The Gallic Horde

[Karvon]

This is another semi-historical series of battles I plan to fight with Gauls starting in Northern Italy and meandering south from there.

We came upon the Etruscan army arrayed along a river, blocking our path to riches and glory. The river walled off their right flank, and a medium sized wood and a nearby village in their left sector provided a possible anchor for their left.

We deployed our massed warbands towards our right in line with the edge of the far woods with a few chariots on either flank. A token handful of light foot screened the chariots on our right. A few loose order warbands lined up opposite the woods between the close order ones and our chariots.

The Etruscans deployed a block of armored hopolites against the river and a larger mass of raw hopolites in the center. A number of light foot screened their battle line supported by a few cavalry.

Our plan was pretty basic, our chariots would drive off his lights and attempt to flank his horse. Our light foot would screen the advance of our loose order warbands who would head for the woods to clear them and then flank the enemy line. Our main body of warbands would slowly advance and punch a hole through the enemy center held by his raw hopolites.

The Etruscans sallied forth with their lights and horse to deal with my advancing chariots. We pretty quickly ran over a number of his lights and drove off or engaged his few horse as our warbands moved up to support the chariots. He moved a couple of raw hopolites out of the woods to drive off my light foot and chariots. My warbands chased off most of his screen and flanked the engaged horse to see them off fairly promptly. One chariot lured his adventerous hopolites on our right a way from the woods a bit before circling around them to return to the action.

On the right, our loose order warbands swept into the woods supported by our lights and chariots on the flanks, and quickly cleared them. On the left, a block of our warbands stared down the opposing armored hopolites at a distance. In the center, our warbands and chariots pursued the fleeing horse into the raw hopolites and blew several holes in the line, resulting in the general collapse of the Etruscans.

Final score Gauls 46 Etruscans 5

[Karvon]

The second battle in the series continues vs the later Etruscans

Our raiders came across the Etruscans amidst some hills and woods. The right flank was mostly covered with trees with a few meadows meandering between them into a larger clearing along the middle of the right edge. A series of hills dominated the center of the field; a larger one with a number of rough patches more to the Etruscan side with two smaller ones running way from it on our right and then turning to run across from it towards the center, forming a small valley between them. Another large woods lay to the right of the large hill on the Etruscan side with several small groves scattered beyond that towards the left edge.

We initially deployed our warbands facing the closest central hill with our cavalry and chariots covering each flank and our light foot screening our right ahead of a few loose order warbands. Our plan was to take up a defensive position on the first ridge with most of our foot while our cavalry, lights and loose ordered warbands advanced to possibly seize a flanking position in the rough on the larger hill.

The Etruscans surprised us by deploying on the far left beyond the central woods and hill. They led with a line of imitation legionaires and armored hopolites supported by a second line of raw hopolites and by cavalry out on their right flank. A few light foot screened their advance.

We pushed forward to secure the central hill and then wheeeled left to face the slowly oncoming Etruscan foot. Our cavalry and chariots supported our light foot on our right, driving off or running down a few of his opposing lights; the survivors retreating back into the large central woods. On our left, we had a slightly less number of horse to face his, which were better armored. We lined up along the slopes of the smaller central hill which provided a bit of cover to the flank of our infantry line on the larger one.

The Etruscans carefully advanced his heavy foot and wheeled to face our awaiting warbands while his cavalry rode on to face off vs our nearby horse. I figured being uphill and similar morale, that we could hold off the armored horse OK. However, our chariot ran off rather than stand and with no results in our favor initially, the odds started to swing considerably in the following melee. I decided to send a couple of warbands to bolster the horse, weakening my main line on the hill. The Etruscans responded by sending some of their own heavy foot to join the fray or head the warbands off. They also advanced to within striking range of the hill to deter further redeployment. We attacked to tie them down and prevent further shifting, and battle was joined.

Meanwhile, on our right, our lights, loose order warbands and supporting cavalry and chariots worked their way through and around the large central woods, disposing of the opposing enemy lights in a series of fights which unfortunately took more time than I hoped and took these units further away from the coming infantry clash in the center. We began redeploying them to flank the infantry battle.

Initially, the cavalry battle on our left went badly with our infantry arriving too late to make a significant difference, but now facing superior numbers of the enemy. They were flanked and fell apart very quickly fleeing back towards their comrades which led to them being flanked in turn by the pursuing cavalry. This led to the pretty rapid collapse of our main warband body.

Ironically, most of our cavalry survived and managed to rally. Together with the chariots they turned the tables on the pursuing Etruscan horse and eliminated most of it. On our far left, our flanking forces got into the raw hopolites and with a few timely flanking attacks, saw most of them off. They had almost finished them when the victorious heavy foot showed up and restored the balance. Our warbands had scattered in pursuit, so we lost a couple of them to flanking attacks. We did see off a couple more of his foot and rallied more of our own, but night fell before we could reqroup and finish off the last unit needed to push the Etruscan over the edge into defeat.

Final Score Gauls 58 Etruscans 51

[Karvon]

The third in our series, continuing our campaign against the Later Etruscians.

Once again, we found the Etruscians awaiting us in the hills overlooking a plain. A large plateau dominated by a steep peak lay in their center with large masses of woods masking their left and a few smaller groves of trees shielding the right flank of the hills. A number of rough patches formed a necklace further obstructing across the plateau.

Given the complete lack of medium foot, we rather expected the Etruscians to form up on the open ground of the central plateau behind the rough using the woods and steep hill to anchor their left, and extend out on the plains to their right.

We massed our close order warbands in the middle to give us some flexibility as to the direction of our assault. We had a smaller band of loose order warbands on our right which we thought to use to assault through the woods and threaten the flank of the Etruscan center. We set our handful of light foot to screen this advance and scout ahead, supported by a token force of horse and chariots. Most of our horse and chariots were deployed on our left to cover the flank and advance to threaten the enemy right flank.

We were a bit surprised to find a large body of raw heavy foot deployed en mass in the center, supported by their cavalry on their right and screened by a large number of light foot. There was no initial sign of their average heavy foot. I figured they might be hidden behind the plateau, prepared to shift depending on our initial deployment and advance. This proved not to be the case at all.

We cautiously began our advance, leading with our right flank force of lights and loose order warbands following our plan of clearing the woods while our cavalry and chariots on our left moved forward to chase off the opposing light foot and deal with the enemy horse.

We were quickly and rudely surprised when out of the woods on the right sortied the full strength of the Etruscian average heavy foot. We quickly shifted our light foot out of their path to the center to aid in the skirmishing with the enemy lights and redirected our loose order foot to our left, leaving our chariots and cavalry to delay the advancing hordes. Our close order warbands we turned left as well; our plan was to focus on the massed raw forces formed up on our center and left, away from the oncoming enemy left wing assault.

The Etruscians immediately began refusing their right and center, falling back to the slopes of the steep hill and into and around the woods on their right, while pressing on as quickly as possible with their left.

Our left wing mounted pressed their attack, slowly driving off or destroying the enemy lights and cavalry in that sector, but resistance was stubborn and it took more time than we'd hoped.

Our close order warbands suffered some from unopposed enemy lights who harried us as we shifted left, but slowly redeployed to assault the raw troops awaiting them in and around the woods and lower slopes of the steep hill.

Unfortunately, our loose order warbands, which we sorely needed to effectively assault the steep hill were unable to outdistance the pursuing enemy left. An inadvertent cavalry evasion path led to these guys getting pinned and overwelmed after a few hours of resistance. One unit managed to survive and flee drawing several units in pursuit, but they were no longer able to contribute to the battle.

Our horse and chariots on the right continued to harry the enemy left, but were too outnumbered to really cause any damage.

Our assault on our left finally saw off the last of the enemy horse and those raw troops in and around the woods. We even managed to disrupt a couple of those defending the slopes of the steep hill. Our horse shifted across the rear and slowly labored up the slopes to turn the flank and our chariots rode around the hill to tie down and threaten forces coming from the left. Most of our close order warbands turned to face the oncoming horde of the Etruscan left. One or two more breaks and victory would be ours.

Alas, fortune deserted us at this stage. The Etruscans charged our line and several of our warbands, tired from the long march, fighting and earlier harassment, fragmented at contact and then collapsed in the following hour leaving holes it was difficult to completely cover. Our cavalry and chariots managed to flank and slow the enemy down a little, but the momentum for victory was lost, and despite being able to clear some of the steep hill, we could not break the Etruscans before dusk fell.

Final Score: Gauls 43 Etruscans 30.

[Karvon]

The fourth in our series takes us into the Italian hills.

4. Into the Italian hill country.

We pushed on through the Etruscan territory into the hill country beyond, and the local tribes turned out to oppose our march. Our armies met in a hilly valley with a fair number of woods scattered about the field.

The hills forming the valley started in the far left sector as steep and rough ground, and arms extended along the left side and diagonally across the center of lower and gentler slopes. A medium-sized forest lay along the left center at the foot of these slopes, and another forest and large rough patch lay at the foot of the steep slopes beyond the center and to our left. The far right corner of the field was mostly filled with trees as well.

Given their nature, we fully expected the hill people to pile onto the steep hill and nearby rough and woods to await our onslaught, and that is exactly what they did. Their medium foot climbed up and deployed all along the hill crests while their lights screened them on the steep slopes below.

Our plan was pretty simple, we would fix the attention of the enemy on the hills frontally with some of our close order warbands and a few chariots while our loose order warbands, supported by our lights, the rest of our chariots and warbands turned the enemy left.

Some of our light chariots on our left caught some of his overly-aggressive lights in the open below the hills and chased this off into the sunset. A few of our close order warbands marched up to just short of the slopes to keep an eye on the enemy deployed above. A few more masked off the rough area below the left flank of the hill. Our light foot probed the woods, finding a few waiting mediums. Our loose order warbands moved up to tackle these units and our light chariots pushed further on behind the enemy on the slopes above. 2 or 3 of our close order warband followed up behind.

Our lights peppered one medium moved into the rough with missiles and eventually disrupted it. Others charged into the flanks of one in the forest which opened it to flanking and disruption by our warbands and chariots. Our loose order warbands continued to shift to flank and support this fights.

Beginning to worry, the hill people sortied down from the hill against our close order warbands below. Outnumbered, we refused our flank and fellback, but they came on and once engaged began to encircle us and grind us down with their numbers.

The hill people also sortied down the slopes to the rear to drive off the chariots threatening to flank their brethren, but that brought them into range of our waiting close order warbands who happily pitched into them with great effect. The returning chariots flanked these, quickly breaking them.

The loose order warbands, with the help of the light foot, cleared the woods and turned the flank of those in the rough. These broke rather quickly and the hill people gave up and fled the field.

Final Score: Gauls - 45 Italian Hill People - 15

[Karvon]

The fifth in our series takes us onto the Italian plains.

5. First Roman Encounter

As our tribes pushed south, we ran into a new enemy, the Romans, blocking our path on a slightly wooded plain.

A medium-sized wood lay just a bit to the left of the Roman center, with a number of smaller woods scattered between it and the far corner on our right. A small marsh lay on its left. A couple of medium-sized rough patches lay beyond its right. A medium-sized gentle plateau rose in our right sector with a narrow strip of trees running along its left flank. Our left sector had scattered woods running from the far corner to about the center.

Our scouts reported the Romans didn't seem to have much horse, so we divided our force into four main groups. On our left, which beyond the scattered woods was fairly open, we deployed a mounted wing of cavalry supported by light chariots. On our right, we deployed another mounted wing to screen our advancing warbands. Our warbands deployed in two groups: A smaller loose order group screened by light foot on the right and a larger close order group in the center.

Our initial plan was to sweep wide on the left with our mounted wing to threaten the Roman right. Use our right mounted wing to drive off any Roman skirmishers and sweep around the woods on our right to threaten the Roman left. Our loose order warbands and light foot would follow up behind the mounted and sweep through the marsh and woods to threaten the Roman left. Our close order warbands would echelon right and follow up to cover the left flank of the loose order warbands and face off vs the Roman foot.

The Romans deployed their small mounted command with a few supporting light foot to cover their right. Their heavy infantry formed up in the center, screened by a fair number of light foot and supported by a few mediums. We proceeded as planned.

On sighting our advancing hordes, the Romans shifted their mounted wing right to delay our much larger one and began shifting their foot left to counter our advance. A number of their lights and a couple of their mediums moved into the woods. Their heavy foot marched clear of the rough patches and began wheeling left to face off vs our warbands. A couple of mediums brought up the rear in the rough.

Our left wing mounted command aggressively attacked the smaller Roman force, but time and again, both their foot and mounted managed to deftly dodge clear and pulled us farther away from the developing action on our right.

Our right wing mounted chased the opposing Roman light foot into and beyond the woods scattered on our right. While we occasionally caught one, again, the Romans were very agile and outran us more times than not, tying up our mounted for quite some time.

Our light foot swept through the marsh and woods behind our mounted and managed to tie down a few of the Roman lights and eventually flank and destroyed them with the help of the following warbands. We likewise encircled and saw off a couple opposing mediums, but it was slow going.

In the meantime, the Roman heavy foot and our close order warbands finally engaged in a give and take pushing and shoving match. The Romans had a slight edge in both numbers and quality, but that was offset a little by us having some horse and chariots nearby to support. The Romans, however, had a few surviving light foot, which whittled away at our mounted and delayed their intervention. Thus, we were slowly getting ground down, losing units as they got flanked, while the superior Roman morale kept them in the fight, even as their own losses mounted and cohesion dropped.

Our left wing mounted finally ran down and eliminated the Roman right and chased the survivors off the field. Our victorious horse and chariots wheeled and galloped toward the action far away on the right.

Our right wing mounted saw off the last of the opposing skirmishers and turned in on the Roman foot defending around the woods. They fell upon the flanks and rear of several units and the Romans were swept away. Our warbands turned back to join the fight in the center.

Several of our right wing mounted fell upon flanks of the Roman heavy and light foot in the center and, though our own center was nearing collapse, that pushed the Romans to the breaking point, and victory was ours a few hours before sundown.

The Romans fled the field with our horse and chariots in hot pursuit.

Final Score: Gauls 61 Romans 50

[Karvon]

The sixth in our series takes us into the Samnite foothills.

6. First Contact with the Samnites.

After our victory over the Romans, we pushed south into what turned out to be Samnite territory. We encountered the Samnite army on the edge of some wooded foothills. Scattered woods filled both the far left and right sectors. A large forest filled most of our left sector. Our right sector was filled with rough and woods. A long gentle ridge ran across the center of the field with similar one facing it in our central sector.

We deployed our warbands in the center facing the far ridge; our close order on our left, and a smaller loose order one on our right facing the far woods. Our horse and chariots were divided into two equal divisions covering our flanks, and our light foot formed up to screen the woods to our right.

The Samnites deployed to our right, a massive line of medium foot, with a division of horse covering the right flank. We rather expected them to take up positions in and around the woods to our right, so we probed on both flanks with our mounted and lights while our warbands marched to secure the central ridge.

Our scouts found light foot holding the edges of the woods on both flanks and continued to probe and shift around them to come in on the enemy rear. The Samnites surprised us by sally out with their horse on their right, supported by their light foot, and advancing on our warbands with their long line of mediums.

On our left, we saw off the Samnite horse after a bitter fight, losing a chariot or two in the process, and chased the survivors off the field. On our right, we played hide and seek with the Samnite lights using our own lights supported by some of our mounted. Most of our right wing mounted we used to screen our open right flank against the oncoming Samnite horde.

In the center, the Samnites boldly marched up to the foot of the ridge we were defending, with their extended line overlapping us substantially on our right. We chose to pick the order of combat in the coming infantry clash and charged down the hill with our close order warbands, covering their right with our loose order ones. The gods of war did not smile at all upon this move. While we did pushback one unit, that only opened us up to a flanking move, and one of our warbands fragmented in the charge. In the ensuing fighting, the Samnites grimly held when losing in most cases, and when we did break through in one place, all the neighboring units stood firm, minimizing our success and opening up our flanks in the pursuit. Thus, despite our cavalry's valiant efforts to screen, our center collapsed after a short bloody fight.

We spent a few hours regrouping our mounted and then began a series of attacks on isolated Samnite foot. We managed to see off one or two and had completely surrounded a final unit, but darkness fell before we could launch a last assault, and the opportunity was lost.

Final Score: Gauls 57 Samnites 58

[Karvon]

The seventh in our series is a rematch against the Samnites in the wooded hill country.

7. In the wooded hills.

We regrouped our forces and went after the Samnites again, finding them in a hilly and wooded river valley.

On the Samnite side of the stream, were a series of gentle hills and ridges nestled among woods of various sizes. A similar series of gentle hills and ridges lay on our side of the stream, but with much fewer trees.

We initially deployed our tribes in three divisions. On our left, we played a mixed horse and chariot command, screened by our lights. In the center, along a gentle ridge, we placed all our warbands; our close order in the front rank, and our loose order in the second. On our right we placed another chariot and horse division.

As expected, the Samnites arrayed themselves along their own ridges and in the woods flanking them, with a few lights screening their front and their horse in reserve.

Not eager to attempt ferreting out their medium foot from the woods, or going uphill against them, we decided to harass them with our mounted wings and hold our own foot in position on our ridge.

Much to our surprise, the Samnites immediately advanced all along the front towards our position. Our mounted commands shifted out to the flanks, and our lights targeted his horse when they sortied out to counter our left wing.

After suffering from our lights, the Samnite horse retired back to the rear of their advancing foot, and our lights skirted their advance, working around to behind them. Our left wing mounted, likewised swung wide left and eventually got behind the advancing Samnite horde.

On our right, our mounted flirted on the flanks of his advancing foot, delaying them a bit, and leading a few away from the main axis of his advance.

Meanwhile, we extended our foot line on our ridge, moving our second rank out on each flank and keeping a couple foot back as flank guards on each end.

The Samnites rolled up to the foot of the ridge, and after a slight delay in sorting their lines, surged up the hill into our waiting warbands. Given our height advantage and close order, we stood our ground all along the line, as we expected. Unfortunately for the Samnites, a couple of their units on the left end of their line fragmented in their charge. These we charged and broke, which created an overlap on our right. On our left, our line was longer, so we advanced to envelop the engaged Samnite foot.

Our left wing mounted and skirmishers, now in the enemy rear swarmed up and finished off some of the previously disrupted horse hiding behind the infantry line and flanked some of the engaged foot on the left. Likewise, our right wing mounted fell upon the engaged foot on our right end of the line.

The Samnite assault collapsed and the survivors fled the field.

Final Score: Gauls - 40 Samnites - 4.

[Karvon]

The Eighth in our series is battle vs Umbrians in wooded hill country.

8. Fighting Umbrians

Our Gauls passing through the hills of Umbria met a local force raised to oppose us. A series of gentle slopes and ridges ran across the Umbrian front. Both the near and far corner of our left were masked by woods. Our right flank corner was broken up by several large bodies of trees as well with a fair sized patch of rough falling just beyond these and towards the center. A large steep hill looked down on the woods on our left edge and ran to gentler slopes toward the center into a narrow valley with another medium gentle hill rising in about the center of our our side of the field.

Not sure of exactly what sort of forces we were facing, we opted for a conservative defensive deployment initially. We arrayed our close order warbands along the slopes of the central hill in our center. We deployed one mounted command of cavalry and light chariots forward on our left to scout out and screen the enemy advance. We deployed a smaller loose order warband division in the woods on our right, screened by our light foot along the edges. We placed the chariots from our other mounted command as a screen in the center. Behind the woods on our right we deployed the cavalry from that division. Our thinking was we could fix the enemy line with our defensive position on the hill and then unleash our other commands to flank the enemy.

The Umbrians deployed along the hills and ridges in groups of mixed foot; a few hoplites supported by a larger number of medium foot. A few light foot screened their line and a few cavalry were visible in the rear or on the flanks.

We sallied forward with our visible mounted command and held the rest. The Umbrians rolled down off their hills towards our hill top position with a few token jabs at our mounted. We evaded those easily and swung wider left to ride around his right, dealing with a horse or two he sent to oppose us. Our light chariots in the center drove in skirmishers and then served to delay and draw his foot towards our warbands awaiting on the hill.

As his line drew closer, we sortied out of the woods with our lights and showered some of his mediums with missiles. In response, he charged these pursuing into the woods, belatedly discovering our awaiting warbands. Our light chariots continued to harry and delay his foot near these woods and our warbands shifted to flank his engaged line. Our cavalry rode out of the woods and swept around his engaged flank. We shifted some of our chariots behind and around the woods on our right to further exploit his engaged line.

In the meantime, the main body of his infantry swept up to our hill position and attempted to storm it. Our warbands mostly repulsed these thrusts, disrupting or fragmenting a couple of these, but he did push through at one point, but we still held higher ground, so held.

The problem for him was, our left wing mounted, virtually unbloodied, rode up on the rear of his mostly engaged infantry line. He had a token horse left to oppose this, but that was chased off easily, unmasking the rest to a massive attack from the rear.

On our right, our horse and chariots flanked his engaged foot, leading to a collapse of most of his troops battling in the woods and freeing our foot there to march to help envelop the engaged enemy center.

At this point, the Umbrians lost heart and surrendered.

Final Score: Gauls 30 Umbrians 9.

[Karvon]

The ninth in our series is battle vs Umbrians along a stream on a wooded plateau.

9. Crossing the Stream vs the Umbrians.

As we pushed after the Umbrians, we found them beyond a stream on a wooded plateau. The plateau rose in about the center and ran back towards the Umbrian line and to the left with the stream running through the middle. A bit of rough lay beyond the stream on our right. Woods ran along the left side of the field. Large bodies of woods lay beyond the plateau covering both the left and right sides of the Umbrian center. A medium-sized woods lay on our right short of the stream.

We deployed most of our warbands in the center, but hid a couple in woods on our left. We placed mounted wings of light chariots and cavalry on each flank, and placed our light foot initially in woods on our left.

The Umbrians deployed half-a-dozen hoplites in the center, backed up by a lot of medium foot. Their light foot screened their front and some horse was visible in the rear as a small reserve.

We had considered securing our side of the plateau overlooking the stream with our foot and operating on the flanks with our mounted, but at the sight of the vast Umbrian host, decided that would lead to us getting double-enveloped. So, we echeloned right with our warbands with our right wing mounted sweeping wide to secure the crossing of the stream while our left wing mounted and lights acted as a distracting and delaying force.

The Umbrians pushed straight forward, but then detached a number of their mediums to seize the rough patch to secure their left and sortied out with some cavalry supported by some mediums previously hidden in the woods on their left. Most of their lights shifted to deal with ours, but our chariots aided in destroying or driving most of those off.

We continued to echelon right with our warbands to steer well clear of his position in the rough, so he pushed his mediums into the stream to try to cut us off and slow us down in order for his center and right to catch up with us. His cavalry also aggressively pushed out to cover this left flank from our ranging chariots and horse.

Our main body of warbands stormed into his troops in the stream and our mounted engaged then flanked his horse and a supporting foot, while our slights and mounted continued their delaying action on our left. We saw off his mounted, and the pursuit rolled up his mediums in the stream, some already disrupted by our foot.

WIth his left wing and cavalry reserve gone, the Umbrians lost heart and surrendered.

Final Score: Gauls 30 - Umbrians 0

[Karvon]

The tenth in our series is battle vs Romans among some hills and woods.

10. Against the Romans.

A Roman army blocked our path, taking up a position between some woods on their right and a steep hill and woods masking their left. A medium woods next to a village lay on our left, a medium gentle hill rose in our center near our back edge, and a few woods were scattered in our right sector.

We deployed a couple of our loose order warbands and some horse and chariots in and behind the woods on our left. We placed a couple of loose order warbands in the woods on our right screened by our lights and supported by a couple of chariots. Most of our warbands we deployed on the slopes of our lone hill to await the oncoming Romans.

The Romans dutifully advanced all along the front, throwing out some of their infantry to support their lights and horse on each flank to counter our own probing chariots and cavalry.

On our right, in the wooded sector, they detached several medium and heavy foot to block off and chase my probers back into the corner. We managed to pull out most of our mounted and one of our two warbands, but lost the other warband and lights in the delaying action in that corner.

On our left, the Romans threw out their Triarri in a loose screen and drove off our our horse and chariots. We managed to work our way around them or retired back on our warbands, but were out of action for awhile.

In the center, the Romans plowed forward, detaching a couple of units to deal with the village bordering the woods, and charging up the hill into our waiting warbands. Naturally, one of our warbands collapsed almost immediately, leaving a hole in our line, but the rest held and we began wrapping around the Romans with our superior numbers. The Romans armor and morale allowed them to hang in there though and the battle dragged on as we attempted to grind them down.

Our long delayed chariots and horse finally arrived from both flanks and crashed into the Romans engaged around the village on our left and in the center. Again, good Roman training staved off disaster, and the Romans held, and even rallied despite being flanked.

Night fell, saving the Romans from their final destruction.

Final Score Gauls 55 - Romans 46

[Karvon]

The eleventh in our series is battle vs Romans among some hills and woods along a river.

11. The River Fight.

We met the Romans once again along the banks of a river in wooded hill country. The river ran along our right flank, and though it did have crossings at both ends, we seriously doubted the Romans would attempt to use these and didn't think it wise to try using them ourselves. A large gentle hill rose from the center, looking down on a narrow strip of woods and a village along the river on our right, and a large forest running off to fill most of the sector on our left and about half of the area towards the center at the foot of this slope. A steep hill dominated the left center section of the field and a gentle ridge ran across the center with a few rough patches. Beyond the central hills, scattered woods filled the far left corner. A village sat close to these woods near the back of the board and a tiny marsh lay towards the center of the Roman rear.

We initially hid our division of close order warbands behind the woods along the lower slopes of the central hill. We deployed a couple of our loose order warbands in the strip of woods along the river on the right and the remainder in a loose line in the woods stretching from the left to the center. We massed our handful of light foot to screen the edges of the woods in the center and left. We deployed a line of light chariots across the open ground beyond the woods in the center. We deployed a small horse command hidden in the woods on our left. Our plan was to skirmish on the left with our lights and mounted and hopefully draw the Romans towards our warbands on the slope, though we didn't seriously expect them to attack there.

The Romans deployed in deep columns along the banks of the river with their small horse command covering their open right flank and a screen of light foot thrown forward to secure the central ridge.

We pushed forward with our own lights closely supported by our light chariots to contest control of the central ridge. The Romans beat us to it in a loose line, occupying a couple of pieces of rough ground to keep the chariots off them. We swept wide around their line with a couple of chariots into flanking positions and then, after unleashing a barrage of missiles and surviving a return volley, quickly swept all of them away, thanks to the flanking threats and combined arms assault. We aggressively pursued the fleeing lights and completely destroyed them.

We shifted about half of our warbands along the lower slopes of the central hill into view of the Romans to the right, looking down on the open approach to the hill, hoping the small number might lure the Romans forward. While they did advance a little and extend out a little, they did not take the bait and launch an assault, but awaited our next move.

We rallied our pursing chariots and light foot and sallied out with our mounted command and began to threaten the Roman horse covering their right. Our skirmishers disrupted one horse, which promptly retired and sought shelter behind the Roman heavy foot. We shifted a couple of chariots behind their lines and pushed others and our cavalry up to pin their facing foot. Our skirmishers shifted around and targeted the other Roman horse.

Tiring of the harassment, the Romans launched a series of charges with their horse and foot to drive our mounted and skirmishers away. This only exposed their horse to more fire, and both of them were subsequently destroyed. We managed to flank and break one of the legionaries as well and pursed it relentlessly till destroyed with one of our chariots.

The Romans regrouped and tightened up their lines, then pressed forward again, driving off our troops. Again, this led to a bit of scattering of his forces and we dispatched a single loose order warband from hiding from the woods on our left to lend aid in dealing with a more exposed cohort. This attracted the attention of the Romans and much of his battle line gravitated towards this lone unit and the neighboring mounted.

This left a few of his units more exposed on his right in the rear. As dusk approached, we managed to flank one that ventured into the marsh in pursuit of our lights. Our follow up attack fragmented this unit, but it managed to survive the ensuing hour of battle and night fell before we could finish it off, and the Roman army escaped collapse yet again.

Final Score: Gauls 39 Romans 4