Kevin and I managed to catch up today for a War and Conquest game, it seems a long time but it hasn't really although I have managed a couple of new units since we did play. Kevin again brought his Republican Romans and it was a proper heavy infantry army which appeared, there were still quite a few skirmish units but the overall look was wall to wall legionaries. I decided to use my new units and took an elephant because I feel I have to with a Seleucid army, I had three skirmish units, one being cavalry, and hoped these would protect my fragile peltasts while they advanced and attacked the Roman flanks. My heavy infantry consisted of two phalanxes backed up by Mercenary Hoplites and Galatians.
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| Seleucids on the left, Romans on the right. |
My plan was to hit the Roman right and then swing around on the main line, to this end I echeloned my infantry on the right and would hold them back until I felt it was time to push them forward, the Romans merely wanted to do what Romans do and come straight forward and engage me. I had a Forlorn Hope way over on my right which I hoped would tackle all the enemy light troops on that flank and still be able to join the main battle, I was asking a lot of those guys.
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| The Romans advance. |
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| The victorious Galatians about to be hit a second time. |
The battle started well for me and it looked like both Roman flanks were in trouble, however they recovered and I lost all my skirmishers which left my Thracians and Peltasts without protection, thankfully Kevin could not turn this to his advantage although it did frighten me for a time. It was now that one of the Roman cohorts charged uphill at my Galatians only to meet their doom as the warriors fought magnificently, then to my alarm their pursuit put them into the path of another cohort, they managed to beat this one too. Every time I managed to get the elephant into position for a flank charge the enemy routed.
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| The Galatians disperse a second cohort. |
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| The whole Seleucid army now charges. |
The battle was now reaching its climax, the legionaries were close enough to charge my infantry, I won the initiative and seeing that the Roman right was about to crumble I threw every unit I had into a charge, including the very patient elephant, Kevin's line disintegrated. It was all over, we shook hands.
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| The Hoplites hold and the elephant trundles on while another cohort is dispersed. |
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| The End. |
My Galatians were the men of the match but all the other troops performed well while Kevin's army had a bad day. I thought I was in trouble having lost all my skirmish troops but as it turned out I managed to recover, especially with the Peltasts on my right, who took a chance and turned their backs on their tormentors and managed to get onto the flank of the enemy heavy infantry. I was a bit miffed that I did not get my Thracians into action as I had armed them with the Rhomphaia and wanted to see how it performed, but they kept the right flank skirmishers from enveloping me and possibly targeting the elephant. I was very pleased the way the army had performed however the one opposite was threatened with eBay!
Hey, excellent AAR George. Pleased that you and Kevin squeezed in a game.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Matt
Cheers Matt.
DeleteThere are several aspects of the republican Roman army list that I don't like and don't agree with. The velites are too expensive and the pilum is less effective in WAC than in my opinion it should be. The Galatian warband with CA 4, Mo 7, light armour and shield simply destroyed any legionary unit in its path and similarly the Roman units were consistently outgunned by the enemy hoplite and pike formations.
ReplyDeleteFrom my point of view the Velites are a dangerous bunch for the Seleucids and were dropping Thracians until they retired. In at least two combats the cohorts dealt out no casualties the Dice gods having jumped ship. Republican Romans are a difficult army to use, good infantry but not much else.
DeleteTwo fine looking armies there, ain’t it great when a plan comes together, a woe! woe! and thrice woe! moment for the Republic.
ReplyDeleteThey usually go out the window once the enemy are contacted, but it worked this time.
DeleteThe republican Roman list dents my enthusiasm for WAC lists. I cannot understand, for example, why in the Roman list Gallic allies are restricted to CA3 and are allowed no option to add extra or light armour to the warband. Yet contemporary Galatian allies of the Seleucids can assemble a warband from the warband list and can field an entire band of CA4, Mo7 with shield and light armour which simply stuffs the Roman warband and makes short work of legionary units. George refers to Romans having "good infantry" but apart from triarii they are restricted to CA3 and as only the front rank fights they are outclassed by, for example, mercenary hoplites with CA4 and thrusting spears that only cost 1 pt more. The main advantage of the pilum in disrupting or disordering a charging (or charged) enemy is non-existent in WAC. In my last game the Romans lost the first round of combat heavily against hoplites and pikes and the re-roll of kills was an irrelevance and the AP +1 of the pilum negated by the phalanx bonus. Others will disagree and argue the republican Roman army is fine but to me it's hopeless and mine is off to ebay. Rant over!
ReplyDeleteDon't forget the Galatian mercenaries in the Seleucid army are hired professionals, the ones tagging along with the Romans are tribal Gauls and a different kettle of fish. I can only speak for the EIR Romans but they have the versatility to use several tactics against the dreaded Hoplite/phalanx scourge. I can't say much more as the Republican army holds no interest for me.
DeleteAll a bit technical for those of us who play other rules, but a nice looking game I have to say.
ReplyDeleteIt was entertaining if a little one sided, dice gods etc.
Delete