Very Bad Day in Cisalpine Gaul

I made a couple of army lists for Strength and Honour, based loosely on the Battle of Trebia. I also wanted both armies to have a chance at winning so I used the points system to buy roughly equal amounts of troops. Also based on my Lost Battle refights of Trebia I wanted the Roman infantry to outclass the Punic while the Punic Cavalry would outclass the Romans. By the time I added the Generals the points cost was skewed towards the Carthaginians who ended up with 6 generalship points to Rome's 1.    

Both Armies advanced, the Carthaginian Infantry did so expecting to be pushed back, hoping the advance would give them space to fall back, they just needed to hold on enough for the cavalry to encircle to Roman lines. The legions advanced steadily confident in their superior combat abilities the cavalry just had to hold long enough to break the Punic lines. 

The cavalry wings advanced both Roman wings were out classed and the Roman left wing was set to be overwhelmed by flanking Numidians. However the Equites despite overwhelming odds and losing most combats held their nerve and kept in the fight even successfully defending against a Crunch. Mago had to use his generalship point to avoid losing an attack combat despite having the advantage. This prevented the Numidians from getting around the flanks, the Equites falling back frustrated the efforts of the flanking force. On the other flank the Gallic cavalry pushed back the Roman horse although it wasn't all plain sailing, a Grind result frustrated the Punic momentum on the flanks. Eventually the Romans were disordered and began to retire they were on the brink of being destroyed!

As the cavalry wings of the Romans were being pushed back towards their rear, the legions marched fourth Sempronious' emphasis on attack proved to be the true Roman way. Attack after attack went Romes way, the Carthaginians burned through Defence points in rerolling terrible Discipline rolls. The Romans called a Homunculous Est! Hannibal used a generalship point to remove a card before the reveal. Despite this the Carthaginian army became fatigued and that would make the results of bad rolls worse. Eventually the terrible Discipline rolls with no options for rerolls lead the various infantry units to become disordered units began to retire, and another Homuculous Est! was called but Hannibal burned a Generalship Point to cancel it, merely delaying the inevitable. After another round of combats Punic infantry contingents went from retiring to routing with 3 units routing 1 retiring and another disordered Sempronius' victory was complete and it was a victory worthy of a triumph! A whopping 42 for the Carthaginians after so many disasters and the Romans save for a crumbling but hobbling on right flank and 6 legions losing their velites were still only sat on 13 break points.

With Hannibal a fugitive in Cisalpine Gaul would it be a matter of time before a Gallic tribe hand him over to Sempronius for leniency. Those that were waiting to see what happed after the battle would undoubtedly stop sharpening their spears and send gifts of thanks for repelling the invader from Cisalpine Gaul.     

Velites skirmisher markers

I decided after playing Strength & Honour a few times that if I were to play 1 x 80mm base per unit, that it would be handy to have some individually mounted figures to show the presence of attached skirmishers. I've done this already for some rebased units with the spare figures that couldn't make up a full 6 man base. Also as I generally play via gridded games the individual bases wouldn't impact rules if they were to be used as a multi base.

I enjoyed making individual character as well out of these 20mm Newline Designs Roman Velites. The pack comes with 4 variations of velites and crucially not all are presented with the famous wolf pelt. The 2 velites in helmets and the bare headed skirmisher in a cloak apart from being useful for other armies allowed me to do some simple head swaps for a bit more variety. Below is a few examples of those swaps and 1 also has a sword that was shaped out of a crushed bristle that I use for spears.

I'm hoping to get some posts up soon of another ancient character I made and some Iberian warriors. I'm currently trying to power through another 2 bases of Iberians in the hope to set up a solo Lost Battles game and playing the Ilipa scenario in time for the Society of Ancients Battle Day. 

Strength and Honour Redux

I've started to get back into my main Ancients project. Its nice to get back into it and fancied digging out my Newline Designs 20mm ancients and setting up a battle. Its been just shy of a year since I set a up my last game  of Strength & Honour, its difficult getting the time and energy to set these things up! I was hoping that the flow of the rules and the various gaming aids would help me pick up the game back up quickly. I feel like overall I did but the following report has missed out the defence dice roll! Not sure how I forgot that but it wasn't game breaking (I think). I was also getting mixed up with discipline tests and the result roll of failed discipline test, this favoured the Greeks, going forward I may make a step by step cheat/check sheet to make sure I haven't missed a step, or get more games under my belt so that I'm more familiar with the rules. I also ran out of time (I'm working on something to aid a quicker set up) but I muddled my way through to some kind of conclusion which I will recount best I can below. Overall I was trying to do too much at once, lessons were learnt.  

The Army list below, based on the Pontic and Roman Warlord lists, however the figures are  Seleucid and Polybian era Romans. They seemed to be equally matched on points I added fortified camps last minute but didn't update the Army break point, I did also add 1 cavalry unit per side and did update the break point to 16 each. The Romans already having an edge of command points, having gained more favourable auguries than the Greeks, who in turned favoured more defence options while the Romans had a more even spread.  

Rosters before amendments 

The battlefield; every other square was marked out
with bits of terrain and took a while to set up
I think a more permanent solution is required! 

In general I deployed the cavalry independently with at least 1 square from the main line without spending command points just to make the winner of any cavalry fights have a bit further to flank attack anyone. Also the skirmishers were given to 4 units 1 skirmish line each in the hope that the skirmishers would dissipate quicker.

The Greeks deployed their best cavalry with a ferocious charge and their general on their right flank. Then the Imitation Legion protected the flank of the Veteran Phalanx (Silver Shields) 2 units of Regular Phalanx followed whose flank was protected by thureophoroi and out on the left flank was more cavalry. Various light troops screened the troops except the thureophoroi. 

The Romans mirrored the Greek Cavalry although were at a disadvantage on their left flank, the Legions were deployed to counter the Greeks, so the Veteran Legion on the left to counter 2 units of Greeks then 2 Experienced Legions and the Raw Legion on the right. Each Legion had a skirmish screen.     

Greeks arrayed 

Roman Legions wait for battle

The Greeks made the first move and they stormed the field, both cavalry units moved 4 spaces while the infantry moved 3, only the Veteran Pikes lagged moving 2 spaces.

The Romans must have been confounded by this advance as only the Raw Legion advanced 1 square. At least the cavalry moved ahead 2 spaces beforehand. 

Greeks advancing enthusiastically 

Romans stubbornly remain in place
not wanting to rush into that pike hedge

Raw Legion advances while the more experienced troops hold
back.

The Greeks continued a steady advance making sure not to get strung out and maintain a united front. Their cavalry advanced cautiously to hopefully get the first charge. The Roman Legions probably shamed by the enthusiasm of the Raw Legion began to advance. Roman allied Cavalry on the left flank failed to move probably intimidated by the Greek general's elite unit. However the Roman cavalry on their right did advance.

The Greeks continue to seize the field
the Romans begrudgingly advance 

The Greeks marshal their forces to form a continuous line knowing an unbroken front is their best chance against these seasoned legionaries! The Greek general lead his cavalry in a ferocious charge, advancing against the Roman allied cavalry, first blood to the Greeks and the first setback for the Romans. The allied cavalry fall back and the Greeks hold back to prepare another charge. The Greek left show no sign of movement!

Not wishing again to suffer a ferocious charge the Roman allied cavalry inflict their own charge inflicting a crunch and pushing the Greeks back 3 spaces. The Roman cavalry on their right have a similar success advancing on the Greeks pushing them back 2 spaces. 

The Greeks then advanced their line, steadily, but still there were lagging troops, only the Imitation Legion on the Greek right. The general lead his cavalry and through personal example (burning a Command Point) advanced against the Roman allied cavalry, the Roman allies' discipline failed them, even after some command effort! They ended up in disorder.

The Greek cavalry on their left flank inflicted a crunch on the Romans, the Romans failed their discipline, in an effort to save the situation the Roman command tried to rally the troops only to fumble and worsen the situation, snake eyes and a critical failure! The Roman right cavalry wing then routed from the field dealing a disaster to the Roman army.

The Veteran Legion after some coaxing from their accompanying general, charged the Veteran Phalanx, the pikemen had their discipline tested, but only held it together with the help of the Greek command. Both formations' skirmishers were dispersed in the clash. The rest of the legions steadily advanced to close the lines. The remaining Roman cavalry had to redress their ranks or face the full brunt of the Greek cavalry charge unprepared, they were successful!

The Greeks then prioritised reforming their battle line, the general and his cavalry charged the now reformed allies managing a crunch, but this time after some command effort the allied cavalry remained cohesive. On the Greek left the cavalry stormed ahead hoping to turn turn the enemy's flank and hopefully the battle. At this point the Greeks called Homunculus Est! in the hope that the Romans would become fatigued, which they were with 12, the Romans in turn discarded the 5 point disaster card.

Despite being fatigued the Veteran Legion didn't show signs of slowing pushing back the Imitation Legion. The rest of the legions closed with the Greeks, one of the experienced Legions launched an attack but became a grind the Greek pikemen retreated quite far and after expending command effort remained formed up. The attacking Romans however (after getting confused on where to apply fatigue modifiers) ended up breaking causing another disaster, and leaving a gaping hole in the Roman line with the Raw Legion exposed, about to be overwhelmed by pikes, thureophoroi and cavalry.

The Greek cavalry again charged the allied cavalry which firmly stood their ground. The second Phalanx unit supported by thureophoroi charged the Raw Legion which was then pushed back and ended  up disordered, the thureophoroi followed up and charged the disordered Romans whom managed to stand their ground against the lighter armed troops. The Veteran Phalanx supported by the Imitation Legion advanced on the Romans the Roman general used his last command to re roll and pass the discipline test. The final Phalanx in the centre also found success scoring a crunch on the Romans who went on to pass their discipline test. 

The last of the Roman cavalry pushed back the Greek cavalry showing they were still in the fight, the Veteran Legion got back into position ready to fight. The Remaining experienced Legion launched a desperate attack hoping to cause damage to the Greeks, the Romans were repulsed but they managed to disperse the Greek skirmishers and remained in the fight after a discipline test. 

The Greeks finally got their left cavalry wing into the flank of the Raw Legion who were defeated but after passing their discipline check survived this time! With the evening closing and the Romans slowly being ground down the Roman commander called an orderly retreat. The Romans had continued to receive quite a few setbacks and despite discarding their first disaster card were still closer to breaking than the Greeks, who from the setbacks they had received, quite a few were zeroes. The auguries had looked more positive on the morning but the hesitation initially shown by the Roman Legions quickly lost them the blessings of the gods!     

 

Greek Cavalry with their general ferociously charge the 
Roman allied cavalry

After failing a discipline test the defence point reroll faired far
worse ultimately sending the Roman cavalry off the field. 

Greeks form a solid phalanx while their cavalry eye up
the Roman flank.

After some to and fro the Greeks begin to get the edge

Isolated and disordered the Raw
legion struggles

The Raw Legion's situation becomes more
precarious as the Veteran Legion struggles
 against the Veteran Phalanx and Imitation Legion

The Raw Legion continued to hold its own 
redressing their ranks ready to take on 
Thureophoroi, pikemen and flanking 
cavalry 

The Raw Legion holds on but the Roman general 
signals an  ordered retreat before any more routs 
occur

Again I have enjoyed playing Strength & Honour solo, despite my poor implementation of some key rules. Calling an early Homunculus Est! seems like it is a risky strategy, it also slowed me down a bit and meant having to inflict more setbacks on the Romans to regain the lost disaster card. In future solo games I will probably avoid such an early call, at least until I'm more fluent with the rules. To save on setting up time I've since marked a grid using black dots on my gaming cloth, I exclusively play gridded wargames, on those rare occasions, or convert games to use a grid as they are far more convenient anyway! 

2nd game of Strength & Honour

After enjoying my first game I was eager for a second. I kept the same lists as the first battle but I used the full length of the gaming cloth. This gave the battlefield a few more squares length and depth (20x14). More squares to close between armies and more space to deploy so the Warbands were deployed this time in depth. With the Greek line being longer, the Romans deployed slightly offset so the Veteran Legion on the Roman left were expected to hold against the Warband and Thureophoroi. I later realised that I neglected to test the risk to generals after combat, I'll need to get some gaming aids for future reference until I'm well drilled in the procedures. Rome pulled 6 command points from the entrails while the Greeks scraped 4.

Turn 1

The Greeks began, the Warbands surging forward 3 squares, the Thureophoroi taken aback by the eagerness of the Warbands they failed to move themselves. All the other units save the Veteran Phalanx advanced possibly taking the auguries warnings very seriously! 

The Roman Cavalry wings manoeuvred outwards to square up with the looming Greek cavalry wings. The Legions failed to activate for a group move, some sort of confusion between the officers perhaps!

Turn 2

The Greek advance continues with all activated units moving and trying to form a line catching up with the Wabands who stayed put for a bit of sword clashing on their shields! The Veteran Phalanx did move but only one square... still lacking enthusiasm for battle, unbecoming of the cream of the Army!

The Roman cavalry wings advanced and the Legions finally received their orders to advance together, costing the last movement CP and obviously the frustration of the general was being felt as the Legions advanced 3 squares forward!  

 

Turn 3

The Veteran Phalanx probably aware of their lagging, surged forward to be the leading unit, and the Imitation Legionaries lined up with them. The Phalanx failed to activate so the Thureophoroi and Warbands stayed put. The Greek cavalry charge the Romans and crunch them back one square. The Cataphracts fail to activate.

The Veteran Legion and its neighbouring Legion advanced, but the other Legion and Raw Legion fail to activate ending the turn.

Turn 4 

The Greek general leads his cavalry to combat but the fight ends inconclusive as the Romans defend the attack. The Cataphracts advance 2 squares. At this point the Greek army blundered, the Warband miscalculating its advantage found itself charging against the Veteran Legion. If they had allowed the Thureophoroi to advance first, instead the Warbands were repulsed. The Warbands were stopped in their tracks but maintained order. The Veteran Legion lost some of their skirmishers.

The setback suffered by the Warbands seceded the initiative. the Veteran Legion still in contact began a counter attack. Although the advantage was with the Veteran Legion the attack was faltering but with the leadership of the Legions officers the attack effort was saved and the Warbands suffered a crunch, the Warband was pushed back 3 squares and despite the efforts of the tribal leaders the Warbands were disordered. The Veteran Legion worn from the attack failed to advance further. While the Veteran Legions adjacent Legion held the line to keep the line intact the following Legion and Raw Legion planned to advance, which the Raw Legion failed to do! The Roman Allied Cavalry charge the Cataphracts but the fight is inconclusive. On the other flank the Roman cavalry in combat with the Greek Cavalry were about to be repulsed but the command effort managed to completely reverse that fate and crunched the Greeks.

Turn 5

The Phalanx fails to advance, not the best start of a turn! Next the Greek Cavalry counter attacked the Roman Cavalry and were repulsed despite the added command effort in the attack. They were in fear of falling into disarray save for the personal intervention of the general who kept them in order but still handed the Romans the initiative.

The Legions advanced steadily maintaining battle lines as best as possible. The Roman Allied cavalry attacked the Cataphracts. It ended in disaster the attack could not be saved and the disorder not rallied off despite further command effort, so much was the fight with the Cataphracts that the Allied Cavalry routed from the field, leaving the Raw Legion's flank very exposed!

Turn 6

The Cataphracts took advantage of their victory and advanced ready to turn next on the activation. The Imitation Legion advanced hoping for future advantage and the Phalanx moved to contact but did not combat. The Greek general's cavalry charged to an inconclusive fight and the Warbands failed to reform their ranks.

The Veteran Legion supported by a Legion on its flank, charged the Thureophoroi and the advance was heroically defended against by the Thureophoroi! The Veteran Legion lost its last skirmishers. The Raw Legion advanced against the Imitation Legionaries however they remained in place. The Legion adjacent to the Raw Legion pushed the Veteran Phalanx back and the Legion next to them pushed back their opposing Phalanx, who then fell into disorder then rout! A disaster for the Greeks the Romans call it and the Greeks suffer 20 break points more than enough to break the Greek Army morale! Just in time to save the Raw Legion from the Cataphracts!

Post Battle Thoughts

Another great game, and it highlighted a puzzle element to the rules. In the case of the warband it showed it would have been more advantageous to advance the Thureophoroi without making a risky attack to deny the Veteran Legion its support then charge the Warbands home. There would still be more moving parts for that to go wrong also but of it had worked the Veteran Legion wouldn't have had it so easy. 

For future games I'll probably use less bases per unit and with a smaller unit size I could do with smaller skirmisher markers. I'm currently thinking of making some individually based skirmishers that won't get in the way too much.

Next I'll have more of a focus on painting. I've got some command figures for Hannibal's veterans and Iberian warriors to finish off some units that are currently going through rebasing. I have pictures of the rebased Velites that have been involved in these battles. 

Romans deployed on the left Greeks on the right

Greek line

Roman line

Veteran Phalanx and the Phalanx

Greek general leads his cavalry on the flank of the Warband

Legions with skirmish support

End of turn 1

End of turn 2

Greek cavalry charge the Roman cavalry

End of turn 3

Lines close

the charging Warbands were repulsed and fall back in disarray

Phalanx struggles against Legion

Roman allied cavalry repulsed falling back in disarray
which quickly became a rout 

End of turn 5

With the Phalanx routed Rome 
calls Homunculus Est!

Cataphracts attempt to gain the Roman flank is to of no 
avail as the Phalanx's rout causes the army to flee 

Veteran Phalanx looking exposed

The Thureophoroi after the Warbands failed charge 
held up the Veteran Legion as well as the neighbouring 
Legion putting the Phalanx's performance to shame!