Battle of Colline Gate 82 BC - Command & Colors Ancients

Sulla and Crassus confer

Samnite/Marian right flank

Samnite/Marian left flank

Samnite/Marian left flank suffers heavy casualties

It is a slaughter!

Last Sunday morning down at the club Garry, Craig and I played two games of the Battle of Colline Gate scenario for Command and Colors Ancients (CCA). In the first game Craig and Garry were Sulla and Crassus, controlling the Colline Gate, while I was the Samnite/Marian commander Pontius Telesinus, encamped outside the city. This game was over fairly quickly as Crassus swept the field and annihilated the Samnite/Marian left flank. The Samnites were able to counter attack on their right flank but it proved to be too little, too late.

In the second game we swapped sides and this game was a bit closer but still over fairly quickly. The Samnites staged a stunning reversal of form and were able to win a notable 5-3 victory points result! Thanks to Craig and Garry for the fun games, I always really enjoy these CCA games, even when I get slaughtered. After lunch Garry and I played an Etruscan versus Samnite Basic Impetus game but I will put the photos of this game in a seperate post.

Crassus sweeps the field

Pontius Telesinus leads the Samnite counter attack

Sulla and troops emerge from the gate to mop up the field

The Samnites go down fighting

Sulla's forces claim an easy victory

Walls of Rome

Here are a few photos of the Walls of Rome mdf kits by Sarissa Precicion designed for the Gangs of Rome. I tried painting these walls but decided they looked better unpainted as the laser cut mdf is quite close in colour to the tuff blocks that the Servian Walls of Rome (built in the early 4th century BC) were made from. We have a Command and Colors Ancients game lined up at the club next Sunday with the Battle of Colline Gate. The photos show the initial deployment of Sulla's forces with Sulla in the centre and Crassus on the right flank. The Samnite and Marian forces were commanded by Pontius Telesinus. Appian (The Civil Wars 1.93) is the main source for the battle:

Sulla feared for the safety of the city, and sent his cavalry forward with all speed to hinder their march, and then hastened in person with his whole army and encamped beside the Colline gate near   the temple of Venus about noon, the enemy being already encamped around the city. A battle was fought at once, late in the afternoon. On the right wing Sulla was victorious, but his left was vanquished and fled to the gates. The old soldiers on the walls, when they saw the enemy rushing in with their own men, dropped the portcullis, which fell upon and killed many soldiers and many senators. But the majority, impelled by fear and necessity, turned and fought the enemy. The fighting continued through the night and a great many were slain. The generals, Telesinus and Albinus, were slain also and their camp was taken. Lamponius the Lucanian, Marcius, and Carinas, and the other generals of the faction of Carbo, fled. It was estimated that 50,000 men on both sides lost their lives in this engagement. Prisoners, to the number of more than 8,000, were shot down with darts by Sulla because they were mostly Samnites. The next day Marcius and Carinas were captured and brought in. Sulla did not spare them because they were Romans, but killed them both and sent their heads to Lucretius at Praeneste to be displayed round the walls.

http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/1*.html