Manlii v Julii Game 35

Game 35 – Roman Era 6: Middle Empire

Middle Imperial Roman civil war 307 CE (150 pts each)

(ADLG Std, 10-Jan-2024).

Battlefield Effects: None

An End of Era result has been rolled for this era and as neither of us have any positive Prestige Points Gordon has chosen to demand a civil war battle be fought to determine the ultimate era victor.

The Plan (penned in advance of the battle)

This is going to be a no-holds-barred battle to win the era. Both sides have an equal chance of winning so it is going to come down to which side outmanoeuvres the other and/or gets the better luck on the day.

Because there is no pre-determined attacker, unusually in the campaign, the full ADLG rules will be used; so for once there is an advantage in considering the army's initiative. I would like to be the invader so will endeavour to do maximise it as much as possible.

If I can become the attacker I will try to deploy and move the army in a way that enables me to overwhelm part of Gordon's army whilst screening off the rest. I have gone with three roughly equal size commands, one of which contains cataphracts and a light camelry unit. I will try to use this command to overwhelm any opposing cavalry whilst holding off the rest with standard Roman legionaries.

That’s the plan!

The Battle

 Terrain

Gordon rolled up and chose to be the invader in Plains. The terrain ended up as below, three fields, a hill covered with a plantation and a plantation.

Deployment

I placed my best infantry in the centre, a command with a mix of forces on my right with a similar command on my left; this one including cataphracts. All my commands were commanded by a competent general.

Gordon placed an infantry command in the centre commanded by a brilliant general and a similar one on his left but it had one cavalry unit and was commanded by a competent general. On his right he placed a large cavalry command under the command of yet another brilliant general and had fortified his camp. The army breakpoints were Manlii:15 Julii:16.

See below:

The game

Gordon's turn one:

Gordon advances across the board.

My turn one:

I started redeploying my cavalry and cataphracts to my left.

Gordon's turn two:

He continues the advance of his right wing, swinging in to attack my left.

My turn two:

I charge into contact with Gordon's cavalry on my right whilst continuing to fall back on the left. I figure that I can finish off Gordon's cavalry quickly with the help of my camelry and general, I fail - it's a draw.

Gordon's turn three:

He continues the advance on his right and centre, fighting breaks out between our infantry. On my right my camel unit is quickly destroyed.

Gordon's turn four:

He charges in with his right wing cavalry and centre legions. I finally destroy Gordon's left wing cavalry and one of his infantry units in the centre; at this point things are going fairly well for me though my centre is getting too weak.

My turn four:

I continue winning on the right whilst trying to hold on on my left. It is going to be a race to see who can win on their right first.

Gordon's turn five, he's broken through in the centre and begins to advance towards my camp.

My turn five: My right is performing well but my cavalry flank is collapsing, it's going to be close.

Gordon's turn six

My cavalry flank has gone the score stands at 15 losses for me and 13 for Gordon.

My turn six and the end of the game as below.

I lose another unit and so does Gordon. The losses are me: 15, Gordon: 15. I lose the battle 😖

It was a close run thing but Gordon just managed to get my losses over the line first.

Gordon's comments

 Pre-Game

A huge choice of army compositions means it is pretty much pointless trying to think through what Alec might choose. There will be legions, auxilia and cavalry. But the choice of cavalry and supporting troops is too wide.

So, I will aim for a decent amount of cavalry (five Equites). I will put four of them in one command that gives a reasonably strong flank, supported by a couple of light horse with javelin (to frighten away light horse archers). A brilliant commander to manoeuvre them all.

Then a strong legionary centre of five units, with one elite and none with armour. Brilliant commander.

The final command of three auxilia medium infantry to make use of any inconvenient terrain, supported by a unit of heavy cavalry. A competent commander to provide some manoeuvrability, but this command is there to annoy and delay rather than win the game.

I go for two brilliant commanders and one competent – if I want to overwhelm a flank before my centre folds against what I expect to be armoured, and possibly elite, legions I will need the command points. And to rally the legions when they start taking losses.

The Deployment

Neither of us place much terrain, but most of it ends up on my left and centre. The field and plantation on my left close the flank to an extent. The plantation on the centre right is annoying and might be a problem if Alec has auxilia here.

With both of as having small armies there is still a real chance for a lot of manoeuvre.

So, put my fortified camp in my far right corner. Deploy the cavalry wing in front of it with the aim of going around the plantation and outflanking Alec’s centre. Legions between the plantation and field to batter through the centre. Auxilia command to hide in the field and to protect the legions’ flank and delay whatever comes their way.

Alec has gone with a slightly smaller army, but a better equipped army (lots of armour). That means he has fewer command points, which could be a big bonus for me.

He deploys a relatively weak cavalry command on his left, a mixed infantry and cataphract command in his centre facing my legions and a strong command on his right comprising legions and auxilia and an ambush.

My left flank is outflanked by a far stronger force. If I can hide in the field I will, but that would leave the legions exposed. I need to rush the cavalry forward at least, to slow down his advance. Depending on what is in the ambush I might also have to come out of the field. He might also push his central auxilia forward to overwhelm my left in coordination with his right. However, his right flank units are a fair way from my army, and his competent commander gives me some hope that it will be a slow game on this flank.

For that idea to bear fruit my legions need to push forward quickly to either overwhelm the two legions and/or the auxilia while my left is slowly destroyed. The cataphracts could make that more interesting.

On my right I am feeling confident that I can move up quickly to destroy or force Alec’s cavalry back towards his centre. If the cataphracts don’t join in I should win on numbers alone. If they do join the cavalry then I should have a better chance in the centre.

The Game

I decide not to panic this time around.

As I advanced Alec started to redeploy his rightmost units to face the cavalry threat. I held my cavalry back a little to allow the legions to get to a position where they could threaten his centre at the same time as the cavalry moved in. I hoped to give him some options to ponder and make best use of my command advantage.

Alec’s ambush turns out to be some camels. Bad news for my cavalry but maybe the auxilia can see them off. His right flank begins its turning movement towards the centre. I move forward to delay that. As my cavalry wing gets into position, feeling bold, I decide that the cavalry and one unit of auxilia can hold off his entire right flank and that the other two auxilia are needed to protect the legions in the centre. My plan is to win on the right and centre and therefore the left just has to hang around for a couple of turns so that his right doesn’t join the battle in the centre.

I get a bit lucky with my left flank cavalry but they succumb after a couple of turns. A bigger worry is the loss of the two central auxilia as this exposes the legions’ rear. However, Alec has taken losses and I have enough troops in the area to slow his units down. My elite legion heads for his camp and that ties up his light horse, although I don’t expect the legion to reach the camp before the game is over. Also, I start to break through his two central legions and can spare one of mine the face the enemy to the rear. One legion evaporates in one round of combat against the cataphracts: a big worry as it exposes the flank of another legion. My right flank meanwhile is making hard work of finishing the heavily outnumbered enemy Equites but hold their own against the unit of cataphracts.

My cavalry finally destroy both of his. This allows me to get multiple overlaps on his cataphracts in combat with my Equites, and that destroys them. In the centre I destroy the last of the two legions and the auxilia who had been threatening my centre’s rear. I rally one of the disordered legions as I am close to breaking. My left flank no longer exists, but it has done its job. Alec’s remaining cataphracts are winning their combat against a legion, but it is now supported and my cavalry are poised to hit it in flank and rear.

And then I win.

Post-Game

A close win. My right flank was a bit slow in doing its job, but got there in the end. The legions also performed as planned.

The weak left flank command got sacrificed more quickly than I had hoped, partly due to me being too gung-ho with the cavalry and also because I needed to hold his large right flank until the others

had done the job. I maybe could have done the same with fewer losses, but I was not certain that avoiding combat would work. Allowing his units to move twice in a turn could have been disastrous.

The two brilliant generals made the difference, and the lack of armour for my legions was less of an issue because I could outnumber his legions in the centre. A couple of elite Equites certainly helped. 

Result

The Julii win the battle and take the era.