Today's game pitted the Late Romans against an invading barbarian force of Huns, Goths & Sarmatians. I commanded the Romans & a pal took control of the terrifying barbaric horde.
The game used our own rules – 'A Tribute of Spears' & we believe they handled this large game (25 units a side) in a timely manner (about 3 leisurely hours) to produce a game rich in excitement & tension & with an amount of complexity we felt comfortable with.
The battlefield:
Open space but with plenty of wooded areas for Goth warband to lurk.
Objectives:
There were two victory points awarded for holding 3 objectives – a wagon lager, a Roman villa & a Roman watchtower:
Additionally, a victory point was awarded for each enemy unit broken:
These were recorded using simple black stones.
Initiative was diced for & troops placed on the battlefield:
To activate the troops a dice for each unit was thrown with 3-6 allowing activation:
This simple mechanism caused much drama as in several turns, both commanders were unable to execute daring & brilliant manoeuvres due to the numbers of low dice.
Both sides were keen to come to grips:
Casualties began to mount, both from missile fire & melee:
The Romans generally fought well but the numerous Goth foot archers & Hun mounted bows took a toll.
As numbers plummeted, there were catastrophic drops in morale & several Roman units left the field:
Ultimately, though the barbarians suffered considerable casualties also, the Romans retreated, defeated.
Some POIs:
1. The Goth Warbands are not overly effective. They're large but have limited combat & shooting dice, so something stronger will probably trigger their fragile morale……unless…..you put them in difficult terrain where they fight better infantry as equals or you place a Bow unit in front. These shoot at a charging enemy, then retire through the WB ranks leaving the WB on more equal terms.
2. Hun & Steppe mounted bow units. Unlike the Roman equivalent who rightly avoid melee, these chaps get a good amount of combat dice &, as elites, even a bonus dice. They're unarmoured so no 'armour saves' but they can inflict damage before they get decimated.
3. Warlords. These army commanders can attach to units & add their combat dice, which makes a formidable unit. They can also fight on their own. Bleda, the Hunnish commander, opportunistically charged with an infantry unit, adding his dice to an unbeatable total.
4. Skirmish screen. A charging Hun unit tried to crush such a screen (compulsory) but lost several unlucky casualties.
donald
ponders nirvana.
