What the past few months and the previous play tests of Dux Italica have shown is that the basic rules work really well. This is no surprise given that Dux Britanniarum works very well (if you like that sort of thing) and the changes that I’ve made seem to just enhance them when playing this much earlier period. So, allowing most formed infantry and all cavalry to have shooting ability via javelins, having a 180 degree arc of vision to prevent units charging units behind them at the start of their activation, allowing units with two or more Groups to move in ‘column’ (i.e. one group behind the other) have all worked well. New Fate cards for the various factions have thus far not proven either over or underpowered either.
This is all good. We also know that the original raid and battle scenarios in the Dux Britanniarum rules work really well, so no need to replay any more of those now we know our mods work. However, I have recently written a bunch of new scenarios based on events in the 5th-3rd centuries BCE involving the various factions and these now need testing. One of the key features of the original scenarios is that one can play the same one several times and have a very different game experience each time and I am hoping to replicate that with the ones I’m writing, which is a challenge!
So, gaming buddy and Osprey author Simon MacDowall and I met up to test one of my new scenarios. He brought his fabulous Gauls along for a second run at the Romans.
The scenario is based on an episode during the Samnite Wars and is essentially an ambush. The Defender (The Samnites in the real world) has strategically placed several herds of livestock in an area of wooded, hilly terrain and has tasked some ‘deserters’ from their army to reveal this to the Aggressor (the Romans), who, obviously falls for it and heads off to capture the cattle, getting ambushed in the process. Livy reports it a s a stunning Roman victory, but it is reported by Zonaras as a catastrophic defeat for Rome. I suspect the latter is the more accurate!
So here is the map. It’s done with AI from a Powerpoint original. If this stuff ever goes to publication I’d go for a proper designer over AI but as that’s very unlikely, AI it is! The Aggressor has the possibility of one or two turns of Movement before the Defender gets a chance to respond (I managed to get one turn). The Defender has to select three deployment points, deploying on his Character card activations and must deploy one Character and at least two Groups from each of his selected points, within 6 inches of the point and at least 12 inches from the enemy.
Simon chose two, three and four. His first card out of the deck was his warlord and two Groups of Nobles. The Gauls get Aggressive Charge (an extra +1 to hit in the first round of combat) and Bounding Move (an extra D6 of movement) in the card hand automatically in every game. Now, they can only play two cards in one activation if they also hold a Carpe Diem card. Sadly for me, Simon had been dealt one of these. This meant he could play both those cards and launch a charge on my Antepilani Warriors (Principes) in the first turn. Because he played a Carpe Diem card, I was unable to use my Evade card that I’d been dealt, so had to take the charge! It was a disaster. Caught in column so only one Group could fight, I lost a ridiculous 7 men killed including a wound on the Character. This was the first of several disastrous dice rolls that characterised my game and set the tone for how it would go. After this, there was little I could do.
A rear charge by my Equites on the Gallic Nobles caused virtually no damage.
Then my Antepilani Levy, despite having a Strong Arm card (14 dice causing Shock on 5 and 6) and getting the charge in (hitting on 4 plus and just look at all those dice that were below that!), got absolutely annihilated (another ridiculous dice roll where I couldn’t roll anything but 5s and 6s which kill Levy) meant that I lost the game without killing any more than two enemy warriors!
The Gauls mopped up by destroying everything bar my elite Pilani and my Rorarii skirmishers. We didn’t count up the victory points but it was a victory of an unheard of scale!
Simon was very lucky with card activations – all his Characters came up just when he needed and in the order he needed, and he capitalised by playing the game brilliantly. I did little wrong (aside from my dice rolling) and we concluded that I had written a perfect ambush scenario, as the Aggressor gets properly caught and, being restricted by terrain, just can’t really respond to the threats quickly enough, even if card activation come in a different order and even if facing a faction that doesn’t have the ability to charge in on Turn 1.
Simon, who has a lot of experience of wargames writing, suggested revising the map to play from a long table edge, widening the valley and giving the Aggressor more space (and potentially time) to deploy, but keeping everything else the same. We’ll try that next time we play, although that might not be for at least two-three months owing to various wargame commitments in other periods, etc, that we both have. If any of you have any other suggestions, I’d be grateful to hear them of course.
