The Romans in Gaul

Mike hosted a post-Christmas game at his place today for six of us, pitting Romans against Gauls, mostly from Mike's own collection with a few Roman units from mine.

Rafael and I had the Romans, Martin and Ian the Gauls with Mike umpiring (Richard turned up later and joined the Gauls).

Here's the initial Roman deployment

Here's Ian and Martin getting their briefing from Mike

Rafael looking serious for a change !

Our objective is the Gaul village at the rear of the Gaul left. 

The advance is ordered, some units keener than others !

Gauls making a big show in the centre

Skirmishers to the fore, the Roman lines advance

The Gauls shake themselves out into a line of sorts

Slingers rush forwards to inflict some pain

Nubian light horse in Roman pay shadow the woods on the Roman right

A big Gaul unit makes a lot of noise and advances in the centre

Ian's Gauls are less certain and hold back

The first hand to hand clash, with lots of units in support

This struggle continues

The Roman skirmishers have recoiled, faced with close order enemy advancing

Left flank of the Gaul army advancing

At last, Ian gets his troops to move with Roman cavalry facing them

My legions are slow to move up and help the cavalry

The clash of arms in the centre swings backwards and forwards

The Roman commander lends his weight

The Roman cavalry charge the enemy war bands before them

Bad mistake !  They retreat with heavy casualties

At last, the disciplined Roman ranks make the Gauls war bands retreat in the centre

Richard has arrived and Mike informs him he will command fresh Gaul war bands arriving on that flank

The Nubian horse engage Gauls in front of them

watched by Gaul skirmishers

Richard's forces arrive on the Roman right flank

unobserved by the embattled Nubians

With both sides worn down, the Nubians and Gauls both retire

One of my units joins in the melee, centre stage

Can the Romans break through ?

Yes ! Gaul war bands fall back with high casualties

Rafael's troops react to the threat from Richard's war bands and shift to the right in column

At long last, my two legions on the Roman left move forwards

The first Roman column engages the enemy

Gauls retreat before the legion on the left

Rafael's men turn to face a new threat

Enemy cavalry in front and a war band on their right !

This mess turns into a hard fought slog

The Roman commander in the thick of it

Casualties are mounting and a legion breaks

Taking the Roman commander with them ! Not his greatest hour !

But the troops in the centre continue the fight without realising

 The Gauls are sent reeling

Suddenly, the whole centre opens up for the Romans as the Gauls flee

but the Roman right hangs in the balance

Amazingly, the Romans hang on and push back the enemy cavalry

 and plum are thrown to keep them away

The Gauls on their right are attacked by the legions

More Gauls flee !

Romans dominate the centre now

and the right has held firm, despite the loss of the Commander

Ian hurls his cavalry into attack the Romans on our left but they are a tough nut to crack

This fight draws out

With Rafael having to leave, Richard has now become a Roman ! He has a unit behind the waivering enemy, heading for the village. Ian and Martin look despondent !

Mike declares a Roman victory - even though the leader had fled the field earlier !

Interesting game, using Mike's rules developed with Richard's help giving us all an exciting battle.

And we helped Mike demolish some Christmas leftovers for lunch !