War and Conquest Weekend Bristol

Sadly it wasn't a weekend, the Gods chose this weekend to dump a mini snow storm right on the area around Bristol, while the Met Office gleefully told people not to travel and gave out Defcon 1 warnings all the way up and down the motorway. Despite this I set off on Friday and travelled in good time to my hotel just north of Bristol, a small flurry of snow yesterday which did not last but when I looked out this morning around 6.30 am the place was covered and the wind howling. Although host Rob offered to put me up if I got stuck later tonight I did not want to get stuck and still have to fight my way through bad weather on the Monday so I took the decision to head home before or in case things got worse during the day. Travel was not great until I got north of Birmingham, when I made a stop for a toilet break, the fifty yards to the services nearly froze me, I do not think I have ever been so cold, fifty yards!

So, I got to the venue in Iron Acton first thing Saturday morning to be met by Rob and mate Matt who I would be fighting in the afternoon, I said hello to some of the other players and slightly late my opponent turned up, a nice bloke called Nigel, of course he was. Nigel was a full time wargamer but a newcomer to WAC having only fought one game, he also had Early Imperial Romans, Nigel deployed his army which was almost completely made up of heavy infantry, he also had a small skirmish unit and some cavalry. The Thunderbolts, having experience, fielded three cohorts of Recruits which I prefer to call not veterans as it sounds better, because these lads are no less tough than other legionaries and one veteran cohort, supporting these I had an Auxiliary cohort, archers, slingers, Lanciarii, horse archers and a bolt shooter. The latter was there because at some point over the weekend I was supposed to fight a Successor army.

Nigel's men on the left, Thunderbolts on the right.

My plan was to hit Nigel's flanks then weaken his cohorts with missile fire before they hit my waiting line. Everything went to plan at first, Nigel quite rightly threw his men forward while I wiped out his cavalry then began to whittle away at his right flank cohorts, which, although having an elite unit in reserve, were small sixteen man units. The bolt shooter crew were particularly effective in this game never missing a target. I saw an opportunity and threw my Praetorians (the veterans) into Nigel's left most cohort and readied the Lanciarii to hit them in the flank, to my amazement the Praetorians dealt out no casualties and fled only to be pursued and chased from the field. Meanwhile Nigels line hit mine, but a combination of tough defending and numbers stopped his men in their tracks and then turned the tables on him, soon all but one of his units were fleeing. Cohort I had held magnificently despite being beaten nearly every turn and held long enough for the Lanciarii to come to their aid, Auxilia II routed one unit then beat Nigel's elites. It was a victory for the Twelfth, a good start and a good game played well by Nigel despite his inexperience. I had achieved my objective and the scores were 36/9.

Next up was the match I had been waiting just over three years for, which was the last time I met Matt at a WAC do. Matt had borrowed a mate's Celtic army as I don't think his own Legion is quite ready yet. This game was deploy by formation type, and as Matt's whole army was skirmish or light he basically had to deploy first, four massive warbands appeared supported by a horde of skirmishers, including chariots and cavalry, Matt loaded his left with the horse, and wheels. I put the Lanciarii on my left hoping to kill his slingers and threaten his flank, the rest of my missile troops and the Auxiliaries I put on the right, hoping to wipe out his chariots and cavalry but I still wasn't happy with this flank as the battle started.

Savages on the left, Romans on the right.

 

To fight large warbands I need to thin out my cohorts and I managed this with three of them before being hit by a tribal tidal wave. Before that however I foolishly lost my Lanciarii by advancing them too far, they did however rally and return but stayed behind the legionaries, I also lost my slingers to an aggressive charge by the chariots, not only that but my horse archers had fled to the rear as well, things had not started well, it was my flanks which were now in danger. Due to no skirmish cover I had to put my cohorts into Testudo as missiles rained down on them, this slowed my advance but I needn't have worried as Matt's plan was to run over the top of my men at speed. As the game progressed I got my horse archers back and my own archers and the bolt shooter wiped out one of the cavalry units, I held the Auxiliaries back a tad in case I needed them to turn and take on the chariots in my rear.

Now in came the warbands, they had everything going for them in the first clash, superior combat factors and numbers, Centurions up and down the line shouted in unison "shields up, wait for it, throw!" As the turn ended every cohort still stood in line, some had been dealt large numbers of casualties but had managed to still stand firm helped by the Consul and his officers (a desperate use of initiative points). A huge melee now began, sometimes one side or the other would be on top or more often the legionaries made incredible saving and morale throws, Cohors I and II were especially hard pressed.

As the fighting ebbed and flowed Matt threw his Noble cavalry forward against the Auxiliaries, hoping to at last punch a hole in the Roman line, Auxilia II took their time but eventually sent the cavalry fleeing to the rear, then Cohors III defeated their opponents, the pendulum was swinging Rome's way. The Praetorians also defeated their opposite numbers and turned to help Cohors I, as they hit the warband both it and Cohors I routed, no shame to the First who had held back the Celts in a titanic struggle. The Celtic chief and his warband now managed to rout Cohors II and captured them and the Consul, however their joy did not last as the Third turned and hit them from the rear, freeing the Consul and capturing the Chieftain. It was all over, a superb game and a memorable one to be talked about at tables groaning with ale for some time to come. Oh and it ended 32/11 (I miscounted Rob, lol).

So there you have it, a long way for two games but well worth it despite what the missus says about money wasted, not your cash dear and who can control the weather? The Twelfth had turned up with a reputation and ended the day with it untarnished, despite being mocked with good humour by some, in the last battle all but one Centurion had fell in the fighting, testimony to the slaughter.

A big thanks to my opponents, gentlemen both, my apologies to those I had to let down today, great to meet up with Trevor, Steve, Matt, Nigel and Mick (a Thunderbolts fan would you believe) and of course Rob.