Mare Nostrum Campaign Turn 4: Battle at Vercella (in Gaul)

Rome (Mike + Gaul (Jim)
v.
Carthage (SteveJ subbing for PeterW) + Spain (Chris subbing for SteveD) + Germanicus (Mark)

After three turns of pussyfooting around & missed opportunities, all the armies in the Gaul theatre converged on Vercella in turn 4 for the biggest Hail Caesar battle yet at Camp Cromwell.  I extended the table at the far end by 0.5m to make it 3.6m long.  The combined collections of Jim, Mike & Steve supplied the armies with only a few proxies (the Spanish warbands look a bit like hoplites).  As the defenders, the Carthaginians & friends chose the ground (a flat plain) and deployed first.

The Carthaginians & Allies are on the left:  They have the Carthos in the centre, Germanicus on their left and the Spanish on their right.  Rome is facing the Spanish.  Gaul on their right is facing both the Carthaginians and the Germans.

The Roman & Gallic armies made a steady advance, managing to maintain a good line.

(Pic from behind Roman/Gallic lines).  The Carthaginians try to counterattack the advancing Romans, but just fall short in the charge.

The Gallic army lacks skirmishers & the Carthagininas & Germans send theirs forward to weaken the Gauls in their slow advance.

 Both the Carthaginians & Germans send their cavalry forward on the left of their armies.

 The Romans have got the better of the first charge breaking most of the Spanish front line.

The Spanish army is breaking up off pic to the left.  The Carthaginians have tried a flank attack on the victorious Romans, but too late to save their allies.  The Gallic infantry has charged the Punic infantry pushing back the advanced units protecting the flank attack.  The Punic cavalry has charged the Gallic centre, pushed it back, but not broken it. 

The first German cavalry attack was beaten off & they have renewed the attack. The German infantry has also finally charged, but did not quite reach the Gallic line.

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The Spanish army has broken & fled.  The Romans on the right of their line who were attacked in flank have fallen back, but did not break.The Gallic attack in the centre has been beaten back, but the Gallic division has not broken.   The Carthaginian cavalry attack has pushed the Gauls back, but not broken through.  The German second cavalry attack was held off and the foot has not yet got to grips with the enemy.

The Carthaginians & Germans decided to take advantage of a break in the action along the front & make an orderly withdrawal.  The Romans were still reorganising after defeating the Spanish & the outnumbered Gauls were all too happy to let their enemies withdraw unmolested.

Remarkably, we fought a battle with over 1,100 pts a side in one & a half hours.  The Roman plan to keep two enemy armies busy with their allies while crushing the third with the legendary Might of Rome was backed up with good command dice and relentlessly terrible Spanish Break Tests.  The Carthaginian & Germanic dice were little better than their allies and the Roman plan worked beyond all expectations.