Pikes versus Pila

[Chris]

Introduction
To pass the time (as of this typing, 52 days) until Battle Day Bosworth arrived, I thought I might distract and hopefully entertain myself by setting up a fairly large Tactica II scenario wherein Marian Romans faced off against Early Pontics. My apologies to the valued reader for not developing an original title (approximately three years ago, in March of 2017, I posted a battle report of around 8,500 words with the same label describing an adaptation of Magnesia using ADLG), but as this fictional battle would see Roman legions fighting various units of phalangites in addition to other troop types, the recycling of the earlier title was deemed acceptable as well as appropriate.

Modifications
To fit the desired forces on my comparatively small table, I reduced the stated unit footprints for 15mm scale figures/formations by 50 percent. With this approach, a 48-figure phalanx, arranged in 4 ranks of 12, would have a frontage of 6 cm and a depth of 3 cm instead of a frontage of 12 cm and a depth of 6 cm. (Note: This formation would represent between 1,920 and 2,880 men arranged in 16 ranks, depending on the figure scale used.) The rules were used as written, though there is a growing campaign to try a few amendments. For a few examples, division commanders might have more of a role; there might be different ratings or qualities of troops; and unit sizes could be adjusted.

The Look of the Landscape
As for terrain, instead of reducing the dimensions of 15mm features by the same percentage, I decided to keep them at the given sizes, detailed on the bottom left of page 52 of the rules, of either 8 by 4 inches or 8 by 8 inches.  As for landscape design and density, well, instead of dicing and consulting the generation table, I decided that I would have 3 gentle rises, 1 wooded area, and 2 patches of rough ground. One of the areas of rough ground would not cause disorder to massed units moving into or through and engaging in melee within its borders.

Organization of Opposing Forces
With regard to numbers, on the Roman side of this imaginary field, I had 6 legions, 5 units of auxiliaries, and 3 units of skirmishers. In the mounted arm, the Roman general (Crissus Hannus Cunctator?) had 9 units of heavy cavalry and 3 units of light cavalry to guard the flanks of his half dozen legions. Approximate calculations informed that the Roman army had 825 massed figures worth 5,888 points. As for the opposition, the Pontic King (Eurythmicsides?) was able to muster 1,032 massed figures having a combined value of approximately 5,942 points. In terms of massed figures, then, this was not a balanced scenario. With respect to total points however, the opposing sides were similar in value. In brief overview, Eurythmicsides had 21 units of infantry (not including skirmishers) and 13 units of cavalry. The foot contingent consisted of 5 units of Galatians, 5 units of Thureophoroi, and 9 units of phalanx. There were 2 units of light infantry as well. For the horse, there were 8 units of heavy cavalry, a unit of cataphracts,  and 4 units of light cavalry.

The Roman juggernaut deployed on the near side of the table. The extreme right flank was held by Greek and Gallic cavalry. These 5 units were assisted by some Moorish light cavalry. To the left of the heavy horse was a division of auxiliaries. These light infantry were reinforced by the Ninth Legion. This legion, like all the others on my model field, was deployed in two ranks of five cohorts. The First Cohort was on the right of the front line. The Second and Third Cohorts were to its immediate left. The frontage of the model legion was approximately 20 cm. [1] Four legions were arranged to the left of the light infantry auxiliaries. These were the Twentieth, Second, Fifteenth, and Thirteenth. The Thirteenth Legion was classed as elite and held the far left of line. Behind these experienced troops was where the Roman general set up his mobile command post. The Fifth Legion was placed in reserve, as the majority of these cohorts were newly trained (i.e., militia grade) troops. A few units of skirmishers screened the main legionary formation. The far left flank or wing was assigned to Spanish, German, and Numidian cavalry.

Across the rather open ground, the Pontic force was arranged for battle. On the left wing, there were Scythian skirmishing cavalry, Armenians, Rhoxalani, and a single formation of cataphracts. To the right was a division of Thureophoroi (light infantry) screened by skirmishers and scythed chariots. Moving down the line, a large formation of Galatian warbands were next. These fierce fighters occupied a gentle hill and were also screened by skirmishers and scythed chariots. The phalanx was next. The first section consisted of ex-slaves trained as phalangites. These blocks were screened by 2 units of light infantry. The next section of the phalanx contained the regulars and a unit of Brazen Shields (posted on the right, of course, and accompanied by the general of the army, the Pontic king). This part of the phalanx was also screened by skirmishers and scythed chariots. The far right wing was given over to several units of Pontic heavy horse, accompanied by a couple of units of light cavalry.

How It Played
The first several turns of the wargame saw the Pontic formations doing most of the moving, as a majority of the Roman army had apparently decided to stand in place and silently await the arrival of the enemy. [2] The exceptions to this wait-and-see battle plan were the cavalry on the flanks, the small skirmisher screen in the centre, and the line of auxiliaries on the right. On the Roman right, the Scythian light cavalry inflicted some damage (not a great amount) before evading as the Moors, Gauls, and Greeks trotted forward. The contest between the heavy units developed quickly, Just as quickly, two units of Armenian cavalry were in trouble. Many missiles flew back and forth between the opposing skirmisher screens as well as between the auxiliaries and Thureophoroi. The exchange of arrows, javelins, and sling stones was about even, though the Roman light infantry did force a unit of Thureophoroi to halt. Incidentally, these same Roman troops brushed off a scythed chariot charge as if it were just an annoying little gnat. A second cavalry contest developed over on the Pontic right. Here, the Numidians were able to drive off their counterparts, albeit at quite a cost. The Germans rode into the line of Pontic heavy horse with bravery and fierce yells, but struggled to inflict as many losses as they suffered. Fortunately, their Spanish friends were close at hand. The main lines were still a few moves apart. The Roman legions, again, had chosen to stand and wait. The Pontic phalanx, hired Galatians, and Thureophoroi contingent were all pushing forward at their best speed. The Brazen Shields and regular pikemen did stop for few minutes when the cavalry melee to their right commenced. Evidently, they were worried about being caught in the flank. However, as the tide seemed to be turning against the German cavalry, this section of the phalanx resumed its forward progress.

At the end of the eighth turn, the cavalry melee on the Roman right had been decided rather in favour of the Greeks, Gauls, and Moors. Only a severely weakened unit of Rhoxalani remained on the Pontic side of the local contest. The Scythian skirmishers were present too, but their formation and employment hardly mattered at this point. To be certain, the Roman allies had taken casualties in the swirling engagement. A similar brief narrative could be offered for the action on the Roman near right, where the auxiliaries were roughly handled and defeated in detail by the Thureophoroi. This temporary advantage was taken away by the cohorts of the Ninth Legion, who soon showed the Thureophoroi that Roman strength and courage would not be denied. A quick count informed that there were just 3 Pontic formations (massed units) in this sector, compared to 13 Roman formations. (To be fair, most of these were cohorts of the Ninth Legion.) In the centre of the field, the opposing lines of skirmishers got out of the way as the main lines closed. Initially, the Galatians had success against the first units of the Twentieth Legion, but then the tide turned. The training of the legionaries started to pay off, and the pile of dead and wounded barbarian warriors began to grow. To the Roman left of this action, the various melees involving pike phalanxes and cohorts tended to favour the Pontic soldiers. In this regard, the leading cohorts of the Second Legion took quite a few losses. Indeed, all along the line, the Romans, even with the initial 'punch' of their pila volleys, found themselves nearly overwhelmed by facing several ranks of pike points. The Roman legions did, however, have a reserve line of cohorts to call upon. On the far right of the Pontic line, the cavalry contest here was leaning very much in their favour. Only a Spanish regiment and some Numidians remained to contest the advance. The local Pontic commander had 4 units, albeit tired and bloodied, of heavy cavalry. The question was: Could he position his troopers to attack the left flank of the Roman line? An accounting of the damage revealed that both sides had lost approximately 21 percent of their formations. The Romans had lost 6 cohorts (4 from the Second Legion) and 180 massed figures. The Pontic army, in contrast, had lost all of their scythed chariots as well as 227 massed figures.

Three more turns added to the loss levels for both armies, obviously. At the conclusion of the eleventh move, the Pontic casualty pile had grown to an impressive 17 units, or 401 massed figures. A reversal of fortune saw the collapse of two legions in addition to the previous loss of various auxiliary units, so the Roman general (yours truly) watched as his casualties climbed to an uncomfortable 374 points. Given the current state of the field (something resembling a mess), it was decided to call the contest a bloody draw. To be certain, the Romans had an evident advantage on their right. They had a fresh legion as well as some cavalry, but these formations were rather removed from the action in the centre and left. The Romans also had their reserve legion of untested troops. However, the Pontic formations were applying pressure. The Twentieth legion was on its last legs, and the Thirteenth legion had its hands quite full with the Brazen Shields to the front and Pontic heavy cavalry coming around the flank. Although they were bloodied, there were sufficient Galatians, Ex-Slave phalangites, and proper phalangites to turn a Roman general's hair white.

Evaluation
Like my previous experiment with a portion of Gaugamela, this scenario cannot be called a proper game of Tactica II. The point totals for the engaged forces were unusually high, and there was not strict adherence to either the terrain rules or the deployment rules. These admissions made, I was occupied by the "miniature" battle for  as long as it lasted - approximately one week. However, unlike the recent adventure with Mazaeus and Parmenio, I did not find myself as entertained by the proceedings. In no particular order or weight of consideration, here are the "problem areas" encountered. [3]

- One certainly rolls/throws quite a few dice when using these rules. I guess one of the attractive attributes of this set of rules is that losses are granular (unless a handful of dice turns up a lot of  5s and 6s). The calculation of what number of dice to throw can be a bit tedious or repetitive. Having cut my ancient wargaming teeth with Arty's other set of rules, Armati, I find it simpler to throw just one die for a unit and see what happens.

- Light cavalry are quite fragile in these rules. Early in the battle just completed, the Numidians and Pontic lights engaged on the Roman left and well, with each side needing 3, 4, 5, or 6 to score a hit, the involved units were quickly depleted if not defeated. Yes, yes, I should have evaded one side or the other and made it a running fight. This would have resulted in command and control problems, even if the command range is doubled for light units.

- When scythed chariots charge legionaries, should the heavy infantry get to throw some pila? The Pontic scythed chariots did not perform all that well in this scenario. I could not help but think of other rules and how they treated these interesting vehicles.
As I mention, I think, in a previous submission to our esteemed editor about the rules, keeping the level of melee dice for scythed chariots constant, even with losses of models, does not make much sense to me. Their ability to fight should be measured or counted like other units.
   
- Legionary cohorts should have to check morale (take a control test). In the recently decided scenario, there were a few instances of single cohorts being confronted by much larger enemy units. In one example, a Galatian warband (48 figures in 4 ranks), charged a legionary cohort (8 figures in a single rank). The preliminary pila volley did not do too much damage, and so, with impetus, the Galatians were able to roll something like 25 dice against 8 for the swamped legionaries. The result saw 7 of the Romans perish. I found it odd that the surviving cohort figure would stand and fight. I also found it unusual that cohorts fighting alongside those that were routed would continue to fight as if nothing had happened. Yes, yes, I know there is a morale rule for legions, but . . . As a further example, there were also a few cases where a cohort with 1 figure remaining was engaged by 2 enemy units. Per the rules, melee dice have to be divided when fighting more than 1 enemy formation. As I have no 3-sided dice, I simply decided that the remaining men in this cohort would fight the closer enemy.

- There is no fatigue factor or consideration. Some of the melees, especially the cavalry contests, took quite a few turns. The involved units took casualties but did not suffer any fatigue. (I know I did from counting and rolling all the dice.) Again, it appears that I prefer Armati on this point, as the idea of units getting tired as they fight strikes me as more plausible than the idea of units remaining as fresh as daisies.

- Command morale. The Roman auxiliaries were wiped out. Perhaps I am thinking about other rules here, but it seems odd that a command or division or wing would stay around when the majority of their friends have been killed, wounded, and or routed. This question could be applied to both sides, as the Thureophoroi, Galatians, and Ex-Slaves were quite bloodied in the course of the engagement.

- It occurs to me that this scenario might have been too big. To be certain, I am not as experienced as Simon Watson or Paul Innes with the ins and outs of Tactica II, but I wonder if there is a point at which certain rules falter or fail when presented with larger battles?

In summary, and in general, this fictional contest did not "feel right". Do I regret then, having staged, played, and prepared a brief report? Certainly not. I have gathered more information about what I like and do not like when it comes to ancient wargaming. I have gained more experience with the Tactica II rules. In contrast to the bloody draw just fought, I declare this a definite win.

Hmmm, let's see . . . now there are just 44 days to Battle Day Bosworth.

Notes
1. Ideally, I should have liked to deploy each legion in acies triplex, as diagrammed on page 67 of the Tactica II rulebook. Limited playing surface and tactical considerations weighed against this option, however. In preparing my legions and a general battle plan, I went back to Professor Goldsworthy's book, The Roman Army At War 100 BC—AD 200. Specifically, I was interested in modeling, or trying to model, the estimated frontage of a cohort (page 138), the estimated frontage of a legion (page 138 and page 140), and generally, the assumed or expected intervals between fighting formations (also page 140).
2. In his analysis of 'The Unit's Battle', Professor Goldsworthy explains that: "A slow, steady, silent advance may actually have been much more intimidating than a noisier, quicker charge". (The Roman Army at War, 197) Although my "miniature" Roman legions were not advancing, it does not require too much effort to imagine how frightening and imposing a long line of uniformed heavy infantry would look. Here, I cannot help but recall the sequence in "Spartacus", when, before the climactic battle, the advancing Roman cohorts turned their shields on command. The thought of hearing the sound of thousands of legionaries drawing their swords on command, readying their shields and or javelins on command gives me pause. In fact, it makes me shudder.
3. The phrase is placed in quotes as these are personal perceptions based on my current and changing understanding of ancient military history as well as my experience with various other sets of rules and should not be interpreted as a judgment against the rules - though I fear that some readers will, unfortunately, view them as such.

[Imperial Dave]

this is great info Chris, many thanks. Am just dipping my (sandalled) toe in the Tactica 2 waters...quick question re the two army lists....would you mind posting their composition on here? Would be very interested to see

cheers, Dave

[simonw]

Chris,
A very impressive game. a few things 'leap out' at me before I go into any detail:
1. The table width for that game in 25/8mm scale would have to have been at least 20 feet wide (and probably more like 24 feet)!
2. One person controlling that game is going to do an awful lot of dice rolling - agreed (too much really).
3. Broken Roman Cohorts DO cause Routed Into/By Control Tests in adjacent Cohorts; even of the same Legion.
4. Why hadn't the single figure Cohort been reinforced?
5. The Chariot's Melee Dice 'full effect' rule applies to all chariots and not just Scythed Chariots. I think that a 'screen' rule for Scythed Chariots will be forthcoming soon which will better simulate their effects (in my opinion).
6. Were you playing with the 'Legion Breakpoint' rule?
7. Remember that 'kills' don't actually 'simulate' the casualties on the unit but are rather just a notional 'measure' of a unit's remaining 'combat power/fighting resistance'.
8. I'm not surprised that you found the game a 'bit of a chore' compared with the last one. It's really too big for a single 'operator'.
9. A  bigger table would probably have given the 'Light Horse' units a better chance of making a significant contribution.
10. Did any of the Cohorts manage at any time to 'flank' any of the Pontic units? It might be that the table was too cramped even for this?
Excellent Report!
Cheers
Simon

[Chris]

Dave - have tried to attach OBs here. Hope it works.

Simon - cannot respond fully to points made right this moment. Will send PM later.

Thanks to both of you for reading and commenting.

Cheers,
Chris

[Imperial Dave]

Thanks Chris, much obliged sir. It did work 😀

[Prufrock]

Thanks Chris, interesting reading!

[Chris]

Dave - relieved to see that the downloads worked. Expect you were a little shocked by the numbers employed . . . Simon rightly commented that the armies were too large for one person to handle. I guess that I know my limit now . . .

Aaron - Good to "hear" from you. Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

Gents and other readers - tried to attach a few pictures but was informed that there was an error (file size too large or something) . . . Probably the wargaming gods frowning upon me for using colour counters and markers instead of properly painted and based 15mm or 28mm figurines. 

Cheers,
Chris

[simonw]

Chris,
Looking over your 'scale' amendments, it is apparent that your unit frontages are one third of the 25/8mm equivalent (e.g. your 48 figure phalanx is on a frontage of 6cm rather than the 18cm frontage of one of my 25/8mm scale phalanx units; 12 figure frontage). So in this scale, the frontage of a Roman Cohort in 2 ranks would have been 2cm and in one rank, 4cm. Is that correct? If so, then the game could probably have been managed OK on a 'standard' 8ft by 5 foot table (at nearly 6000 pts of troops each side). On such a table, I don't believe that your terrain piece sizes would have been particularly problematical.

On this basis then, the frontage of a Legion in acies DUPLEX would have been anywhere between 10cm and 40 cm dependant upon whether or not the cohorts were deployed in 2 ranks or single ranks at the start and/or either alternately spaced or with the second line positioned to be immediately supporting/behind). So your 6 Legions 'in line' would have covered between 60cm to 2.4m. This is a very significant potential variation in frontage; I think you'll agree and will have much potential to affect the course of the game against the Pontic frontage which is more likely to have been more in the range of 2 metres.

Can you say how the battle line frontages of the two armies compared?

Cheers
Simon