Rome's Last Battle: Late Roman vs Frank using the Optio system

[Justin Swanton]

Here is a battle report posted on the Durban Wargames blog which might be of interest.

For the uninitiated, Optio is my own system that does not use dice. Combat involves basic factors with a few modifiers giving a fixed number of hits to a base's morale. After the base has lost sufficient morale it routs. The battlefield grid is used for orientation (a base has 12 possible facings) and as an aid to movement. The flats are my poor man's substitute for models. When I get a 3D printer that is going to change!


By 486 the Western Roman Empire had been reduced to four provinces in northern Gaul: Lugdunensis II, Lugdunenis III, Lugdunensis IV Senona and Belgica II. These were governed by Afranius Syagrius, senator, whose father Aegidius had been supreme commander of the imperial army in Gaul.

To the north in Belgium the young chief of the Salian Franks of Tournai, Clovis, had formed a confederation of all the Frankish tribes on the west of the Rhine with the purpose of defeating Syagrius and conquering Roman Gaul. The two armies met near Soissons to decide the fate of western Europe. Let the thumpery begin!

Romans
1 x General (Syagrius)
2 x Commanders

2 x Heavy Cavalry
1 x Illyrian Cavalry (well-armed light cavalry)
1 x Horse Archers

2 x Comitatens Legions (the residue of the Imperial Field Army, still the best troops in western Europe)
2 x Archers
3 x Auxilia (fort and garrison troops)
3 x Levies (raw conscripts given a shield, a spear and six weeks' training)

Franks
1 x General (Clovis)
2 x Commanders

2 x Frankish Cavalry (almost but not quite on a par with the Roman heavy cavalry)

2 x Kingsmen (Clovis's household troops, the elite of the Frankish foot)
12 x Warriors (the mainstay of the Frankish army, armed with the fearsome francisca)
2 x Skirmishers (poor and less well-armed Franks)


DEPLOYMENT

The battlefield consisted of 5x4 Optio tiles. The Franks deployed in the top row of tiles whilst the Romans deployed in the bottom row. The Romans drew up on the slope of a hill. Franks deployed on the plain below near some patches forest to the left and just behind a small hill. Behind them lay a river.

THE THUMPERY

The Frankish plan was to outflank the Roman left, defended by light cavalry. The Roman plan was to let the Franks come and get them, and possibly try an outflanking move from their right flank using their heavy cavalry.

The Franks did not waste time with their advance....

...and the Roman left was soon in trouble. The Roman horse archers gave way before the Frankish threat.

The Frankish left, however, was in mid air. The Roman archers were able to wheel left and riddle the Frankish warriors with arrow fire. Meanwhile the Roman heavy cavalry wheeled toward the Franks' flank and rear, followed by the Auxilia.

Chaaarge! The Frankish foot closed with their foes. On the Roman left things began to look grim: the Illyrian cavalry retreated before the closing hordes of Warriors and Kingsmen. The Roman horse archers were destroyed by a well-time charge from the Frankish cavalry, and the legions were now exposed to attacks from the flank and rear.

Things, however, were looking just as grim for the Franks on their own left flank. Warriors began to go down before the combined assault of Roman archers, levies and heavy cavalry. The kingsmen were hastily detached from the opposite flank to go and shore up the crumbling line...

...but too late. The critical point was reached. In Optio a base, when it routs, applies a panic hit to neighbouring friendly bases, dropping their morale. To this panic hit is added the panic hits of already routed bases. Panic hits accumulate, until the critical point is reached when the rout of one base causes the neighbouring bases to rout, which rout their neighbours, and so on. The Frankish warriors finally decided they had had enough, and routed like dominoes. Game over!

Many thanks Tom, Arthur and Delia for an enjoyable game. In retrospect the Romans did have a significant advantage defending a slope (for example, the Franks, normally superior in the charge, had their bonus nullified by the slope). We must try this or a similar scenario again on the level plain and see how the last army of Rome copes when the terrain is not in their favour.

[aligern]

Nice report, Justin. I think that if I was Clovis I would drop back one unit plus some light bowmen on my left flank making it more difficult for cavalry to outflank me. The Franks need to either outflank rapidly on their right or break the aromas line with the kings men in the centre.neithervwill demo, but in both cases Clovis needs time and that is best bought by making an opposing flank movement go round further and facenmisile armed opponents as it does so. Clovis needs to echelon his front to achieve this slowing of the opposing flankers.
Rioy

[Justin Swanton]

Thanks Roy.

Clovis has his work cut out fighting uphill. I replayed this scenario without the big hill and the Franks chopped the Romans to bits (the kingsmen took out the levies and then rolled up the rest of the line). Deploying in depth as the Franks did has the advantage of being able to transfer morale hits inflicted on the front bases to the bases at the back, buying time. Nonetheless the Franks would probably have been better off deploying in sufficient length to prevent/delay outflanking, and then concentrating their best troops on the weakest portion of the Roman line.

[aligern]

From time to I me I have the thought that with Dark Age and Medieval armies we ought o force deployment so that the best match up to the best. In a wargame it is often to your advantage to have your best troops deployed against a weaker enemy unit, break them and then get round on the lank. However, I suspect that historical armies could easily see who the top chaps were and would make sure that they fronted them with thir own veterans. It's also very likely that a unit of good fighters occupies the centre of the line. TA might mean laying down a central axis and then ensuring that the best unit is placed there.
Roy

[Justin Swanton]

With Optio each player deploys his army one third at a time (1/3 of his command groups), beginning with the fastest command groups. In this game the Romans had 7 command groups, the Franks 5 (the warriors were split into 2 command groups of 6 bases each).

The Romans started by putting down their 3 cavalry groups. The Franks followed with their cavalry and skirmisher groups. The Romans then had a choice of any two of their infantry command groups since all move at the same speed. At this point they needed a plan. Since (as in real life) both armies are deploying simultaneously, each player must decide on the best place to put his crack troops without being sure where his opponent will place his own. It's a guessing game. It is very difficult to reshuffle an entire deployed line and hence to match best troops against best troops if one's own finest are in the wrong place.

I don't know about mediaeval battles, but this inability to see exactly where the enemy is deploying is what lost Cannae for the Romans, and Ilipa for the Carthaginians. Placing your best troops in the middle of the line is perhaps a good general rule rather than a guarantee of countering the enemy's veterans with your own.

As a final point, generals in Optio have a command rating from 1 to 6. An inferior general will be obliged to deploy a greater part of his army before his opponent puts any bases on the board, right up to a 1 rated general having to put down his entire army before a 6 rated general begins deployment. This replicates the ability of a canny general to divine ahead of time how an incompetent general will deploy, and plan accordingly. This was Hannibal's forte, which worked fine so long as he was matched against incompetent generals. Once up against a Scipio, however, it all fell apart for him.