Mediterranean campaign - contributors requested

[Paul Innes]

I'd love to play some of the battles for this campaign, Aaron, but all my games stuff is another continent. It's a great read - thanks for organising.

Paul

[Prufrock]

And the dispatch to the senate is in!

225 BC. Rome invades Cisalpine Gaul.

Fearing a further incursion by recently repulsed Gallic tribes to the north, the Senate of Rome voted to dispatch an army under the command of Consul C. Atilius Regulus. The Consul was ordered to seek out the troublesome barbarians, punish them for their temerity and remove this threat to Roman territory.

Regulus, in sole charge of Roman, allied Italian and Cenomani Gallic forces, advanced into the lands of the Boii and Senones. Hearing reports of a nearby hilltop site sacred to both tribes, he immediately gathered those Romans and allies he could at once assemble and led them onwards with all speed, aiming to destroy the site and thereby dishearten the enemy. The first wave of this force Regulus himself led, while ordering the remainder to follow on at their earliest opportunity.






The holy site, and the ridge upon which it stood, were guarded by a swathe of Gauls, these hailing from both tribes.



Upon sighting the lead elements of Roman forces, being the swift-moving Equites and Velites, this mass of warriors descended from the heights to fall upon Regulus's army. Fighting was long and hard, with neither side giving ground, and with Consul Regulus at all times in the thick of the action.



One body of the enemy, these being skirmishers of young and headstrong nature, occupied a grove of trees in the centre of the field, resisting all attempts to eject them from it.



As the second body of Rome's forces arrived the Italian allied contingent, being of javelinmen and slingers, engaged these youths and drove them back from the tree-line. Pursuing into this sacred grove, the Italians fought hand to hand, with the woodland contested until the battle's end.



At the same instant that Regulus's reinforcements entered the fray a large body of the Boii tribe arrived to the north, moving southwestward towards the ridge, aiming to bolster their colleagues around the temple. This exerted enormous pressure on Atilius Regulus and those Romans south of the ridge, with first the brave but long suffering Velites and then subsequently the noble Equites being driven from the field. Their sacrifice had not been in vain, however, as the Gauls were sorely weakened by their struggles with those most valiant of Romans.



The hard marching second wave being now at hand, Regulus despatched the Triarii and Italian close-order troops, supported by the Cenomani, on a swift encirclement to the right of the enemy positions.



Although the Senones and their Gaesati allies, under their warlord Aneröestes, had now joined the Boii in the defence of the holy site, they could make no dent in the line formed by the Triarii and Italians, although the cavalry of the allied Cenomani quit the field, defeated by Gaesati charioteers.



While fighting raged to either side, one brave body of Principes now stormed up the eastern end of the ridge, forcing the defenders of the temple to flee before them, and resisting all the enemies' attempts to drive them out.

As the day wore on, with their casualties rapidly mounting, the sacred site now in enemy hands and with no sign of the Romans wavering, the Gauls lost heart and began to slip away. Before long their entire force was in full retreat. However, despite his victory, Regulus was unable to press the pursuit, having lost his mounted arm in this day's battle.







With evening approaching, the victorious army toppled and despoiled the circle of standing stones abandoned by the Gauls, C. Atilius Regulus therein pouring a libation to the gods, in thanks for a victory won.



The battle was fought solo, using a variant of Bob Cordery's 'Portable Wargame Rules: Ancients' from his Developing the Portable Wargame book, and with solo mechanisms deciding the course of action for each arriving body, determined at the moment it entered the field. The scenario for this battle was based upon Scenario 8 in Neil Thomas's One-Hour Wargames book.

******

Many thanks to Martin Smith for this refight, images, and the great report. The campaign continues!

[Prufrock]

The new turn is upon us.

Situation in 219 BC, end of turn 2:



The Romans have a foothold in Cisapline Gaul. The Ptolemies have secured Phoenicia. News from Thrace is still awaited!

But time marches on.



220 BC - The Romans, inspired by the success of their recent attack on Cisalpine Gaul, are becoming ever more ambitious. A fleet has descended upon the coast of Nearer Spain, landing near Emporiae. 

Elsewhere there is mostly just fractious politicking and rebuilding of strength, but in one other place there is war: the Illyrians are taking advantage of Macedon's eastward focus and have commenced raiding in force.

So we have two battles to fight this turn so far, Illyrians attacking Macedon and Iberians attacking a Roman force recently landed in Spain.

Any takers for these battles please drop me a message.

(And thanks for the interest so far!)

[Prufrock]

We have two new battles in over the weekend.

Heraclea Lyncestis, 219 BC

Reports are in from John G-L and his son Ralph of a battle in northern Macedon between the invading Illyrians and a force scrambled together to meet them:

The Illyrians invaded; the Macedonians placed gentle hills and Ralph added some rough going.  The Illyrian infantry proved surprisingly resilient even against pikes, and of course they had the numbers, but eventually their central command was worn down and broke.  A cavalry clash on the right saw casualties on both sides but the Macedonians had the edge, while on the left the Macedonians held up against vastly superior numbers. After the standard competition time (three and a quarter hours) we called the game at 6-4 to the Macedonians.  Either side could have won, given unlimited time, but Philip V had the edge.  So the Illyrian invasion has been repulsed after a very hard fight.

Macedonians to the left of this picture; Illyrians to the right.


The Illyrian centre on a gentle hill.


View from behind the Macedonian centre-right as the phalanx advances.


Macedonian right, with an Illyrian outflanking movement underway.


View from behind the Illyrian centre as the crisis approaches.


Hard fighting on the Illyrian left.


The phalanx under pressure in a fierce melee.

The Illyrian raid on Macedon is driven off, but the army has not been destroyed.

Many thanks for John G-L and Ralph for fighting this one out and sending through the report and photographs!

[Prufrock]

Emporiae, 218 BC

Nearer Spain, Proconsul Aaronius Dubius Scipio Calvus, having landed a force near Emporiae, was engaged by an alliance of indomitable Iberian tribes under the command of one Simoniblis.

The tribes fell upon the Roman force as it was making camp. Both forces were equal in strength. For the Romans, who deployed first, there were twelve units of average legionaries, two of levy light infantry, three of average heavy cavalry (Roman and allied) and one of levy light cavalry (Spanish allies). Scipio Calvus was classed as an unispired commander. The Roman key zone was in the centre.

The Iberians were comprised of fourteen units of average heavy infantry, one of levy light infantry, one of average light infantry, two average heavy cavalry, one average light cavalry, and one veteran heavy cavalry with average leader (Simoniblis). They had a hill to their right rear, and their key zone in the right centre.


View from the Iberian right rear.

In a cannily-fought battle the Iberians pushed forward in the centre and centre-right, later bringing Simoniblis and his veteran cavalry forward on the the right flank. The Romans were content to hold back their wings to avoid tangling with the cavalry and concentrate on the fight in the centre.


The centres engage.

Powerful Iberian attacks forced the Romans to pull back their left centre. The Romans push forward the left cavalry to try to rescue the situation.


The Roman cavalry is defeated - Simoniblis advances.

The Romans are famously resilient, so the Iberian left now advances to engage the Roman right. The fighting is grim and bloody.


The Roman left is chewed up while on the other end of the line the forces finally meet.

The Roman left is crushed; Simoniblis takes the camp. This plus eight units shattered means the Romans are at -3 to morale, and at the next setback the army flees. Dubius Scipio is unable to hold up the family reputation!

A famous win for SP (also giving him the Washbourn Trophy), who has overseen a good plan play out to near perfection, and pushes the Roman menace out of Nearer Spain.

The campaign continues!

Many thanks again to John, Ralph, and SP for participating in this turn, to John, Russ, Martin and Peter for having played in the other battles so far, and to others who have also expressed interest in participating. It is wonderful to have had so many hands to the pump, as it were!

[Erpingham]

Fine display of vintage figures by John there.

[Prufrock]

I'd love to play some of the battles for this campaign, Aaron, but all my games stuff is another continent. It's a great read - thanks for organising.

Paul

Thanks Paul - not as epic as your Empire campaign, but we'll do what we can!

[Keraunos]

Great stuff.  I will be able to join in to fight some battles (no Carthaginian figures yet)  after 18th June.

[John GL]

Fine display of vintage figures by John there.

Well I did say to Aaron " I don't actually have an Illyrian army, so the 50 Superior Auxilia elements were a mixture of Thracians, Spaniards and Estonians... they more or less looked the part."

Some of the figures are indeed vintage, dating back to about 1970, but others were bought and painted in 2023.  The pikemen are newish, having featured in a Slingshot article in 2011.

[Ian61]

Campaign is shaping up nicely. Well done all the recent contributors.

[Prufrock]

Turn 4, 216 BC.

Well, here we are at Turn 4. Thank you to the contributors and to those who have dropped in to see what's happening, here or on the blog.

With last turn's aggressors driven off, the map has not changed.

Turn 4, however, sees some unexpected activity - the Kingdom of Pontus has become active, and is now shown on the board by an orange diamond.

216 - Carthage at last moves, no doubt troubled by Rome's venture into Carthage's sphere of influence. Led by a young-go getter called Hannibal, the Carthaginans are welcomed by the Iberians and urged to continue on to attack the Romans, which they cross the Alps to do. Some of the Gauls pledge to support the Carthaginians and Rome must ready itself for another campaign.

215 - Carthage vs Rome in Cisalpine Gaul. Carthage can use Numidians, Iberians, and Gauls to supplement its citizen army.

213 - Macedon attacks Greece after one demand and one arrogant response too many. Will Rome support Greece? Not at this time - they are occupied with their own wars.

Map of the fourth turn, 216-213 BC.



As with previous turns, if anyone is keen to take either of these battles, please let me know!

Cheers
Aaron

[Ian61]

We can do a Carthage v Rome here, no probs. Just check is this envisaged as a full on pitched battle with equal-ish forces or do you want to put on some conditions?

[John GL]

I'll happily do the other one.

John GL

[Jim Webster]

Intrigued by Pontus, as at this period it still doesn't seem to have control of Sinope or the coast, conquering these in the 180s BC. Seems to have allied with Bithynia against Pergamon to do it so a Pontus v Pergamon campaign is on the cards.
Given at this point Pergamon is still worried by Seleucids etc, it is probably a pretty even match 

[Prufrock]

Thanks all, Ian and John, much appreciated. Will get back to you (and Jim!) after work