ADLG Early Imperial Roman v Ancient British

My Early Imperial Romans took on Simon's Ancient British (actually Gaul's but little to no difference in the lists!). 

The table was fairly open with the Romans slightly stronger on their left and considerably overlapped on the right. Both armies attempted to take advantage of this:

First to engage were the Roman Auxilia on the left, tempting some impetuous Britons out of the safety of a field:

To protect their warriors the chariots charge Legionaries:

The Britons create a gap in the Auxilia line:

On the right the Roman cavalry attempt to hold off numerous Britons:

The situation does not look promising for the Legions with their right being protected by a couple of cavalry facing numerous heavy foot against which they are ineffective:

A gap appears in the Auxiliary line:

On the right the cavalry and Moors battle on but are being flanked by British infantry:

On the left the Auxilia gain the upper hand while the Legions are still pushing forward:

The Legions are slowly being ground down:

The Auxilia have mopped up the remaining British:

The Britons have broken through the Roman lines and are attacking the camp:

The Romans attempt to save the camp:

The camp remarkably holds on despite more Britons assaulting it:

Eventually the camp falls sending the Roman army to defeat:

Back to my old habits of making several positional errors in ADLG games and perhaps not having the best army list I could have had. It was a bit closer than I thought it would be for a while but the loss of the camp tipped the army over the edge, having said that the camp heroically held out for several turns which it really shouldn't have done!

ADLG Early Imperial Roman v Gallic

This week's game saw my Early Imperial Roman army take on Simon's Gallic horde in a 15mm ADLG encounter. I opted for a Western-themed army with one cavalry command, a strong Legionary command and a mixed Auxilia/Cavalry command.

The Romans won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains, managing to get a river down to narrow the table and with the rest of the terrain falling nicely for them. The cavalry command deployed up against the river, the Legionaries in the centre and the Auxila on the right:

The deployment looked good for the Romans with my cavalry facing some weaker Gallic chariots, the Legionaries against medium swordsmen and the Auxila tasked with holding back the rest of the Gallic horde as long as possible:

The Gauls rush forward, their centre of very tough elite heavy swordsmen might have problems getting into contact though with the faster moving and impetuous medium swordsmen on either flank:

Legions and wild Gallic warriors clash! the Legions have an overlap on one flank while the Gallic heavy swordsmen can't quite make it into overlap for the Gauls:

The Legions hold the initial Gallic charge and wound a couple of elements at no loss to themselves:

The next round of combat sees two Legions breaking their opponents cutting down swathes of Gauls. The Romans have a few shooting hits but other than that are undamaged:

The Roman cavalry are assailed by more javelin throwing chariots and hits start to mount up:

Meanwhile on the right the Auxilia have been nervously watching the rest of the Gallic army close in on them. A few skirmishers have been sacrificed to slow the Gauls down but the crunch is approaching!:

On the left and in the centre things continue to go well for the Romans, most of the Gallic medium swordsmen have been dispersed and the cavalry is starting to cut through the chariots:

On the right one Auxilia has advanced to protect the Legion's flank. The rest of the Auxilia are about to be hit by a wave of Gallic warriors though:

The last few Gallic elements are mopped up on the right, the Gallic general is about to fall in combat with his chariots:

In the centre the Legions are turning to outflank the Gallic elite warriors. The Auxilia do well and mostly hold the Gauls charging them inflicting significant losses:

The last few Gallic chariots struggle on:

The Auxilia continue their good work despatching more Gauls:

It's all over for the barbarians as the Gallic army breaks:

I think that this game was mostly decided on the terrain and deployment, the narrower frontage allowed the Romans to have one secure flank on the river and to delay much of the Gallic army getting into combat on the other flank with a few skirmishers. The Legions ended up facing the much weaker Gallic medium swordsmen while the very powerful elite Gallic heavy swordsmen found it hard to get into contact. I suspect I also had the best of the combat dice though not perhaps the shooting ones!

Hopefully Simon and I will get in a few more games in the New Year, since it was over a year since I'd seen him was great to play again.

Infamy, Infamy Early Imperial Romans

The opposition for the Ancient Britons, some Newline Designs Early Imperial Romans. As with the Britons these were painted with the Vallejo washes plus, as there were some suitable ones available, LBMS shield transfers.

The Legion, four groups plus a Centurion and Signifer:

Two groups of Auxilia plus a Centurion:

A group of Auxiliary cavalry:

Finally some Eastern Auxiliary archers:

Unlike the Britons I'm really pleased with these, they were so easy to paint and the washes gave a nice shaded effect. The shield transfers also helped a lot, I've tried LBMS shield transfers on 15mm figures before and been unimpressed (mainly as they are so frustrating to apply!) but with the larger 20mm figures they were really easy to apply and are much nicer than I could have painted by hand. Just need to be allowed to attend the club again now to give them an outing!

ADLG Early Imperial Romans v Gauls

In my third post-lockdown game at the club my Early Imperial Romans took on Simons Gauls (though I was expecting Ancient British and will refer to them as such from now on!).

The two armies face off:

Roman Auxilia move into the plantation to hold the left flank:

The British storm forwards on their right where they can make their numbers tell:

Legionaries await the onrushing warriors:

A rare view from the British lines. The Emperor Claudius can be seen watching carefully from his tent:

The British attack the Auxilia in the plantation. One unit is killed and the second takes two hits. Not a good start for Rome:

The two lines clash! The Romans will need to break through quickly as their left flank is crumbling away rapidly:

On the Roman right there is better news as they drive the Britons back:

The Legion starts to cut through the British infantry creating gaps and exploiting them:

Much of the British line has been wiped out but the Romans have lost many support troops:

The British army breaks. One Roman cavalry unit needs to hold on for the Romans to survive. The gap between the British chariot and infantry unit bottom left shows that it failed to do so resulting in a mutual destruction!:

Another enjoyable game, at first I thought Simon would win quite easily after demolishing my left flank (commanded by a General who lost every unit he stood next to in the game one after another!) but the Legions cut through the warband quickly helped by the comedy mixed elephant and camels unit which accounted for a few more elements and some very accurate shooting from the sole unit of Roman archers.

ADLG Early Imperial Romans v Germans

My Early Imperial Roman army has not had a game in a long time so when Clive wanted a practice game for Roll Call against his Germans it seemed a good opportunity to drag them back into the daylight!

The Germans with their strategist Hermann (the German) won the initiative and decided to defend in the forests of Germany:

The Romans deployed mainly on the left of the battlefield with Legions in the centre, Auxilia on the left and a cavalry command on the right. The Germans had constructed a fort with some Gallic allies in the middle, two forests doubtless containing ambushing German fanatics and a few cavalry on the German left. The Gallic commander immediately became recalcitrant and refused to join the fight giving the Romans an opportunity to attack on the left while ignoring the Gauls:

The Roman left rushes forward and the Auxilia and Legions prepare to attack the wood:

It will soon come to the crunch, the Gauls are still refusing to move while Hermann has started to bring some more German fanatics over from his left to support his right:

The ambush is sprung and the Auxila await the wild charge of the Germans. Being in the wood significantly helps the Auxilia as they retain their impact if the Germans charge them and the Germans also lose both impact and furious charge:

The Roman cavalry moves to attack on the right to put more pressure on Hermann's strategical ability:

After a few turns of restraint the Germans finally charge into a fairly disadvantageous situation. Initial results are reasonable for the Romans with three out of four warbands taking hits:

The Gauls have now decided to join in with the Germans while the Auxilia cut down the German warriors:

Having dealt with the German warbands the Auxila then fall dismally to a combination of German javelin skirmishers and a couple more warband from Hermann's command. What looked like a hopeful situation has quickly imploded for the Romans:

All may not be lost though as the Roman cavalry attack on the right presses home. The Romans have more elements, the advantage of armour and for two of their cavalry impact ability while the Germans medium cavalry are elite. The attack goes badly though and the Romans look doomed:

The Auxilia have been wiped out and the remaining Legions and Roman cavalry have fallen back to regroup:

On the right the last few Roman cavalry are cut down breaking the Roman army:

So another ADLG defeat though this time I think I played better than usual. My plan was good and delivered advantages for my troops both on the left and right, they just didn't really take those advantages!

Clive was helped by the massive size of his army (28 breakpoint to my 22), the elite upgrade for his fighting troops really helped and his light infantry are tough even against Auxila in the woods. He also had an excellent defensive position which, in an actual competition, I'd probably have refused to attack. A fun game though and nice to get the Romans in action again.