FOG 300 Playtest V3 LRR vs Ancient Spanish 23 Nov 2017

After spending the winter months in the hills around Pompaelo in the province of Hispania Citerior, our detachment of Legio VI has been summoned by the new governor of Gallia Transalpina, Gaius Julius Caesar, to the wilds of Gaul.  Our leader, Pilus Prior Caius Otacillus Pansa of the IX Cohort, has ordered us to cross the mountains to our north and join the road to Narbo Martius at Tolosa.  This seems foolhardy at best but as the Hastatus Posterior of the cohort, I am in no position to question the Pilus Prior.

Within a week, we are in the foothills of the mountains but our luck does not hold.  The Iberians here are not warm to our arrival and the road (and I am being generous to this two-horn goat trail we are on) through the hills is blocked.  We must fight here or go back the way we came.  We will fight...

This will be the first roll-out of FOG 300 for V3.  I hope to add a playtest versus Hill Tribe Gauls and Early Germans later this week.  

The Roman list and host:

The Ancient Spanish list and host (note the change in points.  The spreadsheet does not charge the correct points for LF javelinmen at this time):

The Spanish won the initiative and chose Hilly.  Th Roman player took the compulsory gentle hill, the impassable and a broken.  The Spanish player took a forrest and the gully.  The gentle hill ended up on the left corner of the Spanish side and was adjusted 2".  The forrest ended up in the center of the Spanish baseline with no adjustments allowed.  The impassable landed in the left corner of the Roman baseline but was picked up on a 6.  The gully landed on the right side of the Spanish baseline and was adjusted 2" into the middle.  The broken would not fit on the Spanish baseline so was discarded.

After deployment, the two sides looked like the picture below with Romans on the left.  I opted to swap out the two large camps in the original host layouts and replaced them with 40mm x 80mm camps.

The Roman lines as they appeared from the hilltop from the Spanish lines:  the Gallic mercenary cavalry on the left with both BGs of legionaries in the center and the slingers on the right end of the line.

The Spanish lines as they appeared from atop the ramparts of the Roman camp:  the caetrati on the left partly in the gully, a scutarii stretching from the forrest to the edge of the gully, the select scutarii extending through the forest to in front of the camp, the last scutarii stretching from in front of the camp to the crest of the hill, the Spanish light horse covering the Spanish right. The Spanish scutarii all deployed 3 stands wide with two files at 3 deep and 1 at 2 deep. The original plan was to advance to within 1/4" of the edge of the forrest in a line and make the Romans come to them.

The Romans roll high and move first.  The legionaries move as group and do a double move forward with a single base shift to their right.  The Roman cavalry do a full move forward and a single base shift right.  The Roman slingers do a full move forward and a single base shift right.  There is no shooting to be had and in joint action, the only adjustment sees the Spanish Chieftain move to the top scutarii unit to keep the Spanish light foot within command range.

The Spanish 1st turn sees the Spanish light horse move forward but stop outside of 5" of the Roman cavalry.  The Spanish light foot do a full move forward.  The Spanish scutarii line move forward as group under the Spanish Chieftain and stop 1/4" from the edge of the woods just as they planned.  Again there is no shooting so the turn ends.

For the Roman 2nd turn, the Roman cavalry move at an angle towards the Spanish light horse.  The Roman slingers move to within 3" of the Spanish light foot.  The Roman legions move a full 3" straight forward.  The Spanish light horse only have one file within range of the Roman cavalry so their shooting is to no effect.  The Roman slingers score 3 hits to the Spanish caetrati but the gods were with them and they pass both the death roll and cohesion test.  The turn ends with the stage set for the next round.  The question to be answered is...who will charge first?

The Spanish 2nd turn opens with the scutarii on the hill failing to hold their charge and into the right flank legionaries they go.  Only one base of each battle group ends in contact for Impact but the Romans score 2 hits to 1.  Subsequently, the Spanish lose a base and disrupts.  In the maneuver phase, the Spanish conform and opt not to move a base to the right end of their line, hoping to keep at least one file of the Romans in front of the select scutarii.  The Romans, as anticipated, shift a file to cover an existing overlap of the scutarii to ensure all legion bases will fight.   The Spanish light foot move to within 2" of the slingers and the light horse move to within 2" of the Roman cavalry.  In the shooting phase, the Spanish light horse score 2 hits on the Roman cavalry who conveniently disrupt.  The Spanish and Roman light foot both score only 1 hit apiece to no effect.  In the melee phase, the Roman legionaries score 4 hits to 1 and the scutarii fragment.  In the joint action phase, the Pilus Prior opts to remain where he is and the Spanish Chieftain moves to the select scutarii.

To start the Roman 3rd turn, the Pilus Prior orders the Gallic cavalry to charge but they look disdainfully at the legionnaire who runs up speaking some foreign tongue and stay where they are.  Believing his orders are being followed, he orders the remaining legionaries to charge into the woods against the Spanish battle line.  The front two ranks of legionaries are severely disrupted by the forrest but with the Pilus Prior leading the way, they score 6 hits on the scutarii on the right end of the Spanish line.  The Spanish manage 5 hits in return.  The Spanish attempt to kill the Pilus Prior comes to naught and the Romans shrug off the hits from the Spaniards.  The Spanish, however, are not so lucky.  One base of the scutarii fled back into the woods which effects the rest of the line...they fragment with a double drop. [This was an error as you cannot double drop when only beaten by 1 hit.  It takes at least two more to get the double drop]  The only maneuver to occur sees the Roman cavalry square up on the Spanish light horse.  In the shooting phase, the Spanish light horse manage only 1 hit to no effect.  The Roman slingers score 3 hits to 1 but the Spanish shrug over the hail of stones to no effect.  In the Melee phase, the left Roman legionaries score 3 hits on the scutarii who mange 1 hit on their own and another from the overlapping select scutarii.  The Pilus Prior again avoids the Spanish attempts to kill him as the legionaries shrug off the Spanish assault with no ill effects.  The Spanish, however, roll a natural 2 on their cohesion test after passing their death roll and decide to flee from the meat shredder that is to their front.  The right most legionnaire BG scores 6 hits on their Spanish opponents who manage only 3 in return.  The legionaries shake off the death roll but the Spanish are no so lucky.  They lose another base, dropping them to 25%, and fail their cohesion test to flee towards the mountains.  The select scutarii thumb their noses at the fleeing scutarii but the Spanish light foot and light horse both lose heart and disrupt.  With the breaking of the two scutarii BGs, the Spanish army breaks and the Romans can continue on their march.

Night is falling as the remaining Spanish troops began to flee the field, the Pilus Prior orders a halt to the pursuit and a withdrawal to our camp.  With a screen of slingers and cavalry, select contuberniums from each century are released to scour the field.  The spoils will be divided evenly within each century union their return.  Meanwhile, our illustrious Pansa has ordered all centurions to attend him for our evening planning session.  Tomorrow, we will continue our march through the mountains.  In a few days, we will descend into the lands of the Convenae, a tribe of the Aquitani.  I suspect they will not be any too happy with our arrival.  But that, that is another story...

Lines from the journals of Hastatus Posterior Lucius Lutatius Calvus