Imperial Roman

5 cohorts of legionaries

2 cohorts auxiliary infantry

1ala cavalry

2 alae light horse

Silures

6 units of chariots

2 large warbands

2 warbands

4 bands of light horse with javelins.

This was part of a ‘sort of’ campaign I’m working through. It is based in my local area (near Caerwent for those of you who have been reading Carojon’s ‘Three Castles Walk’ posts  on TWW– but about 150 years earlier than the walls he was showing you). The locals had been restless for a while since the camps over the twin rivers on the right bank of the Hafren or Sabina had been built. Several small groups of warriors had been dispersed by auxiliaries from the Isca camp. However a larger force had come down from the hills and from the plains west of the river. They blocked the route westward to Isca and were moving eastwards to take the next river crossing. A legionary based force was sent to deal with this rabble once and for all.

The battlefield: Romans at the bottom (east) British in three groups  - chariots from the west on the left hill, two large bands of warriors in the centre and across the river from further north, light cavalry and smaller groups of warriors.

The Romans were a bit surprised at the numbers of enemy. The previous conflicts had been skirmishes and they confidently expected to be able to trounce the Silures, but the word had obviously gone out and a large body of the tribe had turned out to throw out the Roman invaders.

So there we are –

I used to play Impetus for Ancients (although I bought into them for Italian Wars initially) but I find them a bit difficult to divorce from the competition style which doesn’t work well for campaigns for me. I have been experimenting with L'Art de la Guerre and may move over to them eventually, but for this series of games I wanted something that was quick and simple and made solo play quite easy – so Sword and Spear is the ticket.

The game :

Sword and Spear distributes initiative quite cunningly but simply – you have a dice per unit (different colours for each side) in a bag and you draw seven per phase in a turn. The player with the higher number of dice drawn in the active player but each side throws their dice and allocates them to units to activate them. But to activate a unit you have to allocate a die equal to or over its discipline rating depending what you want it to do. This leads to interesting tactical choices and is easily worked solo.

The British chariots stuffed full of nobles, took one look at the Romans and thought ‘I’ll have some of that’ and legged it down the hill into the valley.

The Romans for some reason ( a dice throw I bolted onto the phase) decided to move forward to keep them apart from the rest of the Brits.

Roman light horse and auxiliaries going to have a squint at the chariots.

The Roman right is seeking to cover the river crossing between the marshes while the legionary cohorts move forward in what has to be said is a somewhat ragged line (the three ‘neat’ units in the middle are a ‘group’ led by a commander – the largest group allowed to be controlled by one dice in S&S  while the left group is moving to counter the chariot advance on its left (All the British dice were going to keep this moving – why? I have no idea. It wasn’t a control mechanism as such, it just became a ‘thing’).

Realising the central warrior group was going nowhere fast and the enemy beyond the river was going to take time to cross, the legionaries sorted themselves out into a defensive line facing the chariots.

Just in time as the chariots threw caution to the winds and charged…

The problem for the chariots was the way S&S allows charges to happen – you have to have a dice ABOVE the discipline level to charge and you CANNOT charge as a group –you need a lot of high dice to get a long line to charge and contact in one phase (not sure this feels right to me).

After contact several of the chariots units no doubt wished they hadn’t bothered and the legionaries saw off their attacks. The line of chariots ground to a halt or died against the legions, pointlessly pursued evading Roman light cavalry, or got tied up at the edge of the woods hacking at auxiliaries taking the mickey.

The chariots eventually caught the light horse, inflicted some damage on the auxiliaries but melted in the centre against the legionaries. However the large warrior bands finally decided to get involved. Being large was eventually a decider.

Meanwhile the northern horse and warriors were still trying to paddle across the river.

being held up by one unit of Roman light horse.

In turn seven the chariots evaporated, except for the unit jeering at the auxiliaries in the wood and the unit which amazingly destroyed the Roman light horse. Over by the marsh the warriors have scared off the other Roman light horse and the large warrior bands are thinking about perhaps joining in after all (probably singing about it first).

Meanwhile the British light horse are slowly picking their way through the river and marshland.

Behind You!

The legions suddenly have no chariots to fight but something is making a noise behind them.

Turn 10 and suddenly the large warrior bands get stuck in, the ‘tactically redeploying’ Roman light cavalry flank attack some meandering chariots and the northern Brits finally cross the river.(I know it says 11 on the dice but this is the beginning of turn 11 so the position is the end of turn 10).

In the centre the legions find some serious opposition.

And the rest of the punitive force are wondering where everyone went.

By turn 12 the auxiliaries in the wood have finally seen off the chariots, the one remaining chariot unit has broken the Roman Light horse and the legionaries have worked out their boss is in trouble. So much so that one accompanying cohort has been destroyed. The warrior band facing his unit is being battered, but can soak up two more hits than an ordinary unit so is still in the fight giving the Brits time to surround the commanders cohort. The British light horse is occupying the auxiliary unit which is supposed to be coming to his rescue by throwing sticks at it, but unfortunately not very sharp ones.

By this stage, the beginning of move 14, the central legion is about to be overwhelmed by sheer numbers, the large warrior band has held off the  returning legionaries with the help of the last chariot unit and both sides have had to take army discipline tests as they have lost 1/3 of their army points.

At the end both sides are shattered. Both sides reached 50% army value loss in the same turn (in the same combat actually) and both will retire. This means that although the Brits have lots of light cavalry and the Romans no cavalry left at all, there will be no pursuit.

The Romans will limp back to the crossing of the Wye and entrench, waiting for help from Glevum and the Silures will head back to their hill forts to sing of how they destroyed the invader.

The Romans will no doubt be back.

It has been a while since I used Sword & Spear and I am sure I made a few mistakes (not helped by attending to family Boxing day needs etc) and it took longer than I remember.

The photos reminded me I never did get round to basing these few figures properly. Still, as I bought them from Nic Robson (Eureka) when he used to help out on the Irregular stand many years ago they haven't done badly. (They were some Phil Barker's wife, Sue, ordered but didn't pick up). Goodness knows how long all that was as Nic has been in Oz for Kangaroos years.