When a medieval army is pitted against a very good ancient army such as the Romans, in many respects this is a test of the Hordes and Heroes rule system. The French army was deliberately constructed as a sound historical example; 6 mounted men-at-arms; 6 dismounted men-at-arms, 6 units of crossbow equipped with pavisses and 3 units of peasants to increase the overall number of units so that the army could qualify for 4 generals using the 5:1 ratio of units to generals. The Imperial Roman army was also constructed as a good historical example with legionaries, auxiliaries, archers, heavy cavalry, 2 units of skirmishers and a single unit of light cavalry and 4 generals.
The terrain layout for this contest was open grassland in the centre with a road snaking through it base edge to base edge. There was a scattering of small woods and hills towards both table edges flanking the open centre.
The dice gave the French to Tony and myself and the Romans to Chris and Tim. Our French deployed first and moved first. The Roman deployment made good use of 2 areas of woodland between which were deployed the Roman legionaries with the cavalry behind and the auxillaries on both flanks.
Opening moves saw the Romans consolidate what was an already strong position with a shield wall established with each end well protected. Tony’s French heavy cavalry found itself chasing the 2 units of skirmishers and the light cavalry unit back towards the Roman table edge. Dog-legged back to the table edge were the Roman auxiliary archers protecting the Roman left flank. It was obvious that the Romans were not going to give up such a strong position and so we had no other option but to slowly advance our French infantry two thirds of the way across the table to meet them.
With the French crossbow units lined up with their pavisses in front of the Roman legionaries, Tony charged his cavalry into the Roman auxiliary archers and skirmishers on the Roman left. It was time for the French infantry to do their part but with the French peasant hordes with only one hex of movement the timing wasn’t coordinated with the heavy cavalry attack.
In the biggest gamble of the game I advanced the crossbow units into shooting range of the Roman legionary line. Because the crossbows were carrying their own pavisses they were not able to move and shoot in the same phase. This gave Chris three options for his Roman line; stand their ground and withstand the hail of crossbow bolts; pull the shield wall back one hex out of range; advance into combat with the crossbow line. Unfortunately, Chris chose the third option, the one we feared! This meant that the French crossbows needed to shoot well and to put it bluntly they didn’t. In fact they produced a pretty awful set of results. And, to add insult to injury Tony’s French cavalry, having successfully dispatched the Roman skirmishers and light cavalry found themselves halted by the Roman archers who found their French targets!
In order to attack the side of the Roman legionary shield wall and support the French cavalry we needed to push the Roman auxillaries from the woodland with our dismounted men-at-arms. However, the last unit of legionaries on the end of the shield wall put up one hell of a fighting performance against 3 French units and a general. And, in what turned into a horrendous round of hand-to-hand combat for the French anything that could go wrong did go wrong! Tony managed to throw snake eyes with his general which was now in combat with Units of Roman cavalry. This eventually resulted in the loss of the general which left the 3 remaining French cavalry without any command and control. Meanwhile my French infantry was being steadily demolished by the unstoppable Roman shield wall which continued its slow steady advance.
Tony and I battled on for another game turn but our fate was already decided. Tim’s Roman cavalry was targeting the last of the French heavy cavalry and Chris’s infantry had my French infantry in full retreat. So it was game over for our very battered French army!
Game Analysis
Tony and I played to the strengths of our Roman opponents who stuck to their game plan of creating a very strong defensive line which we obligingly attacked, and in doing so creating our own disaster. We could have been more patient and attempted to draw the Romans into the open central area where our heavy cavalry would have given our French army the advantage. Also, I think its fair to say that our consistently poor dice rolls throughout didn’t help. However, the game did clearly demonstrate the ability and flexibility of the H&H rule system to enable a medieval army to engage an ancient army in a fair contest.
