Sunday, April 5, 2020

Cantabrian War - First Soldiers of Rome Game



Armies deployed, view from the Cantabrian side


View from the Roman side


Cantabrian left flank


Cantabrian centre


Cantabrian right flank


Roman left flank 


Roman centre


Roman right flank


Yesterday afternoon out in the shed I played a solo first game of Soldiers of Rome. These rules by Warwick Kinrade are similar to his Soldiers of God rules which covers the Crusades.The scenario was the Cantabrian War, a small field battle (two hundred points) of Cantabri, Astures and Gallaeci taking on the Augustan legions. The Romans deployed first as the Cantabrians had higher initiative. Each side has three battle plan cards which are reused and four random deck cards which are played and then discarded per turn. Cards can be used for actions, events, pass and discard, hold or trade in. Shooting and combat is decided by dice with disorder inflicted for every hit unless a resolve test is passed. At the end of a turn units with more disorder than stands rout and are removed and army morale adjusted. Once this is reduced to zero the game is over.

I found the pace of the game slow, partly because of the movement and partly lack of familiarity with rules, uses of the cards and unit stats. I used the suggested 28mm ground scale of one pace equals one inch but for future games would increase this as legionaries in close order only moved three inches a turn. Skirmishers don't seem to be able to evade in the rules but have some specific cards, Skirmishers Move, Advance, Loose and Retire and Charge, Melee, Retire to use if you have them. After playing many turns both sides morale was reduced but a result was still a long way off. The Romans seemed unstoppable in combat, unless they were caught in difficult terrain or with a flank or rear charge. The rules are well organised with a handy index, beautiful photos and interesting army lists, stratagems and scenarios. I'd like to try the Siege Assault scenario with a Roman attack on a hill fort at some stage.


Roman left flank advances with a Echelon Left Attack battle plan


Roman cards turn two - battle plan cards below, random deck cards above


Cantabrian cards turn two


Cantabrian light cavalry charge the Gallic auxiliary cavalry


Gallic cavalry rout with more disorder than stands at the end of the turn


Cantabrian light cavalry withdraw


They are thrown in to disarray and open order but rally


Cantabrian medium cavalry charge Roman skirmishers


The Romans grind relentlessly forward

12 comments:

  1. Never heard of these rules. With the card play, they look similar to CCA. Are these rules a derivative of CCA?

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    1. They were released in February this year and are available from Northstar. No they're a derivative of the Soldiers of God rules which came out a few year ago.

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  2. Never heard too, but looking awesome!

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    1. Thanks Michal, they seem to have had a pretty low key release.

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  3. Nice looking system, and great looking game...lovely units!

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    1. Thanks Phil, I like card driven rules, they seem to have a bit more interest for some reason.

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  4. I've had four games (one 200 points and two 400 points vs Germanics, one 200 point Roman civil war) with my son recently. We really like them, and they have rekindled our interest in the period. The key is to plan your army list (including any stratagem) with your Battle Plan in mind, as these are the cards you can rely on, and then see how you can take advantage of the random draws. Our first 400 point game was blazingly quick (less than an hour) because both sides chose Charge in the center, and the Romans deployed in line to inflict more damage but were overwhelmed by a double line of barbarians. The second game took 4+ hours ... because we both skirmished on the flanks and our centers didn't make contact until the very end. If you have too few units engaged, there are too many opportunities to rally away disorder, and that's when games can drag on. If Romans deploy in Battle Column and have a Rally battle plan for that division ... forget about it and go elsewhere! I also think we will either increase the pace, or start a bit closer (30" is probably way too far). Cheers

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  5. That's interesting, thanks for the tips. My experience was exactly that with rallying away disorder so the game dragged on and got nearer to resolution. I'll definitely increase the ground scale and think a Roman civil war game would be good to try as well.

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  6. Replies
    1. Thanks Ray, it was good to get the figures out.

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  7. Lovely looking game, super figures and good to have a try out of another rule set,be interested in your views after a few more games!
    Best Iain

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    1. Thanks Iain, they're an interesting set of rules with some nice scenarios, it is hard to tell from one game but I did find it a bit slow.

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