Daggers of the Republic: A Romani AAR

**johnhughthom** · 03-12-2010, 19:33

The Po Valley Campaign

Part one: Bononia

The Roman army spent three months quartered in Tarentum, helping keep order as the new regime was ushered in. The barracks the Greek defenders had occupied was too small to hold an entire legion so many of the men had to find their own living quarters. Drusus' men stayed in the shack they had taken over, the old women hadn't come back, she probably knew she would have been executed for harbouring the traitor from Reghium. A few weeks into the occupation news came that Legio II had stormed and taken Rhegium, bringing the whole of southern Italia under Roman dominance.

The Greek armoury was looted and many Roman soldiers equipped themselves with superior arms and armour, Rufus Florens looted an ornate breastplate and spent days polishing it in mockery of Camillus. Papius Dio took a long sarissa spear much to the amusement of Camillus, "You're going to stand out with that aren't you? Hundreds of Hastati with our shortsword and one long spear sticking out!" "Very droll," replied Dio, "I'm not going to fight with it, it would look good hung on a wall at home."

They marched north and met up with Legio II returning from Rhegium, the armies camped and over the next two weeks disbanded as the citizens returned to Rome and the allies to their own cities. For the next two years Drusus' requested the same men for his conturbenium, they were attached to Legio I in southern Italy and saw little action as the newly pacified cities of the region seemed content to have the illusion of indepence. Legio II was stationed in the north, south of the Po valley with it's large Celtic population, and constant raiding of the farms and villages of the region meant they were constantly on the move, chasing down small bands of bandits. Grain shipments to Rome were affected and there were public demonstrations at the lack of food, the Senate decided to act and in early 268 the decision was taken to send both legions north to bring the Celtic raiders under control.

The first target was the village of Bononia, the home of the tribe behind most of the raiding. It was a small insignificant village in comparison to Roman cities, it could, however, be used as a base to project Roman power in the region. The two legion army marched north quickly and reached the village in less than a week, the enemy had assembled a large force. Defeating this would be a real show of Roman strength, and the Celts would be unable to recover from such a defeat, the region would fall under Roman dominion.

As at Tarentum the Roman army swung right within sight of the settlement and moved into position, from his position on the right flank Drusus could see little. The skirmishers at the front of the army obscured most of his view, all he could see the dust from the Celtic cavalry as they moved into position.

There was a loud cheer from the left, and Drusus looked to see a group of Celts approach the left flank. He could see nothing of the actual fighting. Cornelius Nervi, who had taken Tullius' place, asked what was happening. "We're in a batttle." replied Drusus. "You'll know soon enough." advised Dio.

Then from the right they heard the galloping of cavalry as they joined the main Celtic army. "Not quite like Tarentum, eh sir?" "No," replied the decanus. "At Beneventum I stood listening to men die for three hours before I actually joined the fighting, just remember don't move until you hear the order."

More cheers from the left, a volley of pila over the head of the skirmishers. Clash of metal, cheers, screams and incoherent yells. Some of the men shifted nervously, not knowing what was happening was much more frightening than having a thousand naked Celts running at you. "Hold steady!" called the centurion.

Suddenly the skirmishers started to run past the Hastati. "Hold position!" called the centurion. "What's happening sir?" asked Levinius, "Have we lost?" "No, they're out of javelins. You don't expect them to fight with their bare hands do you?" "Oh, right." replied Levinius, embarassed by his obvious fear. As the skirmishers retreated the Hastati found themselves at the front of the battle line. Suddenly it was all very real that they were in a fight.

On the left there was more activity as heavily armoured Celtic cavalry galloped to attack the flank. Roman heavy cavalry moved forward to meet them. "Idiots," said Drusus, "allowing themselves to become isolated like that."

"Hastati, release pilum!" came the cry. Drusus men were closest to the Celtic cavalry and turned the throw their spears into the back of the heavy horsemen. The main battle, to the right of their position was getting more heated by the minute.

"Hastati, face forward!" came the call. Drusus and his men moved away from the cavalry fight to face forward. Just in time as a group of light cavalry charged into the Hastati.

The cavalry were isolated man by man and pulled from their horse and killed. It had been suicidal for light cavalry to charge the Roman lines unassisted. The Celtic infantry then moved forward to attack the Roman lines. "Hastati, look left!" came the call. "Release pilum!"

"Move forward!"

Drusus and his men thrust themselves into the thick of the battle, the naked Gaesatae were their target and the Hastati charged them with reckless abandon. More than one of the Celts fought back with pila lodged into their bodies, giving Drusus a vivid flashback to Tullius trying to remove a javelin from his neck.

The fighting went on for what seemed like hours, before the Celtic left and centre collapsed. The Roman army then enveloped the Gaesatae attacking the right flank and they were cut down from all sides. Some tried to flee but there was no escape. Few of the Celtic army escaped to tell the tale of what happened to those who defied Roman order.

**johnhughthom** · 03-12-2010, 23:12

Part two: Patavium

Dio looked down at Patavium from the camp in the hills to the north. "These are the people our parents tell us scary tales of, the people who sacked Rome and cheated us with weighted scales? By the Gods, I'm almost embarassed to be a Roman. Even the Greeks wouldn't fear these pathetic fools." Drusus looked up, "Have you forgotten Bononia already? They put up one hell of a scrap, we were lucky the man in charge was an idiot. Had they had a real leader we may have been in trouble." "That's the point," said Camillus, "Nobody has said they can't fight, they have no discipline. They have no respect for authority. No army can fight without discipline." Seven heads turned to look at Camillus, then at each other and they all laughed. "What?"

The legions had taken heavy losses in the battle at Bononia, Drusus men had only a few light wounds. Gaius Septimus Severus, son of a senator who should have been with the equites but wanted to fight on foot, had taken a spear through the foot but marched north at the same rate as the rest of the men. Dio, who had some medical training from a Celtic slave, had kept the wound clean and made sure it was carefully rebandaged each night. "What did the centurion say sir?" asked Justus Durus. "We attack tomorrow. We have a spy inside, he says they will come out." "Excellent."

The morning dawned, clear, bright and warm. The Gods always give us a lovely day for killing. Almost makes me wish I bothered praying to them." said Camillus. The devout Durus glared at him. "Well I thank the Gods you don't," said Dio, "No doubt you'd get into an argument with them and they'd strike us all dead." Laughter from the team, and a few more Hastati who were gathered nearby. Even Camillus found that one funny.

They marched down the hill toward the gates of the town and lined up ready for battle. Looking down the line Drusus could see the lines were noticeably thinner than they had been at Bononia, the rumours of desertions on the march toward the mountains were obviously true.

Drusus' men had a much better view of the early stages of the battle this time around, the skirmishing was right in front of them and they saw the Celtic cavalry cut down under hail after hail of javelin and sling bullet.

The thinned out ranks of the two legions meant that the Hastati were actually close enough to the front to take part in the skirmishes, they flung their pila over the heads of the Leves into the Celtic masses.

Suddenly the Leves started to run back past the Hastati, they could see the Celtic heavy cavalry approaching at a gallop. "Hold!" came the order.

"Forward!"The Hastati pushed on to attack the heavy cavalry, Durus spotted the chieftan and called out to Drusus. "In the middle, get him!" Seven swords rushed at the leader and his horse was cut down from under him. Florens sword impaled the chieftan to the ground through his shoulder, Camillus' sword took his head off said shoulder.

The Celtic cavalry fled at the loss of their leader, starting a panic that poured through the army. Thew townspeople locked the gates trapping the men between town and Roman army. Some attempted to surrender, other to climb the walls. All were cut down, by Roman or townsman on the walls. The townspeople swore an oath of loyalty to Rome and the legions moved south, the Ligurian tribes had been mounting raids into Roman territory and the Senate had demanded their subjugation.

Four months later:

Mediolanium was the largest town south of the Alps and north of Roman territory. As the legions marched into the city all of Italia was under Roman control, or that of tribes subject to Rome. An agreement with the Audui Gallic confederation had enabled the city to be turned over to a tribe allied to Rome. The legions spent a few weeks resting in the city after the campaign against the Ligurian tribes, they would then return to their homes. It was envisaged only one legion would be raised the next year, and those with six or more years consecutive service would be exempt from service. Of course in the event of a threat to Roman peace arising that would change. As it was all eight members of Drusus contubernium survived the Po Valley campaign and could look forward to at least one year away from the army.

**Titus Marcellus Scato** · 03-13-2010, 08:15

Great stuff! Nice to have a foot soldier's view of the action instead of a general's, concentrating on one unit was a good idea. Limiting the camera shots to that unit's view works really well too.

**the man with no name** · 03-13-2010, 16:38

Amazing story so far Johnhughthom. LIke titus said, I like how you set it in an 8 men squad kinda thing. Whats next? Dalmatia or Gual, or maybe Sicily?

ing

**johnhughthom** · 03-14-2010, 03:30

The Sicilian Conflict

Part One: Syracuse.

Four years of peace in the Republic following the Po Valley campaign saw Drusus and his men receive four years of freedom, the Senate only called up one legion in each of the four years and veterans from the campaign against the Celts were generally given exemption. Legio I based itself outside Mediolanium and a few punitive assaults against unruly tribes soon showed the residents of the region the Romes temper should not be tested. This period of peace was ended by the actions of a group of mercenaries in Sicily, they had taken the main city in the northeast of the island in a move similar to the capture of Rhegium which had embarrased Rome. The Punic enclave in the southwest accused the mercenaries of impounding their trading vessels and stealing the cargo. The situation escalated and a Punic army marched toward Messana and the Senate hurriedly debated this shift in the balance of power in the region. A legion was sent to Sicily with one of the Consuls, he negotiated with the mercenaries in the city and agreed to take the city under Roman protection. The Punic army moved on toward the city and rumours of a double cross reached the Consul, Punic agents were caught returning from Messana with papers showing collusion with the mercs. The Roman army marched into the city and slaughtered the garrison. Realising they had no hope against a full legion imbeded within the city the Punic force withdrew. No offensive moves had been made against the other by either nation, but a state of war was the result and the war would only end when one side had control of the island.

There was one other obstacle to either side taking control of the entire island, Syracuse. One of the most influential Greek cities in the Mediterranean, so long as she was independent the war would always be on a knife edge. A number of Punic attempts on the city were repulsed before Rome sent a second legion to the island. Legion I laid seige to the city and Legion II guarded the approach from Punic territory, the Roman fleet block all access to and from the port and the city slowly starved.

The call up of Legion II was when Drusus and his colleagues were drafted back into the army. Reporting for duty Drusus knew he would be returning as a Princeps, there was no guarantee he would keep his old position however, and he certainly didn't expect to have his old team back. As he approached the recruitment tents he saw a familiar face, Gaius Septimus Severus, son of a Senator and part of his old team awaited him. "Hey, Drusus. Good to see you, how you been?" "Oh, you know, miss killing barbarians. Life gets pretty boring here in Rome. You in with the Principes this time?" Severus looked shifty, "Yeah, the old man pulled a few strings behind my back. I've got a centurions commision. Get to select anybody I want for my century however, you're one of my decani and you got all your old team. Apart from me of course." Drusus smiled, "At least I know I've got men I can trust at my side. Err, Camillus?." Severus laughed, "Admit it, it wouldn't be the same without him."

They sailed from Ostia a few days later and landed in Messana, the gibbets where the Mamertines had been hung were still standing, a few bones bleached by the sun still hanging. No time to acclimatize, they marched out that same day and headed south in the shadow of the volcano and moved toward Syracuse. Legio I had already surrounded the city, they were relieved by the newcomers and moved west to guard against a Punic attack.

That had been two years ago, seiging a city like Syracuse was a totally different prospect to the Celtic hovels they had attacked in the Po valley. It had stores of food, and even the entire Roman navy blockading the port couldn't stop every ship attempting to resupply the beleaguered city. Two years was a long time however and the civilian populace as well as the garrison suffered horrendously, the shattered remnants of a once proud city eventually marched out in a show of defiance. Drusus watched the battle begin from a new position, in the centre of the lines even further back than before. The army had been placed on a hill however, which gave him a good view of the Syracusan forces as they approached.

As they watched the sallying army moved toward the Roman right flank. "That's were we would have been, we aren't going to see any action back here." complained Camillus. Drusus ignored him.

The entire Syracusan army were moving toward the Roman right, the Principes began edging in that direction. "Hold!" came the call from Severus.

As the enemy moved toward the skirmishers they began to get into pilum range. "Ready pila!"

The skirmishers moved back in the face of the Syracusan infantry. "Steady!" came the call. Loss of discipline in moving forward to fill the suddenly empty space in front of them could prove fatal.

The battle then moved back from the Roman lines as the cavalry engaged, the Principes stood with the rest of the infantry watching, awaiting the order to advance.

When the order to advance came it was only the Hastati ordered forward to mop up the remnants of the enemy infantry. The Roman cavalry had decimated their opponents and were now routing the rest of the defenders from the field, the Hastati moved to assist them with the rest of the legion ordered to hold position.

Soon the city surrendered and the rest of the army returned to camp. Not the day Drusus and his men had expected.

**Metaluis90** · 03-24-2010, 18:39

EX-CELLENT

**johnhughthom** · 03-27-2010, 09:57

I will try to update this in a few days, something odd happened which totally trashed the storyline I had planned so I need to start the campaign again to get to the same position...