The Legion Goes Forth

 

Enthused by having completed a Polybian Roman Legion to my satisfaction, a few months back I offered to set up a game with my regular opponent, pitching a Roman and Allied army against an assortment of Etruscans and Gauls.  After committing to this I sat down to work out the opposing forces and realised that I had let myself get carried away.  While there were plenty of Gauls for the opposition to draw on, the Etruscans were a bit scanty and completely lacking in light troops.  The Romans were fine, but apart from a good contingent of Italic Cavalry that could be used as the Allied cavalry wing there was just a solitary band of Italic infantry that could be pressed into service for an allied legion but this would be less than a quarter the strength of the Roman one.

Plenty of Gauls (mostly Newline)

Not a lot of Italic Infantry (HäT)

A decent showing of Italic Cavalry (HäT)

Rather than leave the Romans idle while I painted up a proper allied legion to go with them, I decided to use a contingent of velites that were nearing completion to provide light troops for the Etruscans and to give the Allied wing a mass of other light troops drawn from my Greek and Macedonian forces.  The Allies would have more cavalry than the Etruscans, so I hoped that this would balance out while the Gauls faced off agains the Romans.

The Etruscan array - hastily finished and repurposed Roman velites providing a javelin line in front, three ranks of progressively heavier armed infantry in the middle, Cavalry behind (figures are all Newline except Cavalry which are HäT)

The scenario was a simple set up of a Gallic force of Senones and Boii coming to aid a small Etruscan force to resist yet another rapacious attack by the Romans, and the two armies meeting beside a river.  A level plain extended from the river across about two thirds of an 8' table width, before rising to more broken ground, a couple of small woods marking the point of transition.

We drew for which side we would play and I ended up with the Gauls and Etruscans - who each had separate commanders so would find it difficult to co-ordinate action.  We each drew up our deployment plans and then set out the figures.  I put the Etruscans on the right, keeping them on the level ground, with the Gallic cavalry to their left and their own cavalry in reserve.  The Gallic Infantry extended up to the river bank.  I had hoped that the Romans would set up conventionally with cavalry on each flank so that I could use the Gallic cavalry to try to force a wedge between the Roman legion and their much weaker allied contingent of mainly light troops.

My canny opponent had seen this coming.  He put the Roman Legion on his right, extending all the way to the river bank.  The Roman Equites were placed in the centre, at the left end of the legion, facing the Gallic cavalry, with the mass of Allied cavalry, light infantry and small core of heavy infantry to their left.

The opponents face off.  The picture is from just behind the right of the Gallo-Etruscan position with the Etruscans in the foreground, Gallic cavalry in the centre and war bands beyond.  Across the field, the Roman legion can be seen in the top right.  The cards arrayed beyond the river are quick reference cards for each unit.  As can be seen, the Gallo-Etruscan side has begun as they mean to go on with a spot of liquid courage.

Opening movement.  In the foreground, Allied light cavalry swing out wide to put themselves on the flank of any Etruscan advance while the rest of the Roman force moves forward slowly.  On the centre left, the Etruscans get into problems right away, finding they don't have enough room to advance their main line fully in the space between the wood and the Gallic cavalry.  Beyond them, the Gallic slingers, archers and javelins move forward to engage the velites while the war bands hang back.

On turn 2 the Gallic light troops started to pelt the velites with slingshot and arrows while the war bands moved up.  In the centre, the Gallic light cavalry charged forward to engage the allied light infantry while the heavy cavalry moved forward to be ready to support the lights if the Roman Equites tried to intervene.  This meant that the Etruscan line still had no room to shake itself out, so remained stationary, giving the allied light cavalry - out of shot to the bottom right - more time to move through the difficult ground on the flank.

The Gallic missiles made little impression on the velites but the light cavalry were successful in discomforting the allied light infantry and sending them streaming back through the thin line of heavy infantry.  This unit proved to be of sterling quality and was untroubled by the retreat of its javelin screen, giving the latter a safe space to try to regroup.

On turn 3, the Roman Equites, gallantly led by the Roman General, charged to prevent the Gallic horse exploiting their position further.  The Gallic light cavalry fell back at once behind their heavier friends, who advanced in the confidence of a 3:2 superiority over the Roman horse.  At the same time the Roman velites and the main legionary line moved forwards.  The Gallic javelin men came forward as well to join the fight against the velites while the slingers and archers stood back to fire on them without risk of catching a javelin in return.  The Etruscans were finally able to shake out their main line, but as they did so the second line of Allied cavalry moved forward to engage the Etruscan light infantry, hoping for similar success to that gained by the Gallic light horse in the previous turn.

The position after Turn 3 movement but before missile fire & melées

Much to Gallic commander's chagrin, his horsemen failed to beat the Equites. Indeed, while not driven back they took 2 stress points and would be facing an uphill fight - metaphorically - in the next turn, not least because the Allied heavy infantry were in position to be able to join the fight.  Balancing this, the Allied cavalry attack on the Etruscan light troops achieved nothing of consequence, leaving the latter with freedom of action in the coming turn.

In turn 4 the Gallic commander pushed everything forward except his slingers and archers who fell back through the advancing war bands.  To prevent the Allied heavy infantry joining the fight against his heavy cavalry, he sent the light cavalry forward to skirmish with them.  The congestion in the centre prevented him bringing the left end of the Boii war band into action either against the Equites or the Legion.  His Etruscan counterpart showed less initiative.  He managed to get his light infantry to re-deploy to face the light cavalry moving round the flank, and started to move his reserve cavalry round to face this threat as well, but the main line of Etruscans remained inert.  The Roman leader remained with the Equites to cheer them on while the legion started to close with the advancing Gauls.  Order was restored to the allied light infantry.

Roman velites grapple with Gallic javelin men as war bands and Legion move towards contact

Equites clash with Gallic heavy cavalry to the left while Gallic light horse engage the allied heavy infantry

In the melée stage, the more numerous Roman velites drove back the Gallic javelins, giving themselves space to pepper the war bands with javelins before the clash with the main line of legionaries.  The Gallic light cavalry did surprisingly well against the allied heavy infantry, inflicting a lot of stress but not quite enough to force a stress test.  In the crucial fight between the Equites and Gallic horse, the latter again failed miserably and were thrown back in disorder facing a compulsory stress test. 

Gallic horse in disorder.  The two black beads indicate that stress exceeds steadiness rating by 2 points, so -2 on recovery tests.

In the final phase of the turn, the Gallic cavalry took their compulsory stress test while the Allied Heavy infantry tested to try to shake off some of their accumulated stress.  To the Gallic Commander's great relief - and exasperation that they couldn't roll as well in melée - his cavalry managed to recover from disorder and remove all but one of their stress points.  The Allied infantry failed their test and had to fall back.

Turn 5 saw a massive clash along most of the line.  Both war bands charged in against the legion which advanced to meet them, the Allied light infantry supported by their own cavalry swept back the Gallic light cavalry to attack the stationary Etruscan line with missiles, and in the centre the Equites charged again into the Gallic heavy horse.

The Gallic horse could take it no longer.  The heavy horse broke and fled, the light horse scattered around them.  The Equites had to pursue, carrying the attached General with them.

The Equites break through the center with the Roman General in tow

In the fight between the Legion and the Gallic war bands, at the far right the Legionaries matched off equally with the Senones and got the better of the fight, inflicting two stress points on the Gauls while taking none of their own.  The Boii line extended beyond the Legion, however, giving them an advantage.  Together with a good die roll this allowed them to push back part of the legionary line, inflicting three stress points and securing a compulsory stress test.  However, they took quite a lot of stress themselves and were on the verge of having to test.

Mixed fortunes for the legion, halting the Senones in the upper part of the field but being pushed back by the Boii in the foreground.

The Commanders were as stressed as their men when it came to the rallying tests at the end of Turn 5.  The Equites went first and failed.  This condemned them to racing off the field pell mell in pursuit of the fleeing Gallic cavalry.  The General then tested to see if he would be carried away with them.  He passed!  This meant he was deep behind enemy lines with no fighting unit to protect him.  Could he get back to safety in the Commander's movement phase  next turn or would he fall prey to one of the scattered bands of enemy light horsemen?  The Legion then tested and passed, shedding two points of stress.  The Gallic war bands tested to clear accumulated stress, the Boii succeeding but the Senones failed.  Finally, the Allied heavy infantry also succeeded in recovering their full confidence.  Both sides girded themselves for more heavy fighting in the coming turn.

The first action in turn 6 was to see if the Roman Commander could regain his own lines.  He found he could not get back to the Legion but was just able to link up with the Allied light troops skirmishing with the Etruscans.  Phew!  

On the far left of their line, the Senones spotted that the Roman legionaries had moved away from the riverbank to engage square on with the war band, leaving a gap into which a band of slingers were able to pass, to start pelting the legionaries on their unshielded right flank.  The Roman legate had chosen to move his velites to his left, to oppose the Boii where they threatened to come around the other flank of the legion, so could not counter the move by the slingers.

On the far right, the Etruscan light infantry and cavalry halted the Allied cavalry from advancing further on the flank but inflicted insufficient damage to drive them off.  The main Etruscan line, made hesitant by the rain of javelins, continued to do nothing, allowing the feisty Allied heavy infantry, supported by their javelin men and second line cavalry, to make another attack, encouraged by the Roman General now with them.  This didn't do much to either side.  The decision was to come from the Roman right in the showdown between the Legion and the Gauls.

The gallant Allied infantry throw themselves at the Etruscan line once more, scorning their numbers.  Not much happens.

On the far right, shrugging off the hail of stones from the Gallic slingers, the Legionaries disorder the Senones' war band.

Toward the centre, the Boii are also disordered and pushed back but the Legionaries are required to take a stress test from the threat to their flank.

Despite decent dice rolls, neither war band could prevail against the Romans.  The Senones, although starting at a disadvantage, did somewhat better than the Boii, only being disordered but not pushed back.  The Boii could not turn their flank advantage into a melée win this time, being disordered and pushed back.  Unless the Romans failed the mandatory stress test, both war bands would face insuperable odds in the next turn.

The Romans did not fail their stress test.  With their Etruscan allies showing no sign of committing themselves effectively to the fight - and with the evening drawing on - the Gauls decided to pack it in rather than face certain destruction at the hands of the Legion.  We went off  into the night to seek supper.  Rome could ravage Etruria for the rest of the campaign season.

Weighing up the lessons from this further trial of the ARES rules, we felt that the melée system mechanics were working very well but the rating of units needed more thought.  Both Gallic war bands were veteran, the Legion only seasoned, yet only when the Legionaries rolled very low did the Gauls have a chance in combat, even when they had an overlap against the Romans.  We noted that missile fire was still inconsequential, even though there had been a lot more of it than in earlier games.  There remain a number of ambiguities in movement rules.  On the plus side, the difference in the quality of the Gallic and Etruscan commanders - as well as the disunited command - had clearly had an appropriate effect on the course of the game.  The flexibility given to the Legion, allowing for different parts to take different melée results without the dire consequences a hoplite phalanx would face if its fighting line became disrupted, also seemed right.

Yet again we had ended the game by mutual agreement rather than by a decisive outcome from combat or key forces running out of ardour and being forced to retire.  This was not because the game dragged on.  Playing time was well under two hours, even with refreshment between turns.  Rather it was clear that one side was going to win and since we were not fighting a campaign the extent of the victory and how many men the loser might be able to salvage were of no consequence, leaving no point to continue.

I am still going to wait for a few more trial games before coding ARES into the app but will have to weigh the time and effort needed to do that against the time needed to paint more legions, Etruscans, Samnites and other odd Italians.  A happy dilemma.