Late Imperial Rome – East vs. the West

Photos of the Late Imperial Roman army (western) were posted recently and between painting sessions decided to test them against their rivals, an eastern army. Troops of the western army can be seen on the left of photo and opposite, the East. Neither side made use of allies.

The battle opened with each side advancing their right wing; for the West, this attack consisted of cavalry supported by infantry while the East sent their infantry supported by artillery for their flanking maneuver.  

First to make contact, the West gained the upper hand. To support further gains, their light horse was repositioned to support the assault. The departure of the light horse opened a path for the equites Alani to launch their attack against the eastern cataphract.

Despite all their bravado, the equites Alani received a severe drubbing necessitating a rescue attempt by a unit of light horse.

As the battle lines closed, early gains by the West were overshadowed by events in centre and their right flank. The destruction of the Alani and light horse sent a tremor to the West’s centre as it collapsed under the weight of Eastern legionnaires and auxilia. Unable to recover, the West fled the field, 8-4.

Sides exchanged deployment zones and using the same terrain proceeded with a second test. The Eastern army, on the defense, placed cavalry on both flanks of their infantry centre. The West mirrored the opposition, but reinforced its right wing to place its main effort on that flank.

As the lines closed, the cavalry of the West were the first to engage in combat followed quickly by the infantry of right centre.

Both lines, locked in combat, could gain no perceptible advantage, the battle seemed destined to become a slogging match.  

For nearly an hour (4 turns), casualties mounted evenly bringing both sides to breaking point. In an act of desperation, the eastern magister charged down a unit of legionnaires to destroy it and seize a narrow victory, 8-7.

Observations.

The second test developed much as I had expected, a slogging match with casualties falling evenly on both sides. Both sides enjoyed good pip scores with both sides close to victory, presenting the Eastern magister with a do-or-die decision. 

Test one, however, exemplified the uncertain nature of the game with the collapse of the western army. The issue was not due to any shortage of pips, but how West utilised its advantage to make many tactical moves by single elements. The resulting combats did favour the West, but left them hopelessly out of position falling later to an enemy’s retribution. Scrambling to recover the survivors meant little or no pips were left to move the reserve line.