Brothers in Arms- A Roman AAR

Brothers in Arms

We few, we happy few. We band of brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me today will be my brother

Lucius Vorenus had been a soldier in the 13th Legion for most of his adult life. Torn from his home, his wife and new born child, killing had become his art, perfected in the disciplined ranks of the Roman army, the same army his father and forefathers had served in.
And so now he stood on the ragged earth of Gaul, the battlefield of Alesia. Beyond, in the misty distance, beyond the Roman fort, the Gaelic horde was massed, ready to descend on Caesar's army. Lucius ascended to the top of the pallisade, his comrade Titus Pullo already there waiting for him. Turning to his ragged century of men he addressed them.

"Brothers! We have marched to worlds end! Army after army has fallen to us! And now we have one last test of strength, one final challenge. Here, outside the gates of Alesia, we must confront the Gauls and crush them once and for all! Make no mistake brother, the enemy is brave and reckless. We will lose many of our own, but for every comrade we lose we will slaughter ten of them! And from here to the forests of Germania every Celt will know that so long as true Romans fight shoulder to shoulder they will never be safe! Once more brothers, once more we spill blood, but then we will live forever!!"
The cheers of the Legion were deafening. Vorenus turned to Pullo and they shared the Legion clasp.
"Gods be with you today brother." Pullo said sternly. Vorenus nodded and looked at his cheery men, his valiant brothers in arms, and smiled.
"They already are."



Coming soon

This looks great Long Lost Caesar!

Looking forward to it :yes:

reminds me of the game....

Nice start, but I hope you won´t go the same way as Rome HBO did?
Not that the show was bad (it was great) but it would be a little boring to know everything that´s going to happen.

Course not, I just wanted a sorta 'trailer' for my story and I figured this would be a good example. It'll be told like a story, but don't worry, you're not gonna be reading what you've already watched :2thumbsup:

Good to hear. It´s gonna be kinda hard not to picture Lucius Vorenus in my head though, that crazy bastard was brilliant in Rome.

i know, he was mega. still, he was actually a noted person in Caesar's book, so imagine him as an actual historical figure instead of an angry scotsman on tv :laugh4:

Lucius Vorenus

Forward, sons of the Republic!

Such was the battle cry of my general, Cauis Aurelius Cotta, as we crossed the Northern Alps and headed into Gaul. Gaul was loved by none of us, since we all remembered the ransom we had been forced to bay the barbarians hundreds of years ago. But now we were back, and now we would make them pay for their foolishness by burning every Gallic city and killing every "man" that tried to stop us, no matter what we were up against.

By the time we mounted an offensive into Gaul we had take complete control of Italia. Although the Carthaginians ordered that we stay off the island of Sicily, we didn't hesitate to attack their Aedui "allies" at Mediolanum. The city fell in a bloody siege, which Cotta masterminded. After that another legion was raised and put under the command of Aulus Aemilius Regillus, and we were ready to make war on all the tribes of Gaul.

Our legions were the same, with the same number of men: 1 general, 2 Equites, 4 Hastati, 2 Principes, 2 Triarii and 2 Leves. Although we had heard that the Gauls had hordes of armies far larger than ours we knew that our discipline and training would pay off the day we met them. I myself was serving as a Triarii in Cotta's legion, and it was well known that, even in his legion which was the most experienced and battle hardened, we Triarii were the strongest and staunchest men in the entire army. We had earned our reputation first at Rhegion, then at Segesta, Bononia, Patavium, and most recently Mediolanum, and now we were ready to pit the best of Rome against the best of the Gauls. In the summer of 255 BC we crossed the Alps into Gaul.

We were part of a two pronged attack that would take the Arverni settlements of Viennos and Gergovia. We were designated as "Army Group North," since we would be crossing the Alps northwards and marching onto Viennos, whilst Regillus' legion was "Army Group West" since his men would be marching past rebel Massilia and into the land of Gergovia. Although Gergovia was the Arverni capital we weren't given the honour of attacking it; we had detected a large Arverni army near Viennos and it was our task to first destroy it and then march on the city.

At first the only Gauls we fought were a tiny warband of 200 men, and we slaughtered them in the woods. The Hastati engaged them from the front whilst the cavalry circled behind the Gauls and cut them to pieces, but the forest terrain was difficult to navigate, as my unit was discussing.
"Absolutely useless Vorenus. If we have to fight a major battle in these woods we'll be cut down in our cohorts; we simply don't have the training for these conditions." Pullo told me as we marched away from the battlefield. He was a tall man, but of the two of us I was definitely the strongest.
"I know. All the same Cotta wouldn't simply throw our lives away in a single battle. He needs as many men as he can to conquer as much territory as he can. Even if it's just Viennos, he'll do whatever he can to keep us safe." I assured him. The truth is I was right.

Later that year the Arverni found us and began to chase us. We were in forest when they charged after us, and, thinking on the same level as Pullo, Cotta decided it best to retreat to better ground. We found it on the plains North of the Viennos bridge, and as the Arverni massed against us we formed our lines, ready to take on the horde of madmen assembled before us.

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Pullo remarked that the trees had shaken off the snow in this land. I just ignored him and steeled myself for the test to come.

First Blood

The Arverni were coming at us, so we were comfortable in defense. Cotta had the Hastati and Principes form two lines, behind the Leves, with each of the Triarii's at the ends of the second infantry line. Behind them the Equites waited in ambush. A classic Roman formation, one that had served Cotta well up to this point, and one he saw no reason to change. My unit of Triarii was placed on the right flank. Pullo and I were in the fourth row, me at the far left of the formation and him next to me.
"Ready for this?" I asked him. He nodded sternly and brought his helmet down over his face. Pullo was a giant at almost 6 feet, and his strength added to his empowering presence. My friend had been a farmer in the north of Italia before he joined the Legion, and that was how we met. Before joining...I couldn't remember much of life before the Legion, and as can be guessed I was quite young. Pullo was at least 8 years older than me, but I had been battle hardened as well, and was no push over.
"Spears up!" Ordered the Centurion. We all lifted our shields and held our long spears overhead; the Arverni were closing in. The entire army was infantry, and a few units of Gaesatae had been seen in their camp. Although any other Legion would have struggled with them, when they clashed swords with our disciplined Hastati they had enough experience to make it an even fight.

The battle was now shaping up: the front line was confronting the brunt of the Gallic horde, and on each flank two units of Gaesatae and two units of Botraos were trying to make space and swing around to outflank our front line. Cotta began issuing orders, and the second line of infantry shifted, moving either to support the first or to intercept the flankers. Among them was my unit.

"Charge!!"
When we clashed into the side of the Gaesatae the naked fools didn't even have their shields in place to defend themselves. Even from the fourth row back I could clearly hear the curses of my comrades as they skewered barbarian after barbarian. To my left a unit of Principes was charging the other unit of Gaesatae, and beyond them Hastati moved to engage the Botraos. And to our right the Equites were riding out to gather momentum for their charge. All in all it seemed as if things were going, even though we were losing men here and there. I had no idea how well the battle was actually going.

From his magnificent steed Cotta watched in joy as the entire Gallic front line melted away, the banners and flags being ditched as each cowardly Arverni tried to make off with his own life. Charging forward with his own bodyguard at the thousand or so Celts, Cotta urged the front line to chase down the Arverni, and all at once the front line lunged forward, eager for their blades to find a place between the shoulders of their enemy.

By the time the Gaesatae took off Pullo and myself hadn't even got close to combat. But that didn't stop us chasing the bastards down. The naked caveman had retreated once the cavalry had hit home, and their retreat sent a shock wave throughout the entire flanking company, and now every barbarian was running every which way, hoping to get out of that bloodbath alive. We could have stopped and let the cowards live to fight another day, but Cotta's roars of encouragement reached every man in the Legion, and before long the only Arverni alive were the fastest that had escaped at the beginning of the battle.

I walked over to Pullo. He was standing over the body of the Arverni captain who had led the attack. Pullo was holding the winged helmet in one hand, and his spear in the other. His shield was lying by his feet.
"700 more men than us and he couldn't even win. Pathetic." He sneered, throwing the magnificent helmet away. At first I thought it was out of madness, but then he saw the look on my face and explained.
"There's no point in looting anything from this battlefield, not for me leastways. I didn't do any of the fighting, and I didn't shed any blood. Let the soldiers who fought and survived take it, but I won't. Come on, let's go tend to the wounded."
And that was the battle of Viennos Plain. Although we lost just short of 300 men we mourned their deaths, and rumours spread that Cotta himself had no sleep that night. Either way, one thing was clear to the Legion; the victory belonged to the fallen, and we would never forget them.

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...7-06-15-89.jpg
The first battle against the Arverni and we already show our military superiority over them. Gaul would be easy from here.

Nice start. It's been a long while since someone did a serious Roman AAR. Looking good so far, perhaps a few more shots of the battles themselves?

cheers man, good to see its going down well. as for the pics, well its been a while since iv done an AAR (i did a venice one for stainless steel a while back) and since then ive forgotten about the whole "F12 when something interesting happens" unless its on the campaign map, but im working on it.:whip:

Contested Ground

Following the destruction of the Arverni armi north of Viennos we advanced towards the town and lay siege to it, confident in the knowledge that Consul Regillus would be doing the same to Gergovia; if we captured these cities then the Arverni and Aedui would be expelled from southern Gaul. It was imperative for us not just to take the cities, but hold onto them and launch offensives from them.

The very same year we lay siege to both settlements we had enough siege equipment to assault the walls by winter. Fearing that a relief army might show up or supplies would run short the Consuls each decided to take the cities, in what proved to be a disastrous loss of life.

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...7-13-22-71.jpg

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...7-13-04-34.jpg
These two battles showed us the ferocity of the Gallic tribes, and finally showed they had strength enough to fight well

After a few weeks Cotta decided that the Legion had taken so many losses that it was safest to send them back over the Alps for training than to simply let them be destroyed in the battles to come, and so Regillus, who decided to follow Cotta's example, also sent his depleted Legion back over the Alps, leaving both cities desperately vulnerable. My unit was one of the only ones to stay in Viennos, and soon we received worrying reports from Regillus. He informed Cotta that two huge armies of Arverni warriors were massing on the Western border of our newly conquered provinces, and would undoubtedly come to retake their cities.
And so it was that both Consuls hired local mercenaries to help bolster the garrisons, with only their pay to stop them from overwhelming us. Tensions were running high, but we were Romans, and we would not stoop to fearing our own comrades.

Two years later something truly unimaginable happened; instead of laying siege to Gergovia, their old capital and the city closest to the raiding armies, one of the Arverni armies, led by Meriadoc moc Vertico, laid siege to Viennos instead. We had men to defend the walls, but the garrison was weaker than the hired defenders of Gergovia. Still, we would not fear combat. And the thought that my true brothers in arms would soon be returning from their retraining helped strengthen me, and I could tell that the others were eager to be reunited.
"I wonder if Antonius still has that ridiculous stubble?" Pullo said to me as we patrolled the walls. The Arverni army was huge, but looking at it somehow calmed my nerves.
"Probably. The boy thinks it makes him a man." I mused, rubbing my own stubble with a feeling of pride: in the time we had garrisoned inside Viennos I had become stronger and was developing a slight beard, a testament to my age. Pullo started.
"Vorenus! Go to Cotta, NOW!" He barked. As I slid down the ladder I asked what was wrong.
"Battle formations! They've got rams!!"

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The two armies formed up as Meriadoc ordered the attack

The Arverni came with the rams and made three breaches in the wall. My Triarii unit protected the furthest breach to the left, Helvetii spearmen protected the gate in the middle and Samnite spearmen guarded the third breach to the right of the gate. The fighting was fierce and our Leves hurled volley after volley of javelins into the masses of men seething through the collapsed walls. At one time it seemed as if we might be overcome: the Arverni were enveloping our Helvetii, and if any one unit broke the others would flee with them. But from what I heard Cotta charged his bodyguard headlong into the combat, pushing back the Arverni and even routing some of them.
For my part I was too busy fighting to notice this. Gallic swordsmen were slashing away at our round shields, but we were holding firm against us, and we were refreshed whereas they were exhausted. Suddenly we heard a cheer come up from the Samnites on the eastern breach: Meriadoc was dead!! Without their general to guide them the Arverni warriors broke, and the entire garrison hounded after them, spearing and stabbing every one we could. Once again Roman arms triumphed against the barbarians and we established our control of Viennos.

https://i246.photobucket.com/albums/...8-09-03-34.jpg

"This AAR has promise. Maybe it's your style, but how about a small account of the battles. I love a good account describing the slaughter of barbarians. :yes:

Throw in some screenies of the battles as well."

ahh, this looking better with each post. Keep up the good work:2thumbsup: :2thumbsup: . I really like the fact that this a roman AAR. I haven't played them yet myself, and to be honest, I dislike romans. They have however been severely underepresented in the AAR', and I like diversity in AAR's/