IC, TC
3x8 Falxmen, Superior, Protected, Impact Foot, Heavy Weapon
6x8 Warriors, Average, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen
2x6 Bowmen, Average, Unprotected, Bow
1x4 LH, Javelin, Light Spear
798 points. PBI 2.
I was facing Visigoths, which were
IC, 2xTC
4x8 Heavy Foot Protected Impact Foot, Swordsmen
2x6 Bowmen, Average, Bow
2x6 Cavalry, Average, Protected, Light Spear, Swordsmen
2x4 Cavalry, Superior, Armoured, Lancers, Swordsmen
1x4 Cavalry, Elite, Armoured, Lancers, Swordsmen
1x4 Cavalry, Superior, Armoured, Light Spear Swordsmen
I lost the initiative and with the regulation Agricultural chosen, I went for a mass of terrain. My opponent managed to remove all the terrain I had gone for and deployed largely opposite my masses.
It was a barren, featureless plain.... Which didn't bode well.
The Visigoth Hordes
The Hordier Dacians. Wider, but vulnerable to the cavalry. My plan was to try and lure one BG of cavalry away from the right hand side which would allow me to swamp the flanks of the cavalry. I wanted to stagger contact so I could use the IC where needed to keep BG's steady, as the Cavalry were at plus at impact.
The Falxmen were in the centre.
The Dacians ready for battle
There was a mini-battle going on behind the lines, with Dacians attacking the Visigoth druids who had summoned bears to help them.
The opening Dacian gambit. I was heading the Bowmen Left behind the average units that would be hit by Cavalry.
On the right I was bracing myself for the cavalry charge.
The initial impact against the foot did not go well for the Dacians. Apart from the unit on the far right who fragmented their opponents, the other three units lost heavily and disrupted and lost bases. The unit on the far left got no hits from 9 dice at evens. Lost a base and disupted. Well done chaps....
The ongoing melee saw further degredation of the Dacian centre. I did disrupt one of the cavalry units though. The bowmen were now not moving to the left to provide support to the units facing the cavalry, but to avoid being burst through by routing Dacians and then smashed by the pursuing Visigoths...
On the right, things were actually going to plan. The Falxmen routed the warriors they hit and clattered into the Superior Light Spear cavalry. The Elite unit was next door, but not engaged. The other lance unit was in contact with some warriors and Falxmen - my light horse keeping the other unit occupied.
There goes the Dacian centre. On the far left, I had routed the Average Protected Cavalry and smashed into a bow unit. I lost the impact despite being at double plus and re-rolling ones and lost a base. I then disrupted in the subsequent melee...
Right flank looking much better, although the Cavalry passed their test to not get intercepted in the flank. The Falxmen were slowly losing against two units of Cavalry. The Falxmen who had routed the Visigoth warriors were continuing against the Light Spear Cavalry. This was largely indecisive, but the Cavalry were getting pushed back as they continued to break off.
On the left I destroyed the other Cavalry unit and my centre had by now ceased to exist. The bowmen were really looking forward to getting charged by the completly in tact Impact Foot Battle Group. On a positive note I had managed to rout the bowmen.
On the right, I had charged a lancer unit in front with warriors and in the rear with light horse. This made the melee evens. The Cavalry were gradually ground down. The Cavalry lancer had ridden down the Falxmen and charged the bowmen. But with the IC providing good help, the Bowmen survived and even bolstered back to steady.
The one unit of Falxmen left had forced the Cavalry to break off into the uneven ground, which swung the combat drastically in their favour. The Cavalry broke and the Falxmen pursued into the camp.
Visigoths chasing fleeing Falxmen.
And the pursuit into the camp ended the game. The Dacians had lost eight attrition points out of twelve. Giving an overall score of 28-14.
Interestingly, it was the Cavalry of the visigoths that suffered, losing four units. Only one of the main infantry units was broken, with some bowmen (or rear support) being destroyed in the pursuit. The other three units were still steady and completely undamaged.