Battle of the Luppia, 48 BC - LRR vs Early Germans

After Baetorix of the Sugambri attempted to sway Vetera and Novaesium away from the sphere of the Republic, Tiberius Sempronius Micon, tribune angusticlavii, detached XV Legion, ordered his forces across the Rhenus and subdue the closets Sugambri village on the River Luppis.  The year is 48 BC and most of the legions are in the far south fighting for Caesar in the struggle against Pompey and the Senate...

The scenario is from "From the Forests Deep" campaign.

Roman List

Roman contingent - All figures are OG15s.  The camp is scratch built picked up at Bayou Wars several years ago.  The numbers correspond to the order of march.

Sugambri List

The Sugambri horde - Almost all of the figures are Forged in Battle with a few Essex thrown in.  There might even be one or two OG15 Early Germans.  Most of the figures were painted by Mark Kernan of the One Tree Painting Service.  Although I painted a handful to fill out the ranks.  The camp is a work in progress.  Trees are from Hobby Lobby and the stone is from a Stonehenge kit I found on eBay years ago.  The numbers correspond to the army list.

The Germans won the initiative and opted for Woodlands. The Romans took the compulsory brush and a marsh. The Germans took a river as required in the campaign scenario and a forest. The river was placed on the top edge of the table and ended up being difficult. The marsh and the forest fell on the German side of the table and the brush fell on the Roman board edge.

After deployment with the Germans on the left and Romans on the right.  The Roman superiors (BG 3) were deployed in front of the camp.  The Romans leader deployed with BG 2.  The German select warriors were deployed by the river in a two stand wide column (BG 4).  The German leader deployed with BG 2.

A frontal view of the German line.

A frontal view of the Roman line.

 

The Germans moved first and opted to move straight ahead. At the end of their first 4" move, they shift one base towards the bottom of the table. The second move stopped 1/4" short of 4" ending up 5 1/4" from the Roman line.

After the German 1st turn.

In the Romand 1st turn, the Roman legions opted to remain stationary. The Roman cavalry (BG 4) moved 5" forward to get in the face of the German Superior Warriors (BG 4). In the Joint Action Phase, the German leader moved to BG 4.

After the Roman 1st turn.

In the German 2nd turn, the German BG 4 (the superiors) attempted to expand in place but failed their CMT. The other three German BGs moved 3" straight forward.

After the German 2nd turn.

In the Roman 2nd turn, the Romans opted to hold the legions and not charge. Unfortunately, only the veteran BG 3 passed their CMT. Roman BGs 1 and 2 stormed forward in to the waiting German warbands. In the Impact, Roman BG 1 made contact with German BGs 1 and 2 scoring 3 and 1 hit respectively. The Germans managed 4 hits with BG 1 and 0 with BG 2. The Roman BG 1 survived its death roll as did both German BGs. German BG 2, however, failed its cohesion test and dropped to disrupted. At the other end of the line, the Roman leader decided to lead the charge. Roman BG 2 scored 4 hits to German BG 3 but took 6 in return. The Roman leader survived the carnage but both the Romans and the German BGs took a base loss from hits. The Romans also passed their cohesion test. In the Maneuver Phase, the Roman BG 3 double wheeled to move into the gap between Roman BGs 1 and 2. In the Melee Phase, Roman BG 1 scored 3 hits on German BG 1 and 0 on German BG 2. The Germans returned 1 and 2 respectively. Roman BG 1 survived his death roll but German BG 1 lost a base and then double dropped on cohesion. Roman BG 2 scored 3 hits to German BG 3's 2. The Roman leader survived another round of combat and the German BG survived its death roll. German BG 3 failed its cohesion test and dropped to disrupted.

After the Roman 2nd turn.

In the German 3rd turn, the German Superior warband (BG 4) charged the Roman cavalry. The German leader decided to lead from the front. The German superiors scored 2 hits to the Roman cavalry's 1. The Romans served the death roll and passed their cohesion test. In the Maneuver phase, the German Superior BG expand a file towards the river. In the Melee Phase, the German BG 1 scored 0 hits to Roman BG 1 and took 4 in return. German BG 2 scored 1 hit and took 0 from Roman BG 1. German BG 1 managed to avoid losing a base to the hits but broke on its cohesion test. German BG 1 routed 4". German BG 2 just shrugged its shoulders as its friend routed away and kept swinging at the Romans. German BG 3 scored 1 hit to 0 vs Roman BG 2 who survived its death roll and passed its cohesion test. The German BG 4 (the superiors) scored 5 hits on the Roman cavalry (BG 4) who managed only 1 in return. The Roman cavalry lost a base to hits but survived its cohesion test. In Joint Action, German BG 1 routed another 3" and the Roman cavalry broke off 1 1/2" to end in front of Roman BG 2.

After German 3rd turn.

In the Roman 3rd turn, Roman BG 3 held on a CMT. In the Maneuver Phase, Roman BG 1 expanded a file to cover another file of German BG 2 in the center. German BG 2 expanded to cover an existing overlap of Roman BG 1. In the Melee Phase, Roman BG 1 scored 5 hits to 2 against German BG 2 who lost a base and then fragmented on cohesion test. Roman BG 4 scored 4 hits to 1 against German BG 3 survived its death roll and passed its cohesion. In the Joint Action Phase, the German leader moved to German BG 3 and successfully bolstered the BG removing the disruption. Broken German BG 1 started wheeling to get passed the marsh.

After the Roman 3rd turn.

In the German 4th turn, the German BG 4 charged the Roman cavalry (BG 4). In the Impact, the Germans scored 5 hits to 3. The German BG survived its death roll as did the Roman cavalry. The Roman cavalry did not pass its cohesion test and disrupted. In the Melee Phase, the German BG 4 (the superiors) scored 1 hit as did the Roman BG 4 (the cavalry) for a wash. German BG 3 scored 2 hits to Roman BG 2 but took 3 in return. The Roman leader survived the melee. German BG 3 rolled off the hits and passed its cohesion test. German BG 2 scored 2 hits to Roman BG 1 but took 4 in return. German BG 2 survived the death roll but failed its cohesion test dropping to broken. German BG 3 cared not for the routing BG 2 and passed its cohesion test. At the end of Melee, the German force was 4 attrition points down breaking the army.

End Game

The Germans had some opportunities in impact and melee winning in a few places that could have changed the outcome if the Roman dice had not been so hot. Still playing around the campaign scenario so I suspect a similar battle will come appear on the blog in the future.

Later Republican Romans

Here are a few pictures of my Later Republican Romans that will be used for the From the Forests Deep Campaign.  Almost all of the figures are Old Glory.  Most were painted by Tom Demers of Mad Monkey Painting with a few exceptions.  I will note the exceptions in the captions.

Here ia picture of all of those that are flocked.  I have a couple more battlegroups waiting their turn.  I am trying to decide if 58 stands of legionnaires is enough.

Close up of some legionnaires.

The two red shielded Legionnaire BGs on the right of the picture I picked up off E-bay.  Still Old Glory 15s and they match up well with Tom's paint job.  

Some of the supporting cast.  The Numidians in the center line of the picture I painted.  The Numidian elephants and the light horse next to them are Corvus Belli figures.  The other Numidian light horse is Old Glory.  Behind the Elephants are OG Spanish swordsmen painted by Tom.  The six stand BG next to them are Jewish Thureophoroi in captured equipment.  I have two more stands to make them an 8 and another 8 stand BG that need to be flocked to make them into a Jewish ally.

Two BGs of heavy cavalry of the Gallic armoured variety.  I have a BG of Spanish in another box that can be pulled in if needed depending on theater.  The 8 stand BG in the middle of the picture are the ever popular Thracians with heavy weapons.

Here is a scratch built fortified camp and a 4-stand BG of Chariot (I think) Gladiators.  I built the fort and Tom painted the gladiators.  Way back in version 1 of FOG the LRR were allowed a 4-stand BG of Gladiators but alas they went away in V3.

Here is a close up of the Corvus Belli Numidians.  It just so happens I have an entire army of Numidians built under V1.  It was the first army I ever played in a FOG tournament because it was what I had.  Not currently playable under V3 as I do not have any cavalry stands and just am not motivated to paint more Numidians.

I have a BG of Illyrian spearmen I need to paint and a couple more of BGs of waiting in the wings should I opt to add more Legions to the mix.  Seems I have a dream of one day fighting a Roman Civil War with enough troops for both sides some day.  I will try and post pictures of the finished Germans next week.