In preparation to putting on a demonstration game of Ancient Warfare at the local wargames club, I have developed a scenario which pits two of my favorite historical. period specific enemies against each other. On one side, we have the Marian Romans, a trained army of heavy infantry legionnaires, auxiliary light and skirmish troops, elephants, artillery, and mercenary cavalrymen. As the invaders, the Romans have travelled far and are eager to come to grips with whatever forces they might encounter on their conquests.

The potential enemy forces are also on the move, travelling in search of provider and additional lands. They are the Galatians, an army of unarmored, fanatic close-order warriors supported by numbers of light chariots and a few cavalry, Cappadocian allies, some skirmisher foot, and a limited number of deadly, scythed heavy chariots.

As the Roman army works its way further into the hills and forests of Thessaly, the Galatians are made aware of their presence. Scouts inform the Galatian commander of the size and strength of the army ahead. The Romans have split their army into thirds, each force consisting of a legion along with attendant auxiliary troops.

As each group marches deeper into the foothills, they become more and more detached from each other. The Galatian commander decides that this is the moment for a test of arms. The combined Roman army is too powerful to take on, but a portion of it might just be vulnerable.

Cassius Dubious, commanding the Roman X legion, also has sent scouts ahead, but they never seem to return. He has managed to maintain contact with his fellow commanders of the other two columns, but they are now over half a day apart. No matter, he is confident that his combined arms force can handle any barbarian attack.

So long as he sticks to the low hills and does not venture into unfavorable terrain, his hardy legionnaires can defeat any force known.

His elephants, cavalry and artillery have never known defeat. Two of his legions are veteran fighters. All of his men are fresh and well-attuned to fighting the barbarian tribesmen they will encounter. The only question is: when will the enemy strike?

Misoxargon, commander of the Galatian army, has picked his battlefield well. Ihere are minimal terrain restrictions to his chariots and close-order foot. The Romans will be hemmed in by two large wooded areas. Here the Galatians encamp and wait, for the captured Roman scouts tell of their general's eagerness to force a battle. The cool, fall air carries the smell of campfires across the low, foothilled plain. The armies have found each other.

This is a fairly matched battle between two totally different army systems. It can be played with any rules systems, including DBM and ARMAII, though it is designed for our own playtesting of the future Ancient Warfare rules. These rules are continually being worked on and should see a release date in late 1998 or early 1999.

The Armies:

Marian Romans
Unit	Troop Type	Quality	Weapon	Strength and Cost
CiC Dubius	Heavy Cavalry (Trained)	Elites	Jav/Sh	1 stand @55
2iC Malicius	Heavy Cavalry (Trained)	Elites	Jav/Sh	1 stand @40
General	Heavy Cavalry (Trained)	Veteran	Jav/Sh	1 stand @38
General	Heavy Cavalry (Trained)	Veteran	Jav/Sh	1 stand @38
El	Elephants	Average	Jav/Bow	2 stands @26
El	Elephants	Average	Jav/Bow	2 stands @26
Artillery	Lt. Artillery (Trained)	Average	Bolt	2 stands of 4 crew per @34
Gallic Horse	Light Armored Cavalry	Veteran	Jav/Sh	4 stands @40
Germans	Light Armored Cavalry	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	4 stands @48
Romans	Heavy Cavalry (Trained)	Elites	Jav/Sh	2 stands @30
Spanish	Skirmish Cavalry	Average	Jav/Sh	4 stands @16
Galatians	Unarmored Infantry	Average	Jav/Sh	4 stands @16
Slingers	Skirmish Infantry (T)	Average	Slings	6 stands @12
Archers	Skirmish Infantry(T)	Average	Bows	6 stands @12
Javelinmen	Skirmish Infantry(T)	Average	Jav/Sh	6 stands @18
Legionnaire I	Heavy Infantry (T)	Veteran	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @36
Legionnaire II	Heavy Infantry (T)	Veteran	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @36
Legionnaire III	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Legionnaire IV	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Legionnaire V	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Legionnaire VI	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Legionnaire VII	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Legionnaire VIII	Heavy Infantry (T)	Average	Pila/Jav/Sh	4 stands @32
Thracians	Unarmored Infantry	Average	Axe/Jav/Sh	6 stands @24
Priest Figure				@25

The Romans have a total of twenty units and four generals. They have a Priest figure which allows them to reroll one bad die roll each turn. The only troops they have that can fight in Dense Terrain (woods) are the Thracians and the Skirmisher foot.

Opposing the Romans are the Galatians.

Galatians
Unit	Troop Type	Quality	Weapon	Strength and Cost
CiC Misoxorgon	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	1 stand @52
2iC Soarmin	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	1 stand @37
General	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	2 stand @49
General	Heavy Cavalry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	2 stand @49
LCh	Light Chariots	Veterans	Javelin	2 stand @14
LCh	Light Chariots	Veterans	Javelin	4 stand @28
LCh	Light Chariots	Veterans	Javelin	4 stand @28
Light Cavalry	Skirmish Cavalry	Average	Jav/Sh	4 stand @16
Light Cavalry	Skirmish Cavalry	Average	Jav/Sh	4 stand @16
Cavalry	Lightly Armored	Veterans	Jav/Sh	4 stand @40
Cavalry	Lightly Armored	Veterans	Jav/Sh	4 stand @40
HCh	Heavy Chariot	Fanatic	Scythes	1 stand @21
HCh	Heavy Chariot	Fanatic	Scythes	1 stand @21
Cappadocians	Unarmored Foot	Average	Jav/Sh	6 stand @18
Cappadocians	Unarmored Foot	Average	Jav/Sh	6 stand @18
Javelinmen	Skirmish Infantry	Average	Jav/Sh	6 stand @12
Javelinmen	Skirmish Infantry	Average	Jav/Sh	6 stand @12
Galatians 1	Heavy Infantry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	4 stand @28
Galatians 2	Heavy Infantry	Veterans	Jav/Sh	4 stand @28
Warband 1	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	6 stand @36
Warband 2	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	6 stand @36
Warband 3	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	6 stand @36
Warband 4	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	6 stand @36
Warband 5	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	4 stand @24
Warband 6	Unarmored Foot	Fanatics	Jav/Sh	4 stand @24
Priest				@25

The Galatians have four generals and twenty-one Units. They have the Cappadocians as well as the skirmish infantry capable of fighting in dense terrain. This is a formidable army, but because. of the nature of its quality (many Fanatics) it is hard to control. Judicious placement of initial Units is essential. The Galatians are more mobile than the Romans, but will be hard pressed to stand up to the legionnaires in close combat.

The Battle

At the club meeting, the sides were drawn and the battle commenced. The four Roman commanders spent some time conferring and distributing their troops 'by committee'. The Galatians simply rode out of their camp and assembled in three divisions; one to each extreme flank and the largest, including most of the warrior foot, holding the area between the woods and hills.

As the morning mists drew away, the Galadans saw that the Romans had placed their elephants on either extreme flank, no doubt to discomfort the chariots and barbarian cavalry. This had the desired effect, as the Galatian generals immediately began to move their mounted forces toward the center of the battlefield, while pushing ahead with Cappadocians and skirmishers to threaten the elephants. This tactic certainly seemed to be effective, as both elephant units were eventually destroyed.

One of the Galatian generals quickly made a decision to assault the Roman center legionnaires with a scythed chariot and a unit of light chariots. Misoxargon tried in vain to dissuade him, to no avail. As the chariots rolled inexorbably toward their certain destruction, the Roman commnader, Dubious, simply held his position and waited behind one of the 'invincible' legionnaire units. The light chariots met their expected fate as they soon were in rapid flight away from their opponents, leaving half their comrades impaled by Roman pila.

The scythed chariot horses, driven into a frenzy by the crazed, naked savage who rode in the bouncing vehicle, tore into the central legionnnaire unit, causing it to fall back in confused disorder from the wild assault. As the legionnaires fought to rally themselves, a Galatian light cavalry unit tore past them, routing their light infantry supports and effectively isolating them. Cassius Dubious, shocked into apparent insensibility, simply sat astride his horse as the Galatian troops poured around his floundering command.

Meanwhile. the troops under command of Misoxargon closed with the Romans holding the low hill to their right of the center. Charge after charge of cavalry, chariots and finally fanatic foot did little but to cause casualties and frustrate the Galatian commander. His foot could simply not defeat the better armed, armored and trained legionnaires. His cavalry did little better in futile frontal assaults. Soon, the entire Galatian center was committed to battle with little hope of success against the might of Rome.

Then, providence arrived in the sudden collapse of the Roman legionnaires fighting the scythed chariot. Cassius Dubious, attempting to flee from the Galatian cavalry found himself ridden down by the pursuing chariot! As his cries for understanding and forgiveness were met with less than kind words by his sub-generals, his center began to fold. Roman troops began to withdraw under cover of their cavalry and artillery. The Galatians were happy to simply hold the field and enrich themselves on the fine armor and weapons left behind.

But for the untimely demise of the Roman CiC and the consequent morale problems this caused (not to mention the fact that the Romans were then left with 1/4 of their command ability lost), the game might have ended quite differently. The Galatians must overwhelm the Roman supports before the legionnaires can come to grips with them. Time and again, the Galatian warriors would charge into a legionnaire unit and be pushed back in disorder. Though fanatics, they simply do not have the staying power of the Roman foot.

All of the players enjoyed the rules and we will be doing another scenario in a month or so, this one dealing with Carthaginians vrs. Republican Romans. I would like to do this in 25mm if I can scrape the troops together. Anyway, we had a good time and the whole affair lasted a little over two and a half hours, not bad for eight players, six of whom had never seen the rules before.