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.


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.