Continuing on my day one encounters from my prior post, ADLG Warclouds 2023 Pars Unos, the afternoon brought two more battles for my Early Imperial Romans and Emperor Trajan. These were against Republican Romans (again) and 100 Years War English. So on to the battles…
Lusus II
Game 2 saw Trajan’s Imperial Romans up against Rob Grange’s Republican Romans. Another temporal-civil war… You can find my army list (and potted history of my generals) in the first post of the series (Pars Unos), and Rob’s list was as follows (ordered as he deployed left to right):
53.Republican Roman Initiative: 5 Left Flank Corps: Commander (ordinary, included) 4 Hastati & Principes (heavy swordsmen, armour, impact) 2 Velites (light infantry, javelin) Centre Corps: C-in-C Marius (strategist) 4 Hastati & Principes (heavy swordsmen, armour, impact) 3 Velites (light infantry, javelin) 2 Italian Allied Infantry (medium swordsmen) 2 Numidian Light Cavalry (light cavalry, javelin) 1 Elephant (elephant, mediocre) Right Flank Numidians: Commander (brilliant, allied) 3 Numidian Light Cavalry (light cavalry, javelin) 2 Roman-Style Trained Infantry (medium swordsmen) 2 Javelinmen (light infantry, javelin) 1 Elephant (elephant, mediocre) 1 Standard Camp ARMY SIZE: 26
Republican Army List Footnote: Rob used an army list that was the UK Competition Winning List from the 25mm ADLG v4 Roll Call Tournament in April 2022 – I realised however (when Rob shared it with me after the tournament for this post) it is not actually legal under the version 4 rules (i.e. since early 2021); as the Republican Romans’ included commanders must accompany either their Equites Heavy Cavalry or their Triarii Heavy Spearmen units (either type) – none of which are present in the Corps with the included commander above (the commander is included with only Hastati & Principes and LI present). So we both found it kind of amusing that an official UK tournament was won with an illegal list…
I lost initiative and Rob elected to attack in the plains. Terrain was ultimately 2 fields, a gentle hill and a road. Rob deployed ambush markers (one of which was the 2 LI from the Numidian allied command that never appeared on table in the end) and stationed his corps as per army list above; I deployed (from my left to right) Scaurianus, Trajan, Bassus – so my legion (heavy foot) was on the right flank and all my auxiliaries grouped in the centre. Rob’s Republicans were compressed into half the table on his right (i.e. opposite my left) – so ended up about as far from my heavy infantry as they could get (see photo above)!
The battle commenced with a steady advance by the Republicans in the centre (except for that corps’ Numidian LH who came out rapidly), and an aggressive advance by the Numidian Ally Corps (who had proved reliable) and bore down rapidly on my left. The small Republican left advanced very cautiously. This was followed by my Imperial Army initiating a large wheel (or rather series of wheels) all along the line as we attempted to re-orientate ourselves along the entire length of our line; and bring the Legionaries the long way around onto the Republican left flank! Very time consuming and greatly slowed the heavy infantry’s advance across the table.
A couple of interesting moments occurred as the lines closed (see photo below); firstly the Numidian Ally attacked so rapidly against my left (looking to overwhelm my small Numidian & Equites Alares Cavalry group) that the Elephant’s flank was exposed to my advancing Auxilia of Scaurianus’s corps (mid centre-left of photo); and secondly the Numidian Light Cavalry of Marius’s Republican Centre Corps, in attempting an over ambitious ride around the flank of Trajan and the Equites Contariorum, did in fact expose their flank to a charge by one unit of the latter (top centre-right of photo)! However on my left the Numidian Ally had initial success for the Republicans, destroying one of the Imperial Roman Numidian Light Cavalry units early on.
The photo below shows the outcome of the Auxilia (medium swordsmen, armour, impact) charging into the flank of the Numidian Elephant (elephant, mediocre) – essentially elephant pyrotechnics and a hit on the medium infantry alongside as the remnants rampaged leaving a large gap. Over in the centre right the Contariorum destroyed the first Numidian Light Horse unit, and made a beeline for the second… But in the middle the balance of my Auxilia MI had come to grips with Rob’s Republican Hastati & Principes, and were at a slight disadvantage (in fact it probably should have been worse as we made the same error of not discounting the equal armour initially, realising the mistake about two-thirds of the way through the game) – and while both sides traded blows steadily and lost a unit or two over the succeeding turns, the Republicans had the slight edge here.
As the battle progressed one unit of Contariorum continued it’s pursuit of the Republican Light Cavalry in the centre right (see top right of photo below), while on the opposite flank the Numidian Ally continued to envelop and push back the Imperial Roman right. Meanwhile the Imperial Roman Legionaries on the right continued their steady wheeling advance to try and come to grip with the Republican left flank…
As time was called after 2 hours play the situation was a fairly close draw, with the Republicans arguably having a minor advantage – they had inflicted slightly more casualties percentage wise and were nominally in a better tactical position. My left was still holding on with 1 Numidian Light Cavalry, Scaurianus and his body guard Equites, and 1 Auxilia and a Auxiliary Sagitarii but only thanks to some good luck (die rolls) – The Republican Numidian Allies should overwhelm it shortly; in the centre things were pretty even (I had lost 2 MI to Rob’s 1 HI & 1 MI); but on my right the Legionaries had still not come into action and struck a single blow – they were only now moving into contact.
An interesting and somewhat fragmented battle, and it would have been interesting to play on to see just what would have transpired, thanks Rob. Couple of bad mistakes, on my part – the main one sticking my heavy foot (the main munching power of my army) way out on the right flank and too easily neutralised by distance from the enemy. The second being too aggressive with my Light Cavalry on my left early on – in an essentially even battle against the Numidian Ally cavalry – hoping for a lucky quick success (and instead losing a unit and being put on the back foot).
Lusus III
Game 3 (the last for day one) saw my EIR up against Brian Sowman’s 100 Years War English (this is my recollection of Brian’s army so may have some errors, ordered as he deployed left to right):
236.100 Years War English (1415+) Initiative: 3 Left Flank Corps: Commander (ordinary) 4 Archers (medium swordsmen, longbow) 2 MAA on Foot (heavy swordsmen 2HW) 1 Bretons (light infantry, javelin) Centre Corps: Commander (ordinary) 4 Archers (medium swordsmen, longbow) 2 MAA on Foot (heavy swordsmen 2HW) Right Flank Corps: C-in-C Henry V(?) (strategist) 4 Archers (medium swordsmen, longbow) 2 MAA on Foot (heavy swordsmen 2HW (maybe armour?)) 2 Irish Horsemen (light cavalry, javelin) 1 Standard Camp ARMY SIZE: 21
I won the initiative and attacked Brian’s English in the plains – terrain was a gentle hill with fields, 4 fields, and a marsh. The terrain in Brian’s deployment zone was largely my doing in some instances (or I made it easier for Brian to move it there in others) – my attempt to make his deployment difficult backfired; longbowmen love standing in rough terrain (like fields)! Brian deployed as in the army list above and I deployed (my left to right) Trajan, Bassus, Scaurianus. I was already regretting my crazy disruptive terrain plan for Brian!
As attacker I advanced rapidly on both flanks, endeavouring to pin his flank corps where they were and get my mounted onto his flanks. On my left his Irish didn’t fancy tangling with Trajan and the Contariorum, fleeing back behind the hill. On the right the Numidian Cavalry was of limited use, and almost immediately a very annoying steady stream of longbow fire started coming in against the Roman Auxiliaries all along the line. Death by a thousand cuts as Tim Driver was to say – luckily for now at least, the knife being used on the Romans’ was pretty blunt. Meanwhile Bassus‘s Legionaries tromped steadily across the middle of the battlefield.
Dummy Ambushers proved a nuisance in a couple of cases, causing Roman advances to be halted at less than maximum possible distance in the early phases, but the Auxiliaries steadily closed up on the bowmen on each flank. The nature of the English position, terrain and the troops on both sides resulted in very little manoeuvring or threatening of flanks.
The English Archers immediately scored success in mêlée on their left (the Roman right), dispatching a Roman Auxilia (see photo below). The medium swordsmen longbow Archers proved pretty tough nuts for the medium swordsmen armour impact Auxiliaries…
And the Numidian Light Cavalry were pretty ineffective in trying to take out the extreme end unit of English Foot Men-at-Arms on the Roman Right/English Left flank while avoiding the marsh and Breton LI in it (see photo above).
The legionaries also took several cohesion hits from the longbows on the way in and with five hits across 3 of the 5 units. At the same time the first of the Auxiliaries on the Roman Left also succumbed in mêlée to the English Archers (see photo above for both). So not an auspicious start – and the heavy infantry were about to march into the rough to do combat with the Archers and MAAs in the centre! (It might surprise some ADLG players and novices alike that vineyards are defined as ‘fields’ in the rules – rather than something more substantial – such as ‘plantations’ – so they only count as rough and the troops that can ambush in them is limited).
Meanwhile all was quiet at the Roman Camp with little to cause concern (see photo above)…
As the Legionaries started their difficult (and perhaps uneven) battle in the centre the Auxiliaries on both flanks rapidly collapsed as they were severely dealt to by the Archers and MAA with 2HWin fairly short order – the Roman Left having the extra joy of fighting uphill as well of course! By the time 2 units of Legionaries had also been destroyed in the centre (see photo above) it was almost all over bar the shouting.
The Imperial Romans held on for a couple more turns only 1-2 cohesion hits shy of breaking before the inevitable happened. And despite causing numerous hits to the English Foot (and surviving many near death experiences with the help of 6-1 die rolls in their favour) the Romans were defeated…
…and the English successful. A great game with Brian, and again a few lessons regarding the ADLG rules (and perhaps about more patience and less aggression as well). Final result a decisive win to Brian’s 100YW English, with the Romans only destroying 3 English units in total if I recall correctly (2 Archers and 1 MAA).
Coming up in the final post are Games 4 & 5 from Day 2. Be sure to check back in a few days for it.