Roman Civil War - Yet More!
Another in our series of Roman Civil War games
This was our seventh game for the year 2009, another in our continuing Roman Civil War Battles. We played this at Phil Young's home in Morton Mississippi on March 21, 2009. Our rules were Fields of Glory and our game-master was Phil Young. We used his very nicely painted 1/72nd scale plastic armies.
This action featured the forces of Marc Anthony - Phil Young (Varinius Tertius) Jay Stribling (Gladius Tucia) and Ed Sansing (Cialus Magnus) fighting against the forces of Octavian - Jim Pitts (Punctilius Pictianus) Bill Hamilton (Thesaurus Xylophone ) Sean Pitts (Caveat Emptor ).
Photo by Jim Pitts
Bill Hamilton's command on the right wing of Octavian's army, composed of three BGs of legionnaires and two BGs of auxiliary cavalry.
Note that a "BG" is a battle group in Fields of Glory lingo.
Photo by Jim Pitts
Punctilius Pictianus' command in the center of Octavian's army, composed of six BGs of legionnaires and two heavy ballistae.
Photo by Jim Pitts
Caveat Emptor's command on the left wing of Octavian's army, composed of one BG of medium archers, three BGs of auxiliary javelin men, one BG of auxiliary slingers, one BG of allied Parthian cataphracts, and three BGs of allied Parthian horse archers.
Photo by Jim Pitts
Jim's right center advances around the ballista (which didn't do a whole lot of damage to the rebesl of Gladius Tucia during the entire battle).
Photo by Jim Pitts
Octavius's left center under the command of Punctilius Pictianus begins to engageGladius Tucia'a rebel legionnaires, but there are the elephants of Varinius Tertius looming in the background!
Photo by Jim Pitts
On the right wing, the legionnaires and auxiliary cavalry of Thesaurus Xylophone are soon in the thick of the fight with the rebel legionnaires and cavalry of Cialus Magnus. Bill seemed fairly evenly matched but Ed's forces quickly outfought him.
Photo by Jim Pitts
As the fighting continues on the left center, the elephants loom even closer.
Photo by Jim Pitts
And even closer as the ground begins to tremble from their mighty feet. As you can see from the empty movement base and the "loss of cohesion" marker, the legionnaires of Punctilius Pictianus are getting the short end of the fighting.
Photo by Jim Pitts
Finally the elephants get into the fighting with one BG reinforcing the rebel legionnaires fighting Jim's legionnaires and another advancing over the crest of the hill where they encounter one of Caveat Emptor's Parthian horse archer BGs. It was quickly apparent that the Parthians didn't like the great gray beasts!
Photo by Jim Pitts
Meanwhile on the right center, Jim's double-size legionnaire BG engages Jay's rebel auxiliary cavalry, while a second legionnaire BG (green shields) turns into the flank of a rebel BG engaging the third of Jim's BGs is this part of the battlefield. The rebel cavalry were defeated and fled the field, but the rebel legionnaire battle group of Gladius Tucia was able to fight off both of Jim's attacking legionnaire units.
Photo by Jim Pitts
The elephants of Varinius Tertius proved too much for the tired legionnaires of Punctilius Pictianus as they each lost enough "cohesion" points to rout away from the fight. Pictianus' third line legionnaire Battle Group (on the right middle) was well placed to engage the pursuing rebels and help cover the retreat of its comrades.
Photo by Jim Pitts
As Punctilius Pictianus tries to rally the closest of the fleeing legionnaire BGs, in the background, some of Varinius Tertius' elephants regroup while a third elephant BG helps out one of his legionnaire BGs fend off the Parthian cataphracts of Caveat Emptor. In the far background, Caveat Emptor's skirmishers continue their back and forth battle against a rebel legionnaire Battle Group and a unit of medium archers.
Photo by Jim Pitts
an image of Anthonys' forces: - Phil Young (Varinius Tertius) commanded the right wing. Jay Stribling (Gladius Tucia) commanded the troops in the center of the field while Ed Sansing (Cialus Magnus) led the forces on the left wing.
Phil Young wrote "I played out 2 more turns after Saturday's game by me lonesome. That was all it took. Octavian's legions in the center broke (the Elephants were too much to handle). Pursuit was vicious, inflicting more losses. Octavian's artillery stayed ineffectual. Jay's catapults however inflicted 3 hits on the large 8-base battlegroup of Octavian's engaged with the Spanish horse. They passed cohesion & suffered no losses, hence their fire was ineffectual also. The Spanish horse suffered a base loss, but maintained cohesion. With the collapse of Octavian's center, Anthony's side was able to send troops to assist the Spanish cavalry. That would be too much for Octavian's strongest unit.
Meanwhile, near Anthony's camp his large Cavalry Battlegroup rallied and in the 2nd turn's Joint Aaction phase gained cohesion. It was able to face off against an opposing cav unit which had just wiped out a fleeing legionary unit. Scythian horse harassed from the rear to no effect. On the far left of the field the Parthian catafracts were crumbling under the additional weight of the elephants, & the rest of the light horse & inf were chased off the field.
So, Who won this battle?
To restate from the account of Varinius Tertius: "Octavian's legions in the center broke (the Elephants were too much to handle). The pursuit was vicious, inflicting more losses. With the collapse of Octavian's center Anthony's side was able to send troops to assist the Spanish cavalry. That was too much for Octavian's army."
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