Romans Vs Gauls

Can you have too much ADLG? Of course not, but you can only write up so many and sometimes its hard to pick. However Gauls vs Romans! Lets go!

Late Imperial Roman, doesn't have to have a fortified camp. Corps three is easy. Rock Hard Cataphracts, elite. Would argue there is nothing tougher or more scary in period. I rate them higher than a elephant! There I said it (yes I know an elite elephant beats an elite cataphract, but an elite cataphract overall I believe is a better buy).

Medium Foot command, supported by some heavy cavalry impact. Some bow to reach out and touch. Medium sword impact support can stand up to most things, excel at taking a charge (this will be important later), and can really control terrain. Three of them is a little on the small side, but the 2 heavy cavalry make up for that.

Corps I. Two full fat legionnaires, all the bells all the whistles.. except they don't have impact. Hmmm, could have sword we played them with impact. Though I might be mistaken. The mediocre are there to die slowly while the heavy cavalry and the elite legionaries do their thing.

This list will almost always deploy the same way. Cats in the middle with a command either side, heavy cavalry on the flanks. i like this list!

For the most part, I collect an army to win wargames with. Tis what I do. However, there are exceptions to this. Stumbling round the book one morning I noticed the Gaestati. Woah.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaesatae

"......Gaesatae fought at the front, and unlike their Gallic allies who fought in trousers and light cloaks, they went into battle naked, both because of their great confidence and their desire not to get their clothes caught in the brambles....."

Okay, that is cool. I want some. 48 naked dudes were acquired and painted (I realise out of context that sentence could be interpreted... poorly). They have to be in a command on their own, no light support. This is actually a massive issue for impetuous troops and is probably the reason this army is 'B' tier.

Corps II. Swarm of clothed medium sword impetuous, some light chariots to play on the flanks and give some mobility.

Corps III Light Chariots elite. More to delay an opponents flank, hunt a flank, or go on a flank march. i call this the Flank command.

Romans, watching from their UNFORTIFIED camp... can't wait to see what a fortified camp looks like...

The BAD guys!

Gauls win the initiative and elect to attack in the plains. Brilliant Gaul general gets enough pips to triple move the chariots and get the rest of his force moving. The medium foot makes a break for the plantation.

In the West, well the plan is to win in the East with a huge outflanking move. The light Chariot core in the West is to delay the the Romans Western flank long enough so we can win elsewhere.

Brilliant commanders with all the pips can make a commanders day. Though this could have been stopped if the Ambush marker was further to the East and right to the corner.

Romans advance, kinda. Sensing the Gauls plan they dont push in the East, start sweeping in the West. The bow turn off to take on the Gauls outflanking chariots in the North East.

Arty is great vs anything that is not a light. Reduces your protection to 0, so against most things 42% chance of a hit. Vs lights that drops to 28%. Arty doesn't reduce lights protection. So the light horse rush forward to stop any pesky double moving confident that they wont take two hits in a row, probably wont take any....

Of course dice don't read mathematical text books regarding probability and the Roman artillerymen were not phased by Blaise Pascals theories (likely due to him not being born by some 1300 years).

Two rounds of shooting and the light horse unit is reduced to this cool pile of skulls and first points on the board to the Romans.

I feel this is unfair.

Romans swing their line around. There will be no Gaul outflank today! I don't want to talk about the light horse.....

Hmmm, I think I got this wrong. The light horse evaded out of the Romans ZoC. I played it that it would turn and skirt

along the light chariots line as was not lined up, I think the light horse should have adjusted the minimum amount to pass through the light chariots... thought i could be wrong. Could have solved the problem by moving the light chariots first. Didn't and created a road block. Elsewhere the medium foot split into two groups of four. If it wasn't for the heavy cavalry on this flank would be pretty confident, but there are a lot of gauls and we are almost in position.

Romans keep swinging. In the North the Romans miss both shots with against the Gauls light chariots

Pretty unlucky to miss both, and the Romans bring up a heavy cavalry to support.

This bad luck is mitigated when the light chariots charge home in the next turn and achieve nothing!

No plan survives contact with the enemy. Or in this case my so called 'Brilliant' General rolled a one for pips. His command is in three pieces (four if you count the light unit). Impetuous units that can get into contact with the enemy require THREE pips to NOT do that. Which means all the pips my BRILLIANT (sarcasms) has. This means nothing else moves, the chariots have to take another two rounds of bow fire (my turn, romans turn) and they had already got pretty lucky.... oh well as the youngest member of my war gaming club is wont to say... WE BALL! And the medium foot pelts forward, I pray to the dice goods, please, let me move short.... we go long and the cataphract's are looking at the medium foot in the open with... Hungry Eyes .

So we have left the safety of the plantation, before the heavy foot is ready, or the rest of the command.

We are out in the open, in front of heavy cavalry, impact foot and cataphracts.....

This is not going to end well, but luckily we scared off that nasty looking roman with his pidley little sling. He could have taken someones eye out!

Stoopid impetuous troops, stoopid not-so-brilliant general, stoopid dice. Right, time to get a beer.

(ducks to grab a pint of morale booster)

Romans turn. The elite Cataphract General crashes into the medium foot. +3 up and elite, the WORST possible score on the dice is a 5. You will be shocked, stunned and not a little amazed that the medium foot exploded on contact. The medium foot facing the heavy cavalry fared the same (slightly unfair, heavy cavalry only +1 up, but does do the furious charge extra hit). But I can no longer complain to the dice goods as the Roman auxilia who like to receive a charge more than make it themselves, draw one fight and rout on the other!

This is probably worth a chat. Impetuous troops get a +1 when charging into other foot troops, except for enemy swordsmen who meet the charge with blades out! The Romans also have missile support, so when receiving a charge add +1 to the result if they lose, lessening the damage or even bring the result to a draw. If the Roman Auxilia charge the impetuous Gauls however.... then they don't stop the +1, and they don't get their support. Effectively giving up a +2 swing, that is massive. If they don't go in, then the cataphract and the heavy cavalry both fight supported enemy. For the cataphract not so important, for the heavy cavalry, its very important! Actually am wondering now if just the cataphract should have gone in on its own. The Roman Auxilia and heavy cavalry move up, but don't engage. The impetuous Gauls would have been triggered by the Roman foot in their turn and as we have seen pip intensive to hold them. Hmmm. In fact the Romans could have adjusted the line so it was three Auxilla across, heavy cavalry on the end. And just let the cataphract do its thang.

In the far North the Roman bow rout. Given this was an even dice roll, that means a 6 - 1 in the right direction. Dice I love you again!

Off screen the Gauls chariot command is... well running away towards the camp. Running away seems harsh. A rapid strategic reposition to a more advantage position, on the other side of that hill maybe. In the centre the ordinary general gets three pips! This is enough to walk half the command right up to the Romans, but not engage (impetuous troops take three pips to not engage, but can then move normallyish). The other half manages to ZoC the Cataphract general. Why you ask? The North, the North is where I win this. There is still the issue of the heavy cavalry, but I have numbers, and some elite heavy foot joining the party. I just need the other half of the heavy foot command to die slowly and the chariots to keep fleeing (repositioning).

At the start of the Roman turn the cataphract General charges, he has to charge the most threatening, which means he ends up here. Even for a cataphract general this is getting dicey. It was this or get flanked next turn... or was it. Little done thing in ADLG, but you can take a disorder marker and move out of ZoC. I think that would have been the safer option.

In the West the Romans charge! In the Centre the cataphract general charges and wins! Two hits on the naked Gaul!

Way up North the heavy cavalry also charges. This was necessary. He was getting flanked next turn, as impact he cant evade. If he turned and ran he would have got rear charged by chariots, so he took his chances and went down swinging. A little luck and he could punch through! He doesn't get lucky.

Gauls turn. Roman heavy cavalry and cataphract General both get hard flanked. Cataphract general does not die (blue circle). ROCK HARD. Note that the Naked Gauls commander joined that battle. The Roman North has collapsed, it is now only a matter of time. In the West sides trade units. You'd think this would be a win for the Gauls.... well... wait for it....

Impetuous units that win combat in their bound HAVE to advance. Exposing a flank to the elite Roman infantry, the Roman wont get impact for two reasons, one you don't get impact for a conformation, two CAUSE HE NEVER PAID FOR IMPACT! Curse you Mr G.

This pic is out of sequence, but I like the story arc. The well trained, well equipped Romans, swarmed by frothing barbarians. The Romans fighting calmly to the last man, slowing the barbarians and giving their country men a chance to win elsewhere. "Pain is temporary, chicks dig scars, glory is forever" - Sexy.

Turns out the pain is fleeting part is true, as the cataphract general and troops are put out of his misery. The Romans are trying to protect their camp, but there is just not enough of them and they are going to get swarmed. To add to their woes their flank attack against to Gauls results in a draw. +3 just not worth it some times.....

Gauls turn in the North the light Chariots make a L shape to take on the Roman Auxilia, even managing to hit them with a javelin.... might be the first javelin thrown this game... points well spent. Light horse moves up to protect a flank. Combats are, well dull. The remaining cataphract takes a hit, so that was something.

Okay, yes my camp is two ambush markers, I forgot to pack a camp, am only human. Light chariots go and have a chat to the women and children levy, assuring them that any second they will turn around and there is nothing to fear from the thunderous sound of heavy cavalry approaching.

Up North the Roman Auxilia rallys. Could have moved out of the ZoC, still not a great war for a damaged medium foot vs two cavalry, but better than being hard flanked! Slightly South the hard flanked Roman heavy cavalry routs. In the centre three fights occur. The Gaul fighting the Roman heavy infantry manages another draw. I don't know if barbarians get medals,but this group whose job was to die slowly seems to be errr winning? Speaking of winning. The light horse held vs the Roman charge. Not as suicidal as it sounds. The light horse gets its javelin, the Roman unit is mediocre, and the light needs to just NOT DIE. This gives the Gauls more time to kill the cataphract which is getting wonky... the Light Horse STEPS UP and puts a hit on the Roman heavy infantry More Medals!

Gaul turn. Light Chariots... well keep moving away. The light horse, not wanting to push its luck withdraws from combat. The cataphract goes down, the naked gauls fighting the romans are on there last cohesion, but the deaths in the North break the poor Romans spirit and Victory to the French! All the Romans in the far West are routed, not reserves.

So what made this game so interesting for me, is I think I 'won' it when the I couldn't control my mediums combined with the Romans engaging with more than just the cataphract. I honestly believe that the Romans should have held and waited (not the cataphract, he was having a ball). Engaging in the North sped up the time line and the Romans needed time to bring in the rest of their forces. The misplaced ambush marker and not withdrawing from ZoCs would be the other two 'bigges' for the Romans.

And me? The most perfect commander. Given I 'won' due to my biggest error/bad luck am not sure I can claim a lot of kudos. Would actually like to go back and reset at the point the mediums "WE BALL" and play from there, but the Gauls rolled higher than a one for pips. The issue was that I was just scrambling from that point, I didn't win cause I was clever, I got lucky with a few combat die rolls and the Romans unforced errors. Not due to me playing better, just constant reacting to my opponent.

Will think on this and reread this in a few days.

Cheers all.