This weekend in the old Rectory games room I had a few hours to put all my painted ancients figures on the table and try the Hail Caesar rules from Warlord for the first time. I used the early German and imperial Roman army lists and had enough figures to field the following:Roman: 1 18 regular sized and 1 8 small sized unit of Heavy Infantry Auxiliary Infantry w Spears, 1 small unit of slingers, 1 small unit of Auxiliary archers, and 1 regular sized unit of Medium Auxiliary cavalry.
German: 2 32 figure warbands, both Eager Fighters, 1 small unit of 8 javelin skirmishers, 1 small unit of 8 archers, and 1 small unit of skirmish javelin cavalry.
Most of the figures on the table are Victrix plastics, though there are a few Foundry metal figures and some fantasy castings from Thistle and Rose filling out the German ranks.
Here are the forces arrayed at the start of the battle. I didn't put any terrain down as I simply wanted to learn the core mechanics. I quickly realized that with infantry movement at 6", cavalry movement at 9", and maximum bow range at 18", you don't want to put the two forces too far apart. My limited collection meant that I played with one division aside, though HC allows for three divisions per side.
Romans won the initiative, which as I understand HC means that they keep it all through the game. The command/activiation rules mean that units might get 1, 2, or 3 moves, or none at all, depending on how far they are away from their division commander, so the side that moves second might have a better turn depending on how the activations go.
In their first turn, all the Roman units got to move, but in subsequent moves things got a bit herky jerky for both sides, so if you don't like activation rolls, this probably isn't the game for you. The war band on the German right held back, and the Roman cavalry were reluctant to move. I quickly learned how missile fire worked, and between them the Roman slingers and archers made short work of the German bows. The German skirmishers and Roman horse exchanged volleys of javelins. It seems to me that most units in HC have some kind of missile capability, but the real game is decided in hand to hand combat.
Below, a small unit of German skirmish horse is trying to annoy the Roman left, but as they are skirmishers and the Romans are formed, there didn't seem much that they could do, and the Roman archers kept them well at bay.
Proconsul Luigi briefly visited the battlefield and watched as everyone in the centre collided. He seemed to be planning his next triumph, with my dogs in chains behind his chariot. I don't have a lot of experience with ancients gaming but it seems that the big scrum in the centre is how most fights are decided.
Giving the Roman archers some love. They did well in their first fight. My sabot bases from Warbases take eight figures, and as far as I can tell from HC, eight figures is a small unit, and sixteen would be a regular sized unit, so that's convenient.
So on to the big final scrum. There are a lot of photos just because it amused me to see all my figures on the table, locked in combat. One thing about Ancients, the big battles just look darn cool.
The two war bands had an initial advantage. For their first melee they throw seven D6, hitting on 4-6, but as Eager fighters they get to re-roll misses. The Roman auxiliary infantry elected to Close Ranks, meaning that they get a plus on on their save rolls, saving on a 4-6, but hitting on a -1. That seemed a fair trade, and thus the Romans survived the first round with only two hits.
However, in subsequent rounds, the tide began to shift. In their subsequent attacks, the war bands only attack with 6 d6, whereas the Romans fight every round with 7d6. Hits on the Germans began to accumulate faster than they could cause them. In the third round, the Roman cavalry finally passed an activation roll and joined the battle. Likewise, the small unit of Roman infantry joined, though how they achieved that was funny. I rolled a 12 on 2d6 for them to join the fight, which in HC is a blunder, but the blunder table result was an uncontrolled advance into the enemy, which allowed them close the distance and contribute to the final round.
At close of play, the German war band on the left broke thanks to the intervention of the cavalry and was removed from play, while the one on the right was very close to breaking. The larger of the auxiliary infantry had been forced to retreat in disorder, but the result was still a Roman victory.
It's always interesting to try a set of rules for the first time. The mechanics were fairly simple to grasp and there was a clear result within six turns, but there were some dynamics that I would like to explore further, particularly how skirmish, open order, and close order units interact. There was a moment where the Roman slingers fired annoyingly, and then in the next turn the auxiliary infantry advanced through them to seek a resolution, so I felt I was doing that part right, but there feels like more to explore.
The two sides felt different - the German power lies in their unwieldy war bands, which felt both powerful and fragile, whereas the Romans felt more resilient. Perhaps it would have been a tougher fight if the Romans had been outnumbered.
One thing I felt I might have missed was the influence of commanders on the game. As far as I could tell, they simply exist as a measuring point to units being given orders - if they are beyond 12" from the commander, it's harder to get them to react. They didn't seem to have any other rule that I could see. There were rules for commanders becoming casualties, but in my first play through I couldn't see how that worked, but you always miss details the first few times.
As for the activation rules, you either like them or you hate them. I recall the same sort of activation principle when I once tried Warlord's Black Powder, and they are not unlike Lardie rules in that respect.
Having all these figures on the table looks grand, but in 28mm, if you use the unit sizes that HC requires, you need a LOT of figures. Two war bands at 32 figures each exhausted my available figures, so I had to add in some fantasy barbarian figures from Thistle and Rose. If you look closely you can see them in the back ranks of the war bands. My friend James suggests just using smaller units, or another set or rules, such as Midgard. Not bad ideas; Midgard certainly has some interesting roles for commanders and their influence on battles. Another way to maximize a smaller collection such as mine would be to try playing skirmish games using a set of rules such as TFL's Infamy, Infamy, or Clash of Spears. Those are both options to explore. Otherwise one is looking at painting a LOT of figures, which may be what a company that makes minis and rules wants!
So, congratulations to me for trying a new set of rules and getting all my ancients figures on the table. I'll give Hail Caesar another try down the road. Next up, the same armies using the Midgard rules from TFL/Reisswitz.
Thanks for reading and blessings to your die rolls!
MP+
