Sunday 8 September 2024

Britannia Campaign: Turn 8 - 2nd Legion v The Dobunni

 

Focussing on the south west, the 2nd Legion deals with a rebellion by the Dobunni tribe and is the setting for the next game.
I will be using the L'Art De La Guerre rules again but on this occasion I have balanced the points at around 270 to give a more even game.

The initial setup with the Britons on the left having rolled as the attackers once again. Terrain was determined using the Age of Hannibal rule system modified to reflect the type of terrain to be found in this part of the country. The table size has been reduced to 4'6" x 3' reflecting the smaller size of armies deployed.

Continued -
  Orbats

Initial deployment of the Dobunni tribe.

The Roman 2nd Legion + Auxiliaries.
The Dobunni go for a heavy flanking move with their right supported by the cavalry reserve. In an early clash, Roman cavalry charge up the slope (top right) towards a group of slingers who promptly evaded.

On the opposite flank the Dobunni are a little weak. They hope to hold out long enough before their right flank roll up the Romans. An early melee between two units of light horse and Roman heavy and light cavalry leaves a slight advantage to the latter. 

The Dobunni commander in the centre sends the javelin skirmishers forward to engage with the Romans while holding back the impetuous warbands.

On the Britons right flank their medium cavalry charge the Romans occupying the hill.

The Romans quickly find themselves outflanked with devastating consequences for their cavalry. 2 bases are lost leaving one to hold the onslaught.

The warbands of the right flank now threaten the main Roman line. Having pretty much lost his cavalry, the Roman left flank commander forms up his infantry in an attempt to protect the main legionary formation.

On the Dobunni left flank their light horse fight valiantly but gradually succumb to the superior Roman cavalry.

The light horse are finally destroyed and the first task for the Roman light horse is to clear the Dobunni slingers from the adjacent woods who had been harassing the main Roman line. 

In the centre the impetuous warbands are released who charge into the legionary line with pretty much the same results as in previous games. Maybe a little premature!

Back on the right flank the last of the Roman cavalry is destroyed. The Dobunni cavalry commander now has the job of reforming is dispersed units.

The warbands waste no time in attacking the outnumbered Romans destroying a unit of Batavian auxiliaries. 

In the centre the warbands have been comprehensively defeated but they are not completely out of the game yet.

The main threat to the Romans continues to develop on their left flank. Reformed cavalry units are now approaching the flanking warbands.

A lost legionary base spells serious trouble for the Roman left with marauding warbands chewing them up. Only a tenacious artillery unit prevents Dobunni light horse from attacking the Roman camp.

An overview of the following turn. The whole of the Roman left flank command has been destroyed and unless they can stabilise the situation, defeat of the Romans is looking like a real possibility. The Roman commander begins to move cohorts from the right of his line with the right flank commander hurrying his forces towards the flank of the Dobunni centre.

It is now turn 10 and another legionary base has been destroyed. Incredibly the Roman artillery unit managed to destroy a light horse base but is now in serious trouble with warbands swarming around them. 

The victory point system in ADLG is based on how many units have been lost or disordered through cohesion among other factors. If one side sustains more points lost than the number of bases in their force then they lose. The Dobunni breakpoint is 43 and they have now lost 42 points. The Romans have 24 and lost 21 points. Commanders can rally cohesion so it is possible to reduce those points.

Turn 11 and both sides are getting desperate with commanders joining units in the fight. The legionary base with the red counter is dangerously close to being destroyed.

During the Dobunni turn they succeed in finishing off the badly mauled legionary base taking the Roman point loss to 23. Both sides are now just one point away from losing the battle. The Romans finally succeed by inflicting cohesion hits on three more Dobunni bases taking their total to 45. 

A Roman victory but a costly one.
Needless to say, a rather more exciting game and ADLG will be played again. 

I shall though be taking a break from ancients. ACW beckons with the frequently delayed Gettysburg finally being laid out on the tabletop. More of that in the next post.


10 comments:

  1. As an exponent of teeny tiny miniatures I’ve got to say the units are beautifully painted. Top stuff.

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  2. Hi Jon, again thanks for putting up an awesome review and I have to agree with the prior comment of how amazing the minis, terrain etc.... all look. The scope of how you planned out the campaign too I found to be interesting in both providing a backstory and knowing that this isn't the last episode.
    I'm very happy to hear that you will give L'Art de la Guerre another go, I suspect my gaming history is similar to yours where I started with WRG 5th edition rules, then DBA and DBM. Then took a break for a number of years joining the Air Force, family etc.... getting back into gaming about 15 years ago and being so disappointed with the FOG rules (I admit the PC game version is very enjoyable). L'Art de le Guerre has become one of my favorites, I particularly like how the command and control works along with the subtle differences in the troop types and options. I've found the games to be mostly close run, as well as being very scalable - allowing for if you wanted a quick 2 hour 150 point game or a 6 hour epic 600 point game. If anyone is looking to purchase the rules then I recommend version 4 which has cleared up some of the confusing points in the version 3 rulebook (the original rules were written in French and not everything got translated to English in the correct context). Plus there is a huge online forum.
    Over the last couple of weeks I've been occupying my lunch breaks reading back over your postings and am feeling somewhat inspired to attempt solo gaming. I have plenty of 15mm ECW to field two sides and had contemplated going back to using WRG 1420-1700 rules. However, I have to say I really like your idea of taking components from different rulesets and I have copies of both Grand Armee and General De Brigade. I am looking forward to the challenge of making them work for ECW.
    Regarding 6mm figures, now I'm debating could I switch to painting 60-80 6mm figures instead of 30-40 15mm. I have to say I like the idea of being able to play on a 3 x 4ft space.

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    1. I had loosely toyed with the idea of going back to those old WRG rules for 6mm but probably a step too far. You never know though! I am still on a learning curve with ADLG but much to like.

      6mm does have much to offer. If you are tight on space then you are able to still have a decent sized game on a small table. As I hope to demonstrate with Gettysburg, they also allow for very large games which would be prohibitive in larger scales unless you are blessed with a very large room.

      Pleased you are enjoying the blog and interesting seeing your backstory. Always fascinating to see how wargamers progressed over years in the hobby.

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  3. Another great game to behold Jon and certainly a much closer contest, which is what you want. Looking forward to the Gettysburg game:).

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    1. Many thanks Steve. Got the urge to do something big, hence Gettysburg lol.

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  4. Another great report Jon - your posts are always very inspirational! As I have a large 6mm ACW collection I am very much looking forward to Gettysburg posts!

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  5. A close game, as it should be on balanced points. Does the campaign carry losses between games? I wondered because of the balancing of points whereas in a Roman Invasion campaign I would expect the Romans to be pretty unbeatable to start with but have to be careful to husband their forces as they have few opportunities for reinforcement. Also, as they spread out and conquer more territory the need to garrison it (or risk uprisings in their rear) would also reduce their field army making for some interesting choices on where to take risk.

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    1. The Romans are getting depleted but not as much as I would have anticipated. They have been lucky so far but they are now near to total victory if they can capture Mona before any further tribes rebel cutting their supply line.

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