The Roman forces
faced a humiliating defeat at the Caudine Forks in 316 BC. Despite this defeat, the Samnites were the
ones to be unsettled. The Romans were
incensed to fight on to regain their honor.
However, the prospect of continuing the war took time and the “Caudine
Pax” took hold. Despite an official
peace, the war still boiled around the edges.
In 315 BC the war started in earnest
again. He war raged on until 304
BCE. During this time, the Roman army
evolved from the Phalanx formation into the Manipular Army of the Triplex
Acies. There were any number of battles
and skirmishes between the two sides and their allies. Besides local Italian tribes and city-states,
the Etruscans also became embroiled in the war between 312-308 BCE. It was a Pan-Italian conflict. The winner would be poised to control
northern and central Italy.
The battle here is to represent one of the many forgotten
or ill-documented battles between the Samnites and Romans during this
timeframe.
The Forces
I will be using some standard armies from the Triplex
Acies and Samnite lists. These exact
lists are found in the Sample Armies section of the book. This was a small scale action and we will be
playing on the edges of Samnium. The two
armies met as the Romans were maneuvering to besiege a Samnite city, and the
Samnites have gotten the drop on them.
Romans
2 Hastati
1 Principe
1 Drilled Hoplite
1 Skirmisher
Samnites
2 Drilled Infantry- PIla
2 Warband Infantry
2 Velites
Both sides have 38 points.
Deployment
This battle will be on a 6x4 board with each corner
having the difficult terrain famous in Samnium.
It will be using the Attack at Dawn complication. The set-up will be a Surprise Assault mission
with the Samnites acting as the attackers.
The Romans deployed in the center in marching
column. The vanguard were the
skirmishers followed by the Hastati, then the Principes, and the Triarri in the
rearguard. They were all in loose
formation for the march. Suddenly,
warning cries went up from the lead officers.
The Samnites had been sighted the dim, early morning light.
The way had been blocked by experienced Samnite drilled
infantry, supported by Velites in the difficult terrain. On the right flank appeared the Samnite
warband, Drilled, and the second Samnite warband. On the opposite flank a unit of Samnite
Velites appeared to threaten any stragglers.
The Samnites want to keep the Romans penned in, while the
Romans wish to punch through and off the board.
Let’s see what happens.
Turn 1:
Both sides are distributed their Honor Points. The Romans have 5 to the Samnite 6. The Samnites bid 1 for Initiative and the
Romans 0.
A unit of Samnite Velites use an Honor Point to Skirmish
and rush through the woods to try to flank the head of the Roman column. The rest of the Samnite force closes in on
the Romans, who seem content to let the Samnite forces go about their business
without trying to interrupt. The last
Samnite velites rush forward eager to do a move and shoot, but they are out of
range.
With that, the Romans are free to activate and not have
to worry about Samnites responses. The
skirmishers move forward cautiously and fan out into a skirmish screen to slow
any quick Samnite attacks to the fore.
The Hastati peel off and move away from the main Samnite attack, while
the Principes turn to face the Velites and form Legion. The Triarri swing in behind the Roman forces
and form into their Phalanx wall to hold off the approaching Samnite warriors
while the rest move to escape.
Turn 2:
Both sides pick-up their new Honor Points, and think
about their plans. The Samnites bid 2,
while the Romans bid 3 for Initiative.
The Romans only have 2 left, and the Samnites 4.
The Romans begin by throwing in an Honor Point to charge
with the Principes into the Velites. The
Velites could Evade for an Honor Point, but the Samnites decide they are too
close and that it would not help their situation. Since the Principes are in Legion, the
Velites only real hope it to not die instantly!
The hope pans out as they hold, but are wavering with 1 Courage point
left.
The Samnites decide to spend an Honor Point to try to
interrupt the Romans. However, the
Romans win the roll off and continue activating. The Hastati continue their flight from the
board, while the Skirmish screen gives them cover. The Triarri kneel down and plant their
shields in the ground, daring the Samnites to come for them.
The Samnite Velite futily try to fight the Principes, but
it is pointless. The main Samnite battle
line closes in on the Triarri cautiously so they can laubch the charge instead
of receive it. The Samnite warriors at
the head of the column close in, but can not keep up. Finally, the last velite use an Honor Point
to Skirmish to leave the woods, and then move and shoot to eliminate the Roman
Skirmishers. Instead, they are reduced 2
Courage and are wavering.
Turn 3:
Both sides get their Honor Points, 5 Roman and 6
Samnite. The Samnites bid 4 to the
Romans who bid 3. The Samnites must
speed bump the fleeing Roman troops so their heavier elements can catch
up.
They start by having their lead Samnite Warriors declare
a charge into the wavering Skirmishers.
The Roman skirmishers are quickly routed and turned about.
The Romans spend an Honor Point and try to
interrupt. The Romans win the roll-off
and take control of the Initiative.
They use their last point to form Legion on one of the Hastati
units. Both units push towards the board
edge and safety. Next turn they will
escape unless something happens.
The Principes finish routing the Samnite Velites. The way will be clear for them to
escape. Meanwhile the Triarri continue
to hold the center.
The Samnites are now back in control of the turn as all
the Roman units have been activated.
Their flanking Velites will not longer have a soft Hastati target to
speed bump as they managed to form Legion.
They can only slow them with melee.
The Samnites use their last Honor Point to charge the Hastati in the
Flank. They have 7 attack dice, and need
4 to cause a Courage loss. If the dice
are lucky they can do it. However, the
dice are not lucky. However, they do tie
them up in combat and will keep them on the board.
In the End of the turn, the Roman Skirmishers and a unit
of Samnite Velites are removed as routed.
Only the Samnites could see their Velites rout, but all units in LOS
passed their Discipline Check.
Turn 4:
This time the Romans get 4 Honor and the Samnites 5. Both armies lost a unit. The Samnites MUST catch the Romans! The Romans bid all 4 Honor Points to escape,
while the Samnites do not bid any since they need Honor Points to launch
charges.
Romans activate first.
The Principes march to the board edge in their Legion formation. The second Hastati unit makes it off the
board edge. The Samnites do not
interrupt. The Hasati engaged witht eh
Velites attack them. The Velites are
reduced to 2 Courage and are waivering.
One more turn and they will be routed.
The Triarri stand firm.
The Samnites declare charges across the board. However, two of the units fail to connect and
end up wavering. However, Samnites
warriors swarm the Triarri in the center.
However, some bad Samnite attack rolls leave them only reduced 1
Courage!
The Samnite Velite fail to scratch the Hastati, and they
are pushed back the maximum amount! The
Hastati and Velite combat is at the very board edge.
Turn 5:
If the Principes or Hastati escape the board this turn,
the game is over! The Romans collect 3
Honor Points and the Samnites 5. The
Samnites bid 4 to make sure they get to control the initiative. The Romans are wise to this plan, and choose
to bid none in case they need the re-rolls or interrupts.
A Samnite Warband manages to catch up to the Principes in
the rear. However, because they were
wavering they could not use the last Samnite Honor Point to charge. They simply moved to contact and tied the
Romans up.
On the other side, if the Samnite warriors move in they will
be supporting the all ready weakened Velites and risk routing with them. However, without their help the Hastati will
easily rout the Velites and escape. They
also move into contact and support the Velites with a rear attack, so +4
dice! However, no Charge bonuses since
they could not use the Honor Point as they too were wavering.
The Velites attack the Hastati with the Samnite Drilled
infantry in support! They use the last
Samnite Honor Point to re-roll an Attack dice.
They only score 3 hits, not enough to cause a Courage loss to a unit in
Legion! Man, the Pila rules or a charge
would have been helpful there, but the Wavering made it a moot point!
In the Center, the Samnites battle with the Triarri. There the Samnites reduce them another Courage down to 3, but they pass a Discipline
check. The Romans take back over and
start with a Triarri counter-attack! The
Romans have a bad roll, and contemplate using Honor Points as re-rolls, but
decide to hold onto them until the important fights!
The Hastati manage to break the Velites and cause them
and their supporting Samnite Drilled Infantry to Rout! That was the danger of having the Velites be
supported by the Samnites!
Finally, the Principes fight with the Samnite wraband
that moved to attack them in the rear!
Here the Romans use 2 Honor Points to re-roll misses. The Samnites lose 2 and are wavering.
In the End phase, the Samnite Units that were routing
were removed. In addition, the Triarri
are pushed back as are the Samnite Warband.
Turn 6:
The Romans get 3 Honor Points, to the Samnite 3. There is nothing the Samnites can do to stop
the Romans from winning the battle.
Therefore, the Samnites bid 0, and the Romans bid 1.
The Roman Hastati unit moves off the board! That means 16 points have succeed in leaving
the board and the Romans have won!
However, we decide to play out the last two battles for fun.
The Roman Principes dismantle the Samnite Warband they
are fighting and cause them to rout!
The Triarri counter-attack the Samnites and reduce the
Drilled infantry 2 Courage, but lose another Courage point themselves. They are again pushed back but stay in the
fight.
Conclusion:
The Roman forces
were able to skillfully withdraw from the Samnites trap. They were able to maneuver deeper into
Samnium, and the Samnites withdrew before them.
This gave the Romans the space they needed to construct a fortified camp
in which to harass the Samnites in their own territory. The strategy to slowly encircle and cut-off
the Samnites from potential allies was working.
I expected the Romans to turn and come at my lines. I did not expect them to flee the opposite
table edge! My initial Samnite
deployment was heavy on one flank, and the lone Velites on the opposite side
were to take opportunistic rear/flank charges.
The Romans turning towards them and charging them instead my main force
did not cross my mind. I was really
lucky to catch up and make a game of it at all!
One of the key things I wanted to determine was if the
Legion rules were too strong. After this
game, I am not sure. Velites were unable
to even scratch the Romans in Legion, and I am not sure this is bad. My Legion busting rules like “Pila” never
came into play due to lack of Honor Points, Wavering, or the wrong units being
able to engage. I was not able to “crack”
a Principe or Hastati Legion, but I also wasn’t using the right tools for the
job once it became a matter of catching up with them first.
The Romans only “lost” their Skirmishers and took damage
to a unit that uses Phalanx instead of the Legion rules. The Samnites lost 2 Velites, 1 Drilled
Infantry , and 1 Warband Unit. On paper,
it looks like a pretty lopsided Roman victory with the Legion rules being
overpowered. However, the reality is my
opponent just out played me. I was
constantly on the horns of a dilemma with the Samnites while the Roman path was
clear and straight forward. So, in the final
analysis I was outplayed in this scenario and it does not necessarily mean I
need to re-work the Legion rules. I
will need to playtest further to know for sure.
I tweaked a couple of Stat line here and there to fit the timeframe a bit better. Those should be in the new
Conquest! Rome in Italy rules now. I am unsure how long they will be up on the blog, so it you are interested you might want to grab them now.
If you have tried the rules and know more about this
topic than me, I would love to hear your thoughts on the Messageboard
Here.