Roman civil wars may seem uninteresting from a tabletop miniature-wargaming perspective. Or you might see it as the ultimate scenario to show better tactics making the difference. Either way, the second battle of Cremona, in the year of the three emperors, is interesting and challenging no matter how you look at it. It is a night battle.
Night battles are rare. Most battles end when darkness sets in. And that is what many wargame rules do. The game ends when night falls. Or visibility is severely limited. But that is often about it. And for good reasons because fighting at night was rare. But it did happen. The second battle of Cremona is just one example.
Gerco wanted to play the second battle after we did the first just a few weeks ago. We emailed a bit during the days before yesterday’s BOD evening to discuss how to model the night and all the other particularities of that battle. For example, at some point, the Vitelians pushed forward a catapult that caused severe casualties until two Vespasianian centurions picked up the shields of fallen enemies, used it to disguise their true allegiance, got to the catapults, and disabled the things. How do you model something like that? In The Warrior it is easy: a scenario-specific keyword. We used: UNDER COVER.
Modelling the night was not that hard in The Warrior. The big difference is visibility, one of the generic keywords in the MATRIX. In the case of this battle, however, this seemed to be relatively good. It was a moonlit night. The terrain is flat and open. Mostly that is. And, as already mentioned, the Vitelians used a catapult with some level of success. Meaning visibility was sufficient to shoot and hit a target unit over some distance. Still, there was confusion and the battle lasted all night, suggesting lots of delays in anything and everything.
We settled on using the coup d’oeil mechanic of The Warrior. This is based on the OODA loop introduced by Col. John Boyd. The “O”s represent Observation and Orientation. At night these will be impacted and result in commanders needing more time to make decisions and issue orders. Delays and poor coordination will result. For this game we settled at an extra 4D6 added to each time check when commanders are giving orders. In hindsight, we might have added more.
We also build on the coup d’oeil mechanic to represent the absence of a C-in-C at the Vitelians. The army parts commanders may give orders, but the lack of an overall coordinator means they will need more time to understand how all are linked. We added 2D6 to reflect the extra time these commanders would need to Orient properly. On top of that, we also gave the Vitelians only 7 player control dice to reflect the absence of a C-in-C. Added together this may seem harsh, but in The Warrior, you always have a vote. Literally. Also when you are not the narrator. Moreover, by considering how to spend the player control dice one is certainly not without opportunity, nor does one lack challenging, yet entertaining dilemmas to think about.
Another keyword we added was: VINUM, MULLIER, ET CANTUS. Vitelian was harsh on the legionnaires he captured after the first battle of Cremona. In Rome they misbehaved. Their discipline went out the window. In the actual battle, they still fought hard, but their endurance was less than that of the opposition.
The actual game represented not an entire night. Today on the day of the battle it is dark around 20:00 near Cremona, and “lights on” is between 06:00 and 07:00 the next morning, no less than 12 hours of combat! Our game represented somewhere between one and one and a half hours of real fighting. In hindsight, we might better have kept track of the minutes of each ROSE and how many we played. But it was a lot and most represented 4 to 6 minutes.
Tactically the game can be summarized using a modified version of a Mike Tyson quote: Everybody has a plan until they punch the other guy in the face.
I played the Vespasianians. First, the Vitelians ordered some weak cavalry detachments forward. These ended up quickly all by themselves because giving other units orders took much time and the men on horses covered a lot of ground quickly. The Vespasianians responded by ordering a strong cavalry wing forwards to bulldozer over the Vitelian cavalry, push on, and then turn the flank. This went well. I proposed that the Vitelians would not wait and stand for a fight and simply fall back. It was disputed but was resolved as proposed.
In the meantime, I got a better impression of the Vitelian deployment. It became clear the flank opposing the cavalry was too strong for the horsemen, and they had responded on time to redeploy and prevent having an exposed flank. At the same time, the legions in the centre looked doable for my legions, but stronger than those on the Vitelian flank. A manoeuvre came to mind. What if I shift the cavalry to the centre and the legions to the flank? Then push through the Vitelian flank, and turn on their centre… I already saw all those wargame books full of highly rated Vespasian commanders!
ANYWAYS… The orders were given. It took some time, but the Vitelians had taken up a defensive posture, as expected, and did not interfere. Still, there was friction. I forgot some support units of the flank cavalry and they got in the way of the legions… but that too resolved itself as there was time enough to complete the move. And the good thing about The Warrior is that it allows quick-flowing ROSEs. The game doesn’t get bogged down when large manoeuvres are made.
STILL… I had also ordered the legions further to the other flank to advance. First obliquely for securing the flank. At some moment, however, the order was given to attack. It seemed the right time, but then the “oeps” moment and the traffic jam happened. I decided to have the commander recall the order. The time check failed. That may not be a problem as a commander can try again the next ROSE and then benefit from the time spent in the previous ROSE. However, Gerco took the narrator before me and proposed that the legion would start executing its orders. I disputed but in vain… Forward went the legions. Way too early for the coup de grace that I had in mind for the moment when the other legions would have crushed the Vitelian flank and moved inwards to the rear of their centre… combat could not be avoided.
BUT… although the fight was hard, VINUM, MULLIER, ET CANTUS kicked in. The Vitelian legionnaires fell back. Then regrouped and got stuck in one more time. And another time. Still, the advantage was mostly with the Vespasianians. But on the latter’s right, there was an opening in the Vespasian line. One Vitelian cohort was about to move in and do their worst. The Vespasian commander, however, had cohorts in reserve. He moved to them, took their eagle, and shouted: men, this is your moment. Now you can show your valour. Now glory will be yours. Follow me! The cohort followed him and crushed into the Vitelian cohort. Just in time. The combat was short, vicious, and decisive. The Vitelians were swept away.
From there on the centre started to crumble. In the meantime the Vitelian flank was under hard pressure, but when the centre gave way the night was decided. Vespasian would also in our case be the next Emperor of Rome!
Some of the photos were kindly provided by Gerco.
Arguing when... wargames 
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