One of the Ottawa Society of Ancients Offerings at Cangamas 99 was a reenactment of Julius Caosaros famous victory over Pompey at the Battle of Pharsalus in 48 B.C.. This battle decided the conflict between the two "on. even though it did not Ind the Roman Civil Wars of that period. Our goals were to recreate this engagement on the gaming table advertise our existence club and to further the bobby.

As chief organizer of the game. I would like to thank all those who contributed to it's success. In particular, To" Storey, Keith Wilkes. and Gary Gadding for providing figures, Gary again for technical assistance, all these who helped in the playtest in Way, and finally a special note of thanks to George Reis for helping Judge the scenario when I was in danger of being overwhelmed by questions.

This discussion will be divided into a brief history of affairs before the battle, same points an how this demonstration was prepared. and finally. the results of our simulation.

In 49 B.C. Julius Caesar, goaded by the political machinations of his triumviral colleague Pompey, crossed the Rubicon River into history. Caesar's aim was to overthrow Pompey and to control Rome. A round of civil wars was precipitated which continued for five years. Soon after Caasar had launched his gamble, however, Pompey fled from Rona to Greece. In the next year Caesar's generals wore checked in Spain and Africa by the Pompoians.

Caesar himself focused an personally eliminating his rival in the east. Pompey escaped a trap at Orrychium, but soon after the two antagonists not near the town of Pharsalus in Thessaly.

It is agreed that Pompey outnumbered Caesar at the battle. The disadvantage. however, was not as great as Caesar, maintained in his writings. He was said to have had 22,199 foot and 589 cavalry. while Pompey's forces were 45,899 foot and 7,829 horse. Modern historians now believe Caesar may have underestimated his numbers while overestimating the strength of his opponent, (by as much as 19,900 foot in the top case).

It should also be noted that Caesar's troops were probably of superior value since most were veterans.

On the tactical side, Pompey seems to have been more cautious than Caesar. Despite his larger numbers, Pompey had been reluctant to offer battle, preferring to bide his time and hope political and military developments would undermine his opponent.

At Pharsalus other voices in his entourage called for an immediate decision Pompey reluctantly agreed.

The plain at Pharsalus was flat. It was bounded on two sides by hills and an a third side by a river. Caesar approached from the open side and put his cavalry an his right, backed up by hidden reserve cohorts. The rest of the infantry was in the centre. Pompey moved down from the hills which he had naively hoped Caesar would assault. His cavalry deployed on his left, backed up by light troops

The Pompeian horse defeated the Caesarian cavalry, but was itself vanquished by the reserve cohorts of feet. Caesar's victorious right wing than dispersed the Pompeian light troops, and than attacked the enemy legionaires. In the Centre meanwhile, Pompey had foolishly ordered his troops to accept the Caesarian charge at the halt, perhaps hoping to catch them tired.

Caesar's troops instead pushed the Pomponians back. With the added pressure from Caesar's victorious right wing, they started to break up and flood into their camp where a vicious struggle ensued. The Pomponians were finally ejected from the camp and occupied a position in the hills ohore they ultimately surrendered. Pompey himself fled the field and sailed to Egypt where a nervous ruler, eager to appease Caesar, executed bin. So ends the history. Now for the re-enactment.

Tabletop Battle

Five players participated, two Caesariand and three Ponponians. It wasn't long before they had their respective troops in action. All were rookies, which made their generalship either totally rash or very overcautious. The Pomponians tried a push with their left wing utilizing cavalry and light troops, but wort slowed by a counter attack from some Caesarian light troops aided by Gorman cavalry. The Pompoians did not take advantage of their numerical superiority to got their troops into the attack. After initial successes the German cavalry was surrounded by legionairies, and was only saved by the intervention of Caesar. All of this hold up the Pompeian left flank assault. Their right flank cavalry missed it's opportunities and basically sat back. As a result the battle was decided in the centre by a clash of legionaires.

The initial round of this clash went In favour of the Caesarians, and eventually decided the battle. Slowly but surely the Pompeian legionairies were pushed back. Their cohorts began to break under the pressure, (many were raw recruits). It was the beginning of the end as time ran out on the players. Tactically, the Pomponians missed their chances by being over-cautious an both flanks. They were unlucky with dice in the contra, but this could have been ameliorated it move pressure had been exerted an the Caesapian flanks. All in all. it was a fair re-orientation. Everyone had a good time, and at least one local individual expressed an interest in learning more about our club. (Most of the players were from Montreal).

The experience of running this battle has. in retrospect. given no same hard won lessons to pass an to any who may follow this path.

Try to start as close as possible to history in the set-up and numbers for the battle. If you find playability is overly reduced, fiddle with things until you achieve a relative balance between history and a fair fight. The problem with Pharsalus is, how do you find a doltish Pompey to contest a genius Caesar? Given that this is partly possible, even out the forces more, e.g., Caesar is outnumbered, but Pompey's troops have inferior morale and armour. This allows for an even fight. I based my historical research an two books for this battle. Cary A Scullard's "A History of Rome Down to the Reign of Constantine," and Terrance Wise's The Roman Civil Wars 49-43 B.C.

Choose a rules set you and the Players can work with. I an beginning to think that WRG 7th does not easily fit the bill unless you have a good number of experienced players on hot h sides. Gary Gadding's WRG 7th based demonstration rules are much better in practise. Perhaps Phil Barker's One Brain Call" rules, (OBR) may be the answer. It's unfortunate. because we're trying to encourage the use of WRG 7th. Maybe this would be better done at our weekend games at the Alexander Gamng Club. Conventions attract a more eclectic audience, many come from out of town anyway. This was my experience this year). THESE PEOPLE ARE MORE INTERESTEDIN A GOOD TIME THAN IN LEARNING A RULES SYSTEM.

Playtest your game at least once. I did. and it helped refine the game to improve chances for the weaker side, which went on to win the demo game In this case. Maybe it means I should tinker again ..

Ensure all of the figures are painted. and that all of the terrain looks good. This is a very visual bobby. I believe I was successful. although the terrain could have been improved.

Insure that everything is A-OK with the convention organizers. Somehow they lost track of my entry submission. My game was not In the original flyer. This meant zilch pre-posistration, and left no very nervous an game day. Fortunately some kindly souls wandered ever and made my game an organizational success. There were some moments of panic before that happened. Make sure your game is well advertised in advance.

Don't leave home without these things: rulers. dice, quick reference sheets. casualty sheets. pens, etc.

Be prepared to deal with rookie players. They eat up your time and patience with endless questions. Get at least two veterans to play your game and another game judge.

A final note: I did change the WRG rules somewhat to add some flavour. Special attributes were given to the two commanders which gave than more command strength. Note victory conditions were given to each general.