Turns 1-4
To begin with, the only Romans apparent are the light cavalry in the NW rough ground, in front of the forest; and two units of auxilia on the crest of the far E hill.
Goth advance body march along the road, warriors in front, lancer cavalry will be following on slightly behind. They can’t all come on immediately (and the cavalry are going to take some time to get into action and as it turns out will never do so as a co-ordinated force).
Roman light cavalry observing from the rough ground north of the road attract attention – one unit of lancer cavalry extricates itself from the seething mass on the road and gets in their face ready to chase them away. But not before they manage to get in some effective shooting at the column of warriors passing.
The 4 units of Goth warriors in the van continue rapidly along the road, not seeing anything to worry them unduly with the light cavalry now being taken care of.
One of the two units of Roman auxilia appears on the crest of the SW hill, just to give the Goths something else to think about, a threat to their other flank if they push along the road too carelessly.
The two units of Roman equites are being very active, sallying out from the gap in the hills and advancing rapidly astride the road, preparing to harass and delay the Goth warriors.
The Goth right flank guard arrives, but it will be a while before it can get into action.
Ditto the other two units of Goth lancer cavalry, which are on the road but a sizeable gap has opened up between them and the warriors ahead.
Turns 5-6
The Goth warriors on the road have to decide what to do about the threat of the Roman equites ahead, and the auxilia on the SW hill, who may soon be in a position to threaten their flank. Being in a column is not helpful at this point! One unit charges the equites, and they skirmish away. (Although this would be a favourable match up, their orders are not to risk getting pinned down and potentially overwhelmed. The Goths OTOH have plenty of cheap units to burn if required.) Another unit of warriors backs up the first along the road, and the two behind deploy off to the right and move to mask the threat of the auxilia on the hill.
A second unit of auxilia appears on the hill, and the Goths stop just short. They are matched in numbers here, and overmatched in quality. Plus they are in close formation and the hills are all rough, so need some preparation to even think about attempting to launch an optimistic attack. Their job is simply to keep the Romans from interdicting movement along the road.
With warriors from the advance group facing off against the hill, the right flank guard’s most obvious route to employment is blocked. With two units of lancer cavalry failing to advance along the road (their officers will be taken to task later for their lack of urgency!), the right flank guard passes behind the warriors masking the hill with the intention of deploying further forward.
The Goth left flank guard makes an appearance, with a unit of Alans in the lead and racing to try to catch up and give support to the lancers way ahead in the rough.
Turns 7-8
The Roman light cavalry is chased right back out of the rough ground and disturbs the villagers sheep and goats beside the marsh. I didn’t anticipate they would be in the action when I placed them there! The lancers doing the chasing are still hindered by the rough, but now have support in the form of the right flank guard Alans coming up on their right, and also a second unit of Alans from the on the left of the forces of the right flank guard as they come rapidly through the middle.
The Roman light cavalry now find themselves in danger of being either outflanked, or trapped up against the marsh and adjoining walled village (the inhabitants not being in the mood to open the gates with Goths marauding just behind! The two units separate slightly to try to inhibit outlanking by the Alans, taking the shooting pressure slightly off the lancers (still carrying that one wound received several turns earlier).
The lead two units of warriors on the road are continuing to force back the skirmishing equites, and seeking to prevent them from redeploying in direct support of their light cavalry colleagues, but both Warrior units are now carrying a wound and hoping for meaningful support themselves before they find themselves in serious trouble,
The auxilia on the SW hill are not content to be simply masked out of the game, and advance down the forward slope to get into range. Will the Goths respond? There isn’t much in a position to give immediate support, some light javelinmen from the right flank guard will have to do.
The lagging two units of Goth lancers finally get moving again, advancing to cross the open ground between road and N rough, but are still a long way back from relevance.
This does at least allow space for the first 4 units of warriors from the rear column, who have just belatedly arrived, to start arriving on table along the road.
The Roman legions now decide to make their presence known, appearing on the ridge of the centre S hill, also in loose formation in the rough. This location is probably not a massive surprise to the Goth commander!
Turns 9-10
The chasing Goth lancers burst clear of the rough finally, and chase the N-most unit of Roman light cavalry away (having repositioned they can now evade along the edge of the village). This leaves the second Roman light cavalry somewhat exposed, now with lancers well behind their flank – they seem to be running out of options.
However, the Goths perhaps overpress – one unit of Alans go gung-ho, charge the isolated Roman light cavalry, and are immediately broken. Whoops! That eases the pressure a little.
Although not for long. The gap on the Goth side is filled by the lagging two units of lancers, now in charge range of the light cavalry.
The two units of Roman auxilia change to close formation and charge off the SW hill, into the two units of masking warriors (who are somewhat supported by light javelin fire). This helps to offset the quality advantage of the auxilia – the result of the charge is indecisive, each side taking a wound to one of their units. And in the melee phase the auxilia fare even worse, doing no damage whilst losing a base in their unwounded unit. These Goths clearly ate their weetabix this morning.
The forward Goths on the road are a bit more cautious now with the legions having appeared to their immediate S. One unit of warriors continues to advance more slowly against the equites, with a unit of archers from the right flank guard coming up on their left in support. The second unit of warriors and the second unit of archers turn right to mitigate against any threat from the legionaries who might advance down off the hill. The Goth formations are getting rather messy and intermingled at this point!
Turn 11
Two units of Goth warriors from the rear column press forward past the fight on the SW hill, while the road is clear.
Meanwhile the auxilia/warriors fight is carnage. The single base auxilia unit is broken. The wounded auxilia unit takes another wound and loses a base so is hanging on by a thread. But one unit of warriors is also broken and also carries away their colleagues. The end result is a single base of auxilia in a large open space, rushing forward and planting themselves firmly on the road. Not a friend in sight (their general had already bravely moved back to avoid any potential trouble!) and the remaining 10 units of the Goth rear column coming towards them. A heroic stand is called for…
Goth lancers continue to press forward and the “isolated” Roman light cavalry manage to make their escape back to Roman lines on the E hill, moving to link up with the other light cavalry unit which has now moved back past the village.
The Goth left guard archers and light javelinmen push forward towards the village and E hill, in support of the lancers.
The forward unit of Goth warriors on the road finally breaks due to equites javelins, but the equites have misjudged their line of retreat and are struggling to keep away from the lancers, who are in turn perhaps too aggressive in the process. A unit of lancers catches a unit of equites against the lower slopes of the E hill, and a confused fight develops. The equites lose a base but cause a wound to the lancers.
Roman legionaries advance off the S central hill to engage the feeble blocking force of one warrior and one archer unit. This is a fight the Romans expect to win, and indeed they break the warriors and remove a base from the archers. But the cost is heavy – the two legions engaged each lose a base themselves. Nevertheless, there is now a worrying gap in the Goth forces, which the lead units of the rear column are just arriving in time to try to plug.
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