Battle of Clastidium 222 BC - Command and Colors Ancients Game

 

Side view of the table

View from the Roman side

View from the Gallic side

Marcellus is wounded but victorious and joins a unit

Roman cavalry attack Gallic light infantry

Gauls retreat on Roman right flank

Romans attack 

Cavalry combat in the centre

First post and game for the New Year! Last Monday afternoon I played a solo Command and Colors Ancients game out in the shed. The scenario was the Battle of Clastidium with a mainly cavalry force of Romans under Marcellus fighting a Gallic force of Insubres and Gaesatae under Britomartus/Viridomarus. For the background on the battle see the post: https://bucellarii.blogspot.com/2020/11/republican-roman-cavalry-and-leves.html

I wanted to incorporate the single combat between Marcellus and Britomartus in the scenario and did this by giving, Marcellus three wounds and Britomartus two, with two dice each in combat, hitting on leader and sword symbols. The victor would gain a victory point for killing their opponent, as well as depriving the enemy of a leader. 

In my game Marcellus was victorious but wounded and joined a cavalry unit in the centre. The Gauls had four command cards to the Romans six and no leader, after Britomartus was killed. The scenario for the battle, if anyone is interested, can be found on the Command and Colors Ancients scenario list site:

https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/maps/59-celtic-war-225-222-bc/256-203-clastidium-222-bc.html

The Romans had a couple of Order Medium Troops cards which proved very handy for their five medium cavalry units. In the end the Romans won fairly easily 5-0 victory points. The Gauls never really got going and their most effective troops, the Gaesatae, had limited opportunities for combat. However a couple of the Roman cavalry units were only one block away from being destroyed, so the result was closer than it seemed.

Gauls attack 

Roman cavalry successful on the Gallic left flank

More cavalry combat in the centre

Romans evade

Gallic left flank is destroyed

Gauls counterattack

Roman cavalry holds on

Romans are victorious