Wednesday 20 March 2013

Spartacus vs Crassus 72BC

Brian and I had an Ancients set-to this morning featuring an army led by Spartacus,including Gauls,Spaniards,Spearmen and Cavalry,against a Republican Roman army led by his Nemesis Crassus.

This is the very simple scenario,Brian was Spartacus (no I'm Spartacus!) and I was Crassus. The above photo shows the whole board and initial dispositions,Spartacus on the left,Crassus on the right.


These are the lakeside troops facing each other.Brian elected to send his troops across the lake,into the arms of my waiting velites,he got the worst of the eventual melees,and had to retire the way he had come,getting very wet in the process!!


First contact! Brian's Gauls and Spaniards have charged my Hastati,whose pila throws did alot of damage,however Brian's fighting points were high and he beat me in a couple of melees,throwing me back,however my morale was good and I managed to hold on until my Princepes were able to support me.



The Lakeside battle rages on,and on, and on,they must be wearing rubber sandles !!


My Princepes are making an impact now,but Brian has thrown in some of his spear-armed troops,to try and stop me.In the background,behind the rock and trees,a massive cavalry battle is going on,I seemed to be winning,two against one,but Brian kept reinforcing his cavalry,first with heavy cav,and then with some reserve Gallic cav,I was in danger of losing the flank!


Splish,Splash Brian's taking a bath!! All of his light inf. are retiring in the face of the triumphant Romans,this flank is mine!!


The centre is dead-locked,neither side can get an advantage,however after fighting for a long time,Brian's Gauls had had enough,and began to retire along the whole front,leaving his Spearmen alone to face a combination of Hastati and Princepes,the result was inevitable,and the centre was won for the Romans.

It was a bit of a different story on the left flank,Brian has piled his cavalry into mine,and now I am outnumbered two to one,and being forced to retire.
As I had won the lake flank and the centre I was declared the winner,but I doubt if I could have saved the centre from being charged in the flank,by Brian's cavalry eventually.

A good game,very enjoyable,roll on Thursday night,hopefully a Russian vs French Napoleonic game,against Paul.










2 comments:

  1. the slave revolt of 130BC in Sicily lasted 4 years and had more impact than Spartacus' boys. Due to the economic pain it caused Rome. The revolt was put down with a savagery way in excess to what happened to Kirk Douglas !
    130,000 slaves were involved. But just goes to show Rome never learned from it. Italy had between 400,000 to 2 million slaves at that time. Most recent research errs on the lower figure I'll get me coat!!!!

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    1. It could be said that Spatacus' revolt was a cry for help from a man who wanted to leave his violent past behind and indulge in more pastoral passions like the arts or literature,did you mean coat or anorak!! good comment!!

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