Saturday 5 December 2015

On the Painting Tray: December 2015

Romans, of course:

Finishing off another Caesarean legion. Figures mainly by Foundry, I think.

This legion is mostly completed. They have embossed shields, and originally I was going to paint these with red designs on yellow backgrounds, but they didn't stand out well enough. So I changed my mind and went for black on yellow. I have managed to be a bit quicker with this legion because they were already mostly painted, and quite well too. These were among the large batch Roy gave me when I arrived in Cheltenham, and I am hoping to do them justice.

I am also intending to take them to Bletchley for the Pharsalus Battle Day in April. I have another mostly completed legion coming down from Glasgow when we move house in a couple of weeks' time, and I also have another two legions' worth of smaller figures from Roy. I think they are Essex and are meant to be Early Imperial, but they are all in lorica hamata so I have ordered some Gripping Beast oval scuta to turn them into Caesarean/Early Principate types. They already have a basic paintjob, so it won't take much to finish them off: some inks and touching-up along with the shields should do the job. If they stand alone as legions they should fit in okay. I may well mount them on slightly thicker bases to help the illusion.

Added to the six legions I already have finished, that will give me ten 80-figure legions quite soon; I reckon I should be able to get at least another couple done before April, giving me something like 1,000 legionaries. I reckon that lot should look the part. The plan at this point is, hopefully, to link up for Bletchley with Simon of the Big Red Bat fame for a large game using his To The Strongest Rules.

Saturday 7 November 2015

Campaign Events

Hot on the heels of a grand duel between Germans and Gauls comes a listing of what has been happening in the overall scheme of things:

Autumn 109
  • In North Africa, Metellus moves into Byzacium. Jugurtha skirmishes a bit and withdraws to Numidia proper. Metellus proclaims a great victory.
  • The Parthians consolidate in Sind.
  • Great battle between the Teutones and Sequani.
Spring 108
  • The Tigurini of Tolosa ally with the Teutones.
  • Metellus consolidates in Byzacia.
  • Marius leaves the army in North Africa and becomes Consul in Rome. He raises four new legions from the Capite Censi. Shocking behaviour, especially for a Novus Homo.
  • Parthia raises a new army.
Summer 108
  • Metellus celebrates a triumph in Rome, being surnamed Numidicus even though Jugurtha is very much still alive and well, along with his army. 
  • Marius takes his new-fangled army to North Africa.
  • The new Parthian host arrives in Babylonia.
Autumn 108
  • Marius trains his legions in North Africa, fully expecting a hard campaign against Jugurtha.
  • The Parthians move into Palmyra, which at the moment is neutral territory between the Parthian Empire and the Ptolemies of Egypt.
  • Caepio attacks the Tigurini.
So next up is another encounter between Gaul and the forces of mighty Rome. Sharp-eyed observers will have noted that we are still broadly following historical events, although the damage inflicted upon the Germans is greater than was historically the case. The Cimbri have suffered at the hands of the Romans, while the Teutones have had a bad time courtesy of the Sequani. In North Africa, Jugurtha still has an army, but it won't be much of a threat to Marius, ably assisted by his Quaestor, Lucius Cornelius Sulla. They know that the war against Jugurtha will be a gruelling guerrilla contest, but are confident of victory in the long run. Marius is too much of a vir militaris to dismiss Jugurtha as Metellus has done, and is prepared to wage a long campaign to gain a permanent victory. In the meantime, his surprising choice of Sulla as Quaestor has been more than justified. It turns out that the dissolute aristocrat has real military talent, something that only Marius perceived.

Germans Against Gauls - Oh my!

Latest campaign game results from Glasgow. It is 109 BC and the Germanic tribes are migrating. The Teutones have crossed the Rhine into Gaul en masse and the locals decide that it's time to put up a bit of a fight. Teutones vs Sequani - what's not to like? Battle Report by Gordon, in his usual unbiased style...

The German tribes, having thrashed the Romans, now turn their attention to the Gauls whom they found to be a tougher proposition than the effete Italians. There was little subtlety. [Gordon did supply some maps, but I couldn't get them to come out properly in Blogger. Sorry, Gordon, I know those take a long time to produce!]

The German army was slightly stronger than the Gauls, as can be seen from this table:

type
Germans
Gauls
Warband infantry
256
264
Heavy cavalry
60
64
LC
24
24
LI
48
0

 In addition both armies have screens of skirmishers.
The German cavalry is of better quality than the Gauls and has impetus bonuses which can greatly increase its effectiveness in combat. [Note: I supplied the campaign situation and the relative points values from my lair in Cheltenham; the Glasgow players simply paid for the troops and set up terrain and the armies. Early German cavalry don't normally have Impetus, but if they paid the points, who cares? Besides, it didn't seem to help them very much!]
Long table shot of the two armies deployed. Germans are on the left as you look at it.

Some of the other deployment photos didn't come out well, but this one shows Gallic chariots standing in for heavy cavalry - they didn't have chariots by this time. Just in case anyone is wondering!

The Gauls moved onto the hills but otherwise started with a mainly defensive posture. The Germans came swarming forward. The two outermost Gallic warbands angled out to the flanks. There was a degree of trickery in this as it left them open to turning back into the centre and outflanking German units in any central melee. There was desultory skirmishing along the lines which the German generally won.
On the flanks the Germans did not advance as quickly as they might and on the Gallic right the Gauls advanced, hoping to effect some sort of combination on the German elite cavalry. This failed and the right most Gallic HC unit took a pasting only narrowly being able to avoid being broken on the first turn of combat. In the second turn the Gallic light cavalry who had driven off the German lights were able to attack the Germans in the back and both German and Gallic HC were destroyed.
The photo above shows the whole table at this point. This one is taken from off the left flank of the Germans, so the German army is on the right as you look at it. The Gauls can be seen at the top centre of the picture massing on their hills.

In the centre the Germans had advanced to the foot of the central hill. The Gauls intended to await their attack thus putting them at a disadvantage. At least that was the general's intention. The warbands, however, chose to charge the Germans. The Germans came off much better in the ensuing melee although both sides were evenly matched – 96 figures in 4 ranks. Soon after a further warband emerged from the woods and joined in as did the left most warband of the Gallic central group of three.
Shot of the central German warbands advancing, from the Gallic perspective - hence the dolmen or menhir or whatever you call it.
On the Gallic left flank the German cavalry and a warband ground down and defeated the Gallic cavalry.

At this point things were looking very bad for the Gauls. Both flanks were just about gone, and the central warband melee was going badly.
Clash of the warbands!
The Germans now committed their light infantry against the warbands. Although such troops will take heavy casualties, the extra casualties that they would inflict would tip the Gallic warbands over their break points. This did not happen. A round of generally bad dice by the Germans brought the Gallic warbands to their tipping point but not beyond it. The warbands responded ferociously and despite being destroyed themselves in the following turn, they took the LI with them breaking and  the German army was pushed over its break point, giving the Gauls the victory. [At least, this is what I think happened - I've edited the text here.]

I still don’t really know how the Gauls won this. They were on the back foot throughout. The large size of the warbands undoubtedly helped. The new rules designed to avoid mutual destruction in melee also favoured the larger units and worked to the Gallic advantage, saving one large warband from rout.
In an email message, Gordon made some remarks looking back on the battle:

Also, the "secret history". What saved the Gauls was the German lack of aggression. Far too many troops were wasted on the wings when they should have fended the Gauls off and driven into the centre. You can see from the photos how the Gauls got forward and the Germans were actually turning outwards. [I can see why the Germans might have done this, since they had superior cavalry forces and would be hoping to win on the wings and then flank the central Gallic warbands.] One thing that worked against the Gauls was the +2 intiative. I wanted to wait on the hill and force the Germans to test. One failure and they would all have had to commit but although we were 2 up they won and I had to test. Of course one of my warbands failed and that meant that I had to commit everybody.

 [This is a reference to the fact that in our rules, Warbands must test to see if they hold or go charging straight into combat, unless they are in difficult ground. Low hills don't count. What happened here is that the Germans won the Initiative when they probably shouldn't have, and made the Gauls go first, which forced them to test. Some of them went forward and the rest had to follow. If this hadn't happened, the Gauls would have received defensive bonuses against Germans coming up the hills.]

Veteran Legion for Pharsalus

This is the first legion I've managed to finish since coming to Cheltenham. Figures are almost all Companion Miniatures.
Casualties are by Warlord Miniatures, as are some of the command. I find plastics really good for showing those who are hors de combat, and I have now bought enough boxes of them to be able to put together some command bases as well. Always useful...
I've used various shields I had lying around. Companion made some really nice embossed ones, and even though I didn't have enough of one type to equip a full legion, I felt that a varied look would suit veterans. Some unadorned ones are in the mix as well.

This takes my total for the year to 348 infantry; 38 cavalry; 12 battle camels; a chariot and crew; and two Indian elephants and crew. Not bad, considering I've moved to another country. I do have quite a few figures in various stages of completion still sitting in Glasgow, including another legion, but it will be a while before I can finish those.

Monday 2 November 2015

On the Painting Tray: November 2015

Romans. Again.
 

Nearly finished one legion that I started on arriving in Cheltenham. About to begin another of painted figs given to me by Roy. I might call them the 1st and 2nd Cheltonians, but then again that sounds like a Very British Civil War. Seriously, Cheltonians. Apparently that's what people from round these parts call themselves. Legiones I et II Cheltonia? Maybe not - with names like that they'll probably never defeat anyone...

Saturday 24 October 2015

Remote Campaigning

Since I am still between two countries, I've been setting up campaign battles from my Cheltenham bolt-hole for the guys in Glasgow to play. This will help keep the campaign going. At the moment, all of my gaming materials are still north of the border, although I am painting more of Caesar's Romans to keep my hand in, you know. This is the report of the first game they played, a couple of weeks ago now: Scordisci against Late Republican Romans.

This is something I didn't know about at all, really, but it turns out that historically the Romans had a really hard time pacifying and then protecting the northern reaches of the province of Macedonia after they destroyed the Macedonian state itself. One of the main troublemakers/freedom fighters/looting loonies was the Scordisci, a decent-sized confederation of Gallic tribes who had settled in Illyria, probably during the same wanderings that produced the Galatians. The Scordisci don't seem to have liked anybody very much, especially the Romans, but then who can blame them for that. They raided, invaded, and incited or paid other people to do the same things. It is possible that Mithridates of Pontus got in on the act and sent them money and materials because he hated the Romans as much as they did. This battle comes in 109 BC, just before his time, but we think it gives a flavour of the kinds of things that were going on.

Here is Gordon's report, somewhat edited, as head honcho of the Scordisci:

No doubt the usual lies have been or are about to be promulgated by the Roman commanders (who are firstly politicians) in respect of their encounters with the Illyrians. What really happened was this.

From the Illyrian side the field lay as follows: to the left was a range of steep hills. Towards the centre there was a line of low hills somewhat nearer the Illyrian deployment than the Roman. On the east/right on the Roman side was a further low hill.
The Romans deployed 4 legions each in a double line. Two Roman legions were in the centre with an allied legion on either flank. Facing the Illyrian left they had archers and slingers. On the other wing were two units of cavalry.

The Illyrians deployed 3 large peltast units on the steep hills and massed their warbands in deep formations to their left. The remainder of ther army (thureophoroi from the town dwellers, 2 units of heavy cavalry, 3 of light cavalry, and  a unit of peltasts) formed up on the right of the warbands. [Gordon did provide a diagram, but it didn't transfer to blogger, so I have slightly rewritten his text instead.]

The Illyrian plan was clearly to deliver a massive blow against the two legions facing their left while fending off the other legions.
The Romans advanced, forming an arc towards the Illyrians who with little manoeuvre drove straight into the two targeted legions. The Roman first line fought poorly and the Illyrian assault was particularly fierce and effective so that before long the Roman second line was forced to commit units. At this point the peltasts began to intervene against the end unit of the Roman first line and also against the second line, preventing it from supporting the units in front.

While this was going on the unengaged Roman legions and cavalry pressed forward. Eventually they caught the Illryian cavalry and thurepohoroi, whom they largely destroyed.
By then however both of the targeted legions had been utterly destroyed with remarkably light casualties to the warbands. The Roman army was close to its break point but the lateness of the hour prevented the Illyrians from pressing their advantage to a conclusion

In an email exchange, I remarked how tough the Illyrians can be, since their warbands count as higher than usual quality, which meant that their initial charge went home with enhanced ferocity. Gordon replied that this was the case, and also that the Roman flank was relatively unprotected, which was why he was able to get his peltasts into the fight as well. In addition, Simon did a great job of keeping the other legions off the inner flank of the warbands, albeit at the cost of most of his command.
Photos, provided by Gordon:

The first photo shows the right half of the table, from the Illyrian perspective. Legionaries and Equites are advancing en masse here.

Number two is taken from off to the extreme right of the Illyrian army, and shows the bowed Roman line. The masses of warbands can be seen in the distance
Crunch! The onset of the warbands.
Rather fuzzy, but shows the warband attack from the Roman side. Note the peltasts menacing the flank.
The Romans advance against the Illyrian left. menacing the screen. The warbands can just about be seen in action at the top.
Next comes Graham's version of events:

Report to the Senate


I have to report to you that the army entrusted to me by the Senate has engaged a numerically superior Army of the Illyrians and has inflicted major damage upon them, sadly also sustaining major losses to our own forces.


We met the Illyrians on a plain with a some low hills breaking it up. On our right were the foothills of the mountains, which were high, steep and rocky, meaning only our lightest troops could be effective there.

The Illyrian deployment from their right; Warbands at the top of this photo.

The Roman Army, taken from the Roman Left. The Blue shields are a Latin Allied Legion.             Maximus sits behind his command looking uneasy.

I deployed our Roman Legions in the centre with the Allied Legions outside them. Our cavalry I massed on our left flank, partially hidden from the enemy behind a low hill. Our mercenaries I put on the right flank where I hoped they could exploit the difficult terrain.
A closer view of the Romans from their left. The barbaric-seeming chaps at the front are standing in for Velites; this is a transitional army and Graham didn't quite have enough skirmishers (I think!).
The Illyrians massed their warbands supported by multitudes of light troops on their left, They held back some cavalry in the centre to support their regular civilised infantry. On their right they deployed their cavalry and more light troops.
I placed my subordinate Maximus on the right, commanding the two right hand legions and the mercenaries. I gave him orders to keep his men in check and to prepare for the onslaught of the enemy.

As the battle commenced the Illyrian Warbands surged forward. Sadly Maximus disobeyed his orders and gallantly marched out to meet them. I manouvred my forces to ensure they were in the best position to crush the Illyrian right wing, and advanced one legion towards the enemy's civilised foot.
The massed Illyrian Warbands heading for the rather incautiously advancing Romans. These are the Roman right wing legions and supporting skirmishers.
The Illyrians facing me were obviously disinclined to face our bold Romans and their allies, and tried to keep away from me. On my right Maximus threw his legions forward with enthusiasm but little skill. They suffered heavily from the Illyrian charge while inflicting only moderate casualties. Only the superb deployment I had put them in kept our Principes in the fray
The Illyrian Right wing skulking in the distance. Germanic mercenary cavalry supporting a Latin Legion.
Despite their skilful attempts to avoid me I was able to place my troops in combat with those facing me. I quickly despatched the enemy light cavalry and infantry facing me. The Civilised infantry in the centre put up some resistance before they were routed, The cavalry they had in the centre retreated rathe than face us.
Thanks to Gordon and Graham for sending the reports and photos! This makes a nice change from my usual reports, since this time we see the viewpoints of both commanders. In campaign terms, the result is some rather stinging attrition for the Roman forces stationed in Northern Macedonia, and a load of Scordisci going home happy. I'm sure they'll be back at one point. Next up we move to the west, as another load of invading Germanics plays havoc with the Gauls: Teutones against Sequani. That should be fun; we haven't had two warband armies clashing for a while now.

Welcome to Ptr

Apologies for not saying hello sooner. I'm getting around to blog-related activities about once a week at the moment. Ptr's blog is here and you will find some somewhat unusual hobby-related information there, including how to make your own paint station.

Saturday 10 October 2015

On the painting tray: October 2015

Just to prove that I'm not dead, but alive and well in Cheltenham. No gaming organised yet, although I have visited one club which is quite far away from me on the other side of the town. It's no big deal, though, since the new job is really heavy and most nights I can't be bothered thinking. I am hoping that once semester begins properly things will calm down a bit. I did go to Colours at Newbury for the first time, courtesy of a certain Roy Boss, president of the Society of Ancients, who lives less than fifteen miles away in Cirencester. That meant I got to meet some of the Society people I previously knew only from t'intertwebs, such as Phil Sabin and Richard Lockwood. Afterwards, Roy very kindly gave me a large number of mostly painted 25mm Early Imperial Romans, enough to make about a legion and a half, and also loads of nicely painted, almost finished 28mm Caesareans, some by Foundry and some by Companion Miniatures - the Foundry ones were also sculpted by Mark Copplestone, so that will give me another legion to add to my growing hordes. Thanks, Roy! I think he felt sorry for me or something. Thanks also to Roy and his wife Karma for feeding me after Newbury. In the meantime, I've set up and started a legion from scratch. Photographic evidence:


This is my rather messy painting table.
And this is what I have managed to achieve so far. Not a lot, but at least it's a start. And now for some rather belated photos of Colours:
Phil Sabin's Zama game. First time I've actually seen Lost Battles in action.
A rather nice gridded 15mm game of Agincourt.
Lovely wintry game. I can't for the life of me remember the battle, but it sure looked purty.
Nice scenic for a skirmish game.
At the other end of the same table.
This was right next to the SoA game: stretcher bearers in no-man's land, WWI. I think the hats were compulsory.
Napoleon in Egypt, including camelry.
More from the same game.
ECW: Battle of Newark, I think.
And again.
Playmobil chariot-racing!
Because you can take them apart, you can show the carnage on the racetrack. This looked like proper fun.
Large 15mm game of the demise of Ariete. Above are some of the advancing Brits.
A longer range shot shows the waiting Italians too. Lovely models.

And that's it so far. I don't have a desktop in my houseshare, so I'm nipping round the corner to work briefly on Saturdays to try to keep up with my gaming, including edits for Slingshot. I'm doing nowhere near as much in the way of gaming as I did in Glasgow, but it's still happening...

Thursday 3 September 2015

On the painting tray: September 2015

Yet another Roman legion. However, I will need to buy a new painting tray for them because I've just moved to England. I did leave another legion, an Aventine Nellie, and some Aventine Parthians in various stages of completion in Scotland. I'll finish those when I go back for the winter holidays. I only have five legions' worth of Companion Miniatures still to paint in total, which will keep me going...

Thursday 27 August 2015

Campaign Events

Autumn 110 BC:      Silanus returns to Rome to celebrate a triumph over the Germans and acquires the name Cimbricus as his troops return to Macedonia. Due to his victory, he becomes quite the celebrity, although not perhaps entirely for noble reasons. As a member of a loose grouping of elitist senators who have quickly become known as the Optimates, his attitude to the people in general is rather questionable. He did make some favourable remarks during his battle in Noricum about the Socii, but these are being re-interpreted in the feverish heat of Rome as really just self-interest because he owns large estates outside Rome proper. It would appear that nothing is straightforward any more in Roman politics.

Spring 109 BC:          Another Germanic tribe, the Teutones, briefly appear in Rhaetia and then move on to Sequania in Gallia; presumably they have been scared off by Silanus' victory. Meanwhile the Cimbri retire to the High Alps to lick their wounds. The German threat is in abeyance, but for how long? Elsewhere, Metellus, tasked with dealing with Jugurtha, finally lands in Tripolitania. Metellus doesn't seem to be in much of a hurry.

Summer 109 BC: Perhaps further provoked by the Cimbric migration, another Illyrian force descends on Macedonia, and is confronted by the legions previously led by Silanus against the Germans, who also destroyed the previous Illyrian incursion. This will be the next campaign battle. I will draw up the army lists and terrain, and send them electronically to the guys at the club, who will then play the tabletop encounter. That way we can keep the campaign moving along electronically, although I'll have to rely on them to provide me with battle reports and photos for the blog. 

Campaign Game: Salinus against the Cimbri

Our campaign is loosely based on a historical timeline, although events are beginning to deviate a little from history, and some of them are turning out a bit differently too. I like this, because it means that although we are playing purely historical match-ups on the tabletop, the campaign still has a bit of a life of its own. One such event occurred on Tuesday as we played the latest battle to be generated. It is 110 BC and Consul Salinus attacks the migrating Cimbri, fresh from beating up Illyrians, in the foothills of the Alps in Noricum.
The first photo shows the deployments, Salinus to the left and the Cimbri on the right. At the top left of the field are the Socii, ably commanded by Gordon, with me as Salinus running the (Roman) right half of the army. At the top right, Willie and Andrew ran a mercenary Gallic contingent tagging along with the Germans (in other words, Willie wanted to use his newly painted Gallic figures!). Graham ran the Cambric centre, and Simon their left. Terrain in the top half of the table as you look at it was a valley across which the Italians stared at the advancing Germanic host, a combination of steep and low hills, with a wood at the far end. Apart from some rough terrain near the German lines at the their centre left, the rest of the table was bare. A game of two halves, then. Photos taken mostly from the Roman perspective, because that's where I was.
A view of the extreme left of the field as the battle begins. Italian Equites have been deployed to protect the left flank of the legions, with some Balearic slingers out front. In the foreground is the first of the two Italian legions, sitting on a nice safe steep hill with the usual screen of Velites. Gordon is already moving some of the legionaries to his left. We have ruled that for this late transition period in the Republican Roman army, a legion consists of four groups of sixteen legionaries and two units of eight Velites. No Triarii this late, and no real difference between Hastati and Principes. Not coincidentally, this comes to a total of 80 figures, which is how many will be in a Marian legion after the reforms. The idea is that the legion composition is already moving towards the pure heavy infantry force associated with Marius. In the distance above you can see some Germans lurking in the hills.
 Moving to the right, you can see the second Italian legion, the first Roman legion, and the second (rightmost) Roman legion, which is beginning to peel off even more to the right. Many more Germans in the distance. The single piece of rough ground is already occupied by a large number of their slingers, so I am going to send the Velites forward to clear them out.
My extreme right at the same time: legionaries moving in this direction, because the flank is only held, as usual, by the Roman Equites, with some help from Cretan archers. Two German war bands are coming in this direction, as are two units of heavy cavalry deployed together with integral skirmisher support.
A side view of the whole game at this stage.
My right a little later, with both sides trying to run forward with some heavy infantry to support their cavalry. The Cretan archers have time-warped in from the future with machine guns. In fact, all of the Roman shooting is exceptional, right across the field. Although it is isn't reflected in the stats, this is actually a very experienced Roman army, having also done loads of damage to Illyrians in the past before being taken northwards by Salinus in a glory hunt against the Germans. Their experience is definitely being reflected in their missilery...
A third side view of the developing battle. The German centre is advancing, but for some reason their guys on the hill aren't. This is probably not a good idea against the Romans, because it will give us time to manoeuvre our more flexible units into positions of our choosing. The secret to killing Romans with war bands is to hit them hard and fast and try to break through before they do something sophisticated. I am hoping to do exactly that because the rough ground is effectively breaking up the German line, which means that my rightmost legion has freedom to manoeuvre any way it likes.
Back to our extreme left. Gordon is taking advantage of the lack of German (or, rather, Gallic) activity here to throw his Equites wide and continue to move leftwards with his Italians. As was seen in the previous battle against the Numidians in North Africa, doing this can weaken the Roman centre, but since the Germans aren't advancing in this part of the field, Gordon is obviously hoping that he will have the time to get into prime position for when they do come forward.
His innermost Italian legion pulls some fancy manoeuvres, because it can. Still the Germans wait on their hills.
The four units right in the foreground of the photo above show my leftmost Roman legion waiting for the inevitable German attack, as Graham leads them forward. Watch the lone Roman unit to the right of the photo as it waits to see what happens - this is part of my rightmost Roman legion.
My extreme right at the same point. I have two legionary units waiting for the war bands, plus another has gone wide to counter the perceived threat from the German horse, many of whom are actually on the ground, riddled with Cretan arrows.
The whole field.
A low level shot of how the Germans on the hills look to the Italian cavalry at our far left.
Another low shot, this time showing Graham's war bands advancing on the Roman legionaries.
A third atmospheric photo, this time of the Romans waiting for the Warbands at my right.
Crunching sounds as masses of pila strike home. These legionaries are even better shots than the Velites and skirmishers. At the right of the photo, you can see that I have taken advantage of Roman organisational flexibility to angle that lone unit from the second legion inwards. That war band's flank is very inviting...
More crunching at my far right.
I have been able to commit a unit of legionaries here while still keeping the Equites in reserve. The Cretans keep firing those infernal machines.
A low level shot of my other legion in action. In the distance you can see that the rest of the Germans (and Gauls) have finally come off their hills.
Nothing is going right for the Cimbri. My legionaries swiftly eliminate one unit of heavy horse, and the other immediately fails its morale and freezes in place. Not a good place to be. I haven't even had to use the Equites here.
Meanwhile, at our extreme left, the Italians Equites are coming entirely around the enemy army's flank, albeit carrying a couple of hits from javelins.
A view just at Gordon's left centre - a nice open space for Italian legionaries to exploit. That earlier manoeuvring seems to have paid off handsomely.
More to the right, the German centre is closing on the Socii.
Pila down hundreds of Germans and their much vaunted charge fizzles. Salinus is heard to mutter some disparaging remarks about senatorial colleagues who previously ended up relying on the Italians to do all the dirty work.
At my right, the Roma Equites wait patiently for the enemy cavalry to be destroyed so that they can then exploit.
What happens to war bands flanked by Legionaries. "Run away! Run away!".
One German unit manages to achieve the distinction of receiving a successful impetus marker, but it doesn't really do them any good.
The centre is now a giant melee. Note, however, the Italian legionaries about to flank the far end of the German war bands. It's beginning to look like Cannae, only the Romans are the ones crushing both flanks of the infantry lines.
My legionaries go into the flank of a second war band.
Even my Equites get into the act, although it is a bit too late to save the small legionary unit that has been holding the war bands here.
Another shot to what happens to flanked war bands, as two more of them disintegrate.
The Italians are doing the same at the other end of the line.
How it would look from an observation balloon - a classic double envelopment.

Game over for the Cimbri, and in spectacular style. The army of Salinus could do nothing wrong. Their missilery was superb, the pila were deadly, they stood firm against the German charges, and their gladius work was exemplary, not to mention their battlefield manoeuvres. Not much can stand against the Romans on top form!

Historically, Salinus made this attack about a year later and was defeated, so this is definitely one of those instances where things turn out rather differently. With the benefit of hindsight, if the Germans had ignored the open area to their left and instead concentrated entirely in the centre and on their right, they could have effectively anchored on the rough ground and come forward en masse to crush the opposition. But that didn't happen. Salinus is now off to a deserved triumph in Rome, and I'm off to Cheltenham. A good victory to make my last club game, although I will be back in December for a couple of battles, I should think. In the meantime, I'll continue to run the campaign remotely.