Romans in Hispania - Cantabrian Wars

I don't have any operational treatments of Hellenistic warfare (computer or boardgame), but AGEOD's Alea Jacta Est is a very good operational game covering a pretty broad swath of Roman-era war. At the moment I'm trying the Cantabrian Wars scenario, a ten year long series of campaigns by the Romans to subdue northern Hispania.

Getting Serious about GBoH Alexander

Five sheets of counters for this and my wrists are starting to show signs of RSI finally from years at keyboards. Progress has been slow but I am determined. Issus and Raphia call.

GMT's Hoplite

How can you tell it's a three-day weekend? Because I have the energy to do a blog post!

I finally managed to punch and set up a game of GMT's Hoplite, the latest in the Great Battles of History series. Here are some pictures from my first attempt at this system...

Battle of Delium in 424 BCE. Red units are the Boetians and the purple are the Athenians.

Third Samnite War - The Conclusion

This post is a conclusion of my AAR for the Third Samnite War scenario in AGEOD's Birth of Rome game.  Ultimately I have to say that this scenario, while well-balanced, is primarily a land war of attrition.  A scenario with more naval activity might ultimately have proven more strategically interesting - though I did a poor job of utilizing what naval assets I had.

Throughout the scenario I tried to employ maneuver warfare to create an advantage over the AI.  The result was that there was never really any decisive battle but I also wasn't able to sufficiently disrupt the Samnite war-making capacity to bring about a decisive conclusion.

My plan for 297BCE was to attack the Etruscans north of Rome and force them out of the war before any other Samnite allies became active.  I moved a Consular army of almost 12,000 troops north to besiege Volaterrae.

Things did not go as well as planned.

Meanwhile a Samnite army struck at Grumentum in the south, retaking a city I'd taken in the latter half of 298BCE.

By December, the Umbrians had entered the war on the Samnite side, and an Etruscan army had moved to besiege Perusia.  I was able to move a reconstituted Consular army back north to intercept the attackers.  Their attack across the Tiber was not successful, however.  I should have brought them in from the southwest and not across the river.

The situation in the south being mostly quiet, I was able to move my other Consular army north to challenge the Etruscan force once the campaigning season began again in the Spring of 297.  Note that environmental attrition effects are modeled in the AGEOD engine.  Campaigning in the winter, particularly in the mountains, is a good way to end up with a completely ineffective army.  I tend to play with hard attrition turned on for both sides - even moving in good weather has a cost in strength and unit cohesion.

By May of 297 I've not only handled the Etruscan attackers, I'm actively invading the north again, this time with an eye toward conquering the Umbrians.  My main invasion force moves on Arretium while I screen Volaterrae with a force of cavalry.

November sees an end to the Umbrians.   The Etruscans are now isolated from the Senones, who have just entered the war.  This tribe of Gauls can field some very strong field armies and anything I can do to keep them from linking up with the Etruscans should help me control the north.

Before winter shuts down campaigning for 296, I strike at Arminium, a lightly defended city of the Senones and one of my objective towns.

The situation at the end of 296BCE.  Most of Samnium is under Roman control and their capital is under siege.  Utica is conquered and the Etruscans are isolated.  The Senate has reason to be please with the state of the war.

In the Spring of 295, the Gauls march.  A huge army of the Senones moves south and relieves the siege of  Bovianum.  Etruscan and Utican armies also attack south, laying siege to Populonia and overrunning Clusium. Resurgent Samnite armies appear in the southern cities.  In just two months, the entire character of the war has changed and Rome is on the defensive.

Hard fighting throughout the remainder of the year stabilizes the situation in the north. Volaterrae falls to the Romans, who have also recaptured Clusium.  War rages over the east and south still, with a large Gaulish army camped outside the gates of Velia, the Lucanian capital. Rebelling slaves ravage the territory around Neapolis.

Early in 294, some skillful negotiating convinces the Gauls to return to their homes with the booty they've won.

The situation at the beginning of 293BCE.  I've concentrated my armies to make a decisive attack against the army besieging Capua.

By the beginning of 292, I've secured Capua, retaken Grumentum, and decisively defeated the primary Samnite field army through the use of my combined Consular armies.  The Samnites have overrun Hatria, however.

291 Sees no offensives against the remaining Samnite cities.  Volsinii, a formerly Samnite-allied town north of Rome revolts, and I spend the year taking it back. The Samnites use this pause to try and rebuild their shattered armies and launch spoiling attacks on my cities in the South.

All but two objective cities are mine.  I have almost three times as many VPs as the Samnites and strong national morale.  Still, with a National Morale of 100, the Samnites are very much in the game.

My strategy in 290 is a two-pronged attack from the north and the south.  In the north I will first retake Hatria and then besiege Bovianum.  In the south I intend to step off from Grumentum with an objective of Luceria.

The Samnites concentrate at Bovianum and I'm decisively beaten. Through several battles in the area throughout the summer I'm barely able to withdraw my battered legions to safety.  My southern force is stalled for sometime due to the leader not being activated, prohibiting any offensive action and considerably slowing movement.  By early Autumn 290 I've besieged Luceria, but I'm nearly out of time.

A hard fought minor victory. The Samnites and their allies were no push-overs.  I'm interested in trying this scenario again at some point, with an eye toward using naval transport to land troops on the Adriatic coast rather than trying to push through the southern land route.

I really recommend the AGEOD engine for this scale of simulation.  Once you master the basics it plays fast, is historically very accurate, and allows for some very interesting and challenging game play.

Third Samnite War - Year One

For our first entry in Ancient Warfare Month here at Cry Havoc! we'll be playing as the Romans during the Third Samnite War, using AGEOD's Birth of Rome game.  Let's take a look at how things proceeded during 298BCE, the first (calendar) year of the war:

The Samnites have an army at  Bovianum, their largest city, and another Grumentum, threatening the Lucanians.  It was this pressure on the Lucanians that was the cassus belli for the Romans.  There is also an Etruscan force in northern Italy.  The Romans have a pair of Consular armies based in Rome, each composed of a pair of legions.

The second consular army.  Note that both armies are composed only of the legions at this point, and do not have any alae from the Roman allies yet attached.  At full strength each should have two, each ala being slightly larger than a legion.

The Lucanians, allied with Rome, also have a small field army.

I'm not keen on the Samnites having an outpost at my doorstep with the city of  Volsinii.  It's not an objective city, but I feel it's a threat to Rome and will need to be reduced prior to any move on the Etruscan territories to the north.  So, I intend to strike quickly and lay siege to the city with one of my Consular armies.  I'm also going to raise to alae of cavalry to use for scouting, observation, and raiding.

A overview of territory control at the beginning of the war.  Rome and her allies are red, the Samnites and allies are green, and the purple territory belongs to the Greek city states.

I ally with a small Latin tribe in May, giving me continuous territory from Rome in the west to the Adriatic in the east, and cutting Samnite lines of communication between the north and south via the placement of a castra at Hatria.  The Samnites take exception to this and advance their most powerful army from Lucania to Hatria, laying siege to the encampment there.

With Volsinii now under siege, I take advantage of the relocation of the main Samnite force to the north.  My second Consular army, now active, advances to Bovianum and lays siege to the city, which is the largest source of Samnite victory points.  At the same time the Lucanians move to take Grumentum, the doorway to Maleventum, the Samnite capital.  With a little luck maybe we can knock the Samnites out of the war quickly!

The Samnites have other plans and the summer is spent in maneuver, raid, and siege.   My planned siege of Bovianum has to be aborted as Flavius Maximus' Consular army and the main Samnite field force maneuver around central Italy.  By October I have Volsinii, Maleventum, and Grumentum under siege.  The Samnites continue to maneuver in Campania and hold Bovianum.  Here, I'm moving my a cavalry force to the north to keep an eye on the Etruscans and Senones.

In Grumentum, a Samnite cavalry force attempts a breakout...

...while the main Samnite army attempts to relieve the siege of Maleventum.  Neither is successful.

In November both Volsinii and Maleventum fall.   The loss of these cities is a blow to the Samnites and a boost to my victory points and national morale! Samnium is split in half and isolated from their Etruscan allies to the north.  There's been no significant battle yet in this campaign but I haven't wanted one: I'd rather cripple the Samnite source of future recruits and money, and then engage in battles to destroy their field armies when they're out of refuges.  There's no real advantage to the Romans to attacking the Samnite armies yet.

Success in November brings an influx of replacement troops in December.

Winter is harsh in the Appenines.  I quarter troops in Maleventum and Perusia.  I elect to maintain the siege at Grumentum into January since I'm on the verge of starving the city into surrender.  The harsh weather proves to be rough on the Lucanians, who experience some significant attrition and eventually have to lift the siege and withdraw back to Velia to rebuild.

The state of the combatants and objective ownership at the beginning of 297BCE. Samnite National Morale is still high, though combat power is declining and they have taken over twice the casualties as the Romans. The Romans control all of the objectives cities except the Samnite and Etruscan capitals.

Territory control at the beginning of 287BCE. Despite Roman control of Maleventum, ownership of the region is still contested.

In the coming year I intend to move on Volaterre and force the Etruscans out of the war, and renew the Lucanian attacks in the south.

Ancient Warfare Month

October turned out to be a month that took me three falls out of five due to work activity.  Its a great thing to own your own business, except that sometimes that business owns you, too.  So, apologies for the lack of posts the past couple of weeks.  I'm going to try and make up for it with a series of posts this month focusing on Ancient Warfare, principally through AGEOD's Birth of Rome and Alea Jacta Est strategic simulations, and through the excellent but complex Ancient Warfare series from HPS Simulations.

Note that while I have an interest in ancient warfare, I'm by no means a budding Caesar.  I expect to stub my toe and take a bit of a thumping against the AI, particularly in the Ancient Warfare tactical games.  Also, while I'm at least as interested in Greek, Alexandrian, and Hellenistic warfare as I am in Roman warfare, I'll probably stick mostly to Roman this time around due to the games I have available.  I need to dig out my copy of Hegemony Gold and get it re-installed on the new gaming system...

For our first excursion, we're going to command Rome in the Third Samnite War.  This war began in 298BCE, pitting Rome against the Samnites and their allies: the Etruscans, the Umbrians, and the Senones Gauls.  Rome's victory secured nearly the entire Italian peninsula for the Republic.

Initial Samnite positions

 The Samnites dominate much of central and southern Italy.  Rome is also already engaged with the Etruscans to the north of the city.

I'll need to try and take as many of these cities as possible over the course of a decade of war.

On the tactical front, I'm going to try one of the Samnite Wars scenarios included in Punic Wars.

I should also point out that if you're not a big fan of ancient warfare, Chris over at The Sharp End and RangerX3X are going nuts with great new scenarios for Command Ops.  Chris' new scenario, "The Fight for Best." is available here, and Tim's new scenario, "St. Oedenrode" can be downloaded here.  I suspect playing both of these fine scenarios will interrupt my Roman excursions over the coming weeks.