Early Romans vs Bronze-age Europeans in Armati

We had an unexpected visitor to the Club night this week when Nigel arrived with his newly completed Bronze Age Europeans - all very Conan-the-barbarian. So we pitched them against some Early Romans using a mix of Carthaginians and Republican Romans

The Army Lists

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Early Romans +4 Init, H:4, L:2
2 x HC  4 [0] 0 +1 Prot
5 x PH  7 [1] 1 +2 Prot
9 x SI   3 [1] 2 +2 Sling
2 x LI   4 [1] 2 +1 Prot, Javelins
4 x LHI 4 [1] 2 +1 Prot, Javelins

Northern Europeans
6 x FT   5 [0] 0 +1 Prot
10 xWB 5 [1] 3 +1 Prot
6 x SI    3 [1] 2 +2 Prot
2 x HC  4 [0] 0 +1 Prot
2 x LC   2 [1] 0 +1 Prot
1 x SI     3 [1] 2 +2 Prot
  
So lots of slingers on both sides. The Romans had some decent infantry but on an open table the LHI were vulnerable. The Bronze-agers had the better cavalry and a numbers advantage.

Deployment

 

The Romans were concerned about their relative weakness in their LHI and SI. They were also hampered by only having 2 Light divisions, so having to deploy large blocks. So they adopted a largely defensive position - a large block of phalanx covered by the slingers, supported by LHI on the left flank with the cavalry seeking to turn the flank.   

Roman right - massed slingers with spears behind

Roman left - the LHI

Roman left - the cavalry on the outside

The Bronze-agers deployed a large mass of warbands in the centre / right, with spearmen holding the right. The cavalry were split between the flanks, with the HC on the left as the attacking option.



Bronze-agers left - HC and slingers

The spearmen

Massed warbands

The right - SI and LC 

The Battle

With the Romans on defensive duties the Bronze-agers advanced with their warbands and on the flanks, holding back the weaker spearmen. The Romans responded with an advance from their HC against the Bronze-agers right flank in an attempt to chase-off the light troops.

The Roman right



The Roman left

Roman cavalry charge-in

The Roman advance met with initial success sweeping aside the SI, chasing off the LC and destroying a unit of warband. A good result but they became a little over confident and advanced too far in chasing down the Bronze-agers lights.

In the centre the spears clashed and the Romans held-back their LHI fearing they would be overrun by the warbands, who advanced smartly into them. In the process the Roman flank guards were forced to deploy.  

Centres clash

Roman right

Spears line-up for a shove

The Romans fought stoutly with even the LHI performing above expectations, but they found themselves outflanked on the right by a unit of cavalry. This was a telling blow as they were able to destroy two units of the Roman spears and win the game 5-3. 

Conclusion

A fun scratch game with some unusual armies. In hindsight the Romans setup was not ideal - only having 2 light divisions hampered the usefulness of the LI and LHI, so more heavy infantry would have been a stronger army. A stronger guard on the refused right flank and less aggression with the cavalry might have given Rome the win.