"Hun Ambush using Hail Caesar" Topic

A couple of days ago, we convened to the attic to play out a small Hail Caesar scenario. The game pitted a Hun force of light cavalry tasked with ambushing a large Roman column of infantry. The Hail Caesar system did a great job simulating the clash of forces with very different tactical philosophies.

Please visit madmacsattic.blogspot.com for lots of pics and play by play.

Hun scouts spot the Roman column

The action gets fierce

Nice AAR! Love it when the Romans kick butt! Thanks for posting.

Thanks it's nice to see a smaller game being demonstrated with these rules.

Nice battle report! Interesting to see so different goals for each side. It does look like the Huns were underpowered, would you agree?

Opinions are divided on if you could actually use the testudo that way, ie use it while walking along a road at a good pace, I think it might give the Romans too much of an edge.

Hopefully I'll remember this battle report for inspiration when I get my own Romans painted up, just got the new plastic box from Gripping Beast built.

Enjoyed the account, thanks. Cheesy Romans in testudo – no wonder the Huns has such a rough time! Maybe next time use the Huns as Marauders? So no command/control issue?

Hi mrtn….thanks…..I purposefully made the Hun force small…to simulate a typical raiding party. Also, because the Romans were strung out on the March, their offensive power could never really come to bear. As for the Testudo….I limited it to one full move maximum…so it was slow….the Huns only had to break one unit to win..reasonably easy victory condition.

Hi Mithridates…..good point about the Marauder rule…..I kinda view Huns as the Cossacks of their day…..I think I'll use that in the next game. It's not specifically mentioned in the Hun army list…but makes total sense.

nice report. I enjoy the HC content.

it just occured to me that i have not yet tried an "ambush the column" scenario but this will motivate me to get off my butt and design one.

In my opinion, a game of HC is made by the victory conditions and really benefits more than the standard 'break the enemy's army.' your victory condition for the huns is a good idea.

The Testudo, especially against a shooting army, is tough to beat. And it doesn't even have a point value!

Don't all light cavalry automatically benefit from the Marauders rule?

Marauders is a special rule. All special rules must be given to specific units prior to the start of the battle. Having said that, units in open order do automatically get the same benefit, i.e. the ability to ignore the distance penalty for units receiving orders from more than 12" away. The Marauders rule simply extends that benefit to a unit regardless of formation, and so is often added to units of light cavalry.

Again this looks like it was a great scenario and fun to game. But speaking strictly in a historical sense, the Testudo formation special rule really should only be used when playing siege scenarios and suchlike.

This is a good write-up and looks like scenario played well. It seems like a realistic situation and outcome.