Wargames Wednesday - The Roman Invasion AD43, Continued.

 Having recently returned to the painting desk with the completion of a few more 10mm EIR Roman infantry, I decided this week I should use at least a small part of the collection for a mid-week solo game. As it was 21 May when I picked the scenario - I picked One Hour Wargame, number 21! The Romans would be the "Blue" army and the Britons the "Red" army. 

I changed the map slightly, exchanging a second hill for a town, as I do not have anything to use for a 10mm Ancient British town, currently.

I used the random roll tables in the Neil Thomas book to generate the armies, which resulted in a Roman force of three units of legionaries, two cavalry and one Auxilia, whilst the Britons only had four units, two infantry, one cavalry and one skirmisher. 

The scenario. as mentioned, the town to the north was replaced by another hill.

Auxilia, supported by cavalry, face the isolated Britons on the hill in the SW of the battlefield

Britons, above and below

Sic legiones Romanae

British dispositions on the northern edge were decided randomly by a dice roll per unit. As luck would have it, none of the units started the game on the hill they were tasked with defending!

For this game, I have adopted the convention of two photos per turn, one at the end of the Roman phase, the other at the end of the British phase

Turn two and the Roman cavalry went in against the Britons on the hill

Combat did not go well for the cavalry! I made a slight change to the OHW rules, letting both sides fight simultaneously in the melees.

The cavalry pulled back, leaving room for the Auxilia infantry to move up. Meanwhile, the second Roman cavalry unit was in combat with their British counterparts on the other flank

In the centre, two legions continue to advance, whilst the third forms line to refuse the flank, should the cavalry melee go the "wrong" way.

The Roman cavalry, however, started to gain the advantage

The British cavalry was destroyed in the second melee phase of turn four, and the Auxilia infantry were now in combat too.

With any potential threat from the enemy cavalry now nullified, the third Roman legion reforms into column and advances towards the British held hill.

After two more rounds of melee, the Britons on the SW hill are destroyed by the Auxilia.

The writing is pretty much on the wall. With one objective taken and now occupied by the shaken Roman cavalry, four units of Roman infantry are closing in on two units of Britons!

Legiones oppugnare

Of course, the recently painted Testudo had to get on the table1

But despite having all the advantages, the Romans came off worse in the first round of melee

Only one image of turn eight, as there was no movement available to the Britons, who were locked in melee, and now being systematically worn down by the superior fighting skills of the professional legionnaires.

The game had a maximum of fifteen turns, but the legions only required nine - the two remaining British units went past fifteen hits and were destroyed.

Legiones Romanas iterum triumphant. (gotta love that Google Translate!)

"Ubi solitudinem faciunt pacem appellant"

A nice, quick, simple little game to get my hand in again - maybe next week I will do the "Ambush" scenario with the Britons doing the ambushing, and see if the home team can finally get a win on the board?

Thanks for looking in and please do leave a comment to mark your visit.