Hail Caesar in Canberra

Jim's Gauls v. Steve Daniels & Greg Blake's Romans

On my last night in Canberra I fought a Hail Caesar battle at Steve Daniel's place.  My little bushwalking camera didn't take very good pics in low light I'm afraid.  I should have used my Ipad, but you can see what's happening.

The Romans (on the left) deployed 3 legions with their cavalry in reserve behind.   The Gauls deployed 3 divisions of warbands with their chariots & cavalry on their left.

The Romans got the right command dice to charge the Gauls first to give them the advantage of the charge bonus right along the line.   The Gauls weren't too unhappy about that, they had superior cavalry which they expected to win when it reached the Roman horse and they had the opportunity to swamp the far end of the Roman line.  Unfortunately, bad command dice prevented their second line coming up to do that job, even though their CIC was there fro re-rolls. 

The Gallic centre is predicably being worn down.  Their cavalry & chariots have failed to capitalise on their superior strength & are now holding on rather than charging the legions in rear as planned.  And ont eh far flank, the second wave still refuses to advance.

The Gallic centre has disintegrated & the legions are wheeling on the Gallic right, which still has hardly moved.  The Gallic horse breaks right after this pic was taken to complete the rout of the Gauls.

It's always interesting to play new opponents & see how they do stuff.   The Canberra blokes use a standard unit width of 120-150mm - smaller than we use for ancients, but close to what we use in later periods.    They do less Hail Caesar than us & have developed fewer house rules.  But it showed that the house rules & base widths really make little difference to the big picture.