So after months of painting, terrain building and preparation, we finally got in our first playtest game of Dux Italica, pitting my Romans against Simon MacDowall’s Etruscans. My Romans consisted of one Status 3 Tribune and 3 Status 2 centurions/decurions leading 2 groups of 6 elite Pilani (hoplites), 2 groups of 6 Antepilani Warriors with thrown weapons, 2 groups of 8 Antepilani Levy with thrown weapons, a group of 4 Equites (cavalry) and a group of 4 Rorarii (javelinmen). Simon fielded a Status 3 King and 3 Status 2 Nobles commanding 2 groups of 6 Elite Class 1 Hoplites, 2 groups of 6 Class 2 Warrior Hoplites, 2 groups of 8 Levy Class 3 and 4 with thrown weapons, a group of 4 Noble cavalry and a group of 4 slingers.
The scenario was a Roman raid on an Etruscan temple in the region of the Etruscan city of Tarquinia.
The terrain was slightly less dense than the standard Dux Britanniarum game (2 large and 3 small pieces instead of 3 large and 4 small) as we felt this was more appropriate for the lands of the Latins and Etruscans. Having placed these, we diced for the temple and it ended up as far away from my Romans as it could possibly be, but stuck between a hill and a wood which might slow down Etruscan deployment.
I then diced to see how many turns of movement I’d get before the game began, ending up with two, which I capitalised on with very mighty movement rolls! Simon also rolled well, rolling for 6 groups to come on table at the beginning of the game leaving just one off table until turn two.
As it turned out, we ended up with almost mirror deployment with very similar troop types facing each other, with most the action happening on the right of the table, but with my Levy Antepilani making a beeline for the hill to the left of the temple. Initial turns were all about movement and jockeying for position, especially on my right flank where the two cavalry forces were facing each other. Eventually, I gained the ‘Bridleless Charge’ card which enabled my Equites to fight like Shock Cavalry, doubling their dice and doubling Shock inflicted. Sadly, my dice throwing was utterly rubbish and my card was wasted, the combat lasting a couple of turns before my Equites lost their amphora and ran for it. This was a serious blow as it exposed the flank of my elite Pilani who were already receiving unwanted attention from the Etruscan slingers. The young Decurion in charge activated and escaped the rout, heading to the formation led by his father the Tribune (gotta have a narrative in these games!) Clearly the Roman Equites had a premonition of the slanderous bile spouted about Roman cavalry by Livy in his histories written 300 plus years later and decided to be just as crap as Livy would later claim they were. Oh well!
In the centre, the Etruscans cleverly blocked the access to the temple with two formations who formed Phalanx (same effect as Shieldwall in Dux Brit). They would be a tough nut to crack, especially with the danger posed to my flank by Etruscan horsemen. However, my Antepilani Warriors are armed with Thrown Weapons which means that they had options. I also drew a couple of ‘Ammentum’ cards. The ammentum was a leather throwing thong that effectively doubled the range of a javelin and was popular in the period. This meant that I could engage the Etruscan phalanxes from distance although the Phalanx rule that the first Shock on each group was negated, plus Simon’s excellent dice throwing, meant that the Shock dribbled onto the Etruscan Class 2 phalanx, even when my Rorarii joined in. I also tried a similar trick with my Levy Antep[ilani against the Etruscan Levy Class 3 & 4 with slightly more success as Shock built up on the Etruscans on the hilltop.
Now came the turning point of the game. My Tribune activated and was in some trouble, having enemy cavalry threatening his flank and an elite Class 1 Hoplite phalanx to his front. Deciding that the cavalry were the biggest threat, the Tribune ordered his son to break one Group of Pilani off from the formation and pull it back out of range of the slingers. The Tribune then took the remaining Pilani Group and charged the Etruscan cavalry. The cavalry could have evaded, but they were perilously close to the table edge and, had they fled off it, would have struggled to come back on again. Thus Simon elected to hold and receive the Pilani charge. It was a ferocious fight, staying fairly even initially as - you’d expect from two Elite units fighting each other - but eventually numbers and Hoplite armour told and casualties, plus the vast Shock build-up, meant the cavalry lost their amphora and fled, opening a pathway round the woods to the temple for the Pilani. Simon had not anticipated my splitting the Pilani up like this. To me, this was entirely plausible as my view of warfare in this period has the Roman Hoplites fighting as more akin to archaic Greek Hoplites than the Classical variant, being more heavily armoured and trained to fight individually as much as in a phalanx-style formation, so this to me was just a ‘normal’ tactic and not a ’beardy gamey’ one. It certainly worked.
The Etruscan King, clearly troubled by this, then advanced the Elite Class 1 Hoplites in an attempt to force the issue in the centre but was unable to make much headway as his phalanx struggled to extricate itself from the woodland.
At this point, after an inconsequential missile duel on the left with the Etruscan Levy, I finally drew an Audacia card, enabling my Centurion to fight at Status 4 for a turn. Shrugging off the Shock on his Levy Antepilani Formation, he ordered the charge up the hill. The use of a ‘Carpe Diem’ card enabled me to also use the ‘Strong Arm’ card which enabled the Levy to hurl javelins, proto-pila, etc before combat. This hail of missiles inflicted numerous Shock on the hapless Etruscan Class 3 and 4 Levy who took something of a pasting in the ensuing combat, excess Shock piling up and forcing a withdrawal which broke their Formation and left one Group out of command range. In the next round of activations, the Etruscan Levy and their noble attempted to withdraw, but were caught by the jubilant Roman Levy Antepilani and the resultant casualties and Shock caused them to lose their amphora and flee.
At this point, Simon called the game, as although he held the centre with two untouched phalanxes, both flanks were gone and his Force Morale was looking decidedly shaky – more so than that of the Romans. We therefore decided that the Etruscan phalanxes would affect an orderly withdrawal while the Romans pillaged the temple. Roman victory!
We were very pleased with the rule adaptations. Nothing needed massive change. The new cards worked extremely well, as did the rule allowing formed troops armed with Thrown Weapons to shoot. This shooting caused disruption only (very little effect on a phalanx as expected too) and that is what I wanted as it felt ‘right’ for the vision I have of this period’s warfare. We both said that the game felt like what we thought an early Roman encounter would look like. At no point did we feel that we’d just played a Dark Ages battle with early Roman and Etruscan figures. I’d call that a massive win, although we obviously need much more playtesting with all of the scenarios.
There will therefore be more to come. And I have a Samnite army to undercoat and paint, and Simon is preparing a Gallic force as well!
