Late Imperial Romans v Early Franks

We played a really enjoyable game today that, although it was a decisive result, really came to the wire in terms of what was going to happen.

My opponent took a Frankish list with:
WbG, 7xWb, 2xBw, Ps

I took a Late Imperial Roman West army so that I could use my newly painted Foederati knights and skirmishers along with my Romans.  My list was:
CvG, Cv, 2xLH, Kn, 2xBd, 3xAx, 2xPs

As I got to be the defender I set up a largely open board with just the one lot of bad going - a woods bisected by a road and some gentle hills.  The Franks chose to have the edge with the woods in their deployment zone and put their camp behind it.  I set up in a single long line.  The Franks set up in three groups with their archers on my left facing my Cv and Kn, so I swapped my Cv and Kn to my right side in exchange for 2xBd.

(Click pictures to embiggen)

Kamikaze Psiloi: Romans 0 - Franks 1

Rather stupidly, when I got lots of pips on my first turn, I did the Psiloi Dash all the way up the Wb in the woods and charged them.  Now this was plainly idiotic, but my thinking was that Wb can't kill Ps so I'll be able to annoy him and draw him out of the woods.  Which is all well and good until his turn when he does a double move to flank my Ps and kill it on the recoil.  Sigh... I'm sure that I'd be a much better DBA player if I didn't keep trying to be so clever.

Romans being Romans, barbarians being barbarians

Feeling chastened by the senseless loss of my Ps, I was much more sensible for the rest of the game.  I keep pacing my army forward.  On my left the Bw and Wb came out to meet me but their shooting failed to do anything useful.  On the right I sent my LH for an end-run around to threaten his camp, hoping to disrupt his lines a bit.

We have strategery on tap

The Franks sent their Ps back to intercept my LH, keeping their toes in the woods.  My LH moved to block his ZOC so that the rear of the two units would have some options next turn.  My Cv and Kn moved right, hoping to be able to get the Kn into the Wb which had come out of the woods.  My three Ax attacked the Frankish Bw but only managed to recoil them both.  On the left I got myself into a tangle, wheeling my Bd so far that it was hard to extricate them from the ZOC of the leftmost Wb unit and forming a potential obstacle to my Ax if it had to recoil.

Boing!

The next few turns saw lots of combat but no results.  My Ax traded recoils back and forth with his Bw.  In the centre his WbG began driving my Ax back despite being double overlapped by my other Ax and my CvG.  On the right my Kn charged his Wb in the open with a flank from my LH but they must have packed their rubber lances today.

One chance in 36.  Romans 0 - Franks 2

In an act of lunacy, the Frankish Wb on the right charged my Kn and to my surprise killed it with a 6-1 roll!  Oh dear.  The back and forth between my Ax and Bw continued on the left with the Romans being unable to make anything of repeated 3-2 and 3-1 combats.  In the centre the WbG continued to push back my Ax while my CvG beside him got stuck against the Wb.

Romans 1 - Franks 2

Still my Ax on the left were unable to buy a win.  In the centre my Cv lined up beside my CvG to give the overlap on the Frankish Wb who were finally killed.

A rush of blood to the head

The bad guy got 6 pips and after a moment of thought put into place a risky yet fiendish plan.  His Bw moved back from my Ax and the adjacent Wb unit made a double move to attack the Ax.  The Wb behind his WbG also made a double move and retreated, turned and flanked my CvG which was also attacked by the Wb in front of it.  The situation before we rolled any dice was as above.  His General has no room to recoil and is in a 4-3 combat in his favour.  My General has been flanked and is in a 1-3 combat to my favour.  Here's what happened:

A rush of blood to the neck.  Romans 2G - Franks 3G

Against the odds, both Generals were recoiled and killed.  On the left my Ax again recoiled his Bw and the Wb vs Ax fight was a tie.  The Romans were demoralized by seeing their General trapped and killed and fled the battlefield with head hung low.

Post-game thoughts:

1. My kamikaze Psiloi move lost me the game.  If I hadn't been 1 unit down already, the game would have been tied up at 2G-2G each and we would have continued.  Plus I would have had some Ps backup for my Ax, leading them to kill those pesky Bw.  I really don't what I was thinking...
2. Speaking of Ps, what was I thinking??  My other Ps just sat there all game, forgotten and lonely.  I could have moved through the Bd and given support to my Ax.
3. I should have been more aggressive with my Bd.  I've had some bad experiences in the past with my Bd being killed by Wb but the odds are with the Bd especially when I would have had the overlap on the left if I'd cared to take it.
4. Finally a game where I didn't recklessly waste my LH. I was very unlucky with them and my Kn, first to recoil from a flanking 3-1 combat, then to lose my Kn to a 3-2 combat.  Dem's da breaks!
5. It was a really fun game with both sides fighting in what I think were historically appropriate ways.

LIR v Visigoths again

This is our repeat of the previous game of Late Imperial Romans v Later Visigoths.  Again, the pictures are taken from a pretty low angle so although they look nice and pretty it's sometimes a bit hard to see what's actually going on.  Sorry for so long between posts.  I actually did most of this one a week or so ago but ran into some glitches with blogger and didn't get back to it until tonight.

Anyway, here's the board and the early setup - crossroads through a woods and two gentle hills. 

Tally ho!

 I put a column of Ax on the road and sent them scooting into the woods.  I sent a Cv and LH to the right around the woods.  My Bd and Ps started to plod around the left of the woods towards the enemy camp, with the CvG and LH on their far left.  My plan was to distract the Visigoths on the right on the board with the Cv and LH, block them in the woods with the Ax, and put pressure on their camp with the Bd.

The Visigoth setup looked odd to me at first but here's my analysis of it:
- 2xCv and 2xPs on my right to oppose my mounted.
- 2xWb on the road to oppose my Ax, with the KnG in a nice central position.
- 2xBw,2xWb,Cv on the right to defend the camp and harass my mounted with shooting.
The only thing I would do differently is to keep the two Bw units together and not put them near the wood where they can't shoot.

Romans 0 - Visigoths 1

I left the right flank quite static as I was spending most of my pips on the left to advance my Bd and in the middle to reorganize my Ax into a line.  Once again I had pushed my Ax too far forward and into a vulnerable position for no benefit.  The rightmost was killed by a lowly Ps when overlapped by his Cv.  The others recoiled the enemy and bought some time to withdraw.  The gap in front of the enemy camp continued to tempt me.

Romans 1 - Visigoths 1

Realizing that my Ax were about to get overwhelmed by a bunch of thugs with sticks and rocks, I sent them some Ps backup.  This enabled them to kill an enemy Bw which had attacked them in the woods.  The enemy Ps moved to a flanking position but I rolled well and recoiled the enemy again.

On the right, my Cv and LH moved to threaten the flank of the enemy Cv.  On the left, my Bd marched onwards.  My LH scooted around behind the Visigoths Bw which turned to face them.

Here's what happened next:

Romans 1 - Visigoths 2

My LH kept turning the Bw around because I was too scared to charge them and didn't want to be forced to flee off the table and I figured that if I could get far enough around I'd be able to bypass them entirely and charge another unit.  In the woods the Visigoth Ps flanked my Ax which was killed by his Wb.  His other Wb recoiled my 2 remaining Ax.  On the left flank my line of Bd started to curl around to line up to his angled block of Wb.

Romans 2 - Visigoths 2

Right about now I realized that my General was way too far out on the left flank where not only was there nothing for him to do, he was also so far from the woods that I was paying extra pips to try to save my Ax.  So I turned him and moved him full speed back behind my lines.  My Ax retreated also at top speed to escape the Wb.  My LH charged the rear unit of his Wb on my left flank, thus evading the shooting of his Bw as well as robbing the Wb in front of my blades of a rear support factor.  That unit of Wb was duly despatched.

Romans 3 - Visigoths 2

His Wb pursued me out of the woods but was driven back by my Ax with some lucky rolls.  On the right flank our mounted units finally clashed but all that happened was that my LH was recoiled.  My CvG continued to close in on the woods and my LH ran down the Wb that they had rear charged earlier.

Romans 4 - Visigoths 2

In a final bid to win the game, his Wb near the woods charged my Ax again and also flanked me with his other unit of Wb but again I rolled luckily and he recoiled, straight into the path of my CvG.  My Ax followed up in my turn and my CvG flanked his Wb and it was killed and the game was mine.

Post-game thoughts:

1. Again, I tried to concentrate on keeping it simple and again it worked.
2. Again, I was the beneficiary of lucky die rolls when it counted.
3. Again, I was too aggressive with my Ax simply because I like them.  Realistically, they should have been killed three or four times by the enemy Wb and it was only luck that saved me.
4. Moving my Cv and LH to the right of the woods was a waste.  Perhaps if I had kept my CvG more centrally located the whole game it would have allowed me to use them more.
5. DBA is fun!

Late Imperial Romans v Later Visigoths

For this game, I chose to play Late Imperial Romans West  II/78a:
CvG, Cv, 2xLH, 3xBd, 3xAx, 2xPs

My opponent chose to play Later Visigoths II/82:
KnG, 3xCv, 4xWb, 2xPs, 2xBw

I laid out the terrain, choosing this time to place only some roads, a wood and two gentle hills.  I wanted space to spread my line out like good old fashioned Romans!  My opponent put a block of Cv on the hill and his block of Wb on the flat with Bw on the right and Ps on the left.

After the first bounds

Naturally, I got a 1 for pips first up.  The Visigoths grabbed the woods on my right with their Ps and angled everybody else to go around the woods.  Even though I had my Ps and Ax on that side I decided pretty early on that I wasn't going to distract myself by contesting the woods unless I had an easy kill on the cards.

After a few more bounds my much longer line was starting to envelop the Visigoths:

Come to papa!

My real fear was that his Kn would punch through my Ax or Bd with the quick kill, but since it was his general he probably decided that it was too risky.  I sent a single Ax through the woods to turn the block of Wb away from my Bd, ignoring the enemy Ps in my rear which were now out of command distance.  My LH went wide left atop the hill, so the Visigoths bent their line of Cv back to protect their flanks, but it did cause them to have quite a fragmented line.

Romans 1 - Visigoths 0

The Wb split up to try to kill my Ax in the woods but the Ax recoiled.  My LH charged the lone straggling Cv with one overlap and killed them in an even fight with a lucky roll.  My Cv also charged the Goth Cv with an overlap but got a stick.  The enemy Cv then withdrew from combat back to the top of the hill.  The Goth Bw started to shoot my Ax but nothing came of it.

Romans 2 - Visigoths 0

My CG then attacked the next Visigoth Cv in the line, with the flank from my other Cv unit.  I got the recoil easily on a 4-2 combat and the enemy Cv was cut down.  The Visigoths were suffering a severe pip drought at this time so it was not easy for them to respond as I rolled up their line.

Romans 3G - Visigoths 0

TheVisigoth KnG decided to stop the rot himself and turned and charged my Cv even though this put him in a position to be flanked by my CvG.  His remaining Cv came off the hill to give an overlap, making it a 3-2 fight in his favour, but if he recoiled he'd be destroyed and the game would be mine.  That's what happened, giving the Romans a long-awaited victory!

Post-game thoughts:

1. My plan this game was to keep it simple.  No elaborate back-field runs, no attempts at pushing big columns through bad going, just rely on a solid wall of Bd and mounted.  And it worked!
2. It certainly helped that the bad guys had Kn + 3xCv rather than 4xKn.  It allowed me to be much more assertive in enveloping him.
3. We used a system of drawing playing cards ranging from Ace to 6 to determine pips.  No different really to rolling for pips except that if you draw some low cards early you know you're due for higher cards later on, which is a nice psychological and statistical addition to the game.

Civil war

Educational theory says that now that I've been playing DBA for a while I should be improving from a state of unconscious incompetence to a state of conscious incompetence.  Well, today's game certainly seemed to provide support for that theory.  I feel like I'm getting worse at DBA, but at least now I'm quicker to figure out what I'm doing wrong!

We played a Middle Imperial Roman civil war, I took East versus my opponent's West.  The board was as below, with a steep hill in my deployment zone, a gentle hill opposite, a wood on my right and a waterway on my left.  Our armies were the same, except he had chosen Bw where I chose Ps.

After the first bounds

I dithered a lot with my set-up.  I certainly didn't feel like I had any sort of plan and it probably shows.  I started to run my LH around to the left hoping to outflank the Art on the hill.  My own Art moved up the road facing his Cv.  He moved his Ax into the woods and generally advanced the rest of his army but left behind an Ax and Bd near the road.

Having this many groups is painful when you roll a 2 for pips

I kept rolling low for pips and my LH movement was gobbling them up so I didn't get much further forward.  His Cv and LH came down the road and veered to hug the edge of the woods. His CvG backed up his Bd block.  And his rearmost Bd went towards the waterway to intercept my LH. 

My Cv moved towards my right flank when I saw his Cv and LH coming.  I left room for my Ax to recoil - I've been caught like that before!  My Ps moved to the left to broaden the line, thinking I might be able to skirt around him.  My Ax on the steep hill moved forward to throw a ZOC out in front of my Ps and Bd.  I would have liked to charge the Art on the flank with my LH but he had the hill so I would probably have to recoil, and then in my turn the Art would blast me.  I needed to get those Ax up fast to help out!

East 0 - West 1

Then I got a shock - his lone Bw stepped up and shot my Ax to death with a 6-1 roll!  His own Ax came off the hill and suddenly my left flank looked flimsy.  I juggled my Bd and Ps around to get the Ps behind the Bd before they got chased off by the enemy Bd - I wanted the combat advantage when our lines collided.  His Ax continued to advance through the woods so I brought up my Cv to oppose them.  My Art was shooting at his LH but failed to achieve anything real.

Take a bow.  East 1 - West 1

In my turn, my Ax came off the steep hill and killed his Bw by recoiling it into the flank of his Bd.  My Bd also managed to recoil both of his Bd units.  Then my Art managed to recoil his Cv and LH back onto the road.  My CvG moved to behind the Bd to the right of my Art, with the thought that I might be able to pounce on his Cv in the future.

Jostling for position

In the next few bounds, my Ax retreated to form a line with my Bd block, but his Ax formed up opposite it and his Bd moved to overlap me on the steep hill.  I moved my rightside Bd out of the way and charged my CvG into his Cv but only managed to recoil it.  However, both his Cv and LH now had a toe in the forest so if they recoiled again they'd be dead.  I then succumbed to temptation and ran my LH right behind his Ax in the hope of recoiling his Ax into it.  Of course, I was right in the sights of the Western Roman artillery and we rolled even on the dice so my LH was left swinging in the breeze with nothing to show for it...

Click click, BOOM!  East 1 - West 3

So in his turn, his Art destroyed my LH.  And then he flanked my Ax and killed it too.  And now he had the flank on my Bd line.  I think I only rolled a 1 for pips, so I stupidly attacked with my Bd where I couldn't actually kill anything.  Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of the final setup but here's what happened:

East 1 - West 5

His units flanked my Ps-backed Bd and recoiled them, killing both because they'd been flanked by his Bd.  Game over.

Post-game thoughts:

1. It was really interesting playing against essentially the same army (only 1 unit difference).  Much trickier as there weren't any strong mismatches.  A much more tactical game that I think I lost because I got rash and did risky things whereas my opponent held his nerve.
2. It was funny playing with no Wb on the board!  I'm so used to their adorable impetuous advances.
3. I'm still pretty bad at using Art.  I still prefer LH.
4. My initial setup was bad.  If I could play this game again I would start with my Bd in column on the steep hill.  I would advance them against his Art.  My Art and Cav would creep up on the flat, guarding the right flank of my Bd.  No idea what I would have done with my Ax though!
5. I should have left my Ax on the steep hill rather than pouncing on his Bw to kill it.  I was so keen to avenge the unlikely shooting of my other Ax that I didn't foresee how fast my flank could collapse.  If I'd stayed on the edge of the hill I would have had the uphill in the bad ground and my ZOC would have put his Bd line in disarray for a while.

Again, it was a fun game, and I feel like I'm still on a learning curve for DBA.  Soon hopefully I'll have some Kn, Wb and Ps painted and then I'll be able to play the Patrician Romans.  Thanks for reading.

Gepids v Middle Imperials Romans East

Today it was my turn to choose which army to play so I chose to play with my opponent's Gepid army, in honour of my own force which is under construction.  He took my models and played Middle Imperial Romans East, taking Art instead of LH and Bw instead of Ps.

The board had two gentle hills on each side, some woods, a crossroads, and a steep hill near the Roman camp.  (Click pictures to embiggen)

After my bound.  Amazingly, I didn't roll a '1'.

I chose to set up my Kn in the face of the enemy Art.  Possibly stupid, but my thinking was that he would have to reinforce that flank or I would crush him and then take his camp.  That would make it easier for my Wb to go fast down the road.  With that in mind I raced my Ps up into the woods to prevent him from coming much further.  Of course, his Ax were in front of those woods so it was easy for him to chase me out again.  The photo doesn't show it but his mounted wing was on my extreme right behind his Ax.  In response to my setup and first bound he began moving some Bd to guard his Art.

Shot from the Goodyear blimp

My Kn moved up to just outside Art firing range in column then took the plunge and ran in.  In hindsight I should have been in a 2x2 formation, that way he could only recoil one of the two halves of it.  On the way in I used the Ps in the woods to block his Art shooting at my Kn.  My Ps in the other woods were chased out by his Ax, and the other one crossed over in front of my Wb to threaten the flank of his Art.  In response, he kept bringing his Bd up to protect the flank of his Art and raced his mounted units around the rear to try to get to my Kn.

I thought I had plenty of time to get my Kn into him but then I rolled three consecutive '1's for pips.  Grrr.

Gepids 1 - Romans 0

Rather than get my whole column of Kn flanked by his rapidly approaching cavalry, I just attacked with one unit and killed his Art.  His Bd came down off the hill and chased away my Ps.  My Wb subsequently attacked his Bd on the road but were recoiled.  Which was to keep happening an awful lot as it turns out. 

Gepids 1 - Romans 1

We both started rolling low pips so there was some to and fro between my Kn and his Bd atop the hill but eventually he got the uphill and the overlap and doubled me, killing my Kn.

Gepids 1 - Romans 2

Still suffering from my low pip rolls...  His Cv and CvG flanked my Kn and killed them.  His Bd and Ax tried to do the same to my Wb on the right near the woods but my Wb was made of sterner stuff.

Cowards!

I finally stopped rolling 1s and started rolling 6s.  But only for pips, mind you, not combat.  My Kn turned his CvG and attacked his other Cv too with some Ps on the flank to stop overlaps.  The Ps fled of course, but the Kn recoiled too, which wasn't part of my plan.  The other Kn got stuck in combat.  My Wb turned his flanking Ax and recoiled it, but my other Wb was recoiled by his Bd on the road.  Enough recoiling!

Gepids 2 - Romans 2

The Romans wisely retreated their Cv to reform their lines.  My Wb again surged forward, this time crushing an element of Bd on the road.  Two kills apiece now.  The other Wb column was recoiled again.

Gepids 2 - Romans 4

The Romans now attacked with everything at their disposal.  On the left the LH ran into the hills to prepare a flanking move.  On the right, the Bd had Ax on each side of him to overlap my Wb which had followed up the previous combat and put himself at great risk.  Sure enough, my Wb was doubled and killed and I lost two elements.  The game was up, unless I could scrape two more kills out of the combat on the left of the board.

The CvG, Cv and Bd on the left had charged my Kn, KnG and Ps.  Unexpectedly, the Ps caused the Bd to recoil.  Then my Kn caused his CvG to recoil.  The game was now unwinnable for me but I could still kill his Cv to make it 4-3 and salvage some honour.  He was double overlapped and I had my KnG versus his Cv so it was 5 to 1.  But the dice showed 2 and 6 giving us a stick.  Aaaaargh!!!

Post-game thoughts:

1. It was a great game.  Lots of tension, lots of drama.  Very uncertain outcome.
2. Gepids are an enjoyable army to play.  Reasonably mobile and quite dangerous.  I'm getting the hang of Ps now.  Having 4 of them is great.
3. The Art and Bw didn't achieve much.  Part of it was bad luck with the dice, but I would have fielded them together.  That way you could run the Bw out in front of the Kn to try to kill them once they closed with the Art.
4. Perhaps I should have targetted his Bd and Ax with my Kn.  But doing that would have meant that the Wb couldn't use the road so I would have either have had to leave them behind or hand over the strategic advantage while I brought them up.
5. I think I may have forgotten to follow-up a few times when I recoiled the Ax and when his Cv broke off contact, but if I had I would have been in even worse trouble so let's just pretend we saw nothing...
6. DBA is fun.

Fright Knight redux

Since the previous game ended so abruptly, we had time for another.  The board had a more interesting setup this time, with cross-roads passing through a wood, another wood, and a gentle hill as well.

After my traditional '1' for pips on the first bound...

The initial setup for both our forces was sensible.  Myp plan was to use the road to seize the central wood on my first turn with the Ax, march the Bd line up to the gap between the two woods and hopefully combat his Wb there with my Cv in reserve, and to use the LH on each flank to guard my flanks and threaten his.

... but I rolled well for pips after that

My Ax and Ps spread out in the wood to stop him easily skirting it or passing through it.  I had the Ax on the road pulled back slightly in case his Kn charged me.  He'd still get the QK but at least I'd have the double overlap.  I think I should have done something trickier with angled units and gotten off the road but it wasn't an issue in the end.  My LH went to the right of the woods but I got caught out by forgetting about the 2 pip cost due to obstructed LOS over 600 paces, so it didn't get as far as I'd hoped.  I learned my lesson last time and brought my Bd up in time with the rest of my army.  The other LH is out of shot on the left of picture.

He brought his army up in line, slowly spreading out his Kn to meet me.

Git around!  Git!

Realizing that my Cv weren't in much of a position to help and their LOS was poor, I started to redeploy them to the centre road.  The LH continued the flanking move on the right.  The Gepid Ps on my left blocked my LH from attacking their camp by projecting a ZOC out of the woods, and on my right the Ps guarded his flank.  The rest of his army continued to advance.  If you think my LH looks a little too close to the Ps on the right...

Gepids 1 - Romans 0

... you're correct!  The Ps doubled my LH in a straight-up combat and killed them.  I really like the idea of LH but I ain't no good at using them!

Gepids 1 - Romans 1

My CvG advanced up the road.  Probably slightly rash since if the Kn charged him it would be even odds, but hey - that guy's got a wolf-skin on his head, don't mess with him!  Speaking of rash, a unit of Gepid Kn was killed by my Ax which had a toe in the woods.  The odds were even due to the overlap but I'm not sure there was much to be gained, as the Kn would have followed up into the woods if they'd won and I probably would have trapped and killed them reasonably easily there.  The Gepid Wb spread out into double ranks from column formation to face down my Bd.

My Bd was staring downhill at the Gepid warband.  If I rolled enough pips I'd be able to charge them and get an overlap on the left and Ps support from the rear.  The odds weren't going to get any better than this!

Gepids 4 - Romans 1

On the left, the odds were 7-3 to me.  I was beaten, recoiled and killed.  Now the adjacent unit with Ps behind it had the double overlap against it!  Still 4-4 though.  Beaten, recoiled, killed, and the Ps is killed too for adding rear support from immediately behind.  And that's the game.  Aaaaargh!

Post-game thoughts:

1. I had a better plan this game and didn't let my fear of Kn make me do silly things.
2. Bringing my Bd up in concert with my other troops was much more effective.
3. My opponent used his Ps ZOCs very effectively to constrain me.  I need to consider doing similar things myself.  If I'd used my Ax to project angled ZOCs out of the wood I would have disordered his line more as it approached.
4. Once I'd put the LH on my left flank to make him put his Ps there, I could have moved it away to the right flank to join my other LH and it would have been more effective.  Letting his Ps even reach my LH was dumb.
5. I shouldn't have risked my general like that but nothing came of it.
6. Sometimes the odds are all in your favour but the dice ain't.  Them's the breaks.
7. Don't the woods look nice?

Fright Knight

On to the next game!  Ironically, this time my opponent chose to play Gepids, so I chose once again to go Middle Imperial Romans East.  I really need to get more troops to broaden my options!  Fortunately I'd played a few games of De Bellis Solitarius both as Romans and as Gepids in anticipation of my new army arriving so at least I had some idea of what I was in for.  Plus my Secret Weapon had arrived - dice with roman numerals!  Sadly, my roman dice were about as poor a substitute for tactical genius as my painted soldiers were last time.

Here's the board and the setup after the first invader bound:

Which idiot set up this board?  Oh, it was me.

I had set up the terrain with a row of woods and a gentle hill on the invader side along with a crossroads.  I thought that having a combination of open flat spaces and bad going spaces on opposite halves of the board might be interesting.  Turns out I wasn't going to get anywhere near those woods.  My Ax were in column to try to push down the road and get closer to the bad going.  My Bd and Ps formed a solid line in the open, with my Cv and LH flanking my Ax.  The Gepids started their Ps in the woods on my right, their Wb in the woods on my left, and a big line of Kn staring right down that road.

Here's what happened next:

Whoah there boy!

I diverted my Ax behind my LH which formed a line with my Cv to block the onrushing Kn.  I didn't want the Kn or Ps to flank my Cv so I guarded my right flank by running the Ps forward.  But my Bd got left behind.  The Gepid Kn on my far right was angled to protect his flank with an overlapping ZOC with the Ps in the woods, thwarting my LH.

Then the Gepid Kn crashed into my line:

Sudden impact

My Cv and CvG were recoiled right off the hill but fortunately not killed.

On my left, the Gepid Ps and Kn charged my LH:

Gepids 2 - Romans 0

My LH units were both slaughtered, while my Cv continued to be pushed back.  My CvG was scant millimetres from recoiling onto the Bd behind them.

Gepids 3 - Romans 0

My Bd moved forward to get me an overlap on the Gepid KnG and clear the rear of my own general at the same time.  It didn't help my other Cv unit which was finally cut down by the Kn, Gepids 3 - Romans 1.  On my left my Ax took the fight the Ps in the hopes that by doing so I could avoid the adjacent Kn.  On my right I ran my Ps forward again hoping to draw the Wb forward when I inevitably recoiled.

Run, Forrest, run!

The Kn on my right finally got into the action, charging my Bd, but the line held firm.  My CvG, on the other hand, continued to fall back before the onslaught of the Gepid KnG.  The Wb on my right put my Ps to flight, chasing them back through my line of Bd but fortunately I'd be able to bring them up again in my turn.

On my right I was more worried by the Kn than the Wb because although both had the QK against my Bd, at least against the Wb I had the combat advantage.  So I scooted the rightmost blades forward to overlap the Wb, then double ranked the blades against the Wb so as to be able to claim Ps support against the Kn.  But sadly...

Curse you pesky Wb!  Gepids 4 - Romans 1

My plan worked in that the Bd on the left killed the Kn, but the Bd beside them facing the Wb were recoiled and destroyed.  And that was the game!

The fact that my Ax again failed to kill the Ps on the left was confirmation that my Secret Weapon roman numeral dice were no help to me.  Looking back on the game, I tended to roll well for pips but poorly for combat.  But you get the die rolls you deserve, I think.  I wasted my LH by leaving them swinging in the breeze like that.  Sure, I wasn't expecting them to be doubled and killed but in low-factor combats like that, anything is possible.  My biggest mistake was to rush my fast troops forward and leave my Bd behind.  The reason I did, of course, is that I was scared of those Kn running at me.  What I should have done is hang back to advance at a more measured pace so that I could have a solid Bd line and use my Cv and LH on the flanks.

Fun game though, and once again I learned a little more about how to use my army.

Imperial Romans progress

Spent a fair bit of time today finishing off the Imperial Romans.  Again, it's quick and messy painting but I just wanted to get them to the point where they are all painted and based.  I can tidy them up later on.

Here are some better shots of them.  As usual, click to embiggen.  Oh, and see the hills in the background?  I made them today.  They were a bit of an experiment and didn't work out quite how I would have liked but they are certainly nice looking and useable.

Blades

 

Psiloi and Auxilia

Cavalry and Light Horse

Imperial Roman Army