They Are Coming For The Village !

 The cry came up from some herders. A strong force of Roman Auxiliaries with support units was approaching and they were carrying wood to burn the village down as retribution for some perceived insults by our Germanic tribes.

The War Lord quickly prepares his warriors and sets off. The start of a new Infamy, Infamy ! campaign. This time Steve has the Romans and I have the Germanic tribes. 

They know the Romans are coming from the bottom right of the picture, our village is opposite at bottom left.

In the advance are a group of Roman Auxiliary archers

Followed by a group of Tribal Levy making their way through the wooded hills

Next on, a group of armed Roman servants carrying the wooden faggots to speed up burning the village

Then the Centurion marches on with a column of Auxiliary infantry

Slingers follow the Tribal Levy and two groups of Auxiliary cavalry lead by a Decurion trot ahead

The Centurion sends ahead one group of infantry as skirmishers

The cavalry advance again on and beside the hills - so far, no sight of the enemy.

But no ! Dashing from the marshes, a group of German Foederati cavalry attacks the Roman cavalry with javelins

And out of the woods, an enemy mob appear and throw their spears 

Followed by a charge by Fanatical Warriors from amongst their ranks

This surprise attack has greatly shocked the Roman cavalry

and they break

The other remaining Roman cavalry continue to engage the Foederati attacking them

But the tussle ends with both sides losing their cavalry

The Centurion turns his infantry into line and faces towards the threat from the hills

At this moment, the German Warlord charges out of the marshes and hits the skirmishing Romans who are thrown back although the Germanic warriors have taken casualties too.

To support them, Tribal Levy arrive on the German right flank

The Auxiliaries turn again now to face the new threat from the marshes

The German warriors charge forward again

The Roman Tribal Levy try to stem the tide by charging the German warriors on the hill

But they are beaten off and the Germans charge into the flank of the Auxiliaries already engaged to their front

Attacked from two sides, the Romans are in deep trouble

Their losses mount and their cohesion is broken

The German Tribal Levy have chased off the Roman archers on the right flank

At this point, the Roman morale completely collapsed and the remaining troops fled the field with all thought of burning villages long forgotten !

Despite his success, the German War Lord failed to impress his fellows enough to merit an increase in his status in the campaign.

The Roman Centurion and one junior German tribal leader were wounded but would recover in two weeks. Battle will recommence in three weeks on the Roman calendar.

Another tense game of Infamy which never fails to deliver !

Bring Them To Battle !

 The Roman Commander had summonsed the Centurion to his office and demanded aggressive action to put the Germanic tribes in their place.  "Be decisive and get them to fight you. A Roman soldier is worth ten of these uncouth ill disciplined mobs. Go now and sort it out"

This time, the Centurion decides to take Auxiliaries rather than Legionaries. They are more flexible in drill and probably better suited to this type of action.  "Optio - lets go !"

The terrain generator chose this battlefield for us. Benito's Romans will enter from the lower right hand side. The German tribe has a deployment zone lower left but also the usual ambush/deployment points.  Benito detected two of them close to his start position (one was removed the other down graded to deployment only).

First to deploy area group of Roman archers who swiftly move into the woods in front of them.

They are followed by a group of slingers into the woods to the right of the archers

The Centurion then brings on the Auxiliaries in column of march for speed of movement

No sign of any enemy as yet

The archers have reached the edge of the woods and deploy, keeping an eye out for any sign of the Germans

Likewise, the slingers have crossed the wooded hill and are scanning their front for any activity

As nothing is happening, the Centurion gets his column to trot around the marsh

At this point, some German javelin men appear to their front

But far more alarmingly, a group of Fanatics lead by a fearsome warrior leap out of the woods and crash into the front of the Auxiliaries whilst they are still in column

The Centurion is wounded and the lead group thrown back with casualties

Still in a blood rage, the Fanatics continue on to the next group in the column

As this is happening, the Germanic War Lord emerges from the marshes and charges with two groups across to attack the Slingers on the wooded hill

They cannot withstand such a powerful ambush and are destroyed

The Auxiliaries have retreated in confusion, back towards the archers and the woods

Roman Auxiliary Cavalry had been making its way around the right flank but having witnessed the charge of the enemy War Lord and heard other fighting beyond the wooded hill, stops to assess the situation.

The Fanatics retire to regroup but the German javelin men advance and continue to cause problems for the Romans

The Centurion and Optio desperately try to restore order and reduce shock on their forces

This is a view down the table at this point of the battle

The Roman cavalry commander has decided to bring his group around the back of the woods to ride to the assistance of the Auxiliaries

The Javelin men keep up the pressure on the Romans whilst the Fanatics get their breath back  

Slowly, the Romans get back into some sort of shape and reform even though the Optio has been wounded too.

But the War Lord is advancing again, threatening the flank of the archers who had emerged from the woods to try and get a field of fire - the cavalry is coming !

The War Lord gets his men to throw spears, killing two cavalrymen and then charges them - the archers have withdrawn

The cavalry lose the melee and decide to retire, shocked as they are

Slingers have been adding their missiles to the javelin men's fire, which has kept the Romans pinned and now the Fanatics charge again

This time, the Auxiliaries manage to beat off the Fanatics but there is no respite as the German Junior Leader with another mob attacks the Roman formation

The Romans are broken and most flee through the woods

By this point, their morale has hit their lowest point and Benito concedes. The remnants of the Auxiliaries will have to slink back to base and face their Commander.

Another awkward encounter for the Centurion.