Month: March 2022

Getting the Romans and Huns on the table.

This weekend was our local club’s game day. It was the first opportunity that I have had to get some of my Catalaunian Plains figures on the table. As many of you know, I am building these forces for a game at Historicon in 2023. At the moment I only have a little less than 20% of the final forces painted, but this is enough for a small game. The game was an encounter battle between the Romans and Huns (with some of their Frank allies).

Roman forces

The Roman right flank with a weak Pseudo Comitatenses unit – Prima Flavia Gallicana Constantia

The game was my first run with the Hail Caesar rule set. From my Italian Wars games I am very familiar with the Pike and Shotte rules. The rules have many of the same mechanisms, but I underestimated the amount of differences. I now realize that I need to devote some more time to studying these rules. The good thing is that we still managed a fun game for six players.

The Roman center with two Auxilia Palatina units, the Cornuti Seniori (shown) and the Leones Iuniores (just at the edge of the camera shot.

The Roman army consisted of two Legions each of two bases, two Auxiliary units of one base each, and two cavalry units each of one base. Also, there was a scorpion and a ballista.

The Leones Iuniores
The elite of the Roman force, the Legion Herculiani Seniores with the Ballista in the rear.
The Roman Cataphracts
The Roman Heavy cavalry – Scholar Gentilium Senirum

Hun forces

The Roman army was overmatched by the larger Hun Army. The order of battle of the Huns consisted of 15 units of light cavalry and 3 Frank war bands with two units of supporting archers. In terms of points, the Hun army was 50% larger. To counter this points difference, the Romans were playing defense and had occupied a hill position.

The Hun Horde.
The Huns in the foreground with the Franks in the rear.
The Frank war bands on the Hun left flank
Looking down the Roman lines.

The Battle

The battle started with the Huns advancing quickly into arrow range. They took some early casualties from the Roman ballista, but concentrated their bow fire to quickly put it out of action. The Romans were taking casualties from the Hun bows, so decided to charge with their heavy cavalry and cataphracts. Despite overwhelming odds, these two units fought valiantly but were eventually destroyed by concentrated Hun archery.

The cavalry battle.
The slow advance of the Franks on the Roman right.

The Huns were having success on the Roman left, on the Roman right the Franks were having trouble advancing (poor dice rolling). They were taking regular damage from the Roman scorpion. The Franks eventually got within charge range and unleashed their full fury. The Levy Pseudo Comitatenses units guarding the Roman flank quickly collapsed.

The Franks crush the Roman left

The Franks quickly destroyed the weak Roman right flank. On the Roman left flank, the Huns massed their arrows on the elite Legion and quickly routed one of the cohorts. This left the Auxilia in the center as the only viable Roman forces and they decided to retreat in good order off the table.

Conclusion

It was nice to get the first of the project figures on the table and it gave me a chance to try out the Hail Caesar rules with my Romans and Huns. The six players all seemed to have fun with this quick two hour game. The result was as predicted with the larger Hun force eventually overcoming the stiff Roman defenses. The Roman cavalry and the Frank war bands performed above expectations.

I probably won’t have time to paint any more Romans and Huns figures for this project until after Historicon 2022 in July as I am putting my attention to figures and scenery for the 1512 battle of Ravenna for the show.