Gallic vs. Marian Romans
we had another game of DBA yesterday evening depicting Caesar’s invasion of Gaul. I ended up playing the Gallic force while Aidan took the Romans. The Romans were again on the defensive as the Gauls launched a sudden attack aiming to crush the core of the Roman army.
The Roman Army
Caesar himself was guarded by a formidable line of 8 blade units. It would take a fanatical charge to break through these heavy infantry, made especially hard as the supporting psiloi will boost the blades to +6 on a D6 against warband.
Figures appear from the darkness…
A large hoard of Gallic warband begin to materialise. They have a major disadvantage in the opposed roll against the blades but will kill a unit of blades by only beating them rather than having to double their opponents as the Roman do. These warband fought in double ranks boosting them to +4 against the Romans’ +6, still at a disadvantage but a large improvement over +3. The main threat for the Romans would be having their line split up. If this happened, the warband could make use of flank bonuses to rapidly shred through the blades.
Gallic cavalry flank the Romans
To start the attack, the Gauls quickly moved up their large numbers of cavalry, catching the Roman cavalry in a pincer movement and destroying them. This left Caesar himself exposed on the flank and at risk from suffering the same fate. The legionaries moved in to protect Caesar, causing the enemy cavalry to back off.
Frenzied warband charge the Romans
At this point the two lines clashed as the Gallic forces aimed to break through the much longer Roman line. The results were less than impressive with every single unit of warband being repulsed and the psiloi that were left to join their flank sent fleeing from the oncoming legionaries.
An unsuccessful attack
The warband fought on another turn but were again pushed back by the Roman legions. The warband were lucky not to have had any units lost but were still failing to make a breakthrough.
Gallic cavalry manoeuvre away from enemy blades
At this time the Gallic forces rolled 5 PIPs which allowed them to re position their forces. The cavalry on their right flank retreated from the legionaries and looped around to face Caesar’s cavalry. One unit was also able to close the door on the enemy general’s flank, meaning any failure on his part would mean death and the loss of the battle. While being on equal terms at +3, Caesar’s cavalry were able to push back the Gallic horsemen. The Roman army would fight on for now.
Gallic warband begin to falter
The next turn, disaster struck the warband as the blades finally managed to double and defeat a warband unit. This caused the loss of 2 Gallic units as the rear rank was supporting the warband at the time it was killed. The Gauls managed to avoid complete collapse by using their superior speed to quickly bring their second rank to the front, stopping the formation becoming flanked by the blades. At this point the Gallic line had retreated so far they were in serious danger of colliding with their own psiloi who had fled on the first round of combat.
The breakthrough!
As the warband fell back again another unit was killed, bringing them within 1 more loss of having their force break. Despite this, a stroke of luck allowed them to finally defeat a unit of enemy blades, the Roman line was now in a perilous position. While collapse seemed imminent for the legionaries, a fateful roll of 6 vs 1 allowed the now isolated blades to defeat another warband just as the line broke next to them. This caused the Gallic army to rout and secured victory for Caesar’s legions.
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