Battle of Soissons

 ....aaand here it is. The last stand of the Western Roman Empire.

Not that Syagrius was planning a last stand. The historical record affirms that he went to meet Clovis with confidence, fully expecting to beat him. Why he lost we will never know, but the fact that he fled his realm immediately after the battle suggests that he was deposed, hence that his grip on power was not as firm as all that. Treachery?

This was just a trial battle to test the relative strengths of the two armies and make sure one wasn't overwhelmingly superior to the other. A full campaign will follow. For this purpose we used a generic pre-game terrain map. The two armies met by the sea. Not exactly historical but it added a degree of tactical interest.

Did I mention that the terrain pre-game works an absolute charm?

The battlefield set up and the armies deployed:

For Syagrius I chose a general with a command rating of 4. Peter chose a 1-rated general for Clovis. Which meant that he had to deploy his entire army before mine. If the difference in command rating between generals is a 1, the player with the inferior general puts down 1/3 of his army first. If the difference is 2, he puts down 2/3 of his army first, and if the difference is 3 or greater he puts down all of his army first.

Which should have given me a clear advantage in deployment, but I have to admit I blew it. Peter deployed his warriors in two deep lines on a narrow frontage, using the woods to anchor his right flank. My plan was to execute a double envelopment helped by my superior cavalry, but for that purpose I deployed my army thin and wide, possibly too thin and too wide. Would my plan work anyhow?

Turn 1. Clovis

Having deployed first Peter moved first. He advanced all his infantry, with his left flank cavalry hanging back whilst his right flank cavalry moved up alongside his first line.

Turn 1. Syagrius.

I angled my entire line towards the left. I realised that too much of my right flank was facing space. I didn't really want my bucellari and especially my garrison troops to have to engage the Franks but it was essential to get those flanks.

Turn 2. Clovis.

Peter began to separate his infantry lines out, the front line moving straight ahead whilst the second line angled towards the right. His cavalry remained cautious in its movement.

Turn 2. Syagrius.

I decided to send in my bucellarii anyway, with the legions hanging back as a reserve whilst my levy troops moved up also as a reserve. The bucellari probably wouldn't last against the Franks, but they would weaken them prior to the legions finishing them off. Well, that was the idea.

Time to take out Peter's right flank with my Light Horse. Get a move on!

Turn 3. Clovis.

Chaaarge! The Franks attacked everywhere, Peter's right flank cavalry obliging my LH to evade, the Warriors in the centre engaging my Bucellarii, and his left flank Cavalry charging my Archers, who managed to shoot them a morale interval down but that was not enough to stop them and Archers do badly in hand-to-hand combat. I should have deployed them behind my heavy infantry where they could shoot overhead.

The Bucellari and Archers lose a morale interval from the shock of the Frankish charge. Nobody routs yet but it is a bad start for the Romans.

Turn 3. Syagrius.

I got my uncommitted cavalry to the rear of Peter's horse, shooting them up and preparing for charges in the next turn. My Garrison troops on my right, now out of command (a unit cannot be part of a battleline if the unit with the general/commander is engaged in hand-to-hand combat) advanced half a square forwards - the limit for OOC infantry units. It's one square for OOC mounted units.

Turn 3. Melee.

Melee between the Bucellari and Warriors is drawn as it is between the Archers and Frankish Cavalry, so both sides lose a morale interval which drops the Bucellarii and Archers to shaken. Ouch!

Turn 4. Clovis.

Peter handles his infantry very neatly. The one uncommitted unit of Warriors in the front line advance, clearing the way for the second line to advance obliquely, ready to engage the Legions. Meanwhile the Household Warriors, led by Clovis himself, charge the Legions. Franke verhef!

The Frankish Cavalry however are handled rather less neatly. They charge the Breton LH - and are routed! The charge is initially a draw, but the Breton command has a better combat rating than the Frankish commander, so he breaks the draw and inflicts a morale loss on the Franks. This drops them to shaken. Mounted vs mounted combat is always resolved twice so a second round of combat sees firm Breton LH outfight shaken Frankish MC. The Franks drop another morale and run for it, along with their commander. 4 victory points to the Romans!

Turn 4. Syagrius.

On my right the LH move up to exploit the flank, whilst on my left Syagrius with his Cavalry charge and rout the last Frankish Cavalry unit. Another three victory points. The flanks are now mine but what about the centre? Will it hold long enough? Time to commit my Levy reserve.

Turn 4. Melee.

The Bucellari drop another morale interval and are now close to routing. Since they were in a deep line (4 stands in a 2 x 2 configuration) their highest shaken interval was converted to firm, so the melee fight was a draw and the Warriors also lost an interval and dropped to shaken. But next turn their shaken interval will be converted to firm since they are in deep line. That won't be the case for the Bucellari since they are now below their highest shaken interval. The depth won't cheer them up any more. Oh dear....

Turn 5. Clovis.

The remaining Warrior unit of the first line charges the Legions who managed to get some darts in before contact (shown by the one base moved back). One unit of the second line is able to advance diagonally forwards - the other two units of the battleline stay where they are since they do not have the space to execute a diagonal move and keep alongside the lead unit. They fall OOC and don't move for this turn.

Turn 5. Syagrius.

Time to get stuck in with the cavalry. My only hope is in them.

Notice that one of LH don't shoot the Franks (shooting is indicated by moving one of the bases of the shooters back). This is because they are shooting an armoured target - which normally scores 1 shooting hit - but the target is engaged in hand-to-hand combat which imposes a -1 modifier. The modifier drops the 1 shooting hit to 1/2 a shooting hit, which means that the shooter scores only during the other player's move; it can't shoot during the owning player's move.

Turn 5. Melee.

The Bucellarii finally collapse.

Turn 6. Clovis.

The Warriors charge all across the line. The vulnerable Garrison troops and Levy are now engaged and lose morale. On the Frankish right a Warrior unit turns to face the LH. This disorders the Warriors but they can still engage the LH at decent odds, and there is now the interesting option of herding the LH into the sea. Things are not going well for Syagrius.

Turn 6. Syagrius.

The threatened LH fall back whilst Syagrius' Cavalry unit forms line and moves up in preparation for a charge next turn. Meanwhile the uncommanded infantry units on the Roman right inch forward a 1/2 square, trying to get into the fight.

Turn 6. Melee.

And then it's all over. The Levy troops rout. This pushes victory points to the threshold for brittle troops and the Garrison unit also routs. Now the victory points reach the threshold for average troops and the entire Gallo-Roman army crumbles in flight. Game over!

O tempora, O mores!

On reflection Syagrius' army was a tad fragile. For the next game the loss of brittle troops will not affect average troops. I'll do that by having two markers on the victory point track: one moves only when average troops are lost, the other when any troops are lost. Should work.

The marker cubes work fine BTW. Neither Peter nor I found them in your face in games with figures or flats. 

Time for the full-blown campaign....