Experience Wins Out

My son came over for a weekend of wargaming while the missus is in the North of Scotland with her mates, I gave him the choice of games but he wanted to stick with War and Conquest as he had not played with his Carolingians in a long time. We settled on three games, Carolingians vs Saxons, Patrician Romans vs Romano-British and to finish off Romans vs Seleucids we fought two yesterday and one today.

First up was Stewart commanding his own army against my Saxons, I had gone for a fairly typical force, two bodyguard units, three average and one poor infantry commands supported by some cavalry and three units of skirmishers. Stewart also had two elite Household units, massed archers, skirmishers and two cavalry commands along with some fairly standard types. The Carolingians had to deploy first so I had an advantage in that I could put my best troops up against not so good troops, but of course this left my not so good units opposite Carolingian elites.

Saxons on the left, Carolingians on the right.

Carolingians

Saxons

I refused my left while aiming to attack with my right, Stewart moved forward to take the high ground while pushing some cavalry out on his right. He saw the danger to his left and withdrew the Pueri which would probably not have stood against my Gedriht, as my cavalry also advanced on his left he moved cavalry there and turned one of his household units from the right flank to the left. I now made a shift in my line and threw my 'White Horses' up the hill and into the archers and their supporting unit, both of these ran. I took this chance as I thought my cavalry would handle the enemy here and the Pueri would take too long to come to the aid of their friends. Events proved me right and although my cavalry were beat the Pueri failed their morale and fled, the enemy left had gone.

I had also been winning against the odds on my left but the tables turned and I lost two units, however I ended up in the happy position of being able to sandwich a much depleted Carolingian Household unit between two of mine, quickly dispatching them to meet their Christian god. Elsewhere I had mopped up a couple of units who had had the temerity to rally and try their luck again, with virtually no army left Stewart handed over his sword.

We had something to eat and decided to waive the pub as we had drink in the fridge and crack on with the second game, this time Romano-British vs Patrician Romans, I was the former. I went out of my comfort zone here and took three cavalry units, one was a Comitatus command with heavy armour, assault troops hopefully, I also had one foot Comitatus and the rest average troops supported by one massed archer unit and some skirmishers. I deployed two cavalry units on my left hoping to turn the Roman flank, the other along with the archers I put 'outside' my battle line on the far right, not a good idea as it turned out. My plan was to take the nearby hills and wait and see what happens. Stewart had took two very good cavalry units, both Nomads but one was the Generals personal bodyguard, Bucellari. There was a strong contingent of Goths led by their own General and three Legions supported by some skirmishers and two bolt shooters.

Romano-British on the left, Patricians on the right.

Patricians

Romano-British

The Patrician left is destroyed and the action moves to the centre.

The Patrician centre also flees.

As the battle unfolded I did indeed lose my right flank cavalry, also my massed archers kept being charged and ran away, only to rally in the rear, eventually some Goths and the Bucellari routed the only infantry in the area but it was too little too late. Before this I realigned my left and went for the artillery with my Comitatus shielded by my other cavalry which had gone into skirmish formation, I thought this was a brilliant strategy and that it would punch a hole straight through the Roman line, sadly although the first bolt shooter was destroyed the second held off my cavalry with little more than pointed sticks. Luckily elsewhere the Legions had been beaten back or their morale had failed. This along with the Goth general falling and his Nobles dispersing meant that losing my extreme right would have no effect on the battle as I turned my now victorious units towards the remaining Romans. I collected another sword.

Gorgeous sunny morning and as per instructions I served up a fried breakfast for my son, after the sumptuous repast it was game three. Seleucids vs Romans, once again I led the former, I took three phalanxes, one group of mercenary hoplites, some supporting horse archers and skirmishers and Companion elite heavy cavalry, also an elephant and some Thorakitai. Stewart when all in for heavy infantry and took five cohorts supported by skirmishers, bolt shooters and also some heavy  Contarii cavalry. Although the deployment area scanned the whole table, as we set the troops out one unit at a time Stewart inadvertently signalled his intention to sit in one corner, this was fine by me as it meant that at least my left flank was safe. It also allowed me to deploy two phalanxes and the mercenary hoplites against units which, although going to be sitting on a hill I should beat due to numbers, the rest of the army assembled on my right, I would feint with these then attack if possible, the elephant I kept hidden behind some trees.

Seleucids on the left, Romans on the right.

Romans

Seleucids

 

Sure enough the battle unfolded the way I thought, the Romans took the hill and sat on it, my skirmishers failed to drive away the enemy light troops but my advanced infantry soon did this job for them. I threw caution to the wind and rapidly advanced the Companions, bolts flew at them but never found their mark to Stewart's fury, he now sent his Contarii on a collision course with the Companions. Over on my left my troops swept up the hill and swept away the cohorts, I now threw my right in as well, the Thorakitai moving across and  taking on the massed Auxiliary archers and adding them to the routs. I felt I had to charge my 'Blue' phalanx into the elite cohort while my Companions struck and routed the Contarii, I lost the 'Blues' but the Companions slammed into the last Roman cohort and won the first round of combat. With only two battle formations now remaining Stewart offered the third sword of the weekend.

The Roman centre and right collapse.

The last of the Romans.

 

And that was that, a great weekend series of battles and good of Stewart to enter into the fray commanding two armies with which he has no experience while I have the measure of most of mine, albeit not all the time. I think what was lacking with Stewart's choices, was Roman flexibility, not so much with the Patricians but certainly with what is available for the Early Imperial army, he took far too many heavy infantry cohorts, a mistake I have seen several new Roman commanders make. My worst mistake was to have such a shaky right flank in the second battle, I was punished for it but not fast enough for it to count. I am now going to put my feet up for the rest of the evening and watch a movie.