Britannia Campaign: 16th Legion v Trinovantes Part 2 of 4 - Turns 1 to 5

Turn 1

The chariots, light horse and skirmishers on the Britons right flank surge forward eager to engage the approaching Roman line.

On the Roman left, they steadily advance and observe the rapidly approaching barbarians.

Continued -

On the Roman right, the Legate failed his command roll! The wing would remain static but the Britons obliged by sending out a unit of slingers to engage the roman legionaries. They were unaware of the presence of 4 Roman scorpios off to their left. On seeing the slingers the Roman artillery opened fire immediately. Although at long range they succeeded in downing 2 of the slingers before they could move into slingshot range.

Turn 2

A series of command failures left both sides pretty static this turn although the unit of slingers that had advanced ahead of the main Briton force closed to within effective slingshot range of the Legionaries. Their shooting proved to be ineffectual with stones bounding of shields and armour.

Unfortunately for the slingers, the one command success was the Legate's who was rewarded with a double move when activating a small unit of Batavian cavalry. They raced around the Roman line and closed rapidly on the slingers' flank.

Turn 3

The Batavian's wasted no time in charging into the barbarian slingers. Several wild shots aimed at them as they charged home. The slingers were made of stern stuff and stood to receive the charge but they had not chance against the elite cavalry. They lost 6 of their number causing them to rout for no loss on the Batavians.

The melee though did prove frustrating for the Roman Legate as it took place directly in the line of his advance breaking up his line somewhat. 

On the opposite flank, light chariots swarmed towards the Roman line before loosing their javelins. The Romans were clearly leading a charmed existence as the javelins bounced harmlessly off their shields.

The Roman Tribune ordered his Batavian cavalry forward to counter the chariot threat but with tribal light horse advancing towards them choosing targets could prove difficult.

An overview at the end of turn 3.

Turn 4

Having routed the slingers, the Batavian cavalry maintained good order and now charged into a unit of adolescent javelinmen. A bunch of hastily thrown javelins had no impact and needless to say, they were easily dealt with by the Batavians. They routed losing 7 of their number although they did manage to kill one in return.

The Legate now brought his formation back into line ready to continue their attack.

On the Roman left, before the Batavian cavalry could turn their attention on the chariots, they were charged by light cavalry. With no option but to counter-charge, the better trained and heavier Batavians quickly overcame the Britons killing 4 for the loss of 1 and causing them to rout. 

The lead cohorts on the Roman left braced as the 2 units of chariots charged home. Absorbing the impact the Roman line held losing 2 casualties to the chariot crew's 4. The melee will continue into the next turn.

While the Roman attention was to the front they heard a roar from behind. Trinovantes cavalry came sweeping around the woods towards the rear of the Roman reserve. Warbands burst directly out of the woods towards the rear of the Roman left flank. The Legate cursed his scouts who assured him that the woods were empty of tribesmen and all appeared to have concentrated around the village.

The Trinovantes reinforcements formed the 3rd command. I tested from turn 3 with a dice roll to determine if they arrived. They required a '6' on that turn which they failed. This turn they required '5' or '6' and a '6' was rolled!

Roman light horse sent to reinforce the Batavians were startled to see the warbands surging from the woods towards their flank.

An overview at the end of turn 4. 

Turn 5

The Batavian cavalry (lower middle) now charged the light horse pushing them back in melee. In the meantime the Trinovantes chariots on this flank swung around the treeline launching their javelins at the closest cohort. With shields raised the Romans successfully deflected the missiles with no loss.

Drama was unfolding to the Roman rear and left flank. The Roman reserve cavalry had just enough time to about face but not enough to counter-charge. Even worse, the Roman cavalry unit nearest the camera (the Ala Tampiana) had become unformed in their haste to turn. 

The Trinovantes cavalry piled into the static Romans. The Tampiana were slaughtered losing 10 of their number inflicting just 2 casualties in return. Their morale collapsed in the face of such ferocity and they routed. 

The Sabiniana cavalry had more success holding the Trinovantes light horse to a draw. Their melee will continue.

The Roman left flank were now assailed to both front and rear. The light horse (bottom right) retreated as the warbands from the woods launched themselves into a full-on charge into anything within range. They ripped into the infantry of the Equitata (right) and Batavian infantry (left). Both Roman auxiliary units had become unformed when about facing which was deeply unwise with warbands rapidly descending on them. 

Fearing the worst, the Roman commander ordered his two rear most cohorts to about face.

The Auxiliary infantry on the left were pushed back but suffered heavy casualties at the hands of the rampaging warband losing 10 and inflicting 2 casualties in return.

Surprisingly, the elite Batavians were well and truly rolled over suffering 12 casualties and routing in the process inflicting just one casualty.

The Auxiliary archers maintained their formation as the warband struck but were no match for the Britons losing 9 casualties for inflicting just 2 in return and are pushed back.

A Batavian cavalry unit was in the process of reforming when they were targeted by slingers losing 3 of them. 

A rare Roman success occurred when they finally routed the chariots. The latter lost 7 casualties while the former only suffered 2.

The Roman left command failed a morale test causing all units to downgrade their morale by one step. Any routing units would disperse. Fortunately for the Romans they lost nobody but the Light horse (upper left) turned their retreat into a rout. All unengaged Roman cohorts now faltered.

An overview of the table at the end of turn 5. The Roman fortunes have taken a distinctly poor turn with both their left flank and reserves taking a pulverising. For the left flank in particular it will now be a fight for survival.