Game 49 - Roman Era 4: Late Republic
Triumvirate Roman (Gordon 182 pts) v Mithridatic (Alec 190 pts)
Major invasion 66 BCE (ADLG Std, 30-May-2024)
Battlefield Effects: None
The Plan (penned in advance of
the battle)
The current Prestige Point score
in this era is minus seven to the Julii and plus one to the Manlii. The event
rolled was a Major Invasion against Pontus at 190 points with no campaign Battlefield
Effects.
I would have preferred to have
been the Romans but Gordon seemed to be determined to be them as well, so I let
him play them when the bidding got down to 182 points.
This is the first game after
adopting two new Campaign rules, including the change to the Prestige Point
scoring on an unfinished draw; so it will be interesting to see how that
changes things. The onus is still on Gordon to attack however, so he will be
forced to come to me.
The Republican Roman army, as
ever, has copious amounts of excellent heavy infantry and limited numbers of
cavalry. The Pontic army is a mish-mash of different troop types just as it was
historically but it does have more cavalry, particularly light cavalry.
I’ll aim in this game to out-do
Gordon in the light cavalry and light infantry stakes, with which I will then try
to cause disorders on the Roman Legionaries from shooting with the aim of then being
able to enter into combat with them with my Imitation Legionaries with an equal
chance of success.
That’s the plan!
The
Battle
My turn one
I advanced my light troops and right wing heavy cavalry, in the shooting phase I scored the first hit. The turn ended as below:
Gordon's turn two
Gordon advanced on his right charging my light horse which evaded, and obviously feeling a touch outnumbered on his left angled his mediocre legionaries to his left and evaded away with his left wing cavalry.
Ended as below:
My turn two
I decided to send my light horse on my left wing across to the other flank before they got trapped and advanced my right wing cavalry forward. My skirmish screen continued in failing to score any more hits, things were not going to plan. My turn ended as below:
Gordon's turn three
Gordon continued advancing his right and centre. On his left Gordon decided to charge my light horse with his heavy cavalry, which I evaded away, but I stood with my heavy cavalry units that were behind them and won the one melee combat.
Gordon's turn ended as below:
My turn three
I pulled my left wing cavalry back to guard the flank, and angled my infantry line to the right. My light horse continued to head to my right and my heavy cavalry destroyed one of Gordon's; this turned out to be the highpoint of the battle for me though I wasn't to know it.
My turn ended as below:
Gordon's turn four
Gordon closed in on my left flank whilst pulling back with his left.
Gordon's turn ended as below:
My turn four
Ended as below - I didn't do much other than moving my right wing cavalry round to develop my attack and continued to attempt to cause shooting casualties on my centre and left. My infantry just stood awaiting Gordon's attack. My skirmishers, however, continued being ineffective.
Gordon's turn five
Gordon's infantry line charged in and yes won all four combats. I realised that whilst I thought I was guarding my left flank with my cavalry I actually wasn't as I had placed them too far back having got confused with the unit depths; additionally Gordon's medium cavalry won the fight against my left wing heavy cavalry unit.
Gordon's turn ended as below:
My turn five
As my left was already crumbling I decided to send my right wing Thracian infantry units into combat against Gordon's mediocre legionary units, together with a light infantry unit that I managed to get around behind one of them and won the fight. The other fights on my left managed to hold their own for a turn - it wasn't to last. On my extreme right my heavy cavalry continued chasing Gordon's across his rear.
My turn ended as below:
Gordon's turn six
Gordon continued to successfully develop his attack against my left wing, destroying my cavalry and one of my heavy spearmen units. It was only a matter of time now before my entire heavy infantry line was going to be rolled up - however time was running out for Gordon to take sufficient advantage.
Gordon's turn ended as below:
My turn six
I continued developing my right wing, destroying two of Gordon's mediocre legionary units, whilst my left wing crumbled.
My turn ended as below:
Gordon's turn seven
The pain continued on my left wing, I was down to two heavy infantry units left, but at this point time ran out.
Gordon's turn and the game ended as below:
Post-mortem
An interesting contest, made all the keener by the rule change in respect of Prestige Point's available on a draw - so we were motivated to fight to the bitter end even after it was apparent we weren't going to get to a conclusion.
The problem with any early Roman army is forcing a victory in time given that the army is largely composed of the slowest troop type, so a draw is always on the cards. Gordon ended up causing 19 casualties to me (27 needed) whilst only suffering 9 in return (19 needed) so he was getting there. He was helped by the one silly mistake I made on my left flank regarding unit depths, and the quick collapse of my heavy cavalry unit guarding my left flank didn't help matters from my perspective.
A good fun game, it wasn't entirely one sided, though my plan of causing shooting casualties on Gordon's legionaries prior to melee pretty much came to naught.
Gordon's comments
Pre-Game
I
need some points so bid to invade.
We
have new rules relating to winning points as the invader that might make it
less of a chore and more of a game. Perhaps less reliant on the composition of
the army and more on the play of the game (and the run of the dice).
Mithridates
has a wide range of choice. Could be a strong infantry army Could be lots of
Armenian cataphracts as an ally.
But,
as Rome with 182 points most of those will go on the infantry. A fortified camp
is likely to be a good investment. I choose a strong centre of 6 legions (incl.
4 elite) to batter their way through the enemy centre; a weak command of 3
mediocre legions and two heavy cavalry to protect one flank; a Greek command of
2 medium cavalry, one light horse and three medium spearmen to hold up cavalry
or hide in terrain.
Plains plus a waterway on one flank would be good for me.
The Deployment
As I
have a relatively small army and Alec could take a lot of cavalry I want open
terrain but secure flanks. I am lucky to get a waterway so that I one secure
flank. The marsh and field give me some confidence that any cavalry Alec has
will not be able to simply ride around me.
The
weakest part of my army if the Greek spearmen and medium cavalry so the secure
flank is the obvious place for them. The strong infantry centre goes in the
centre. The weaker infantry flank with the two heavy cavalry have a difficult
job to do to protect my more open left flank while the centre gets stuck in to
win the day.
Alec
deploys a surprising number of light troops and a large number of cavalry and
light horse opposite and overlapping my weak left flank. The Greeks end up
facing fresh air, which helps my plan by giving them space to get round Alec’s
flank. The centre will advance as quickly as possible and try to beat Alec’s
heavy infantry.
The large number of light troops will make for an interesting game, but my armoured infantry have a good chance of standing up to the shooting.
The Game
I was
too aggressive with my left flank, given they were there to stop attacks on my
camp and flank attacks on my centre. However, although I lost most of the flank
it still did its job, so I probably handled them reasonably well.
My
right flank cavalry advanced quickly to support the heavy infantry centre. One
unit got lucky and beat Alec’s heavy cavalry unit, while the other got onto the
flank of his heavy infantry as my legionaries got into contact. There was a bit
of a traffic jam here as I had not moved my centre far enough to my left, but
as the game progressed I was able to move them towards my left, which might
have deterred his cavalry from hitting the rear of the infantry line.
Meanwhile, the centre cut down Alec’s centre with a bit of luck, a bit of
elite, a bit of armour and the medium cavalry marauding along Alec’s infantry
line.
My left was looking very open (basically no units left) but I was able to turn some of the centre and right infantry to deal with any flank attack while the infantry and cavalry continued to destroy Alec’s centre and threaten Alec’s camp which was now protected by light infantry. However, I ran out of time and we had a draw.
Post-Game
The
infantry got into contact more quickly than I feared given Alec’s light
infantry line. It helped that my charges to clear them out of the way tended to
move a lot of them out of the way at one time, so I wasn’t delayed much other
than losing the ability to move more quickly early in the game. Cramming a lot
of troops towards my right meant I could not make best use of all of them;
moving everyone a bit more to the left would have helped, and might have made
my destroyed left flank command’s job a bit easier.
I
think Alec took too many light infantry. But, if I had not had all armoured
legionaries it might have worked and I might have taken enough disorders to
make the central infantry clash less one sided.
An
interesting game for the challenge of trying to beat an army with lots of light
troops with an army of heavy infantry.
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