This battle was actually fought last Thursday afternoon but I have not had a minute since then, Kevin turned up with his very own Greek City States army, always a great moment getting an army on to the battlefield for the first time. He had brought three large hoplite units, a large warband of Hill Tribes and a unit of Peltasts, to support these he had a small light cavalry command and three lots of skirmishers, one Cretan archers, experts in missile fire. I didn't want to go all heavy on his first outing so took a 'normal' Roman force from the Twelfth, a Praetorian cohort and two regular cohorts with my new Auxiliary cohort as a support along with some auxiliary cavalry, my light troops consisted of some archers, horse-archers and my Lanciarii. Oh, and I also brought along two bolt-shooters
I was a bit wary of the 'phalanx' rule which toughens up the hoplite units quite a bit so decided to hit his flanks while keeping the centre back until it was needed. This plan was helped somewhat in that I knew if I neutralised the Greek skirmishers then there was no threat to my cavalry and Kevin's lights would not stand up to them, on my right it was a different matter the very large warband held this flank along with the Cretan's. I met this threat with Cohors II and my bolt shooters while I aimed to take care of the archers with the Lanciarii.
The battle went as I expected, I quickly destroyed the Greek right and this gave Kevin pause with one of his hoplite units now that Roman cavalry could not be ignored, he had managed to sneak one hoplite unit forward and it began to advance on my Auxiliaries. I miscalculated the distance and the Greeks ploughed into my green unit, my boys fought well and stood for at least three turns before routing, I couldn't really ask any more of them. On my right the warband suffered from the bolt shooters as it hesitated on a nearby hill before charging the Lanciari, who escaped, and then slamming into Cohors II, I was confident about this fight and sure enough the Warband ran and were dispersed in short shrift, both Greek flanks were now in the air.
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| The Hill Tribes meet an unmoveable object (Cohors II) |
A hoplite unit was sent to stop Cohors II so this left an opening for me in the centre, I had lost the Lanciarii but the Cretan's and another skirmish unit had gone, Kevin now depended on his Peltasts holding their ground but the weight of the Roman attack was against this. Cohors I defeated the Peltasts twice but they kept managing to flee and rally, but the eventual outcome was a foregone conclusion.
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| The crises point. |
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| The Romans about to claim victory. |
This left one bunch of hoplites against whom my cavalry and Praetorians advanced, Kevin turned into the cavalry but shortly after this Cohors II magnificently defeated their enemy and the Peltasts eventually dispersed. With only one success on the battlefield Kevin yielded his sword.
A good afternoon and a delight to see Kevin's army, I think I got off lucky and some hesitation in the centre caused by the danger to their flanks sort of threw the Greeks off a tad. Kevin has gone back to the drawing board and I will perhaps introduce some heavy cavalry next time.
Glad you had fun, despite the M25! Nice looking armies on display!
ReplyDeleteIt was a good game, although I made several mistakes on reflection.
DeleteA fine looking game there, Rome teaches Greece the art of warfare ;~)
ReplyDeleteOnly the opening salvo, I am sure the next time it will be more difficult, a long road to Athens.
DeleteAn important game for me as it taught me the importance of selecting an army in the context of the qualities of the opposition. I made some tactical mistakes but even so my GSC army as constituted was unlikely to trouble the Romans. In Testudo several of George's units had AV5 (I think) against which my missile troops were like pitting peashooters against a Tiger tank. Other than the hoplites my entire army had Armour Values of only 1 which meant that against Roman pilums they had no Armour saves at all. Next time it will have to be more hoplites with a skirmish screen to hopefully reduce the impact of the bolt throwers and a much smaller Peltast element. The light cavalry will not feature; against the Romans they really need a shield and light armour to have any hope. The warband is an enigma. You need large numbers to gain the full benefit of the rules but are they worth the points cost? I'm not convinced they are.
ReplyDeleteRomans in testudo move slowly - pinning them with missile fire will not kill them (unless the enemy commander rolls badly) but does allow the enemy to outflank them (if possible).
ReplyDeleteThe great thing about this game is every bonus has a downside that can be exploited in the right circumstance
Unless I was under heavy missile fire I wouldn't use the formation as my reading is that it was only used during sieges although this has prompted me to look it up. The Cretan archers have a shooting ability of 4 which can be devastating against a unit unprepared for it. In the end I countered them with my own skirmishers and Lanciarii. The game promises more thrilling encounters as I push further into Greece and Kevin gains more experience.
DeleteWell, I learned some lessons and have come up with some answers but (a very big but) are they the right answers or will Greece once again be mourning the loss of its finest? Only time will tell. I considered Ryan's observation and while I don't think his logic can be faulted in principle I remain unconvinced that the GCS army has the right troop types to meaningfully threaten the Roman flanks. I have therefore decided to throw imagination out the window and try and make the next battle a slugfest with more hoplites making a steady (slow but hopefully unstoppable!!) assault on the Roman centre.
ReplyDelete