Governor Publius Menacius of the Roman province of Vincenci had grown weary of the Erratti Gaul raids into his territory and had finally made up his mind to do something about it. Taking a full third of the legion stationed on garrison duty, plus some auxiliary cavalry and light troops, he marched north to destroy the pesky barbarians.

The barbarians were ready, though. United under a young Gallic chieftain known as Hisloxarshorn, the tribe of Condatti warriors (close allies to the Erratti) marched to the only bridge crossing the River Weter. This approach would have to be used by the Romans, Hisloxarshorn figured, as their heavy infantry would find it rough going indeed trying to ford a mountain fed river in April! Right he was as on the morning of April 16, 52 B.C. the armed might of the Roman Empire trod northwards toward plunder and glory.

An advance guard of Moorish LI followed by Menacius and his German bodyguard first reached the bridge as dawn broke on the wooded horizon. The only enemy visible to him were some Gallic LC approaching the bridge from the north. He hoped that he hadn't made a mistake in sending his second in command, Gaius Bloto in a wide flank march around the enemy left flank. Where the hell were those damn Gauls? Sounding the order to advance, he galloped back to his famed 4th cohort which he would hold in reserve to take care of any Gallic ambushes or flank attacks.

It wasn't long before the Dalmation irregulars and Spanish LC found fords which speeded up the Roman river crossings considerably. The Gallic strategy was now unfolding; a double envelopment of both Roman flanks by two tribes -- and a holding action in the center by the fanatic Gaesati.

Unexpectedly, the Gallic LC charged down the road into the hapless Dalmations who were thrown back into the river and routed. Meanwhile the 1st cohort charged into the Gaesati and began a melee which lasted most of the day! Menacius had his archers poor volley after volley of flaming arrows into the woods to their front, hoping to set it afire and force any potential ambushers to flee. Then disaster struck.

A huge force of Gallic HC and MC charged in from the flank onto the Roman archers, routing them and moving in to cut off the Roman rear guard. (Map 2) Reacting as quickly as possible, Menacius signalled cohort 4 to engage the cavalry and await cohort 3 recalled from across the the river Then, signalling his German bodyguard, he charged into the flank of the Gallic LC, who were still slaughtering the Dalmations, to try and prevent the LC from hitting the Roman legionnaires in the rear. A distant trumpet signal heralded the arrival of Bloto's force of HC, and none too soon!

Bloto led his troops in a crushing charge, routing the light armed Gallic LI and catching the rear of the fanatic Gaesati. With the front now stabilized, it was time to deal with the huge tribe of Gaul LMI foot led by Hisloxarshorn, pouring down out of the hills onto the Roman right flank. Following orders, the Spanish LC and Moorish LI charged the mass of screaming barbarians and momentarilly checked their charge.

Poor Menacius was being surrounded by the Gallic LC and his bodyguard was being chopped to pieces by the blood crazed horsemen. Fortunately, the 4th and 3rd cohorts had not only halted the barbarian HC, but had actually began pushing them back!(Map 3)

The final blow came when cohort 2, seeing finally an exposed flank and thereby given permission to charge, tore into Hisloxarshorn's LMI, pushing them back. The Gallic chief, seeing the situation had deteriorated to the point of no chance to win, waved a flag and the Gauls retired to higher ground.

Seeing the signal, the barbarian cavalry also broke off contact, retiring northwards, followed by the Condatti tribe who'd stayed hidden in the woods the whole day! The Romans could not pursue, Menacius catching a javelin in the leg at the last and Bloto too busy butchering the few Gallic survivors left wandering the field.

Hisloxarmhorn was last seen staggering toward the river, muttering "I think I'm going to be sick...", but whether from strong German drink or his armies performance, who could tell?

(Note: game played under WRG 6th edition using 1000 points per side with one free subordinate general per army. In total points lost, the Romans lost 281, the Gauls lost 389. It was a very close game right up to the end. If the Roman hadn't had a couple of better than average die rolls in the battle, things would have been much different!)