GBoH Replay - Sicoris River, 49 BC

L. Afranius leads the Pompeians, who have 1 veteran and three recruit legions, plus four cavalry units and a few skirmishers. Caesar's two veteran legions are led by Plancus, who has only three SK archers available. Due to the presence of enemy cavalry in their rear, the two legions are drawn up in an oval, with each legion taking half of the oval. Afranius's forces are drawn up in three battle lines facing one of the wide sides of the oval. The first battle line is wider than the oval, which will allow the battle line to 'wrap' the ends of the oval.

The scenario is a race to see if the Pompeians can destroy the legions before a relief force (led by F. Maximus) can arrive. Complicating their task is the poorer quality of their troops, but they have the advantage of numbers and the ability to deploy their cavalry to the rear of the Ceasarians, forcing them to cover their rear. Their ace in the hole is that once the oval starts to disintigrate, they can interpose themselves between the two legions and their retreat edge and get a lot of cheap kills on units by coming at them from the direction of their retreat edge.

As Afranius, I put the veteran legion on my left, as that is the legion that will be able to wrap around the north end of the oval and cause the most damage. I made an error by placing the cavalry to far too the south and too far from the Caesarians, but it turns out not to have been fatal to their cause. The Caesarian setup is proscribed in the aforementioned oval. One thing I should mention is that Afranius is an OC/SC, and the Caesarian OC is part of the relief force and not on the map. The relief force may arrive on two turn or later by rolling a d10 and rolling the turn number or lower.

Turn 1

• Aux. Phase. Afranius decides to be a SC, Plancus has no OC, so no phase.
• Leader ActivationSenatorials (Pompeians) roll 6, Caesarians 5.
  • All 6 tribunes pass in turn, anticipating the free Section Command their respective section commanders will be able to issue on turn 1.
  • Pacideus 1, commanding the Senatorial cavalry, moves his cavalry around the SE edge of the oval and works towards Plancus' rear.
  • L. Afranius (SC) activates the Senatorial left (Galician and L legions) towards the Caesarians, who are 8 hexes away.
  • M. Petreius (SC) activates the Senatorial right (XVI & XVII) and follows.
  • Plancus (SC) moves his two legions three hexes to the NE (away from the Senatorials) maintaining relative facing and formation. I made a minor gaffe here, allowing the three SK units in the formation to move with the legions, but considering the situation (i.e the wagons are circled) it would make sense that the three SK units (which hold positions in the back side of the oval) would move with whole shebang. If I played it again, though, I would probably stick with the rules on this one (i.e. Plancus would have to get momentum and issue them individual orders to keep them in formation.)
  • I made no momentum rolls for the three SC's on turn 1, as there was no real use for their individual orders (but see note above)

Turn 2

• Caesarian reinforcement roll - 5
• Aux. PhaseSame as Turn 1.
• Leader Activation PhaseCaesarians roll-5, Senatorials-4.
  • Plancus trumps his own tribunes activation. He then rolls against his strategy rating (no OC) to effect a section command, but fails. Rather than split his force by issuing a legion command and then failing his momentum roll, he decides to stand and await the attack.
  • All tribunes pass
  • The Senatorial cavalry continues to work around to the rear (where they could have set up for free, if I had done it right).
  • Afranius makes a strategy roll and makes it, issues a section command to Galacians and L legion. This allows the Senatorial left to connect with the front edge of the oval, with their far left sticking out past the oval (not enough MP to wrap around.) The melee begins. Some Caesarians do suprisingly bad in their Pre-shock TQ checks. No momentum roll (earlier trump).
  • M. Petreius also makes a strategy roll, so XVI and XVII engage the southernmost half of the oval. As he gets no momentum roll, the turn is over.

Turn 3

• Caesar reinforcement roll - 8.
• Aux. Phase Afranius decides to be a SC again, so Galicians can get a legion command. So no auxillaries again.
• Leader Activation Phase Senatorials - 4, Caesarians - 7.
  • Caesarian V Legion Tribune activates, front line attacks. Attacks go badly, with V legion having 2 cohorts rout, while only 1 L legion cohort routs. Momentum roll - 8. V trib finished. Rout Point Score 0 to 0.
  • Senatorial - Galicians Tribune activates, issues a legion command, which restricts Afranius. The Legion wraps around the NW end of the oval. They eliminate one of the routed cohorts from the previous activation, and rout a second, eliminating it by being in its retreat path. RP score 14 to 0. Momentum roll - 9. 'Die Roll of Doom' - 6.
  • Caesarians XIV Tribune activates and the front line of XIV attacks. 14 to 0. Momentum roll - 9 (!!). 'Die Roll of Doom' - 7.
  • Senatorials L Tribune issues 2 individual orders and they manage to catch another unit. 21 to 0. Momentum roll - 2.
  • Plancus now trumps for the Caesarians, rolling a 0. Plancus manages to stabilize the formation, which is starting to show gaping holes from routing front line cohorts. He rallies a unit. RP 21 to 0. Momentum roll - 1.
  • Plancus now moves into the southern half of the oval and orders some attacks, killing two Senatorial units. RP 21 to 13. Momentum roll - 9 (!!!!). 'Die Roll of Doom' - 4.
  • Senatorial XVII tribune activates, issues two individual orders, sets up a couple of attacks. RP 21 to 13.
  • Senatorial XVI tribune activates, manages to kill two cohorts and rout a third. RP 34 to 13.
  • The 'oval' is now completely busted, even with pulling units from the back side there is not enough units to maintain a line. The Senatorials have most of their second and all of their third battle lines formed and ready. If the relief column arrives next turn there will be a tense situation as the Senatorials try to mop up enough units to secure a win before two well formed veteran legions descend on them. Otherwise, the game is about over.
  • Senatorial Pacideius 1 (Calvary Prefect) activates and moves the cavalry within striking distance of the threadbare rear line.
  • Senatorial L. Afranius (restricted) - rallys 1, recovers 1.
  • Senatorial M. Petreius rallies, then enables some attacks. Disaster for the XIV legion as they lose three more cohorts to units that have managed to get inside the stove in front line and cut off the retreats of three units. RP now 56 to 13.

Turn 4

The Senatorials now rush forward, trying to reach enough fleeing cohorts to win the game before the relief force arrives. The Caesarians send every unengaged unit fleeing north. After all the tribunes have activated, the cavalry catches two more cohorts from the rear and the north, killing them. This leaves the RP at 87 to 21. (Withdrawal levels are 98 Caesarian and 65 Senatorial). At this point Plancus and the two eagles have been cut off from any effective combat units. M. Petreius issues an individual order, a unit moves through Plancus and bags him. Game over, 137 to 21.

An interesting situation that hinges on the reinforcement roll. An interesting situation would have developed if the relief force had arrived on turn 3 or 4. If turn 3, it probably would have been a Caesarian victory, as the Senatorial legions and commanders would have been no match in a standup fight, and their low rout point threshold (which may reflect Afranius' reluctance to commit to a decisive engagement at this juncture) would have sent them packing eventually. Turn 4 might have been too late to save Plancus, though.

Thanks to Stephen Jackson for putting the scenario together. The small scale encouraged me to go 'the full Monty' of the Caesar rules rather than do it as Simple GBoH, and as such it gave the usual tense decisions of trump and momentum. Thanks!