Romans, Romans and more Romans 2

A fry up on the Sunday set us up for the day, two battles to finish off the weekend, I was looking forward to the first game, my favourite Legion, the Thunderbolts, were ready and waiting to go. I took two Legionary Cohorts and two of Recruits as my core army, these were supported by a large array of Auxiliaries, consisting of two Cohorts, light infantry, skirmishers and a unit of Contarii shock cavalry, a particular favourite of mine, I hoped these would sort out Mike's cataphracts. Mike had the same army as previous with only slight changes, his warbands were now regular and not light and he took a Sacred Standard having seen one waving over Legio XII.

Twelfth on the left, Mike on the right.

As we deployed I decided this time to put most of my effort in on my right and centre while waiting to see what would happen on the left. I was very confident as the Thunderbolts are without a doubt 'my' army and a tough proposition for anyone to fight. Mike came forward again and I also advanced, my right flank destroyed the enemy opposite, my left also did their job and I managed to get Cohors III to turn into the centre, this left their flank open but I trusted them and they bounced off a Numidian charge and got ready to roll up Mike's centre.

Battle is joined.

Go Auxiliaries.

Hold, hold.

The centre collapses.

Sounds good so far, but I had made a fatal mistake, I had increased my frontage with my two legionary cohorts which allowed Mike to hit one of them with two of his, in the desperate fighting my Sacred standard fell, despite the fight being one sided I hoped Cohors I would stand long enough for me to bring in support which was on the way. I desperately threw Cohors II into the mix only for them to lose the first clash and rout followed shortly after by Cohors I, the Praetorians who had been holding if not beating their opponents took several morale tests only to fail the very last one, my centre had gone. Looking over the field in despair I noticed I had won on the enemy right and shattered the enemy left, my auxiliary archers had put up a Trojan effort and were beating the cataphracts, maybe things were not so bad. Yup, they were, Mike had destroyed my two most expensive units and claimed the game, I was gutted. For the first time ever I had lost three cohorts while all my Auxiliary units had covered themselves in glory, the heart had gone out of the Twelfth, the Emperor a prisoner of the enemy.

A well deserved win for Mike, I had made a mistake in my attack and suffered for it, also Cohors II had let me down, thankfully the Twelfth's auxiliaries managed to keep my pride intact as I handed over my sword.

Having recovered somewhat we set up for the last game of the weekend, it was the turn of my Seleucids, I took three normal phalanxes supported by mercenary Hoplites, Thureophoroi and Thorakitai, the latter two light troops to guard the flanks, quite a few skirmishers, one bolt shooter and cataphracts of my own. Once deployed I decided to go for Mike's right and wait and see before committing the rest of the army apart from skirmishing.

Seleucids on the left, Mike on the right.

Mike once again came on aggressively in the centre but then thought better of it as I advanced my pike blocks to meet him, he pulled back. For some reason he did not pull back his auxiliary infantry and I managed to send my Galatians downhill, into and through them. On the right I beat his cataphracts as mine were of better quality and failed morale checks sent a warband and some skirmishers to the rear, not however until after they had killed off mine on that flank. He did have some luck when e charged my cavalry who were not allowed to counterattack infantry so lost out on weapon bonus', I lost these but his warband spent the rest of the battle routing and running after the Thureophoroi. On my left I did very well despite his annoying Numidians, two of his cavalry units fled from the smell of the elephant, he got one back but it made no difference to the battle as it refused to form up again from skirmish, the elephant took out the other unit. I did eventually manage to hit his right flank cohort but it was a draw and again added nothing to the result. It was my turn to kill two expensive units. I did indeed break these units and dispersed one, the other however took to their heels and evaded my pursuit only to rally later, denying me victory, so close, yet so far.

Confused fighting on my right.

The pikes hit!

It was looking so good, nearly there.

The player with initiative on turn 6 could end the battle and Mike chose to do this which meant the points on the board at the end gave a draw, but again looking at the battlefield Mike agreed the Seleucids held the upper hand. A good battle, I also thought that Mike had played well and the score also did not reflect this, his tactics and play style changed over the three battles and each game seemed tougher than the previous to me. It was good to fight a player who knew the rules and was a worthy opponent.

"You cannot kill what you cannot catch" this is what I took away from the games, time and time again Mike outdistanced pursuit and certain death while my boys were happy to let them go. Of course we only remember the enemy's good luck and brush over our own, I had several occasions where the Lady smiled on me and Mike several where she turned her back. I have however consigned another set of dice to the bin, I changed half way through my last battle and I was certain I could tell the difference!

No doubt we will have games in the future but Mike agreed that it would be better to ditch the objectives and simply fight a pitched battle as the games at mine are not competiton games and we are not restricted by time.