Battle of Red Tower Pass 102AD

Because Brian was feeling a bit under the weather last night,it was up to Paul and I to have a tremendous game of Romans vs Dacians.

Paul picked the Roman command and I was in command of the Dacians-we both had objectives to achieve-Paul's was to prevent my out-flanking force from attacking the right flank of his main line,and to cross the stream in force and attack the tower-my objective was to attack his main line,and prevent him from crossing the stream-simples!!

The formidable line of cohorts awaiting the order to advance-Paul had decided to attack immediately in a sort of wedge formation,against the left of my line,whilst his cavalry took on my Sarmatian cavalry,and his auxiliaries were to advance and take the pass-he advanced very cautiously towards the pass because I had "hinted" that maybe,just maybe, the Marcomani allies of the Dacians,were lurking in ambush!!-of course they weren't,but Paul wasn't to know that!!

The equally formidable Dacian line!-they had orders not to cross the stream,except the cavalry.
I sent my back line in support of the out-flanking troops,hoping to swing around the Roman flank,and completely destroy them-oh yeah?

The Romans begin their advance,whilst the cavalry clash on the far flank-because my cavalry were heavier than Paul's,I gained the advantage,and drove one unit of his back-hurrah!!

The fight for the pass begins,I had a unit of "fanatics" who were so wound up and whose fighting points were so high,that all they had to do was to shout "BOO!!" at the Romans,and they would run away-well,that was the theory!!-yes you've guessed,it didn't quite work out that way-in fact the "fanatics" bounced,and created a bit of a problem!!!

This shows the on-going cavalry battle on my right-Paul threw all of his three cavalry units into the fray,but I held one of mine back-just in case-what a good decision that turned out to be-I was hurled back across the stream,and Paul followed up remorselessly-things were not looking good-but what of the infantry battle?

What a struggle!! with javelins and pila expended,it was down to Falx and Gladius-in the background you can see that my outflanking force is in position,and Paul has been forced to turn a couple of cohorts to face the threat- great stuff!!

My out-flanking troops are now in position,but on the narrow frontage I would be fighting 1:1-not a good thing against the Roman cohorts!-In the centre things are going from bad to worse and my Warbands are being forced back,my cavalry are all but destroyed-is this the end??

A resounding "YES" is the answer to that question!!The Romans are all over me like a rash,Paul even had the audacity to turn cohorts around to support his troops fighting my out-flankers!!

I still hold the pass-one bit of success makes it all worth while you know!!-well done to Paul,this was a great game-roll on Sunday!!