Battle of Aquae Sextiae 102BC using D3 Ancients Clash

Introduction

This is game 52 in play testing my ancient rules by replaying historical battles.  I am using my new rules d3 Ancients Clash (the previous games were with ‘Ancient Battlelines Clash’).  I am in the process of writing the rules up from the scribbling it is currently.  D3 Ancients Clash is an evolution of Ancients Battleline Clash but uses d3s and designed to assist with replaying these historical games.  I am play testing the rules by replaying all the Peter Sides scenarios from his Historical Battles books.  D3AC is designed to finish in around 30 minutes on a 16”x16” table.  I may go back to 2’x2’ in future.

This is the last game I played with D3 Ancients Clash.  After this game I applied some of the D3 rules back into Ancient Battlelines Clash.  I found I preferred 1d6 to 2d3.

Battle of Aquae Sextiae

Marius marches into Southern Gaul to fight the Germans and Gallic tribes heading towards Italy.

Here are a few internet links of interest I used for this replay:

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aquae_Sextiae

Command and Colors scenario: https://www.commandsandcolors.net/ancients/maps/69-cimbrian-war-113-101-bc/277-206-aquae-sextiae-102-bc.html

Erenow: https://erenow.net/ancient/crisis-of-rome-the-jugurthine-and-northern-wars-and-the-rise-of-marius/12.php

And conveniently as I was working out this scenario the July/August 2020 Slingshot turned up with a Big Battle DBA scenario and replay that helped with crafting my version. 

Troops

Roman

Romans - Marius with the cavalry on the left of the picture.

3 Legions, Heavy Infantry, line relief, medium missile protection

3 Allied Legions, Heavy Infantry, line relief, medium missile protection

3 Velites, Skirmishers, javelin

2 Heavy Cavalry

1 +1 General with the Heavy Cavalry on right.

 

Ambush

1 Heavy  Cavalry + subleader

Note: will have ambush available to launch whenever the Roman player roll a 1 at the start of a turn.

All trained.

Breakpoint: 9

 

German 

Germans.  The Roman ambush is at the right in the woods.

12 Warbands

2 Skirmishers, javelin

2 Heavy Cavalry

1 General with the Warbands

All untrained

Breakpoint:  14

 

Scenario changes

I reduced the forces by about two-thirds.

 

Deployment

Romans on the left, Germans on the right.

Game

Romans will wait for the Germans to attack, which they do, advancing up the hill to contact the Romans.  The warbands begin closing with the Romans.

 Note: The Romans rolled a 1 on the first turn for the ambush!  Waited until the second turn to come out of hiding though.

Ambush moves out of the woods.

 

Skirmishers are close enough to exchange fire, or in the case of the Roman right, can fire on the Warbands.  Those two charge into the Romans.  The other Roman Skirmishers force the German skirmishers to retire.  In the ensuing melee, both warbands push the legions back, despite going uphill.

First contact of warbands and the Roman line

The Roman cavalry with Marius (on the Roman right) charges the German cavalry and destroys them!

Marius destroys opposing cavalry.

 

The Rest of the Germans and legions clash.  The Romans come off generally worse for wear.

 

Romans retreat from the German onslaught.

The Roman turn sees the legions still not making much headway against the Germans.  But then the ambush and Marius heavy cavalry charge into the rear of some German warbands.

Ambush heavy cavalry charges into the rear of a warband (both subsequently destroyed).

Marius accounts for 3 warbands, including the German general.

 

Marius charges into the rear of the German battleline.

The Germans have reached their breakpoint and flee the battlefield.  A rear attack with a shock value is never pretty, but in all 5 attacks, all the Germans had to do to survive a bit longer was to roll higher than the Romans.  Never happened in all 5 rolls.

End

Rule changes

Back to the first game on the full 2’x2’ and movement in basewidths (40mm) rather than inches.  Nice to be back.

Verdict

I was surprised how well the warbands did against the legions even though they were attacking uphill.  It did help that on a tie if the supported side pushes back the unsupported unit. The warbands were supported and so the Romans were pushed back. And like in history, the ambushers played an important part.  Without them, the game would have been a lot closer.  I have enjoyed these rules using 2d3 rather than 1d6 but have incorporated some of the updates from these rules back into Ancients Battlelines Clash (that is 1d6 based) and will move forwards with the latter rules.