ADLG - Game Report 251

Thracians (63) vs Early Imperial Roman (85)

Emboldened by the last outing of the Thracians, I decided to give them ago against Kevin's Romans; Roma, Roma, Roma! We deployed for the attack in the plains as we had previously, although the terrain was less favourable for the Thracian's to attack.

The Roman's Auxilia have started to move into the centre rather than facing the Thracian warriors. In the centre the space has become congested with the Thracian Cavalry and their Legionaries competing to see who will have the honours for the day!

On the Thracian left the Roman cavalry have moved to pin and disrupt the advance of the Thracian warriors, while their Auxilia occupy the gully. In the centre the Thracian light cavalry are buying time with their lives as they are forced to engage the Roman legionaries.

The Thracian warriors on the right in the field are suffering from the attentions of Roman lights. They are unwilling to engage because of the Cavalry threat. The Thracian Cavalry have been forced to commit against the Roman Legionary line, much against their better judgement. While the Thracian Legionaries have yet to engage anyone!

The Thracian left has been damaged by the Roman heavy cavalry. While on the right the Thracian Cavalry are not faring well against the combined attentions of legionaries and Catafracti.

The Thracian left has been stabilised for the moment. In the centre the opposing legionaries have engaged, but the results of the clash clearly favour Rome. On the right the Thracian Cavalry are trying to at least hold their own.

Despite the positive results on the Thracian left the centre ad right have both failed miserably.

Outcome

A Roman victory by 14 to 27.

Lessons Learnt

In hindsight committing the Cavalry in the centre was big mistake, they would have been better advised to move around the field supported by the Thracian warriors occupying the field.

Although the army has promise, it would not be present at Warfare.

ADLG - Game Report 250

Thracians (63) vs Armenian (130)

As an alternative I thought it would be useful to explore the use of Thracians, aka Odryssians clients of Rome, for Warfare. The Army was one I had used before with a large Roman contingent. Robin's Armenian Cavalry army would be a significant test for the Thracian Medium infantry armed with Rhompia! With the threat of cavalry, and with the Thracians attacking in the Plains, we opted for a lot of terrain. Hence when it came for deployment, we made sure that the infantry had lost of terrain to retire to. The main Thracian force was on the extreme left of the line, with the Legionaries in the centre and the cavalry out on the right.

We advanced into the terrain, with half the legionaries forming a flank guard. The Cavalry were held back; waiting for the opportunity to pounce.

The Armenian light infantry have moved forward to contest the terrain features. On the right the Thracian Cavalry have formed line ready to charge the Armenians.

The Armenians decided to evade from the Thracian Cavalry charge! On the Thracian left the Armenian's are laying down a significant weight of arrows. However, the Thracians seem undaunted and are manoeuvring to apply pressure to their right.

The second time the Armenian's evaded they were caught with their pants down by the Thracian Cavalry and are soon to perish for that tardy evade. On the Thracian left the remainder of the Armenian horse archers continue to evade and seem woefully unwilling to engage in combat against the Thracians.

Outcome

A Thracian win by 9 to 27.

Lessons Learnt

There is a 22% chance that evading medium cavalry will be caught by their opposing Cavalry. The answer is do you feel lucky punk?

ADLG - Game Report 249

German (91) vs Early Imperial Roman (85)

It was time to start preparing for Warfare. I had narrowed down the army selection to one of three, Early Imperial Romans, Germans Batavian revolt (of more later), and Odrysians (Thracians). For this battle I wanted to try the Batavians, so I loaned my 15mm Early Imperials to Kevin for a run through; he would be using the Romans at Warfare – Roma, Roma, Roma!

I was gifted the opportunity to attack in the plains, and duly set up Roman's centre, Warbands on the right and Cavalry and warbands on the left.

On the left the German Cavalry moved around the marsh with their flank secured by the Warbands, who were getting their feet wet in the marsh. The Romans moved to support the Warband to their right. The counter this the enemy started to move their forces to their left.

The German Cavalry have now emerged from behind the marsh and are in a good position to start to threaten the enemy right. On the German right and centre we have started to wheel left to draw the enemy on to us.

Rather than reorientate to threat of the German Cavalry to their right rear the Roman's have pressed on to engage the flank of the German centre and are focusing in on the weaker medium swordsmen. If they are successful, they can work their way along the German line. The Roman artillery has already started to cause attrition on the centre. On the right the Roman's have decided not to wait for the German attack and have boldly, if unwisely, decided to attack the warbands!

As the sun breaks through, the Germans on the right have defeated the Roman left wing. In the centre both sides of legionaries are committed to the fight. Albeit that the Romans were forced to commit on of their units to protect their flank from the German cavalry. However, this has only been partially effective as the German Cavalry has penetrated the line and has hit one of the Roman Cavalry units in the rear.

The battle between the legionaries continues to the death, with the Roman's seeming to gain the upper hand over the turncoats supporting the Batavians. However, on the German left the Cavalry are poised to enter the Roman rear and destroy the artillery, despite the hand of Mars trying to wield some protection!

In the centre the Roman's continue to butcher the turncoats, but enough are hanging on to buy time for the German Cavalry, who are now free to attack the enemy in the rear after destroying the artillery.

Outcome

A win for the Batavian Revolt by 24 to 21.

Lessons Learnt

Agressive use of the German Cavalry was essential to be able to attack the Roman flank and rear.

A harsh lesson for Kevin on why Roman's should received warbands at the halt and not charge into them.

ADLG - Game Report 248

Communal Italian (189) vs Low Countries (243)

Could I redeem myself in the final battle of the day. This time against Cameron's Flemish; an army I could have fielded and which at one stage I was seriously considering. I was attacking in the plains. We deployed with the infantry centre and with our knights on both wings, with the French Mercenary Knights on the left at some distance from the rest of the army. They were positioned there to try and either envelope the Flemish right or to force them to honour the threat, and break their line.

Well, that plan sucks. Especially when the left wing commander becomes hesitant and refuses to engage, and of course the Flemish do nothing to bring him into the fight. Why would they?

Despite the continuing pleading from the CinC the left wing continue to refuse to engage. And of course, the Flemish do nothing to irritate them. However, the numbers remain even along the rest of the line. If the crossbows and light troops can cause attrition then there may be hope for us.

Contact! The Flemish mediocre Pikemen are remarkably resilient and refuse to give ground.

The Flemish Pikemen are more than resilient they have broken through the line. While on the Italian right the supporting attack has failed to make progress and has taken losses. The Italian left continue to refuse to fight.

And so at the death the Italian left decide to engage and in doing so move forward. However, it is much to late as the Italian centre has been destroyed and the Italian right is fragile despite some modest success.

Outcome

A Flemish victory by 15 to 23, leaving me at two wins and three losses for the event.

Lessons Learnt

In the attack it would have been more sensible to keep the unreliable commands closer to the commander to prevent the enemy ignoring them.

Or if someone becomes hesitant it is important to have a Plan B.

Faced with wall to wall pikes and spears one needs to try and force the flanks. Therefore I should have been more aggressive about trying to get around the Flemish left.

Credit to Cameron who played a cautious infantry battle well.