Battle for Illyricum 49BC

Brian and I have just finished a most fantastic game-Caesarian Romans vs Illrians and Thracians-Brian fielded two full legions-what a sight-magnificent to say the least!!

These two photo's show the scenario and initial table layout-all looks very pretty and lovely straight lines-but will it last??
My plan was very simple,I would attack immediately with my Illyrians and Thracians on my right,and hold the high ground on the left until my Elephants were in a position to attack the Romans in the flank.Brian's plan was to attack along both fronts,to keep me on my toes!!

On the right both sides advance,whilst the cavalry and light troops get stuck in!!

On my left(the high ground) the Romans of Legio 2 have advanced and thrown their Pila,I have moved some cavalry onto my right to threaten any advance-but my Elephants aren't yet ready to engage-woe is me!!-After a good skirmish and melee,Brian is driving my light cavalry and horse archers off the board-double woe is me!!

Nearly there,but with cavalry retiring,this is going to be very tight-meanwhile the Romans are gaining the upper hand in the melee to the left of this picture.

"Gotcha!!"My elephants have eventually arrived,and are making mincemeat of the facing cohorts-hurrah!!-but on the left things are not going so well-the dreaded Pila has taken its toll on my heavy infantry,and things are not looking too good!!

Meanwhile,on my right,I am giving Legio 1 a good old fashioned "thrashing",my second line(Thracians) are just waiting their turn to join in the fun(have I spoken too soon??)

Back to the left flank now,and I am being pushed back-morale dictated that both Elephants ran "amok"-luckily straight back,so they didn't interfere with my hard-pressed infantry.

The whole of my left flank has been pushed back,and Brian has still untried troops to hand-but what of the right flank??

Oh dear!! my Illyrians have been defeated,and my Thracians are taking the full weight of Brian's second line of cohorts-the bloody Pila did for me again!!-with both flanks in disarray,I capitulated,and Brian was declared the worthy winner.
With so many figures on the board,we did remarkably  well to finish the game in 10 moves and only took three hours(less coffee break) to come to a conclusion-power to our simplistic rules!!

Brian brought up his newly painted second regiment of Hanoverians-7YW figures-he's done a good job on these-we'll get them on the board soon-when will we see the Austrians Paul??
We are playing tonight as well-an English Civil War game,over the same terrain(with a couple of building changes)