away - all my attempts fail. :( 

End of my third turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he continues his plan - advancing with his right and pulling back his left plus he successfully maintains the shooting pressure - another hit. 

End of Gordon's third turn as below:

In my turn I begin to turn Gordon's left flank and try more rallying - with only partial success.

End of my fourth turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he rolls well with his command dice again, he charges in with his cavalry and one infantry against my cavalry, I decide to stand losing two cavalry in short order - not good. On the other flank he completes his infantry redeployment, I haven't been able to catch them out.

End of Gordon's fourth turn as below:

In my turn I have no choice but to continue to defend on my left and advance on my right. Gordon's chariots have been doing a sterling job of holding me up so my strong right is unlikely to be able to swing round in time to save my centre and left. I do force one Gallic chariot to evade off table though.

End of my fifth turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he polishes off another of my heavy cavalry and charges in with his medium foot in the centre. 

End of Gordon's fifth turn as below:

In my turn I deploy my sole cavalry remnant to guard my infantry centre. In the combat phase I take down another chariot but lose a legionary unit in the centre.

End of my sixth turn as below:

In Gordon's turn he swings round to engage my sole remaining cavalry unit - causing two hits. I meanwhile finish off another chariot. On his right Gordon has charged into my infantry line with two heavy swordsmen taking out a legionary unit in one turn. I was hoping that when we got to melee I would see a bit more luck than I was experiencing in the shooting phases, it wasn't to be.

End of Gordon's sixth turn as below:

I no longer had any real prospect of winning this battle now - only outrageous luck would win me the day here, I was determined to give it a try though. I didn't get it, losing another legionary unit.

End of my seventh turn as below:

At the start of Gordon's seventh turn he only needed one more hit on me achieve army rout, he got three. Final result was 20-11 to Gordon.

End of Gordon's seventh turn and the end of the game as below:

As predicted, the cavalry fight was going to be the decider, when that went against me the writing was on the wall. That said it was still a cracking game and Gordon both produced a good army from the lists and handled the Gauls well to pull it off. He got lucky when he needed to in command die rolls, shooting and melee whilst I didn't so much, but that's what happens sometimes.

So victory to the Cisalpine Gauls, hadn't they heard that their days as an independent people were numbered? Apparently not!

Gordon's comments

Pre-Game

I simply have to avoid losing. I let Alec win the bid. It is likely to be a straightforward infantry vs. infantry fight that decides the game. The Gauls just have to try to hold their nerve, while the Romans need to commit to combat, and risk the impetuous and furious charge.

From previous experience I expect Alec to choose a number of elite and armoured legions. While the armour won’t help against the furious charge it has proved a battle winner after that. I don’t expect to face many cavalry, although if he remembers our competition practice games he will look for a decent number to protect flanks and chase away delaying cavalry. I imagine we will be fighting in the plains.

Gallic command is poor, so hanging back and delaying combat is the order of the day. I will take three commands, two with competent generals and one with ordinary. The ordinary general gets four elite chariots and two medium warband to provide a backup and with some chance of keeping up with the chariots. This command will try to delay any open flank. The main command is seven warbands, two of them elite and armoured; they are to do the real work. There is a cavalry command of four heavy cavalry with a couple of warband and one light horse. They will form a link between the other two commands and provide some ability to fight legions in the right circumstance. 

The Deployment

Alec chose Plains, but the terrain was pretty good. Flanks were protected and I had a wee hill to sit on. However, the waterway gave me a secure flank for my infantry so I put them there. Then the cavalry and then the chariots on the left. I thought Alec might believe I would put my main strength on my left with the hill and rough terrain, so if he found himself facing chariots with infantry that might help delay things a bit.

Anyway, Alec deployed a very strong infantry force facing my chariots, some strong cavalry facing my cavalry and a small number of legions facing my infantry.

My plan is now to make a right hook to try to defeat his left, while the chariots skirmish his legions. The infantry on the hill are far too vulnerable and I will pull them back under cover of the chariots to form a line with the central command’s warband to protect my left flank and camp.

Alec seems to playing a mirror of that with his right flank advancing to outflank me and his left and centre slowly advancing to provide protection to hi s right. It is all going to come down to how quickly my infantry can get to him and how well the chariots can hold up his right.

To my surprise Alec has no armoured troops and fewer elite than I expected. 

The Game

Alec advances slowly on the left and centre, and his right hook goes forward as fast as it can. He quickly gets too close to my chariots for their speed and manoeuvrability to be much use. So I start to move my warband off the hill towards my camp, and push the chariots froward to start shooting. Throughout the game my shooting is particularly good, and Alec’s rallying poor. This helps slow down his right a fair bit, so that the warband get away, even though the chariots do get sacrificed though evasion off table and to combat.

My cavalry centre advances to slow things down and give his cavalry something to think about. We are evenly matched so I do not engage initially, as I wait for the infantry to get into position.

The infantry start to wheel from my right flank towards the centre. The light infantry reveal a fake ambush and even do some damage to the legions through shooting.

When in position some elite infantry join the cavalry in combat against Alec’s cavalry. A couple of 6-1 dice rolls in my favour make a hole in his line, although one combat is drawn and the other is lost (he inflicts two disorder on my cavalry). Still, a very good start, and a number of his legions have losses from shooting.

Eventually his right flank catches my chariots and slowly destroy them, while some other legions engage my medium swordsmen. Things go well here too and the warband emerge victorious. Despite some poor command rolls a couple of uncontrolled charges into his legions on the hill cause some loss.

Meanwhile the right flank infantry start chewing up Alec’s left flank legions, while the cavalry exploit the gap to turn on his centre.

And then it was all over. 

Post-Game

Terrain was good and, for once, I think I was able to advantage of Alec’s deployment and plan. I was greatly helped by amazingly good shooting by the chariots, poor Roman rallying and some very good combat results when the warband contacted the legions. 

Result

 Cisalpine Gaul win - minus one Prestige Point to the Manlii