Battle of the Septic Valley.50BC

The "famous five" turned out last night for another thrilling and nail-biting game,that went down to the last move again-great stuff!!

This is the scenario,and initial troop positions-Graham had decided to "sit this one out" so it fell for Richard and I to take on the role of Caesar,and Paul and Brian were Pompey.

This is how the table looked on move number one-Paul has just started a "feint" move to his right,trying to get me to move our reserves in a similar direction,he would then switch this move to his left and attack Richard's troops-however we are too experienced to fall for that,and stayed put!!

This is the first of three steps to Richard losing his flank troops.Attacked by Paul's Gauls(hey,that rhymes!!) he was caught off guard and lost all melees as well as the only skirmish troops on the board(a unit of slingers!)-oh dear!!

Step two,Paul has "lured" Richard's cavalry forward,and into a charge by Elephants!!(could you not see them Richard?-they're big and grey,and have tusks!!!)

Step three,and a suppressed gloat is still a gloat,Brian!!-as the whole of Richard's flank collapses,I am forced to send a couple of cohorts to his rescue-will I be in time?

Although he has formed a beautiful line with his cohorts,Richard's flank is a bout to be assailed by a combination of Gauls,cavalry and Elephants-we need to form a right angled line to prevent this!!

Phew!! just in time,now we'll give them hell(??)-the central cohorts are about to charge each other-this will be bloody.But what of the other flank,where Brian's Africans are facing my Spanish?

My Spanish charged over the stream and took on the Spear-armed Africans,these spears put me at a dis-advantage in the first round of melee,but I held my own(now,now!!) and eventually pushed the Africans back-hurrah!!-But what's that I hear from my right?-Richard is "punching the air" and,dare I say it,Gloating-why????

Because his Elephant has run amok,destroying one of Paul's cohorts in the process-hurrah!

AS the central battle continues,I am marching two of the reserve cohorts,in combination with two of Richard's to secure the left flank-the right is still in jeopardy,as Paul is pressing harder and harder,using all of his reserves.

As the battle for the left flank continues,both side are weakened by round after round of melee-again this will be tight,but my cavalry are now free to intervene,and this would prove to be decisive!!

Elephants and cohorts clash on the flank! but in the centre,a forlorn cry has gone up,from Brian,who was persuaded by Paul,to put his command figure into a cohort to bolster their fighting and morale points-and guess what??,Richards managed to throw the right combination of dice,and killed him!! forcing all of his command to take a morale test,which they all failed!!and a mass desertion followed-hurrah!!-who's gloating now????

However!!on the right flank,Paul is winning everywhere,and morale is going to take the whole flank out,and we've nothing left in reserve-look at the fresh cohorts massing to do just that-woe is us!!

Although we have secured the left flank,and centre,Paul is in such a good position,with fresh troops,that he could sweep forward and take out Richard's troops,so a well deserved draw was declared!!
This was a hard fought and exciting battle,hopefully next time Richard and I will learn from our early mistakes.
Roll on Thursday-no idea yet of a game,watch this space!!