The Will of the Senate - Battle reports

[x-dANGEr]

The battle of Massila ford, Winter 261

The man and his army:



The enemy army:



The enemy general:



The first wave of Gauls attacks:



The Gauls make it across the ford before the Romans can deploy:



Manius enthusiastically throws himself into the Roman counterattack, slaughtering the isolated Gallic lead elements:



The battle soon develops into a confused affair, with Manius pushing on deep into the first wave of the Gallic attack. For some reason, half the Gallic army remains on the other bank with their general:



Ultimately, the Roman defenders rout the first wave of the Gallic assault, thanks to the Roman infantry acting as an anvil and Manius’s own cavalry being the hammer:





However, the battle is not over yet: the second wave of the Gallic army advances across the ford:



and throws itself against the hastati:



On the Roman right, a lengthy duel begins between the Manius and the Gallic general:



Gallic slingers charge into the rear of Manius’s escort and for a moment, he thinks he is done for. But then he realises - those are his slingers; mercenaries!



Now, it looks like Manius will surely prevail over the Gallic cavalry:



However, Manius withdraws from the melee and the Gallic cavalry massacre the mercenary slingers:



The Gallic general then pursues Manius and engages him in hand-to-hand combat:



Manius is severely wounded and unhorsed, assumed dead by the Gauls and Romans alike:



Flush with their triumph over Manius, the Gallic cavalry charge into the flank of the Roman infantry holding the centre against the Gallic warbands:



The Gallic flank charge, so soon after the news of the loss of their general, causes a chain rout amongst the Roman centre:



Soon, the Roman army is falling back in disarray with only a handful of brave triarii protecting the eagle:



The Gallic general is filled with bloodlust and wades into the triarii, slaying them left and right around him:



Until the triarii too, run, desperately trying to take the eagle back to safety:



In the distance, a strong cohort of principes can be seen. They are the only formed Roman unit left on the battlefield. These are fine troops - among the best heavy infantry in the entire ancient world.



By their delaying action, they buy time for the some of the rest of the army to rally and regroup:



However, the principes themselves are isolated and soon surrounded:



The morale of the rallied Roman units in the centre remains fragile and they slowly dissolve. The triari defending the eagle rally but then are cut down, with the eagle being claimed by the Gallic general:



The principes on the Roman left are surrounded and outnumbered:


Shamefully, they break:



With the flight of the principes, the heart goes out of the Roman army and it dissolves in a general rout:

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

hv = heroic victory
v = clear victory
ad = average defeat
d = clear defeat
cd = close defeat

Factions destroyed :
- Illyria
- The kingdom of Macedon
- Gaul
- The Greek Cities

Illyrian casualties : 757 men
Roman casualties : 62 men
Average kill ratio : 12.2 - 1

Macedonian casualties : 5316 men
Roman casualties : 1598 men
Average kill ratio : 3.3 - 1
Macedonian ships sunk : 0 ships
Roman ships sunk : 0 ships

Gaul casualties : 1489 men
Roman casualties : 297 men
Average kill ratio : 5.0 - 1

Greek casualties : 1782 men
Roman casualties : 280 men
Average kill ratio : 6.4 - 1
Greek ships sunk : 5 ships
Roman ships sunk : 1 ship

Thrace casualties : 8965 men
Roman casualties : 1489 men
Average kill ratio : 6.0 - 1

Carthage casualties : 1846 men
Roman casualties : 1103 men
Average kill ratio : 1.7 - 1
Carthage ships sunk : 9 ships
Roman ships sunk : 1 ship

Ptolemy casualties : 1544 men
Roman casualties : 260 men
Average kill ratio : 5.9 - 1
Ptolemy ships sunk : 8 ships
Roman ships sunk : 2 ships

Seleucid casualties : 1376 men
Roman casualties : 582 men
Average kill ratio : 2.4 - 1

Rebel casualties : 705 men
Roman casualties : 225 men
Average kill ratio : 3.1 - 1
Rebel ships sunk : 1 ship
Roman ships sunk : 0 ships

Total enemy casualties : 23780 men
Total Roman casualties : 5896 men
Average kill ratio : 4.0 - 1
Total enemy ships sunk : 23 ships
Total Roman ships sunk : 4 ships

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

After the news of the capture of the legionary eagle of the Legio III Sicilia Aemilia, the soldiers of the Legio I Italia Victrix were demoralized and reluctant to sally forth from camp. I, Lucius Aemilius, ordered the centurions to assemble the men on the parade ground and I noticed that here and there threats had to be made to compell the troops to obey. Once they formed up in cohorts and in formation they quickly regained their composure when their natural discipline reasserted itself. I rode up in front of them in battle armour and spoke to them :

Soldiers of the Legio I Italy Victrix ! You have heard the terrible news about the Legio III, but there is some good news also. The senate has seen fit to appoint me consul in this dark hour. You all know me, some of you have fought under my command for twenty years already. I'll turn this twist of fate right round. Our brothers of the Legio III need our help against the Gauls, but we have to hold off these damn Thracians. So I have ordered for Augustus Verginius to travel to the West and to teach those Gauls the meaning of Roman wrath ! They still tell horror stories each night of his last visit. I sent a messenger to that goat-raping king of theirs to warn them and he pissed his pants right there and then ! They shall not have the eagle for long, Jupiter will see to that !
As for you sorry lot, moping and whining like these Illyrian camp women. It's disgusting ! You've got some making up to do ! You, you call that standing at attention ? If Mars saw you like this he would send down the furies to take our eagle away as well ! We'd better show good old Mars what kind of men we really are ! We are the elite ! Who are we ?

Legio Italy I Victrix, sah !

What do they call me ?

Lucius the Victor, sah !!

Are you ready to give me another victory ?

Yes, sah !!!

Roma Victor !

ROMA VICTOR !!!!!

And so the the legion marched out of town, in perfect formation I might add, singing a sordid marching song. The Thracians were so appalled by this show of fearlesness that they almost forgot to attack. We managed to position ourselves well before they dared to move.

Terrified by my cheerful men only a small force dared to charge us outright and were promptly enveloped and routed. I and the italian cavalry followed in hot pursuit.



The second wave was a more serious attack, including a force of powerful bastearnii, but Gnaeus Hordeonius was there to smash them in the flank.

This second attack routed it was time to launch the counterattack. My men quickmarched in formation and formed up close to the remaining Thracian forces, who still outnumbered us. The moment the line was reformed I ordered the charge.


A charge by my praetorians folded their left flank, closely followed by a charge by Gnaeus Hordeonius on their right flank. His charge was like a drill on Mars field. If you look closely you can see a Thracian been catapulted through the air.


Still the remaining Thracian troops, surrounded now, doggedly fought on, but they broke after one more charge by me and Gnaeus Hordeonius.

After the last Thracian was slain, my troops looked around dazedly and bewildered, as men will do after a battle with no one left to kill. Then the cheering began.
ROMA VICTOR !
LUCIUS THE VICTOR !
ROMA VICTOR !

The cheers on the battlefield were so loud the must have been heard in all the nearby Thracian towns and villages. It went on for quite some time.

[Death the destroyer of worlds]

Our watchtower at the Danube had reported more Thracian forces moving southwest towards Aquileia. Having left Gnaeus Hordeonius in charge of the occupation of Segestica, I, Lucius Aemilius, commander of the Legio I Italia Victrix, intercepted the largest of the Thracian hordes. The terrain was not very favourable, but we could hardly let the enemy pass by and so I decided to offer battle. The Thracians are very adept in fighting in the woods and I found myself on a forested hillside where my cavalry would be useless. Accordingly I tried to lure them into the open by placing my battle line in the unforested area.


This seemed to succeed at first, but just before their usual charge en masse they retreated and Thracians appeared running from the woods on our right flank, which was held by a unit of Italian swordsmen. It was an excellent move on their commander's part, and I quickly responded by sending another cohort of Italian swordsmen from my left flank to help them out. I held the Roman troops in reserve untill the commander's plan was clear.


Then I heard the hardpressed Italian swordsmen centurion shout out : General, Flanking manouver !!!
Using their natural stealth in the forest, the Thracians were attempting to circle round our right flank and attack the embattled Italian swordsmen in the back. I immediately reacted by ordering the orginal reinforcements to attack the Thracian ambushers instead. This still left the orginal right flank without reinforcements and so I ordered another cohort, of hestati this time, to rush to the aid of our beleagered auxilia.


The lightly armoured auxilia had taken severe losses against the heavy Thracian infantry, slashing away at them with their deadly falxes, but our men doggedly stood their ground. As the battle was a stalemate I ordered the Principes to break formation and encircle the Thracian right flank. The other cohort of Italian swordsmen, fighting the Thracian ambushers, were also in need of assistence. I sent in my skirmishers to outflank the Thracian ambushers.



Now our forces were evenly matched and the Thracians were becoming encircled. Still the Thracians were not about to give up. Then they broke trough at our right flank, creating a dangerous situation. If the Italian swordsmen, encircled now, panicked, my entire right flank might fold. Accordingly, I send in all the remaining troops, the triarii to attack the Thracians in the rear and the Italian spearmen to block the gap and save their brothers, the Italian swordsmen.



The spearmen attacked with gusto and rescued their friends and this setback was the straw that broke the Thracian morale and they routed, pursued by the legion.
Our cavalry had meanwhile been luring the Thracian commander away on a wild goose chase. When he saw his men running from the woods in terror he realised he had lost and attempted to withdraw. This was the moment to strike and I ordered the charge.


When I cornered them against a cliff, they bravely turned and fought, but we ground them under the hooves of our horses.

I beheaded their commander's corpse and ordered the sole cowering surviving Thracian to carry it back to their King, with the warning that such will be the fate of all Thracians who set foot on Roman soil.


Of the Italian swordsmen, who were at the center of the fighting, only 14 men were still standing. If they had broken, the battle might have been lost. I commended them in front of the rest of the troops and they did not want for drink or fellowship in the camp that night. Truly, this is the Legio I Italia Victrix !

Roma Victor !

[TinCow]

Legate Augustus Verginius gazed at the city that lay before him. Its architecture was heavily influenced by the Greek style and, from a distance, it appeared to be a civilized and peaceful place.

"Civilized..." Verginius sneered, "there is no civilization here."

He looked back at his men. All of Legio II was forming up for battle behind him.

"Nor shall there be peace."



The Illyrian people had been shattered by decades of war. First with the Macedonians, then with the Greeks, then with the Romans. They had stubbornly refused to allow any encroachment upon their homelands. They had won great victories against the mightiest armies that civilization could throw against them, but those victories had cost many lives and Illryria's veterans watered the fields with their blood. Now, in the end, there were only untrained warbands and slaves left to oppose Rome.

Still, these men fought with passion and rage. As Legio II approached the city, a great mass of men poured from the streets to engage in one final gesture of defiance.



They were met in the streets by the Roman infantry, whose skill and discipline held the enemy charge almost effortlessly.



The last Illyrian king, Temeia, joined in the melee with the last handful of trained Illyrian warriors. The Roman Equites could not be restrained at the sight of him. There had been rumors circulating amongst the Legion that the loss of the Eagle of Legio III had been partially due to a mistake made by the Equites of that Legion. Whether true or not, their counterparts in Legio II felt they had to prove their worth. The Illyrian king's men were the veterans of countless battles. Tough, battle-hardened warriors who had faced the best armies that the Greeks and Macedonians could field. Yet the Equites, in their determination to wipe clean any doubts about their abilities, cut through them with ease. Soon Temeia was surrounded by Roman horsemen and cut down.



The remaining men of the Illyrian battleline attempted to flee after this loss, but there was no where to go. They were cut down in the streets and the occupation of the city began. Yet, in the town square a mass of Illyrian slaves had gathered, rallied to the cause by the whips of their masters. Yet, even with the Illyrian nation broken and their overseers dead, they fulfilled their vow and fought. It was a glorious charge, the last of an entire nation.



Their ferocity inflicted a few casualties on the Hastati who received them, but they were only slaves. Soon the entire Illyrian nation was reduced to a few poorly armed slaves encircled by an entire Legion of Roman soldiers.



And so ended the independant Illyrian nation. For the first time in history, a non-Italian people had been completely and totally conquered and subjugated by the might of Rome. It would be the first of many.

[Mount Suribachi]

With Legio VI I was approaching the Macedonian town of Bylazora and was making plans to assault it. However the Macedonians, seemingly gathering their entire army together and led by as fine a general as they possesed were determined to drive me back.



Outnumbered by 2.5 to 1 (1635 Macedonians to the 650 men of Legio VI) I decided to make a fighting withdrawal. Sending the baggage train on ahead, I made a stand at a wooded mountain pass. My plan was to use my archers & pelasts to inflict casualties on the Macedonians as they advanced, then pull back into the woods and retreat knowing that their slow, plodding Phalanxes would be unable to pursue me.



Down in the plain below I could see the 3 Macedonian armies forming up and advancing





As the battle lines closed my missile units concentrated on their more lightly armoured troops and inflicted more than a few casualties. As their line approached I could see the possibility of envelopment and ordered a withdrawal. Unfortunately panic at the large numbers of enemy overcame my men and many of them ran every which way except the way they were meant to. My cohort of Roman cavalry ran straight at the Phalanx in their panic, my Thracian infantry ran down the hill (teach me to use barbarian mercenaries), my archers just stood there and refused to obey orders.

Eventually I managed to to the legion off the battlefield and into the mountain but our losses had been unacceptably high, though we had also given them a bloody nose. My anger at the refusal of my men to obey a simple order to withdraw has barely subsided as I write this report from my headquarters in Pella. Thankfully most of the 150 odd casualties were mercenaries rather than sons of Rome.



Not long after, I got a chance for a small measure of revenge when a unit of Macedonian reinforcements - a single unit of slingers - attempting to head north and rejoin their main army passed too close to Pella and was spotted. Riding out with all 46 of my horsemen I killed all 61 of them for the loss of 1 cavalryman.

[Mount Suribachi]

"Right then lads, this is it, no going back this time. Too many bloody armchair generals in Rome questioned my decision to withdraw last time. Said I didn't have the guts! Said the 6th didn't have what it took to beat the Macedonians!

GAH! What does some snotty nosed little teenager in the scriptorium know about fighting, eh? I've killed more Gauls than he's had hot dinners!

But still, this is your time, the time when the 6th writes its own story. Its days like today, victories like today, where a legion achieves immortality. Win the battle, and your children, and their children, in decades to come, will say with pride in their voice and a twinkle in their eye, 'yes, Paionia, my ancestors fought there!"

The plan is simple. We are vastly outnumbered, but the enemy is split in three. We must take advantage of this and defeat his armies one by one. The first engagement will be decisive. We must rout their first army before the other 2 arrive. Do this and the day is ours!


Amulius marshalls his troops for battle





The first Macedonian army is close, the other 2 are in the distance




The lines clash.




Under pressure, the Macedonian line begins to waver, but their Chalkispedes stand firm




Amulius chases away 3 units of Peltasts from the rear of Macedonian line, but he can only fight one at a time. The other 2 stand back and pepper his bodygaurd with javelins. The result is inevitable...




His surviving bodyguards try in vain to escape the waves of javelins




Over on the right flank Herennius Genucius also suffers at the hands of the Peltasts whilst charging into the rear of a Macedonian Phalanx




Despite being surrounded, and repeatedly charged by the Roman infantry and under a hail of missile fire, the Chalkispedes have managed to hold on long enough for their 2nd wave to arrive. The heavy cavalry have a dispersed and tired enemy to charge into




Legio VI breaks and runs




The result. Note the decisive effect the arrival of Argeos of Pharsalus had









The situation on the Roman - Macedon border following the defeat