This was the second game in our Roman Invasion of Britain campaign and represented the advance of a Roman army towards the ‘village’ of Reading. Tim and Chris took command of the British and Tony and I the Romans.
The Romans in this scenario had the advantage of being able to deploy across the width of the table. The Brits deployed either side of the ‘road’ leading to Reading and could take advantage of areas of woodland as defensible bastions against the advancing Roman line. The British warrior hordes had 5 much needed generals to control them whereas the more regular Roman army had 4.
Initial moves saw the Roman line advance in column to the centre line of the table then deploy. The Roman Auxiliary cavalry, archers and skirmish units were positioned on the flanks and the legionary units in the centre with 2 units of 3 field ballista slowly following up behind. The British warriors held back whilst the light cavalry, chariots and skirmish units quickly advanced to hurl missiles at the now static Roman line. Over the next few rounds of shooting the Brits managed to inflict a number of stand losses upon the Romans, most notably against the pilum armed legionaries in the centre.
My Roman auxiliaries advanced to take control of the left hand area of woodland supported by 2 units of archers, but Chris’s British skirmishers and supporting warriors put up a very tough defence. On the other wing Tony’s Romans were being harassed by 3 units of British chariots and light cavalry. Without committing the mass of warriors these stubborn Brits had stopped the Roman advance and were quite content to sling missiles at the intruders with little or no cost to themselves.
Finally the Roman ballista units had moved into position to shoot, unfortunately their accuracy was poor and the Brits easily weathered the hail of badly aimed missiles. Tony and I moved our Roman line forward a hex only to receive more missile inflicted punishment. The legionary units were already beginning to accumulate in the casualty tray! I advanced the Roman archers and skirmish unit to engage the extreme right of the British line. They inflicted some damage on the British warriors only to charge and demolished in the next round of combat by other warriors. I had been holding back 2 units of Roman cavalry and 2 available generals as my last reserve, and this latest set-back inflicted by Chris’s warrior hordes left me with the difficult decision; to charge or not to charge!
In the centre a battle of attrition between the legionaries and hordes of warriors and fanatics had reduced the numbers significantly on both sides and gaps in the opposing lines started to appear. Tim and Tony were still engaged in a pretty even struggle on the Roman right and Tim’s chariots were proving to be very slippery customers indeed.
On my Roman left wing I was forced to throw caution to the wind and charged my 2 heavy cavalry units each accompanied by a general into the British warriors that had already dispatched my archers and auxiliary spears earlier. This time the hand-to-hand combat results went decidedly in my favour and the warriors were routed with my Roman cavalry in pursuit. On Tony’s Roman right wing, he and Tim had been taking chunks out of each other for close on 2 hours. The resulting attrition had diminished both sides to the point that neither side had the resources left to gain any meaningful territorial advantage
The time was now past 9.30 and the Brits had prevented the Romans from capturing Reading. Both armies by this stage had suffered masses of casualties with 63 British stands and 50 Roman no longer on the table. In terms of points the losses must have been pretty even. Tony will be doing the maths on this ready for their next encounter!
Game Analysis
After the first few moves Tony and I were pretty confident that we would be able to capture Reading, but the Brits fought so well, especially in the centre that it turned into a very tough battle of attrition. Both armies were in need of replacements after this ‘meat grinder.’
Report written by Paul K.
