Joe and I met up for our second Field of Glory battle. For this fight we used the classic match up of Carthage versus Rome. As I am a little more familiar with the rules we decided to give me the more complex Carthaginian army. We used starter armies from the FoG army lists books.
My army consisted of:
Gallic and Spanish heavy cavalry, two units of Numidian light horse, one unit of elephants, two units of heavy foot spearmen, one unit of heavy foot Gallic warriors, one unit of medium foot Spanish scutarii, one unit of Numidian light foot, and one unit of Balearic slingers.
Joe had:
Two units of armored heavy cavalry, four units of Hastati and Princips (heavy foot), two units of elite Triiari, two units of Velites (light foot), and one unit of Latin medium foot.
I won the initiative and selected a developed area. We ended up with a very open battlefield. Three terrain pieces were eliminated (the built up area, a large hill, and an orchard).
My Spanish and Gallic cavalry were deployed far to the left of my main force. They were going to charge forth and take out the lonely Roman cavalry unit on that flank. Or so I thought. That's a vineyard on my baseline.
Here is the Roman left. The ambush marker is hiding a unit of Velites. (Shhhh). In the distance are velites, cavalry, Latins, and the Roman heavies.
I've decided that my elephants are needed on the right to chase off the Roman cavalry on that flank. I should have started the nellies on that flank to start with. And what was I thinking putting my Numidian light horse over there?
I hope I can take him out in the melee phase--those Hastati are getting close.
This is not so good. Joe decided to stand and fight. Instead of sweeping him away, I find myself in a tight spot.
Battle lines are getting close.
Do you notice the complete lack of Carthaginian light troops slowing the Roman advance?
This is where DBM thinking killed me. I thought my spear wall would hold off the legions while my overwhelming number of light troops turned his flank.
You know where this is heading?
Look at them run!
Whoo-hoo! This is going great! Spanish and light foot are turning the flank.
Remember this fight? I was going to win the melee phase....
It didn't happen. We both lost a stand and the legion is about to land on my flank.
The Hastati hammered my Gauls, who obligingly routed short. The Romans barely had to move to stay in contact. This put them in perfect position to pass a complex movement test and slam into the flank of the Spanish in the next impact phase.
Crunch time!
This will be an epic fight!
Or not.
This turned out not to be a DBM SP(O) versus Bd(O) fight.
Protected Average Offensive Spear do not to well against Armored Superior Swordsmen Impact Foot.
Especially when the spear are disrupted at impact.
However my Gauls did manage to cream the Latin medium foot covering the legion's flank. Something to smile at.
Here are my elephants and slingers utterly failing to catch up to the skirmishing Roman heavy cavalry.
Here are my light troops chasing the Velites off the table.
Two points to me!
On that note we called it. I was down eight points to four, but Joe had his sights on my camp. It was just a matter of a few more turns. The Carthaginians ran for the hills before the inevitable defeat.
It was a very fun battle. Both Joe and I learned a lot about the game. We are starting to get a handle on things.
Since someone on the Sliterhine forum mentioned it, I thought I'd add a picture of Joe's wargaming table. 20'x6'. We usually only use 1/3 of it. I think we used most of it for a massive Gettysburg battle and once for a Napoleonic Leipzig.
Joe's basement is a wargaming Mecca. Tons of space, loads of figures, and his wife is an awesome chef.