Optio battle report

[Justin Swanton]

This is an Optio game that took place at the HGG wargamer group in Durban, RSA. A number of new mechanisms were introduced in this game (like the battlefield terrain generator) which all worked together smoothly. Riaan, my opponent, liked the system. The fact that he won the game might have influenced his proclivities...

Riaan commanded the Gallic host. 'CG' in the OB below means 'Command Group". Elements/bases are grouped onto movement trays and share a common morale, indicated by a strip on the tray with a magnetised marker that moves along it, from fresh intervals (grey) into shaken intervals (white). The first number of a CG indicates how many fresh intervals it starts out with, the second number how many shaken intervals. Once it drops below the lowest shaken interval it routs.

Generals/commanders have a command rating (first number) combat rating (second number) and panic rating (third number).

General: Tonobrix 1-2-3
Subcommander: Stonesanstix 1-3-2
Subcommander: Fullokix 1-2-1
Subcommander: Fleasantix 1-2-1

6 x CG warriors (4 bases) 1-2
4 x CG warriors (2 bases) 1-2
2 x CG gaesati (2 bases) 2-2

4 x CG cavalry (2 bases) 2-2
2 x CG chariots (2 bases) 2-2


Yours truly commanded the Romans, an understrength consular army of 3 legions with some attached cavalry.

General: Ingenius Devisus 2-2-2
Subcommander: Ludicrus Ordus 1-2-1
Subcommander: Precarius Status 2-1-1
Subcommander: Tremulus Tortus 1-2-1

1st Legion Nocemsenslus
2 x Velites CG (1 base) 2-2
2 x Legionary CG (3 bases) 3-3

2nd Legion Scaremwitlus
2 x Velites CG (1 base) 2-2
2 x Legionary CG (3 bases) 3-3

3rd Legion Teachemmanus
2 x Velites CG (1 base) 2-2
2 x Legionary CG (3 bases) 3-3

4 x Cavalry CG (2 bases) 3-2

After some operational manoeuvring on the battlefield card, we chose our battlefield and deployed. The battle commenced with a cavalry clash on the Roman right wing. Although outnumbered, the Romans charged suddenly whilst the Gallic cavaly was in the middle of a reshuffle and put one Gallic CG to flight, forcing the remainer of the Gallic cavalry to pull back. Things were going Rome's way (please excuse the variable quality of the photos).




Tonobrix shifted some warband towards his threatened left flank. Ingenius decided on the better part of valour and refrained from pushing his cavalry any further, opting instead to advance the legions and engage the Gallic warriors as quickly as possible.




A view of the leftmost legion. I hadn't had time to finish painting the trays which is why they look so awful.




The infantry lines finally met, the Gauls initially rattling the Romans with the fury of their charge. To add to Ingenius' problems, his infantry right flank was dangeously exposed to Gallic foot as his cavalry was tied up with their Gallic counterparts.




Tonobrix himself goes over and orders the tribal commander to take charge of the warriors on the Roman's right flank. They form column and charge the rightmost legion, routing one of its CGs.




The battle is in the balance. The Gallic infantry facing the legions cannot last much longer. Furthermore Tonobrix, who has returned to the cavalry, finds himself between a rock and a hard place. He looks set to join his ancestors. But then the crucial flank charge against the legionaries....




...and Roman morale collapses. The entire line routs and Ingenius decides to call it a day.

The victor:




The vanquished:

[Patrick Waterson]

Nicely done Justin: as the Roman I would have been tempted to either keep the legionaries back in their starting position or have them all get onto the hill, the latter if at all possible.  The hanging infantry flank was instrumental in the Roman defeat.

[Chris]

An entertaining and interesting read. Thanks for sharing.
Curious that the Gallic chieftain sported a beard and a fairly modern looking blue and white plaid cloak . . .
Even more curious that the Roman commander looks like he's ready for a sit down with the princeps or to post a new photo  on his LinkedIn page . . .

Quite a lot of play aids in evidence. I gather the markers along the edges of the field were some sort of grid indicator?

Interesting that both sides opted to divide their deployment with what appears to be a river . . . Wonder how things might have turned out if battle had been shifted so that one side was attacking uphill?

How long did the festivities last? Presume that final touches are being put in place on Optio?

Thanks again for posting.

Chris

[Imperial Dave]

all looks to be going in the right direction for Optio Justin and well done for a nice battle report. I assume that the Gallic commander was drugs tested afterwards to see if he had an unfair advantage due to all the caffeine he imbibed during the match? 

Love the fact that Optio is using grids btw

[Justin Swanton]

An entertaining and interesting read. Thanks for sharing.
Curious that the Gallic chieftain sported a beard and a fairly modern looking blue and white plaid cloak . . .
Even more curious that the Roman commander looks like he's ready for a sit down with the princeps or to post a new photo  on his LinkedIn page . . .

Quite a lot of play aids in evidence. I gather the markers along the edges of the field were some sort of grid indicator?

Interesting that both sides opted to divide their deployment with what appears to be a river . . . Wonder how things might have turned out if battle had been shifted so that one side was attacking uphill?

How long did the festivities last? Presume that final touches are being put in place on Optio?

Thanks again for posting.

Chris

Glad you liked it. The play aids consist of the trays each with a morale scale marked off in intervals with a magnetised marker on them, missile hit blocks (rectangles with 4 differently coloured sides that are turned as the command group accumulates javelins/arrows/sling pellets, eventually tipping the command group into disorder and later inflicting a loss of morale), and the orders towers - these things:



They contain the commanders' orders - 8 sided counters with a grid co-ordinate on one side and an arrow on the other (the commanders are those flat rectangular things in the trays. They're supposed to be single figures). How many orders a commander can be given depends on his command rating. Orders are placed in the tower with the arrow side upwards and the arrow facing towards the direction the commander must go (one of 8 possible directions), and are each covered by a blank counter. The general does not have orders and moves freely under the player's control.

When the player decides the time is right, he removes the top blank counter, revealing the topmost order counter. The commander must now move at least one grid square per turn towards his order's destination grid square. His command moves freely under the player's control. They can all stay behind if the player chooses, leaving the commander to do a solo banzai charge. Once the commander reaches his destination square his order counter is flipped to show that the player wasn't cheating, and the player removes the next blank counter when he chooses to, making the commander move to the next grid square, and so on.

The idea behind this system is give the commanders local initiative, keeping their troops within command range but otherwise moving them freely, but subjecting grand tactical manoeuvring to an orders system which is difficult to change once set up. Think of it as another way of irritating players.