So, recently my scheduled cleared enough to let Anton and I get in one of our ancients matches. Randomly book One was selected (again) and armies were selected in secret this time. Anton chose to return to the Marian Romans. I went out of the box and selected the Thracians. I out scouted Anton 49:13 so he had to deploy first. Below are our initial deployments. I placed 5 wooded areas and a steep hill, but only got 2 of the woods to stick, this was not an auspicious start for my rough terrain army.
Anton's army is shown in the foreground and was as follows left to right
Unit I 42 x Scutarii, Irg C, LMI, HTW & Sh
Unit II 24 x Legionaires, Reg C, HI, HTW & Sh
Unit III 24 x Legionaires, Reg C, HI, HTW & Sh
Unit IV 24 x Legionaires, Reg C, HI, HTW & Sh
Unit V 24 x Legionaires, Reg B, HI, HTW & Sh
Unit VI 24 x Legionaires, Reg C, HI, HTW & Sh
Center Rear CinC, HC, JLS & Sh
Right Center rear Unit VII 12 x Gallic Cav, Irg B, MC, JLS & Sh
Right Rear Unit VIII 20 x Thracian Peltasts, Irg C, LMI, 10 w/2HCW, JLS & Sh; 10 w/JLS & Sh
In typical barbarian fashion my army was basically a one note symphony left to right as follows in the background.
Unit A 34 x Peltasts plus, 19 Irg B, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 Irg C, LMI, JLS & Sh; 4 Irg C LI, JLS
Unit B 34 x Peltasts plus, All Irg C, 19 LMI, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 LMI, JLS & Sh; 4 LI, JLS
Unit C 33 x Peltasts plus, All Irg C, 19 LMI, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 LMI, JLS & Sh; 3 LI, JLS
Unit D 20 x Archers, Irg C, LI, B
Unit E 12 x Cavalry, Irg B, LC, 1w JLS & Sh, 11 w JLS
Unit F 12 x Cavalry, Irg B, LC, B
second rank
Unit G 33 x Peltasts plus, All Irg C, 19 LMI, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 LMI, JLS & Sh; 3 LI, JLS
Unit H 33 x Peltasts plus, All Irg C, 19 LMI, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 LMI, JLS & Sh; 3 LI, JLS
Unit I 33 x Peltasts plus, All Irg C, 19 LMI, 2HCW, JLS & Sh; 11 LMI, JLS & Sh; 3 LI, JLS
Turn two saw the carnage begin. My skirmishers evaded out of the way and the combat troops charged pretty much across the board. The only exceptions being Anton's Celtic Cavalry which had no target and Anton's Thracian Mercenaries on his extreme right who were out of range due to marching out to the flank on turn one. Results left to right were as follows. My unit A pushed back Anton's Unit I. My unit B and Anton's Unit II stood each other up thanks to my attached sub general making the unit ignore the down four they rolled and take an even instead. My Unit C was pushed back by Anton's Unit III, My Unit G, with my CinC attached pushed back Anton's Unit IV. Both of my generals survived combat. My Unit H went impetuous on the test to initiate a charge and routed Anton's Unit V, his Elite first Cohort, on contact. Anton's Unit VI pushed back my Unit I. Anton has done exemplary work editing in the actual effects on the direction arrows.
At the start of Turn 3, Anton ordered his unit of Thracian Peltasts to charge the exposed overhang of my Unit I. However, apparently they were kinsmen (and Anton rolled a "3" on the morae test) and the mercenaries refused to charge.
Turn 3 was an eventful turn beside the mercenaries failure to follow basic orders. On the left, my Unit A pushed back and broke Anton's Unit I. Anton's Unit II shattered my Unit B because my attached general was a sub general so his melee impact only lasts through the first turn of contact. This being the second turn, and my unit insisting on rolling down four AGAIN, they suffered the fate the dice decreed and were broken by suffering double their casualty output and at least one casualty per figure. My Unit C was pushed back a second time by Anton's Unit III causing this unit to also break (pushed back twice in a row). Anton rolled up and managed to cause a stalemate with my Unit G. I was saved as my CinC was attached to this unit and saved them from rolling down three. My CinC survived the casualties as well. My Unit H, pursued and caught Anton's routing Elite Unit V, causing more carnage in their impetuous course. Finally, even though Anton's Thracian refused to charge, my Unit unit I was pushed back a second and broke without the added stress.
As turn four dawned things were looking grim for me. I had broken two of Anton's units, but he had broken three of mine. On the left, my Unit A lost contact with Anton's Unit I. As it turned out for me, fortunately, Anton's Unit II ran into the woods and my Unit B (including the subgeneral) broke contact. Even more fortunately for me, Anton's Unit III managed to maintain contact with my Unit C, thus delaying their rallying up and returning to useful service in the battle for another turn. My Unit G and Anton's Unit IV continued their ineffective combat and once again my CinC avoided getting killed. Anton's cavalry charged my impetuous Unit H in the flank, but my unit had time to receive the charge at the halt and turn to face because Anton's Elite Cohort Unit V outdistanced my troops in the pursuit. Anton managed to roll down and caused very little in the way of casualties to my impetuous troops. Failing to either do casualties equal to my unit strength and thus push me back, or even do double the casualties by impetuous ax wielding Thracians managed to put out, thus resulting in a stand off between our units. Meanwhile Anton's Thracians turned about and prepared for what was developing to their left.
On Turn five, my Unit A rallied facing the general conflict. Anton's Unit II rallied facing my Unit G and had his general join them. My Units D and F attempted to keep Anton's Unit III busy with bow fire. My Unit G Finally broke Anton's Unit IV thanks to my dice rolling up one, Anton's rolling down one and the accumulated casualties on Anton's unit over the four rounds of combat. Once again my CinC managed to not get killed in the thick of the fighting. Meanwhile Anton's Unit VI and my unit E, faced off against each other while my still impetuous Unit H moved in on the Thracian mercenaries. Anton's Gallic Cavalry rallied just out of the picture.
On Turn Six my Unit A began its long march back to the action. Anton's Unit II charged the flank of my Unit G. However since my Unit G was NOT impetuous they had time to turn to face and expand to receive the in coming charge, although not counter charge. In the meantime my CinC detached himself from my Unit G and moved over to my Unit H, staying in the thick of combat and surviving again.
In the resultant melee, Anton failed to push my Unit G back and also managed to get his CinC killed. This was quite remarkable as my two generals had been in combat for seven rounds combined by this point and neither one of them had been harmed, but the very first time Anton sent his CinC into combat he immediately got killed. Literally Marius got "Thracianed". Finally on the far right, my Thracians pushed Anton's Thracian Mercenaries back. Anton was spared for one round as his CinC did not have a personal standard so only the unit he was attached to knew he was dead in turn 7. If I could survive the next round, then the morale test for Anton's army would ensue.
On Turn 7, My Unit A advanced on Anton's Unit II, but since Anton's unit was under no advance orders due to the death of the CinC, all they could do was turn to face. Both my Units B and C, buggered off the table along with the sub general. Anton's Unit III turned to face my skirmish troops. NOW my unit G went impetuous and chased off after Anton's Unit IV which was the closest unit. Anton decided to throw everything he could at my Unit H which contained my CinC. So, without rallying, Anton's Unit VI charged the rear of my Impetuous Unit H, while his Thracian mercenaries continued to stand before my CinC led Peltasts. Finally, Anton sent in his Gallic Cavalry against my stalwart unit H. The result of this swirling melee was that my Unit H was pushed back by Anton's Units VI and VII effectively pinwheeling in place. Anton's Thracians were pushed back by my Unit H and broke. Of course my CinC survived ALL the incoming casualties. In the resulting morale tests, with the CinC dead and half the army routing. Anton's Unit II remained in no advance. Anton's Unit II which was below half strength due to melee and several rounds of missile fire routed. Anton's Gallic Cavalry retired from combat, leaving only Anton's Unit VI still in the fight. Anton conceded.
The moral of this story is Anton NEEDS to keep his CinC out of combat!
Nice report. What rules were you using, just out of interest?
ReplyDeleteWe run WRG 6th/7th edition (the book says both) for all of these games. Personally, I find tinkering around with the army lists to be almost as much fun as the actual battles.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand I try to find new ways to get my generals killed!
ReplyDeleteOh no, a new way would be leaving him out in the open so my archers could shoot him down like the rabid dog he is. Joining a unit and stepping the way of an incoming spear (or in this case ax) is just the same old, same old.
Delete