Noel commanded Carthage on the left, yours truly Rome on the right. This was the setup after deployment.
Noel deployed his Poeni Infantry in depth, which gives them an added morale bonus in melee. Along with his Warband also deployed in depth, he could engage the legions for a while and keep them busy whilst he gained an advantage elsewhere.
On the right flank of the Poeni there was plenty of space for the cavalry to move up supported by the Slingers, whilst his Numidian LH were more than enough to contain the Roman cavalry opposite his left flank.
My plan was to overstretch his Carthaginian Cavalry command by hitting them from the front and side with my Auxilia and Roman Cavalry, using my Skirmisher Bow to neutralise his Slingers.
My Roman cavalry on my right flank could contain the Numidian LH and my legions could do what comes naturally to them - steamroll forwards and flatten the Carthaginian heavy infantry in front of them.
Carthage ready to rumble.
Rome also ready, steady....on your marks, get set....
....go!
Turn 1. Rome.
Full speed ahead. The Roman left flank cavalry form column and double-move up the flank as fast as possible. In the centre legions, Auxilia and Skirmisher Bow move up, whilst on the Roman right flank the two Roman Cavalry units combine into one and move up the close access to the Roman right flank.
Turn 1. Carthage.
The battleline of Numidian LH on the Carthaginian left flank move up, but one LH unit cannot keep up with the other as there is a forest in the way, so it is left behind and falls out of command. Henceforth it can move only one square per turn unless it is charging or moving into range to shoot an enemy unit.
The Carthaginian Cavalry form column and move to the right to engage the approaching Roman Cavalry, but they have made a serious mistake....
The Slingers move up to occupy the scattered woodland. LI do not do much missile damage to each other but they keep each other from shooting more vulnerable units, so job done, more or less.
Turn 2. Rome
I had intended to leave the legions to defend the stream and get a small melee advantage, but Noel’s Poeni and Warband aren’t moving so I decide to move the legions up to engage them.
On the Roman right flank the Roman Cavalry pull back. Where they are the Numidian LH can score two shooting hits during both player moves, whilst the Roman Cavalry, shooting into scattered woodland, can score only 1 hit during Carthage’s move. That isn't much use.
But on the left the Roman cavalry pull a fast one on the Carthaginians: moving up in column, they turn into line facing the Carthaginian Cavalry - and ZOC them. Columns in ZOC become severely disordered if they form line, which puts them at a severe disadvantage in subsequent combat. Ouch!
The Roman Cavalry chuck some javelins at the Carthaginians. Medium cavalry score only one missile hit on opponents so no real harm done.
The Auxilia stay put for now. I have a plan for them later on.
Gadzooks and corwumph! (this is a family friendly AAR so more choice language is censored)
Turn 2. Carthage.
The Numidian LH on the Carthaginian left flank move up and trade javelins with the Roman Cavalry. Numidians score 2 shooting hits for the Roman Cavalry’s 1, so they get the better of the trade.
The out of command Numidian LH forms column and moves into an adjacent square. Out of command units may move one square per turn if their normal speed is 2 or 3 squares, and ½ a square if their normal speed is 1 square. Some day I’ll explain how a ½ square move works.
The Carthaginian Cavalry on the Carthaginian right flank turn to face the Roman Cavalry, getting disordered in the process, but what else can they do? The Roman Cavalry shoot them but they can’t shoot back since their -2 modifier for severe disorder means they score no shooting hits.
Turn 3. Rome.
On the Roman right flank the Roman Cavalry charge the Numidian LH who evade, but not before scoring two shooting hits on the Romans who lose a morale interval (4 shooting hits inflict 1 morale loss).
In the centre the legions continue to advance.
To their left the Auxilia finally carry out their plan, forming column and double-moving to the flank of the Poeni Infantry. The normal speed of Auxilia is 2 squares, so 4 when double moving as a column. This move caught Noel by surprise. Optio has a habit of doing that.
On the Roman left flank the Roman Cavalry charge the Carthaginians. Normally, medium cavalry score two combat hits in the charge against medium cavalry (even if in a thin line as the Romans are), but the severe disorder of the Carthaginian Cavalry drops their 2 hits to one, meaning they get a morale hit (2 combat hits minus 1 combat hit = 1 morale loss for the loser).
Mounted vs mounted combat however is resolved twice so the Carthaginians lose two morale intervals and drop to shaken. Things aren’t looking good for them. Sorry, Noel.
Turn 3. Carthage.
The out of command Numidian LH moves forward into the square in front of it and forms line, ready to try and do something to the flank of the approaching legion.
Turn 3. Melee.
The Carthaginian Cavalry are ground down but the Roman Cavalry - at a disadvantage because they are in a thin line - also suffer. But the Carthaginians are now one morale interval from routing.
And to add salt to the wounds the Carthaginian general is injured! Sixes are bad in Optio (little touch of mine).
Actually the melee combat between the cavalry units should have been resolved twice, which would have routed the Carthaginians then and there.
Not Carthage’s best day.
Turn 4. Rome.
The Roman Cavalry on the Roman right flank charge the Numidian LH who get some javelins in before evading.
In the centre the lumbering legions finally reach the Carthagian heavy infantry and give the Poeni and Warband a gift of free pila. Nobody can deny the Romans are good at driving points home.
The Auxilia get around to the rear of the Poeni and form line, putting the Poeni between a rock and a hard place.
Turn 4. Carthage.
There’s not much Carthage can do at this point. The Numidian LH in the forest can’t shoot the legions as they are severely disordered, with a -2 modifier that drops their 1 missile hit score against the Romans to 0.
Ready for the big scratch...
Turn 4. Melee.
The Carthaginian Cavalry finally rout. At this point Noel conceded the game as there was nothing that could prevent the eventual rout of the Poeni and Warband. Game over!
And thanks for being a good sport Noel.
That game didn't feel right to me. How far fast troops move in column, diagonal movement and free manoeuvres when combined with an alternate move system really feels too unbalanced. I would favour getting rid of diagonal movement and/or making a manoeuvre the equivalent of moving a grid square.
ReplyDeleteThis is related to my concern over unrealistic nature of the player's god's eye view combined with the ability to respond immediately. This is why I liked your earlier attempt to make the manoeuvres more pre-programmed. If the Roman cavalry just collided with Punic cavalry's flank because that was where they had both been ordered to be without knowledge of each others movements I would be much happier.
Better still would be something that replicated the repeated forming up and facing off, often for many days, before an actual battle resulted. Then a plan involving manoeuvres could be developed for the following day, but then of course the enemy might form up differently. Goldsworthy seems pretty convinced that complex manoeuvres like those Scipio pulled off in some of his battles were carefully briefed the day before.
Perhaps another idea would be to have players draw up their deployment blind; a change from an established pattern perhaps ceding the first move to the opponent as your army is less familiar with the new battle array. After deployment both sides would simultaneously indicate whether they intended to fight that day. A player deciding to fight would automatically get the first turn against an opponent who decided not.
Ignore if you like as these are all just spur of the moment ideas without any real thought behind them.
Hi Rob, ta for the input.
ReplyDeleteFor this game I allowed only one diagonal move per turn for any unit regardless of its speed. Columns however are allowed as many diagonal moves as the player allows. I've bent over backwards to give units as much movement freedom as possible without one player getting too much of an advantage over the other by a single move. So columns can double-move as close to enemy as they like, but if they do so they can't form line in that turn, making them vulnerable to attack (columns do terribly if charged).
In this game Carthage didn't have enough on her right flank to act as an effective guard. The Carthaginian Cavalry were under pressure from the Auxilia coming from the front and the Roman cavalry coming from the right. If Carthage had placed a 2-stand Warband unit next to the Poeni and moved the cavalry further out on her right flank there wouldn't have been a problem. That would have left one of the Warband units in the main line with only 2 stands, but that wouldn't have made too much difference.
Something tells me that player's wouldn't really take to an orders system - commander moves there then he moves there, etc. - but I might offer it as a realism option. We'll see.