Again, I didn't go through the full, proper pre-battle setup. Terrain was arbitrarily decided upon, and a dice decided the Romans would have the village side. Initial plans were decided upon, helped by dice (but see later).
The river is uncrossable.
The large hill by the river is gentle.
The small hill opposite the village is rough.
The Romans gained the scouting advantage so were able to partially respond to their opponent's deployments.
All the figures are legitimate representations this time. As long as you are prepared to overlook 500 years or more of Roman history ;)
(And ignoring arguments about later period Roman infantry armour...this army began in the early 1980s!)
(And ignoring the liberties I took with the Republican Roman list(s)!)
Thraco-Macedonian: 3500 points
Left (Commander-in-Chief: Competent Professional)
Xystophoroi x2 Cavalry,DrilledLoose,Superior,Protected,ChargingLancer
Greek cavalry x2 Cavalry,DrilledLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav
Greek mercs x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,LngSpear,Shove+ShldCover
Greek mercs x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,LngSpear,Shove+ShldCover
Centre (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)
Pikemen x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Pikemen x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Average,Protected,Pike,Shove
Right (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)
Thracians x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExptThracians x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExpt
Thracians x2 Infantry,TribalLoose,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg+MeleeExpt
Archers x1 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Archers x1 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Unprotected,ExperiencedBow
Mid/Late/Sort-Of Republican Roman: 3500 points
Left (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)
Italian foot x2 Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot x2 Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot x2 Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Italian foot x2 Infantry,DrilledFlex,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav,Shoot&Chg
Velites x1 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav
Centre (Commander-in-Chief: Talented Professional)
Legionaries x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Legionaries x2 Infantry,DrilledClose,Superior,Protected,ImpactWpn,ShldCover
Velites x1 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav
Velites x1 Infantry,Skirmish,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,ExperiencedJav
Right (Sub-Commander: Competent Professional)
Gallic foot x2 Infantry,FormedFlex,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg
Gallic foot x2 Infantry,FormedFlex,Average,Protected,DevastatingChg
Equites x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav
Equites x2 Cavalry,FormedLoose,Average,Protected,ShtSpear,UnskilledJav
Turn 1
Well the initially allocated plans did not last long! And what results instead is a general lack of subtlety...
The Roman commander thinks he’s a clever sod, and was intending (hoping) to use the first move and his 4 command cards to a) push the velites forward to try to delay the pikes; b) turn the legionaries and relocate towards the river, ready to overwhelm the enemy on the hill. In this scheme the equites would be held back, ready to switch into the centre if necessary; and the Italian foot would remain in the village, but ready to venture out if the pikes should expose their flanks.
However, the 4 command cards were not quite up to the job (2 blacks!), and although it was possible to wait and see what the pikes would do and hope the plan could be reinstated next turn, impulsiveness won. New plan: the Roman centre simply ploughs straight forward.
The Roman Gallic foot take advantage of the inertia of the opposing Thraco-Macedonian (let’s just refer to them as Macedonian from now on for convenience!) left wing to try to get up on the hill. A single unit of Greek cavalry attempts to impede them.
The Macedonian Thracians advance off the small hill, recognising they will not achieve anything useful if they hang back, preparing to perhaps threaten the flank of the Roman centre.
This draws the Roman left wing out of the village – with very good command cards they can double move everybody, changing into close order, then just getting themselves clear of the built up area.
One unit of Roman equites and the Macedonian xystophoroi move up, not yet committed to what they might want to actually do with themselves. But the Romans will definitely be concerned about the flank of their legionaries, if the Macedonians decide not to fully respond to the Roman overload by the river.
Turn 2
Some gifting of command cards here as it is recognised that the jockeying for position on and around the large hill is potentially very important.
The Macedonian Greek cavalry gets in the face of the Roman Gallic foot, before they can advance further.
The lagging Roman equites double moves to try to get themselves into a position where they may have some usefulness.
The Macedonian Greek mercenary foot double moves (almost) to a central position on the hill, while they can. But their flank is hanging, a calculated risk...maybe not so wise.
The forward Roman equites gets into a position to charge that flank next turn.
The Macedonian xystophoroi cannot actually prevent this, but move up so that they in turn will be able to charge the equites if they commit themselves. This does mean they have given up, for the moment, the idea of threatening the flank of the legions.
In the centre, the pike phalanx (mostly) grinds forward.
The Romans respond by sending the velites forward to be a nuisance.
(I noticed later I had made a mistake here – the Macedonians gifted a command card form the centre sub-commander to the left wing commander-in-chief. Oops!)
On the far wing, the Macedonians bring up the other archer unit to extend their line, and the Romans advance everybody – they hope that being close order in the open will make it worth their while risking a melee here (plus the extra unit of non-skirmishers). The Thracians do have a scary aura though!
Turn 3
“Charge!!!” Action on both flanks.
On the Macedonian side, the xystophoroi are prompted to charge to the rescue of the Greek mercenary foot (the Roman equites turn and run away); and the Thracians are allowed to go in search of glory against the Italian foot.
On the Roman side, the Gallic foot charge straight ahead up onto the flank of the large hill. The Greek cavalry do some pondering...they cautiously decide that the uphill advantage does not offset the danger of being overwhelmed by numbers, and don’t want to get in the way of the Green mercenaries coming up behind them, so turn and run away. They roll a 1, and only just stay out of reach!
The Roman left-wing commander is prepared to put his life on the line and goes into the front ranks to fight. This makes a difference in his file, but the result is still a bloody draw, a base lost each. This does give the Romans a shove result though, which helps their colleagues fighting in the files to either side. Another base lost on each side, and the Macedonians received a further wound, so exceptionally gory for what turned out to be an almost even combat. But the lost bases remove the advantage of the Romans being in close formation in further fighting, so at this point the Macedonians are happier.
The Roman velites chuck their javelins and cause a wound on one of the pike units, a useful bonus.
Macedonian archers shooting on the far right wing achieves nothing.
The second unit of Roman equites puts itself behind the flank of the xystophoroi, and their evading colleagues turn and prepare to fight next turn. The xystophoroi may have cause to regret helping out the Greek mercenary foot!
The Macedonian phalanx (well, most of it!) advances and persuades the velites they would be safer behind their legionaries.
The right hand Roman legion is then able to get itself behind the flank of the phalanx. The Macedonian centre commander does not have cards to advance the remaining pike unit to protect the flank, so the C-in-C, commanding the left wing, must spend two cards to do so instead. This means the Greek mercenary foot sit in the centre of the hill doing nothing useful.
The end unit of Roman Italian foot turns onto the flank of the Thracians. This is going to get even messier!
But even so. Much messier than expected. The Roman flank attack breaks a unit of Thracians, but then the next unit of Thracians break their opponents, and kill the Roman commander...and so on (mostly due to morale tests...I never knew there were so many skulls on the yellow dice ;)).
The end result is six more dead Roman bases from the wing and a wound on the nearby legionaries; and five more dead Macedonian bases from the wing plus a dead pike base from the central mass. There is not much left alive in front of the village now!
The Romans, with a base of fighting foot remaining vs. a base of skirmishers may feel that is an acceptable result, although they would have hoped for more after a good start to the melee phase.
The Roman C-in-C can clear his legionary wound, and does so.
Turn 4
And lots more “Charge!!!”.
Macedonian pikes charge the advanced legion, to prevent it getting on the flank of the main pike mass.
The Romans would have been quite happy to delay the central clash, as they appear to be gaining the advantage elsewhere. However they do not want to leave the advanced legion out to dry, so the other three legions charge. After conforming, we end up with an almost neatly aligned four vs. four unit legion/pike clash.
The Macedonian commander goes into the fight to try and gain a bit more leverage in the impact phase, in which they are generally at a slight disadvantage against their superior quality opponents. To no avail – there is no shove result. Nevertheless the pikes come out slightly on top along the line, inflicting two wounds and receiving one.
The Roman Gallic foot charge the Greek cavalry and mercenary foot, wheeling slightly to ensure that after the cavalry continue to evade, both bases of the Greek foot will be contacted. They choose not to conform, to make it harder for the cavalry to get onto their flank in the near future.
Impact is a slight win for the Gallic foot, removing one base and receiving a wound.
In between the above two fights we have a cavalry clash, the two Roman equites ganging up on the xystophoroi, with one charging into the flank. Both commanders decide to join the fight. The xystophoroi punish the equites to their front, as expected, removing a base; but themselves lose a base to the flank attack. The Macedonian C-in-C is stunned in the fighting, and loses his command cards.
So tat this moment the count is one dead commander, three involved in front-rank fighting (one of whom is stunned),, one with only a single skirmisher base to command...and the talented Roman C-in-C wondering if he should have got stuck in himself, with all of his troops now engaged. Command and control may be a bit limited in the immediate future!
The dead Roman commander is replaced by a junior, who takes control of the single base of auxilia, double moving them towards the flank of the central melee. They almost-but-not-quite manage to get out of range of the light archers, who cannot impede their movement (save by a sacrificial charge) but get themselves into position for a long-range shot next turn.
The Roman C-in-C thinks about joining the central fight, but instead decides it is much more important to bravely help move one of the velites out to the side. Maybe they will find a use in a turn or two!
The Roman Gallic foot did not make full use of their advantage in impact, and now they are slightly losing the melee..they do no damage, and a second wound means they now also have lost a base.
The cavalry melee however is gong decisively the way of the Romans – the xystophoroi are broken without inflicting any further damage themselves. The Macedonian C-in-C is stunned again, for all the difference that makes!
The pike vs. legion clash grinds on, tolerably for the Romans (although it is obvious they are regretting not having taken the Melee Expert characteristic as well as being superior quality!). Two more bases of pike are removed, whilst the legions lose one base and suffer a couple of wounds to other units. The Macedonian commander is wounded.
Turn 5
The Macedonian Greek cavalry decide not to charge the Gallic foot on the hill. They would be struggling to win that fight, especially since it would be uphill, and they fell that the Greek mercenary foot are not likely to last very long anyway.
The Romans charge the full-strength equites into the flank of the Greek mercenary foot on the hill (the Macedonian C-in-C has just bravely left them, immediately before the charge, joining the Greek cavalry a bit further back!). This removes a base, which will also have the benefit of evening up their frontal fight in the melee phase. The equites do receive a wound in return though, a bit unlucky.
On the other wing, the Macedonian velites shoot at the single-base and hence very vulnerable auxilia to no effect.
The Roman Italian foot continue to move up on the flank of the central pikes. They are now in range to charge, depending on who or what may die in the current round of melee. The Macedonian archers move up behind them, but remain too far away to be able to shoot in a charge phase, so may not get another opportunity.
The Macedonian Greek cavalry turn and move behind their lines, hoping they can get back into a position to cover the flank of the central pikes.
But the single-base Roman equites are able to move behind the other equites, and despite the need for a slight shift to the left, still find themselves behind the flank of the pikes, and in charge range, with the Macedonian Greek cavalry still too far away to intervene.
The Roman C-in-C goes to join the right-hand legion, ready to join the fighting and try to minimise the chance they might break before the equites can charge home.
The other Roman velites moves out to the left of their legionaries, possibly they might be able to do something about the nuisance that is the Macedonian archers.
The Romans getting into what looks like a winning position, but that is contingent on how this round of melee goes!
And the central fight goes not well, but well enough for the Romans – they receive two wounds on already wounded units, removing two bases, but nobody breaks. In return they inflict a single wound.
On the large hill, both units of Macedonian Greek mercenary foot are broken. They inflict one wound in return, but unfortunately on the two-base unit, so it will almost certainly turn out to be irrelevant. The Gallic foot pursue and are not very far away from hitting the Greek cavalry in the flank. Perhaps they should have chosen to charge up the hill after all!
The Romans remove two wounds, from equites and a legion. The Macedonians remove one wound, for the pike unit with which the commander is fighting.
Finis
But I have just realised that all of the careful preparation for turn 6, including drawing the command cards and thinking about whether any are going to be gifted, is a waste of effort; because of course the Macedonians have now lost six units and their army breaks!
I think to myself that it is a shame that that single-base auxilia, survivor of the Great Double Command Evaporation (TM) did not quite get to administer the final blow.
And then I realise that the right-hand pike unit, having started with three bases, should have broken previously when it went had lost two! Not sure how I missed that, and for an extended period as well! Fortunately, not a mistake that changed the result of the game. And given that one of my aims for this battle was to get a fell for pikes under these rules, a possible major collapse of the Macedonian centre earlier might not have been regarded as a good thing!
Conclusion
This was not a game of subtlety and clever plans. The very similar army compositions, and terrain protection on both flanks, encouraged similar deployments (to be fair, I wasn’t thinking too hard about being clever at that point!), and then there were a limited number of viable plans available to both sides.
It would have been interesting to see how the battle would have evolved if the Romans had gone ahead with the idea of relocating the legions out towards the river flank. The pikes would no doubt have responded, and the velites and reserve Roman equites might or might not have been able to impede them for long enough to achieve the aim. But as mentioned earlier, I was quite keen to explore how pikes work under these rules, and the pikemen/legionary matchup is one of the classics of the Ancient world, so as it turned out the Roman C-in-C didn’t need too much encouragement to go back to simply engaging whatever is immediately ahead!
The Italian/Thracian mutually assured destruction, all within a single turn, was presumably an unusual occurrence. The Pacto gamemode, with its smaller units, is no doubt much more susceptible to dramatic domino effects removing large numbers of units at once. For it to happen to both sides simultaneously is obviously going to be rarer. But if we go back to the start of that turn – 6 green dice rolled in impact phase; resulting in 4 skulls and a wound – the scene was already set for a low-probability bloodbath. The yellow dice rolled later for the morale effects of broken units and the dead commander were perhaps not quite so outrageous, but even so they seemed to deliver an unusual amount of skulls, and on the occasions where they did not deliver a skull they always delivered a wound instead.
My personal narrative is that the Italians clearly won the fight, but the loss of their commander combined with relative inexperience (the 3-per-base ones had been freshly painted just the day before!) caused them to disperse on an orgy of looting. When the new commander took over he did not have the authority and respect of his predecessor, and he was only able in the time available gather a small force in a coherent body, but too late ultimately to affect the rest of the battle. Make of that what you will :)
The pikemen/legionary match up was, as expected, a slower affair. I’m not sure how usual that is though. Obviously I missed the break of one of the pikes units. The Romans were perhaps lucky to not lose any units before that point, they had several reduced to a single base. And going back further, a bit more damage done by the Romans in the impact phase when their combat factors were more favourable could have weakened the fighting power of the pikes (who depend on being in multiple ranks for full effect) earlier. I shall have to play more to get a better feeling, but I feel like pikes do have the edge in frontal combat against even superior legionaries. Which fits in with my prejudices nicely. Giving the legionaries the Melee Expert characteristic as well would change that, but my feeling is that that should not be a common combination.
The xystophoroi, it turned out, were much too aggressive, with insufficient support, and that was the single moment which contributed the most to deciding the result of this battle. I am not familiar enough with the game rules to immediately spot what patterns are likely to develop a turn or two in advance, hopefully something I will learn!
We can perhaps trace this right back to deployment time though. The Macedonians did not deploy their Greek mercenary foot as wide as they could have, not wanting to leave too large a space in the centre for the pikes to fill when they deployed later. The Romans deployed their Gallic foot right up against the river, announcing their intent to aggressively fight for the hill rather than simply bypass it. The Macedonians responded by placing the Greek cavalry in position to try to delay the Gallic foot. The xystophoroi were deployed nearer the centre with the idea of exploiting the gap. But it then turned out that the separation of their cavalry forces meant that neither of the units were able to operate effectively.
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