66 AD - Rebellion in Judaea

Protest against excessive tax measures brought Judaeans to the point of rebellion.  The Roman governor Gessius Florus issued orders for the various garrisons to suppress the insurrections in their districts. A vexillation of one legion encountered a number of rebels gathering across a river. 

The standard game was played and using the battlefield cards, the random selection produced a battlefield with a road intersecting a river and difficult hills to one flank.

 

Rome moved first to quickly seize the bridge forcing the defending Zealots back. More legionnaires supported the assault with the ballistae rendering support fire.

The rebels countered by crossing the river hoping to put the Romans off balance. Anticipating this, Rome sent reserve cavalry and auxilia to deal with the threat. This scattered the rebel skirmishers, but did not deter a second column from pressing forward.

The Zealots, forced further back allowed Rome to expand their foothold across the river. Reserve legionnaires engaged nearby enemy regulars sending them recoiling. On the Roman right, auxilia units threatened to cross the river, holding enemy units to hold their position across the river. 

Roman drill overcame enemy resilience to earn a narrow victory, 4-3. 

Finding a common strategy among rebel leaders proved difficult during the early stages of the revolt. One such faction encountered the approach of a Roman column. Seeking the shelter of nearby hills, the rebels deployed for battle. 

Advancing in two columns, cavalry on the Roman right would pin the enemy left, while the main column would assault the enemy formed at the base of the hills. 

Rebel formations withdrew to higher ground giving Rome no other option than to follow. Rome approached the enemy in two columns, the left supported by archers and the right by ballistae, their missile fire kept the rebels dancing. Roman equites on the right caught rebel troops before they could reach cover in the hills.

In an attempt to catch Rome off-balance, the rebels launched suicidal attacks against isolated units. This failed leaving the rebels no option but to flee the field. 

Observation.

Both were close games and could easily have ended with a rebel victory. The Zealots (3Wb) made little impression on the legionnaires and found themselves consistently pushed back in both games.

The Jewish Revolt is not a tournament winner, but can make a legato’s life a miserable one.

Al-Andalus invade the kingdom of Castile

Invading Castile, the Arab-Berber army of al-Andalus met the Iberians on an open plain, to one side a small hamlet and opposite a forest line.

Castile placed its infantry on the flanks and positioned all the cavalry in centre, aimed at the heart of the Arab line. To counter, Arab and Berber spearmen supported by archers would meet the main threat while Berber light horse would probe the enemy’s flanks looking for weaknesses.

Castiles’ first wave floundered, failing to make any impression on the Berber ranks. Survivors regrouped behind their infantry allowing a second wave of knights to make their attack.

The Castilians, fully engaged with the Andalusian infantry became aware of the precarious situation as both flanks collapsed as Berber light horse and skirmishers overpowered the Castilian infantry, handing al-Andalus a convincing victory, 8-2.

Seeking revenge, both armies found themselves on the same battlefield but with deployment areas reversed. Learning from its mistake in the initial contest, cavalry and light horse were posted to the extreme flank to support their infantry leaving the Castilian knights to form the army’s entire centre.

This had the desired effect as the Castilian cavalry on the right bested the Berber light horse, leaving the infantry to put the Berber skirmishers to flight. Events on the Castilian left developed similarly, but with less drama, this left the Castilian nobles free to vent their rage on the line of Berber spear.

With cries of ‘Santiago’, infantry of the Arab center fell in quick succession forcing the emir to call for a retreat. Castile had its revenge, 9-2.

Observation

Cavalry and light horse that formed part of the initial wave in game one, no longer weakened the main assault in game two. The change in deployment ensured Castile a decisive victory.