Professional Documents
Culture Documents
CONTENTS
Origins of the Campaign Gaul: the Arena of Conflict The Coming of Rome The Opposing Leaders The Gallic Commanders The Roman Commanders The Opposing Armies The Gallic Army The Roman Army The Gallic Order of Battle The Roman Order of Battle The Opposing Plans The Gallic Plan The Roman Plan The Campaign The deployment The Initial Gallic Advance on all fronts Julius Caesar Kens Counterattack The Warband Attack in the Centre Roman Left Wing Crumble Roman Centre Broken Final Victory of Gallic by breaking Roman Left Wing and Centre Aftermath and Reckoning Performance of the Gallic Army Performance of the Marian Roman Army
Photo of the Gallic commanders, King James and Chieftain Neil after the battle
James was the Commander who commanded the Gallic army and Neil the left wing sub-general commanded the cavalry wing. Note that nearly all the figures used in this game were painted by Dragon Painting Service Co (DPS). DPS has sponsored our Societys activities for four years. Should you be interested to order painted figures from DPS, please contact: dragonpainthk@yahoo.com.hk. Members of The Hong Kong Society of Wargamers are entitled to 15% discount.
Julius Caesar Ken was the overall Commander with his newly raised Roman army. His army was recently painted by DPS and just been delivered to him.
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Command A 2 Army Baggage 1 C-in-C James 16 Cavalry 64 Foot warriors 5 Javelinmen 3 Archers
Type Irr Irr Irr Irr Irr Irr Bg(I) Cv(O) Cv(I) Wb(O) Ps(I) Ps(O)
AP 1 17 5 3 1 2
Total 2 17 28 192 5 6
Cmd Train SG
AP 1 17 7 5
Total 1 17 28 50
ME 1 4 1 1
Cmd Train SG
AP 1 17 7 5
Total 1 17 77 50
ME 1 4 1 1
Cmd Train
AP 1
Total 6
ME 1
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Command A 2 Army Baggage 1 Roman C-in-C Julius Caesar Ken 8 Legionaries 4 German and Gallic cavalry 4 Spanish cavalry 4 Spanish javelinmen 8 Legio X 4 Ditch and rampart for camp
Type Reg Reg Reg Reg Irr Irr Reg Reg Bg(O) Cv(O) Bd(O) Cv(O) LH(O) Ps(S) Bd(S) TF camp
AP 3 53 7 8 4 3 9 1
Total 6 53 56 32 16 12 72 4
ME 2 4 1 1 1 0.5 2 0
Command B 2 Army Baggage 1 Roman Sub-general 16 Legionaries 2 Ditch and rampart for camp
Cmd Train SG
AP 3 28 7 1
Total 6 28 112 2
ME 2 4 1 0
Command C 2 Army Baggage 1 Roman Sub-general 4 German and Gallic cavalry 4 Spanish javelinmen 6 Thracian foot 6 Thureophoroi 4 Ditch and rampart for camp
Type Reg Reg Reg Irr Irr Reg Reg Bg(O) Cv(O) Cv(O) Ps(S) Ax(S) Ax(S) TF camp
Cmd Train SG
AP 3 28 8 3 4 5 1
Total 6 28 32 12 24 30 4
ME 2 4 1 0.5 1 1 0
Cmd Train
AP 3
Total 18
ME 2
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The Deployment
Situation at 12:00 - Gallic side Last time James was unable to completely surrounding the Hamburger Hill due to the suborn resistance of Roman auxilia. Unhappy with the result at the last battle, James this time recruited more cavalry to deal with the troublesome Roman auxilia. Typically he placed all his foot warband at the center. He had 64 elements of foot warband positioned in 16 elements width and 4 ranks deep. Right behind the warband there were also 16 elements of raw cavalry in single rank. The purpose of the deployment was that should there be any auxilia found in front of the warband the raw cavalry would pass though the warband to deal with it. Thus the cavalry were to cover the advance of the warband. James also placed a large cavalry wing on his left. Neil was ordered to secure the hill and then turn the Roman right flank. James commanded a smaller cavalry wing on the right wing and to have watchful eyes on any outflanking movement of the Roman force.
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Situation at 12:00 - Roman Response As mentioned before, Roman deployment was rather complex. The first line of light troops was deployed to absorb any possible initial charge of the warbands which was deadly and with them giving ground gradually rather than suddenly, the legions could counterattack at the desired moment thus routing the warbands. Due to being out numbered, the Roman deployed deep instead of a more linear fashion. The cavalry wings were to skirmish only and to protect the flanks.
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Situation at 12:40 and the initial Assault Surprised by Kens advance of the auxilia, James and Neil nevertheless ordered their cavalry to charge home. The charge killed 2 units of auxilia. This was quite unlucky for the Romans as they should be able to hold for a longer period. It seemed that Kens hope could not be fulfilled. However, thing did not go smoothly at James right wing. Although James cavalry had also overlapped Kens smaller cavalry detachment, James could not achieve a breakthrough there but in return had one of his cavalry units killed. It left a hole in the cavalry line and let Ken to exploit it.
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Performance of the Marian Roman Army Julius Caesar Ken fought the battle in unfavorable terrain. Having been caught in the open ground the Roman had little chance to withstand the onslaught of the Gallic warband especially the Gallic enjoyed a vast superior advantage in the number of cavalry. The original plan of having the auxilia to brunt the charge of Gallic cavalry did not work and the trick to create an exaggerating army was also unable to fool James. In addition, the Roman logistic department misread the army list and thought that no Gallic auxillaries are available. Further more the Roman did not dig field fortifications in such unfavorable terrain. .
What if Julius Caesar Kens had received his field fortifications and his Gallic Auxiliaries reinforcements before the battle
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Editors: James Cheung and Lawrence Ho Writer: James Cheung and Ken Chan
www.hksw.org
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