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HKSW CAMPAIGN SERIES 2011 07
VALLEY OF DEATH 57BC
THE GALLIC SECOND
REPULSE OF ROME
TALABECLAND PRESS
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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 BattleThe 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 CounterattackThe 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
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Origins of the CampaignThe battle of Hamburger Hill in 60BC was a serious setback of Rome in the Gallic
War. Although Julius Caesar Ken had routed its Gallic opponent and kept most of
his army intact, the German intervention on the Romans left and the crushing defeat
inflicted by the German save the day for the Gallic tribe. With Lorento committed
suicide in his bath and Proconsul Chu cut down by the barbarian in the Battle of
Hamburger Hill, Julius Caesar Ken assumed overall command and raised a small but
powerful army to invade Gaul again. Peace was short-lived. In spring 57 BC
Julius Caesar Ken executed his plan and led the army into the Gallic territory again.
King James this time did not receive any help from his German allies and had to face
the onslaught of Rome alone. James army composed mostly of newly raised
cavalry tried to stop the Roman advance in a valley later known as Valley of Death.
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Gaul: the Arena of ConflictPhoto of the terrain
Julius Caesar Ken might probably want to copy his success at the Battle of
Hamburger Hill and thus he chose 2 1FE size of hill and 1 FE size of marsh.
Unfortunately both hills were rolled at the wrong side of the table. King James
needed open ground to let his warband fighting in full potential and thus selected 1 FE
of wood and 1 FE of marsh to protect his flanks and also several hills to reinforce his
position. The result was, as can be seen from the photos, that the battlefield was
very open with some hills at the edges of the table. Each side also has a marsh at the
center rear and the Gallic also enjoyed an extra benefit of having a small wood
covering his left flank.
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The Coming of RomeThe Battle of the Valley of Death was the second battle of a series of battles fought
between the Marian Roman army and Barbarian armies at HKSW meeting. His
loyal ally, Chieftain Neil in the course of battle, helped King James.
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The Gallic CommandersPhoto of the Gallic Commanders, King James and Chieftain Neil during the battle
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.
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The Roman CommandersPhoto of the Roman Commander Julius Caesar Ken during the battle
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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The Gallic ArmyThe Gallic Warband
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The Gallic Cavalry
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The Roman ArmyThe Legions
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The Spanish Foot and Thureophoroi
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The German, Spanish and Gallic Roman Ally Cavalry
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The Gallic Order of BattleGallic (Belgae)
A B C D Train
Total ME 58 20 27 0 6 Break Points
>1/4 ME Lost 15 5.5 7 0 2 * Disheartened
>1/3 ME Lost 19.5 7 9.5 0 2.5 * Broken
>1/2 ME Lost 29.5 10.5 14 0 3.5 * Shattered
Cmd Points 302 97 146 0 0
Command A Type Cmd AP Total ME
2 Army Baggage Irr Bg(I) Train 1 2 1
1 C-in-C J ames Irr Cv(O) CinC 17 17 4
16 Cavalry Irr Cv(I) 5 28 1
64 Foot warriors Irr Wb(O) 3 192 0.5
5 J avelinmen Irr Ps(I) 1 5 0.5
3 Archers Irr Ps(O) 2 6 0.5
Command B Type Cmd AP Total ME
1 Army Baggage Irr Bg(I) Train 1 1 1
1 Sub-general Irr Cv(O) SG 17 17 4
4 Cavalry Irr Cv(O) 7 28 1
10 Cavalry Irr Cv(I) 5 50 1
Command C Type Cmd AP Total ME
1 Army Baggage Irr Bg(I) Train 1 1 1
1 Sub-general Irr Cv(O) SG 17 17 4
11 Cavalry Irr Cv(O) 7 77 1
10 Cavalry Irr Cv(I) 5 50 1
Train Command Type Cmd AP Total ME
6 Army Baggage Irr Bg(I) Train 1 6 1
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The Roman Order of BattleRoman army under Julius Caesar Ken
A B C D Train
Total ME 42 24 26 0 12 Break Points
>1/4 ME Lost 11 6.5 7 0 3.5 * Disheartened
>1/3 ME Lost 14.5 8.5 9 0 4.5 * Broken
>1/2 ME Lost 21.5 12.5 13.5 0 6.5 * Shattered
Cmd Points 251 148 136 0 0
Command A Type Cmd AP Total ME
2 Army Baggage Reg Bg(O) Train 3 6 2
1 Roman C-in-C J ulius Caesar Ken Reg Cv(O) CinC(B) 53 53 4
8 Legionaries Reg Bd(O) 7 56 1
4 German and Gallic cavalry Reg Cv(O) 8 32 1
4 Spanish cavalry Irr LH(O) 4 16 1
4 Spanish javelinmen Irr Ps(S) 3 12 0.5
8 Legio X Reg Bd(S) 9 72 2
4 Ditch and rampart for camp Reg TF camp 1 4 0
Command B Type Cmd AP Total ME
2 Army Baggage Reg Bg(O) Train 3 6 2
1 Roman Sub-general Reg Cv(O) SG 28 28 4
16 Legionaries Reg Bd(O) 7 112 1
2 Ditch and rampart for camp Reg TF camp 1 2 0
Command C Type Cmd AP Total ME
2 Army Baggage Reg Bg(O) Train 3 6 2
1 Roman Sub-general Reg Cv(O) SG 28 28 4
4 German and Gallic cavalry Reg Cv(O) 8 32 1
4 Spanish javelinmen Irr Ps(S) 3 12 0.5
6 Thracian foot Irr Ax(S) 4 24 1
6 Thureophoroi Reg Ax(S) 5 30 1
4 Ditch and rampart for camp Reg TF camp 1 4 0
Train Command Type Cmd AP Total ME6 Army Baggage Reg Bg(O) Train 3 18 2
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The Gallic PlanThe plan of King James was simple. Charged home before the arrival of Roman
flanking force if any. James hoped that the open terrain would help him achieving
his goal. Frontal attack in the same old barbaric fashion. Kill, kill, eat, eat and
waaggh, waaggh. The Battle started at noon (12:00).
The Roman PlanThe plan of Julius Caesar Ken was rather complex. From his past experience at the
Battle of Hamburger Hill he knew that his auxilia were hard to crack by warbands.
Thus he had a lot of faith on these units and wanted them to stem the tide of the
warband attack. He expected James to field all of his available foot warband
(actually only 64 out of possible 96 were field). Therefore the deployment of his
force was complex. He placed his auxilia, psiloi at the front while his legions were
positioned behind. A small detachment of cavalry was also place on its left wing to
protect the flank while a larger detachment of cavalry and light horse was positioned
at his right wing.
Photos of Roman deployment from right to left
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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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Kill, kill, eat, eat and waaggh, waaggh!
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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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The Initial Gallic Advance on all fronts
Situation from 12:00 to 12:30
The battle started at noon. After seeing the Roman initial deployment, James
immediately advanced his cavalry in the center to cover the advance of his foot
warband. James wanted to use his cavalry to defeat those Roman psiloi and auxilia
and clear the way for the foot warband. King James stationed with the foot warband
so that he had a tight control on these unruly fighters.
In support of the advance in the centre, Neil also advanced his large cavalry group and
was able to secure the hill on Romans right. James also advanced his smaller
cavalry group on his right to support the advance and to crush the Roman left wing.
However, uncertain whether there was any outflanking force sent by Julius Caesar
Ken, both cavalry commands advanced cautiously and had some cavalry elements
held in reserve to deal with any unexpected situation.
At 12:10 Ken withdrew his psiloi to the marsh and allowed his legion to advance to
deal with the Gallic cavalry. He also advanced his other legionaries behind the
auxilia in order to support them.
At 12:20 a Roman deserter (Herbertis Wongius) revealed to James that there was nooutflanking force sent by Ken (Ken rolled 3 command dices instead of 4). Moreover,
the cavalry in the front also reported that the Roman auxilia was actually smaller in
numbers than they seemed to be. Thus James had nothing to worry about and lined
up all his cavalry as well as those commanded by Neil (more than 30 elements) in
order to execute a La Grand Charge.
Facing such a formidable cavalry formation, Ken sent his auxilia forward hoping that
they could brunt the charge of the Gallic cavalry. The advance of the auxilia also
gave room for Kens legion to deploy.
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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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Julius Caesar Kens CounterattackSituation at 12:50 - Roman Response
Ken advanced his legions in the center left to counterattack James cavalry. His
cavalry on both wings also counter-attacked and managed to inflict some losses on
James and Neils cavalry. It seemed that Ken could stabilize the front. However,
the threat on Kens left did not remove as James was going to turn Kens left using his
vast number of cavalry.
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The Warband Attack in the CentreThe high tide of the battle came at 13:00. Seeing his cavalry being repulsed by
Kens counterattack, James decided whether to commit his foot warband into the fray.
Actually James had little option as he threw 1 PIP for that command and the target
was also tempting. There were a lot of legion positioned within the strike range of
the foot warband and they were all caught in double ranks. Thus the foot warband
could kill 2 legions in a row. Eventually James had let go his foot warband.
Immediately a wave of warband in 16 elements wide and 4 ranks deep had surged
forward for their victim. They charged through their cavalry and soon 4 legions
were destroyed. The Roman auxilia were also giving way from the pressure of both
James cavalry and warband.
Ken wanted to stabilize the situation but already a hole was created in his center. He
had no option but to commit his Legio X (Bd(S)) into battle. The situation was
grieved and his smaller commands were close to dishearten point. Once
disheartened the legion and auxilia were easy prey to warband.
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Roman Left Wing CrumbleAt 13:20 the legions at the Roman left wing were broken after suffering terrible losses.
In one stroke James warband was able to kill 1 auxilia and 2 legions.
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Roman Centre BrokenAt 13:40 Roman center also crumbled and everything was lost.
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Final Victory of Gallic by Breaking
Roman Left Wing and CentreAt around 13:40, the veteran Legio X started to take casualties Since the left and the
center of the Roman army were already broken, this sparked a panic in the Roman
files and the whole army started to flee. Julius Caesar Ken could not do anything but
to flee with the remaining part of the army back to Italy to fight for another day.
The Gallic losses were minimal and James claimed a major victory. Hope peace can
last forever.
Situation on the Roman left wing at end of 13:40
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Aftermath and ReckoningPerformance of the Gallic German Army
Extract from the Gallic King James:
The battle again was straightforward. I positioned the warband at the centre and
two cavalry wings at the extreme left and right. However, this time the foot
warband were also supported by newly raised raw cavalry and these cavalry played
a crucial role in the crumble of Roman centre. The cavalry had disturbed the
position of the Roman legions before the foot warband charged home.
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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 ofcavalry. 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
C i ht 2011 Th H K S i t f W hk