Late Republican Roman Legionaries

 

Here's a unit of Late Republican Roman legionaries that I've finally finished painting. They're plastic Warlord  Games figures, the last of four or five boxes I've painted. They're armed with gladius and are lot easier to rank up than those with pila. The cracking resin Aquilifer figure (of the Tenth Legion) was a freebie with the lastest Hail Caesar supplement Caesar's Gallic Wars.

Battle of Carrhae 53 BC - Command and Colors Ancients Game

 

Parthians have the Romans deployed in a hollow square

View from the opposite end

Romans attack on their right flank

Surena's camel supply train

Roman right flank

Parthians attack on their right flank

On Friday afternoon I played a solo Command and Colors Ancients game out in the shed. I'd just received my new Command & Colors Medieval mat with 11 x 13 five inch hexes from Deep Cut Studio, so I was quite keen to try it out in a game. The scenario was the Battle of Carrhae with Crassus taking on the Parthians under Surena.

The Romans deployed in a hollow square and had five command cards to the Parthians' six. I used the Parthian shot rule for light bow cavalry from the Command & Colors Medieval game but reduced it to one dice rather than two when evading. This turned out to be quite a hard fought and close game with the Romans giving a good account of themselves. In the end the Parthians won 7-5 victory points.

Action on the Roman right flank

Parthian cataphracts charge

Parthians momentum advance against allied Roman cavalry

Parthian right flank 

Romans lose 7-5 victory points

Roman left flank and rear in tact

Cilician Gates 39 BC - Command & Colors Ancients Game

Parthians on the left, Romans on the right on the foot hills of the Cilician Gates

Opposite end of the table with Roman deserters under Labienus in their camp

Parthian cataphracts in the centre

Parthian horse archers

Parthian commander Pacorus and cataphracts

Roman legionaries, Cretan archers and Roman camp

Roman right flank

Romans advance off the hill and attack the cataphracts

Both sides suffer casualties

Last Friday afternoon out in the shed I played a solo Command and Colors Ancients game. The scenario was the Cilician Gates, which was the main pass through the Taurus Mountains in Anatolia, with the Romans taking on the Parthians. The Romans under Publius Ventidius Baussus were pursuing Roman deserters led by Quintus Labienus who had joined the Parthians. In the battle Parthian cavalry under Pacorus arrived and immediately launched an attack, without waiting for Labienus, on the Romans deployed on the heights.

In my game the Parthians were a little more circumspect in their approach and tried to wear the Romans down with missile fire and lure them down off the hill. Under the terrain rules in CCA a unit fighting an opponent uphill only has two dice, so the cataphracts would have been fighting on equal terms with the Roman light infantry, a risky proposition! I used the Parthian shot special rule for horse archers in this game which was introduced in Command and Colors Medieval, evading light bow cavalry can shoot with two dice. I limited it to one dice for this game but will probably use two in future as you only have a one in six chance of hitting, although you also have the same chance of causing a retreat.

The Romans attacked early in the game moving down off the hill but the Parthian cataphracts had the best of it destroying a legionary unit and killing the commander. The Romans were forced to regroup on the hill and then launched another attack playing an Order Medium Troops card. This attack was more successful and the Parthians were forced to retreat, the Romans were slowly but surely wearing the cataphracts down. The Parthians played a Double Time card and the Roman deserters emerged from their camp to attack the Gallic cavalry who evaded. A last ditch effort by Pacorus and his cataphracts to seal the game almost paid off but Ventidius with his veterans and the aid of the Gallic cavalry put and end to it with a hard fought 6-5 victory points.

Romans regroup on the hill

Romans play an Order Medium Troops card and attack

Parthians are forced to retreat

Roman legionaries are wearing the cataphracts down

Roman deserters play a Double Time card but the Gallic cavalry evade

Pacorus attacks with the Parthian cataphracts

The Gallic cavalry finish off the cataphracts

Pacorus evades the Romans but has lost the battle 5-6 victory points

Marian Roman versus Pontic Basic Impetus Game

Marian Romans on the left, Pontics on the right

Romans advance

Pontic Noble cavalry

Pontic Chalkaspides (Bronze Shields) and Galatians

Infantry close in the centre

Roman legionaries get stuck in to the Pontic infantry

Spanish cavalry

Last Sunday Garry, Gary, Craig and I met down at the Vikings Club in Lanyon for the Capital Region Wargames Group's monthly meeting. We played two games, the first of these was a Marian Roman versus Pontic Basic Impetus game with two armies and commanders on each side. Garry and Gary commanded the Pontics, while Craig and I commanded the Romans.


For once Craig had some good luck with his dice, while Gary seemed to only throw sixes when doing cohesion tests! Soon the Pontic forces on the Roman left flank were in strife. On the Roman right flank the fighting was very close until the final turn when the Pontics managed to rout the Romans. Overall it was a Roman victory as the Pontics really got hammered on the Roman left flank. In the afternoon we played a Chariots Rampant game but I will save that for a separate post.

Spanish Caetrati

Roman left flank eventually rout the Pontics

Roman right flank

Spanish cavalry retreat

The fighting on the Roman right flank is very close

Spanish Scutarii

Roman right flank routs on the final turn

Pontic Chalkaspides (Bronze Shields) hold their ground