Manlii v Julii Game 33

Game 33 – Roman Era 5: Early Empire

Early Imperial Roman (Gordon 200 pts) v Usurper (Alec 200 pts)

Major Defence 69 CE (ADLG Std, 25-Oct-2023).

Battlefield Effects: Weather

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is a Major Defence by forces of the Early Imperial Roman leadership against a usurper, with the added complication of the first "rolled" Weather Battlefield Effect as opposed to one imposed by the Enemies Table. Given that the  the Usurper option appears in ten of the thirteen era Defence Enemies lists, and generally has the highest chance of being rolled each time on the Enemies tables I am surprised it has taken so long for one to come up, but it finally has. The Manlii are being pitted directly against the Julii for the first time!

Gordon opened the bidding with a bid of 200 points to be on the side of the Emperor, so I let him have it. I figured that with me as attacker, as Gordon is currently at minus two Prestige Points in this era and with me at nil, if I failed to win he would still be in negative Prestige Point territory but if I did win Gordon would suffer a substantial Prestige Point loss of three points. I didn't see any advantage in bidding lower at that point even though the onus of attacking would be on me.

Given that there is quite a variety of different weather outcomes, which we won't know until immediately before deployment, I have decided to go with a pretty much bog standard Roman army of the period. I'll try to minimise terrain as it'll only slow things down and overwhelm with numbers, or at least be able to match them if Gordon does the same. To that end I have selected three commands of equal size commanded by Competent Commanders, all have four heavy swordsmen units, two have two heavy cavalry units each, the third has four light infantry bow units. I had just enough points to add another Balearic elite light infantry slinger unit to one of the cavalry commands figuring it may just come in useful, plus making one legionary unit elite with the spare two points that I ended up with.

As stated above I have decided not to select too many elite units (only one heavy infantry and one light infantry) in order to maximise the number of units I can deploy. If Gordon goes with a similar approach then it may just come down to who rolls better on the day, if he goes with a higher quality but smaller army I will try and overwhelm his army with flank advantages etc. That may require me to hold back sections of the army until all units are in position to make their presence felt. If Gordon tries to overwhelm part of my army before I'm ready this is where the light infantry may come into play as a delaying force until I'm ready to start the attack.

There is a possibility that Gordon may select an army that maximises the cheaper medium swordsmen Auxilia option and end up with more units than me, particularly if he goes with unarmoured units. This option is only likely to work if those units can take advantage of bad terrain in the centre of the battlefield but is something that the ADLG terrain placement rules makes very hard to achieve, particularly if one side doesn't want it, so it will be quite a gamble by Gordon if he tries it. In this case I will just line my men up and march forward attempting to annihilate all before me.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

Terrain

As attacker I got to choose the region of battle, so I picked Plains and  just went with a road and a field. In addition to the compulsory field Gordon chose a hill and another field. After I successfully managed to remove one field the battlefield ended up as below. In all a fairly open area as I had wanted, with one gentle hill that I was hoping Gordon would be tempted to occupy because ADLG gives combat advantages to troops upslope of the enemy. As usual, I am on the left of the picture.

I always like it when there is a hill in, or in front of, the opponent's deployment area as I find most opponents rush to garrison it and then sit awaiting events, particularly if I can make them think I am heading towards it to contest ownership. This can have the effect, however, that they immediately lose the initiative, enabling me to force the issue with an advantage in numbers in some other sector. Generally, given the speed with which the situation develops in ADLG, I have found that all that is needed is for my opponent to sit still for a couple of turns in order for me to get the drop on them tactically elsewhere.

In this case, as the left flank (from my perspective) is open I will try to concentrate numbers on that side, I will feint towards the hill whilst swinging around behind it, hoping Gordon will both over-commit on his left, garrison the hill and sit still for a while whilst I come around behind. Will Gordon fall into the trap?

Weather

At this stage we rolled for the weather Battlefield Effect, getting early morning fog. Each turn there would be a roll to see if it cleared or lifted but for several turns at least visibility, movement, shooting and command ranges would be quite restricted. It would turn out that it lifted on turn five.

Deployment

As defender, Gordon had to start the deployment process, which he did by placing a command on his left. He placed three medium swordsmen Auxilia in the field and cavalry to their left; two heavy cavalry and one light. He then proceeded to deploy to his right, placing a fortified camp in the centre.

In accordance with my plan I started in the centre and continued deploying left from there, with my camp nearly as far left as it could go. Our armies were, of course, broadly similar but not entirely. My commanders were all Competent, Gordon's were all Brilliant, Gordon had chosen some Medium swordsmen whereas I had selected none, and Gordon had fortified his camp whereas I hadn't. In addition Gordon had upgraded more units to Elite than me, four to my two. The end result was that I had 21 units to Gordon's 19 giving us army demoralisation levels of 21 and 20 respectively (as a fortified camp adds one).

The result was that our armies largely mirrored each other on the table but were offset, somewhat overlapping each other's right flanks. It was going to be a race to see who could overwhelm the other's right wing troops first. In that respect I was hoping that my plan would give me the edge I needed.

The position at the end of deployment was as below:

The first few turns saw us advance towards each other. As I had hoped Gordon did indeed move forward and garrison the hill for a time whilst leaving his medium swordsmen "safely" in the field. On his right he advanced a bit to cover the troops on the hill. He had advanced his left wing cavalry though, so all wasn't as quiet as I would have liked on that flank.

I refused my right flank whilst advancing my left so my plan was beginning to unfold. The fog had opened out and closed in again so was still restricting visibility and movement etc.

The position at the end of my third turn was as below, the first casualty has just been inflicted via sling fire.

In Gordon's third turn, he decided to charge off his hill. This was fine by me because it meant Gordon felt he had to advance his right wing to cover the attack forcing him to commit that flank against superior forces. That said, he got the better of the first melee, causing two disorders on me for none in return. 

Gordon must have realised at this point that he had to commit his left where he outnumbered me as soon as possible if he was going to win the battle; as below. I was hoping that it would already prove to be too late.

In my next turn I charged in against one of Gordon's elite Praetorian units guarding the right flank of his central attack. Also I took the opportunity to manoeuvre around behind Gordon's right-most Equites heavy cavalry unit on his right wing so it couldn't evade.

In the centre I managed to rally one disorder away and in the melee inflict two on Gordon's legionaries, though I also suffered two shooting hits; now so it was three all. See below:

In Gordon's turn he charged with the other Praetorian legionary unit and with his extreme right flank cavalry unit as below. Both the Praetorian's did well, disordering their opponents, but I managed to do better in the centre, that combat was slowly swinging my way.

The first unit loss occurred on my extreme left, Gordon lost one of his cavalry. That fight was rapidly turning into a disaster for Gordon, just as I had hoped and planned for. I hadn't even had the opportunity to charge into his rear with my flanking cavalry unit yet.

In my next turn the fog lifted and I unsurprisingly managed to finish off Gordon's other right wing heavy cavalry unit; it was outnumbered four to one and was caught from behind to boot. Elsewhere the melee continued, in the centre both sides took some knocks but I got the better of it by destroying one legionary unit and advancing where I could flank one of Gordon's elite Praetorian units in my next turn. 

On my right Gordon had finally manoeuvred into a position where he was ready to strike. He had the numerical advantage there (nine units to six) and I knew I would be up against it, but I was banking that as I had got my blow in first on the other flank, with three of Gordon's units already destroyed, I would win the race to army demoralisation. In addition, as I had cleared away all Gordon's right wing cavalry there was now a direct route to his camp which was only two turns away and the flank of his infantry line in the centre was also now vulnerable; as below:

In Gordon's turn he finally committed on his left, fighting broke out all along the line with casualties on both sides. Luckily for me none of my units were completely destroyed. In the centre Gordon lost another legionary heavy swordsman unit and he destroyed one of mine in retaliation. At the end of his turn the score was 14 - 9 to me.

My sixth turn turned out to by the last of the game. I flanked one Praetorian swordsman unit, which disappeared in one turn and I did the same to a legionary heavy swordsman unit in the centre, those, plus a couple of other dead units and hits pushed Gordon's army to its demoralisation level.

End of the game position was 20 out of 20 for Gordon and 10 out of 21 for me, as below:

The end result was a pleasing victory for the Manlii. I had come up with a plan and managed to follow it through to victory. The psychological effect of Gordon having terrain where he wanted it seemed to have worked in letting me get a move or two ahead before he saw his peril and reacted.

Gordon's comments

 Pre-Game

The battlefield effect of weather might help the defender. If the attacker is slowed sufficiently then a draw is a bit easier to achieve and that is all I need.

I expect both armies are going to be broadly the same: lots of heavy infantry legionaries and a variable number of medium swordsmen auxilia supported by heavy/light cavalry and some light infantry. I win as the defender.

I doubt either of us will want a cluttered battlefield and I expect Alec to attack in the plains.

I go for a couple of elite legions (Otho’s Praetorians) and some auxilia in case I get some useful terrain or if Alec puts down terrain. Four heavy cavalry split between my two flank commands (one of 4 legions and two cavalry, one of 4 auxilia and heavy cavalry and light cavalry). Central command of 4 legions and light infantry. 

The Deployment

Neither of us want much terrain, but what there is seems to suit me. I can put the auxilia in the rough on my left and anchor my defence with the hill. Gives me the option of defending or committing to an attack.

Unfortunately, I misjudge the width of my army and the right flank does not extend as far to the right as I expected (should have done some simple arithmetic before I started deploying.

After deployment my right flank is hanging a bit too much but I plan to move the cavalry to hold up any advance.  The left flank gives me a chance to flank Alec’s army. But, the auxilia are likely to lose any stand-up fight with eh legions so I will need to make use of the small cavalry advantage I have. I can always hide the auxilia in the rough if Alec advances aggressively there. In the centre I will advance to the hill and then can defend or attack as required or necessary. Sitting on the hill might make Alec hold in the centre and the flanks are where the action is likely to happen. 

The Game

Alec advances aggressively on my right and I am not able to get my cavalry far enough to the flank to do much about it. It is not looking good. I hope the Praetorian’s elite rating can save the day, or at least hold things up until I can make something happen on my left. Alec slowly advances on my left but refuses the cavalry. I take advantage of that to push my cavalry around his flank. I don’t fancy the Auxilia’s chances in the open until I can get some cavalry on the flank or behind his legions. My command dice are good, but I focus them on maximising the cavalry moves. His centre moves forward to prevent my centre doing much but I am happy to wait on the hill until I need to attack.

Unfortunately, my poor deployment on the right and not moving the cavalry far enough out results in disaster and the cavalry are lost and eventually the legions are destroyed. By this time fighting is happening along the line and I have the worst of it on average, losing more combats than I win. The cavalry on the left have some success and the auxilia get into action. However. The cavalry’s success is reversed in the next round of combat and the despite me having overlaps and flank attacks his legions hold my auxilia. I get ground down in the centre and on the left and outmanoeuvred on my right.

Big loss. 

Post-Game

Alec out thought me for the deployment and I never recovered from that as I was not able to adequately cover my exposed right flank.

Possibly I was a little too cautious on my left flank, but my experience of medium infantry fighting heavy infantry is that the mediums will get destroyed. This game didn’t quite bear that out, but the advantage of numbers didn’t lead to any breakthrough for me, and probably just delayed my flank’s destruction.

I think I was a little unlucky in this one in the equal match ups with the legions in the centre, but Alec’s manoeuvring my right flank won him the game. 

Result

Usurper win - minus three Prestige Points to the Julii