Rampage on the Rhine- Week 1

Week 1 begins with good weather.

The 2 Roman Legions march towards the closest German villages.

Week Ia

The Usipatti stand and defend their village (they failed any reaction move roll, but would probably have stood their ground anyhow), and are defeated in a battle. Against a full legion, they had little chance. However, they did manage to inflict a 1 Cohort loss on that Legion.

Week Ib

The Germans manage to mobilize the Bructerii and consolidate their forces into more dangerous mobs. The newly arrived Bructerii accept the remanants of the Usipatti in defense of their village. The Tencterii stand by, waiting to either reinforce the Bructerii or attack an isolated Legion.

Week Ic

The Romans continue onward, burning the Usipatti village (gaining VP for the village and destruction of the tribe) and one of the Tencterii villages. The 2 Legions meet in the Bructerii village, and a large battle ensues.
The Germans fight hard, but still lose in the end (always a common theme in this scenario). However, they manage to destroy 2 Cohorts for 2 VP.

Week Id

The Germans regroup and mass all available forces to attack the Legions in the Bructerii village area before they can burn the village to the ground (razing villages occurs at the start of the Roman turn, and its the German turn). The Romans see that this is an opportunity to reduce the German presence in the area, so they stand to and let the Germans  come to them (e.g. they chose to not try any reaction moves).

The battle is large (13 Cohorts, 6 Light Auxillia, 2 Heavy Cavalry versus 28 Warbands, 9 Skirmishers, and 5 Heavy Cavalry). The Germans (being the attackers) have no choice but to attack the Romans. The German Cavalry on the wings causes some consternation, but German valor and anger does not prevail over Roman Discipline and Training.

A disappointing battle from the German perspective, considering the massive casualties (16 warbands, 7 Skirmisher and 4 Heavy Cavalry losses versus 2 Cohorts and 2 Light Auxilia Infantry). The Bructerii are doomed next turn (which is Roman turn IIa).

Victory Totals for the week:
Romans: 3 (with  2 more coming next turn after the Bructerii village is burned)
Germans: 5

Rampage on the Rhine.



I've re-started a Roman mini-campaign of Rampage on the Rhine.  This uses my DSR Ancients rules (units sizes are 1 Cohort, 1 Warband, 1 Heavy Cav, etc) for field battles. Maneuver to battle occurs on the campaign map.



The Situation at Start

The Germans have become frisky and have started raiding into Roman territory again. To punish them, the Romans have assembled 2 Legions with auxillary support and have 1 month (8 bi-weekly turns) to destroy as many villages and enemy tribes as possible without losing too much themselves in the process.

There are seven tribes that have to be conquered. At start, the only 2 tribes mobilized are the Usipatti and Tencterii. Each turn the German player can attempt to mobilize 1 tribe. Its a race to mobilize enough forces to impede the Romans before they burn the villages (and therefore neutralize that tribe).

At Start:
Romans: 2 Legions, each consisting of 8 Cohorts each, 3 Auxillia Light units, and 1 Auxillia Heavy Cavalry unit.
Germans: The mobilized tribes of the Tencterii and the Usipatti (randomly determined, but roughly 8-10 Warbands, 3-5 Skirmish Infantry and 1-2 Heavy Cavalry per village).

The Germans will eventually have more troops, but it will take time to get them all together. The Roman has the advantage of concentration (and of course the fact they are Roman !). The German player has to play for time and inflict as many casualties on the Roman Cohorts/Heavy Cavalry as possible while preventing the destruction of their villages/tribes.

VPs are awarded as follows:
Romans:
+1 per village destroyed.
+1 per tribe destroyed (e.g. all their villages destroyed).

Germans:
+1 per Cohort/Heavy Cavalry unit destroyed.
+1 if they win a field battle.

At the end of the game, compare the VPs to each other.
The side that scores > 6 more than the other side is the decisive winner.
The side that scores > 3 more than the other side is the marginal winner.
Any other result is a draw (and the border wars will continue), but bragging rights go the the higher VP total.

In my experience, the Romans win almost all the field battles but have a hard time garnering enough points for a decisive win as they steadily lose more units to the seemingly inexhaustable Germans. Its good for generating several battles of decent size.

I'll keep you posted on the results from the campaign.