Twilight of the Romans II

OK, the rules are actually Twilight of the Britons. I figure the Dark Ages were similar on both sides of the Channel.  Plus my armies are all based on battles during the decline of the western empire. Saturday afternoon and evening we had another outdoor game in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

 

Jay showed up. He missed the first game a couple weeks ago. Andrew showed with his 8-year-old daughter Emily. He saw the second half of our last game but did not play. I was happy to umpire. Dice determined that Jay would take the Romans while Emily and Andrew would have the Gothic/Frankish confederation. He deployed the first warband, Emily/Andrew next and they moved first.

 

Jay deployed his infantry in long thin lines, with many having no rear support despite my pre-game suggestions. It looked more like an 18^th Century deployment than the 5^th century. Emily deployed in supported shield walls (good) though the cavalry was deployed in the center, rather than a flank.

 

The first game showed we needed markers to denote charges/impetuous advances and recoils. I made yellow arrows for recoils and pink ones (that was the color paper I had) for charges, etc. The digital camera renders them both the same so I added red stripes to the charge arrows with Microsoft Paint.  I’ll have to run a red highlighter over the arrows before the next game so the camera notices.

 

We played three turns rather slowly since a lot had to be explained as we went. Three turns in a tad over an hour and we broke for dinner. We had a fine time at dinner, joined by my wife. Some beer, tales of Brooklyn and such went down nicely.

I think we broke for dinner about here. A convivial event it was.

Emily wasn’t pleased when she failed her first couple morale checks but Andrew convinced her to continue. She was talking about going home after dinner. When we started again, Emily said she wanted to see what happened on the next turn. In the event she wanted to see the next three turns and was definitely rooting for a Roman defeat. She finally said it was time to go. The Romans had 4 units off the table to only one barbarian unit. I took over the barbarians. And here my troubles began. The photos will show what happened on the next two turns. The guys liked the rules. Even Emily warmed up to them as the game progressed. Hmm, the newest Fencible? The average age will plunge.

That's one win for each side. Hopefully we'll see the tie-breaker in a couple weeks. 

I compare the Roman army, with its varied types of units, to a Swiss Army knife.

The barbarian army is more like baseball bat. Or a cricket bat, for you Commonwealth types.

 

One mistake I made was forgetting that missile fire causes undisciplined units to make impetuous advances. I also fumbled an overlap situation later in the game, looking for a modifier (that didn't exist) when it should have been another attack. My single house rule (that wasn’t used) is horse archers can fire directly to the rear, the old Parthian shot.

 

Tactical lessons: always use rear support, with units doubled up on behind the other. There is firm history behind this, since this is a game about morale. Humans like to be in a large group when danger beckons. Something that might not have as firm a basis: move Javelin-armed units into range first and then charge the next turn. That way, if you fail the action test to charge, you can still throw javelins/darts/etc. And get around enemy flanks, blocking recoil if possible. This pays dividends and is firmly based on actual events.

 

In games like Memoir 44, it is good practice to take badly hurt units and hide them behind the line. It is not as effective in these rules. When a unit routs, the most beat up unit in their warband takes a hit. So beat up units behind the line can join the routers, perhaps putting your army over their breakpoint. I do like this rule.

 

I think we need at least one more game of Roman vs. Goths and Franks. Then maybe we can put Attila’s boys up against a force of Germans, perhaps with a wing of Romans a la Châlons. I am waiting for a shipment of some figures from Old Glory 15s, some monks, Gothic javelin skirmishers, some more warriors, some cavalry to make period-correct heroes/leaders, and some more 4^th/5^th Century legionaries. Now to find a fairly simple shield design from the Notitia Dignatum, something easy to paint on a 15mm shield.