Game 2
Middle Republican Roman (Michael 6,550 pts) v First Servile war (Alec 6,750 pts)
Minor Defence 135 BCE (MeG Magna, 10-Apr-2026).
Battlefield Effects: Slaves: Troop Late Arrival
Our second game in the campaign turned out to be a Minor Defence against the slave uprising in Sicily known as the First Servile War that took place in 135 BCE. The uprising was led by a Syrian who styled himself as King Antiochus, who was guarded by a group of fanatical Syrian bodyguards.
Michael bid the lowest to be the Romans so the Flaminii are in command of the Roman forces and their family's prestige is on the line. We played the game on 10 April 2026, and as I've been experimenting with artificial intelligence programs I have produced an AI generated report of the battle set out in a fairly dramatic style which I reproduce below:
The Trap is Set – Terrain
For days,
the Romans tried to lure the rebels down onto the open plains where discipline
and formation would decide the day. But Antiochus—self-crowned king of the revolting slave army and master
of improvisation—refused to be drawn in.
Instead,
he sprang his trap.
Flaminius
found his legions pulled into a rugged, hostile landscape: forests choked the
right, jagged hills and gullies carved up the ground, and even harsher terrain
loomed to the left. Only a narrow central plain offered space for ordered
battle—the one place where Rome’s strength could still speak.
Everywhere
else belonged to the rebels.
The terrain ended up as below, the Roman side is to the left of the picture.
Armies Assemble – Deployment
At dawn,
both armies formed across the plain.
Roman
cavalry rode ahead, scouting the rebel positions and giving Flaminius the
advantage of choice. He deployed with precision: hardened legionaries in the
centre, allied Italian infantry anchoring the left, and battle-tested Iberian
troops guarding the rough terrain to the right. His cavalry—heavy Roman riders
backed by nimble Iberian horse—waited on the extreme right, poised to strike.
Across
the field stood Antiochus’s army—a vast, chaotic tide of humanity. Freed
slaves, poorly armed but desperate, packed the line. Yet among them stood
pockets of deadly resolve: axe-wielding woodsmen, and at the heart, the fierce
Syrian bodyguards who would not break.
Behind it
all stood the unthinkable—women, the elderly, the frail—silent witnesses to
either victory or annihilation.
The position after deployment was as below:
The Battle Begins – Mid-Afternoon
Hours
passed before the armies were fully in position. By the time the first advance
began, the sun was already sliding westward.
First Hour – The Advance
The lines
surged forward—but unevenly.
The rebel
host, vast but unwieldy, began to fragment. The Romans, drilled and
disciplined, held formation more tightly.
Flaminius
struck first. Light infantry rushed ahead, hurling volleys into the poorly
protected slaves. Missiles tore into exposed flesh.
On the
Roman right, cavalry began a sweeping manoeuvre—an attempt to roll up the rebel
flank before the main clash.
The position at the end of the first turn was as below:
Second Hour – First Blood
The gap
closed rapidly.
Roman skirmishers
were forced back as the rebel line bore down on them. Many barely escaped
behind the safety of the heavy infantry.
Then
disaster struck the Roman right.
The
Iberian cavalry advanced confidently against a small band of shepherds—hardly
worth notice.
They were
wrong.
A sudden
storm of sling bullets cracked through the air with terrifying accuracy. Horses
screamed, riders fell—and the entire unit broke, fleeing in chaos. Flaminius
watched in fury as his flank faltered before the battle had truly begun.
Still,
the looming presence of Roman heavy cavalry forced Antiochus to shift troops
defensively. The game was far from decided.
The position at the end of the second turn was as below:
Third Hour – Collision
Then came
the moment of impact.
With a
roar, the rebel army hurled itself forward. The ground shook as thousands
charged across the plain.
Steel met
flesh.
Roman
Leves were caught and cut down before they could withdraw. Across the centre,
the fighting became a brutal grind—discipline against desperation.
The
Romans inflicted terrible losses. Slaves fell in droves.
But they
kept coming.
Wave
after wave crashed against the Roman line, and behind them stood even
more—reserves waiting to surge forward.
On the
flanks, the battle widened. Rebel forces on the right began to curl inward,
threatening the Roman left. Meanwhile, Roman cavalry manoeuvred for a decisive
strike against the enemy flank in the hills.
The stage
was set for a killing blow.
The position at the end of the third turn was as below:
Fourth Hour – Chaos and Crisis
The
battlefield erupted into chaos.
On the
Roman left, allied infantry surged downhill to meet the advancing rebels in a
savage clash.
In the
centre, both lines began to fracture. Units broke. Men fled. Gaps opened—and
were filled with fresh blood.
Only the
Syrian bodyguards of Antiochus held firm, fighting with grim determination even
as their numbers dwindled.
Then came
catastrophe on the Roman right.
The
cavalry, perfectly positioned for a crushing flank charge, began their advance
into the rough terrain—
—but the
shepherds struck again.
Another
deadly volley shattered their momentum. Disordered and exposed, the Roman
cavalry faltered—and in that instant, rebel infantry slammed into their flank.
The
result was devastating.
Half the
cavalry force was cut down in moments.
The position at the end of the fourth and last turn was as below:
Nightfall – An Uncertain End
As
darkness crept over the battlefield, the Romans found themselves in grave
danger.
They had
killed more—but they had lost much.
Worse
still, Antiochus still held reserves. Flaminius did not.
Gaps
yawned in the Roman line. One rebel unit was already advancing toward the Roman
camp—unstoppable.
Then, as
if by divine intervention, the light failed.
The
fighting slowed… then ceased.
Both
armies withdrew into the darkness.
The field
was left undecided, the advantage had begun to slip from Rome’s grasp but Flaminius was saved from defeat by the coming of night. Even though his forces had not defeated their opponents the massive casualties inflicted on the revolting slave army in the few hours of contact even enabled him to spin the result as a win.
Post-mortem
Despite their fairly parlous position at the end of the day the Romans had still managed to kill more troops than they had lost so scraped a Prestige Point from the game. I judged the Battlefield Effect that I drew as the Slave army wasn't going to change the position of the Roman forces much so I was saving it for use as at an opportune moment in its Universal Battlefield Effect guise. That moment would have been coming up very shortly had the game not ended when it did as the solid lines of the early battle dissolved, like it nearly always does, into several separate fights giving more scope for a wrong move by the Romans.
The 'Man of the Match' result though must go to their opponent's unit of skirmishing shepherds who managed to close down the Roman cavalry right-hook almost single-handedly with their accurate sling fire.
Result
Flaminii Winning draw - one Prestige Point.
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