FoG - Ancients, Romans Vs Brits

TSOG  played two games using the Field of Glory (FoG) rules. Dave bought a set of rules recently and I dusted my copy off and reread the book. Luckily I had played games hosted by Ross Dawe from Group North so I had a bit of an idea how the rules panned out. I say luckily because the rulebook is not that well written. In fact, it is an abomination.

As a result of playing in Ross's games, I lashed out and purchased some Romans and Ancient British forces from Mick's Metal Models and over the years had slowly painted and based them up.  We set aside two Mondays to familiarise ourselves with the game. The first scenario was a repeat of the game Ross used at Little Wars (iirc), a Roman force enroute to relieve Colchester was ambushed by the British and had to realign very quickly to fend off the attack. Dave played the Brits and Pete the Romans. it was mainly a learning game: lots of chariots and light cavalry fighting blocks of roman legionaries.

The second game, pictured here, pitted a (Polybian) Roman defensive force against an attack from the Gauls. The Romans (Dave) took some nominal high ground and the Gauls (Pete) attempted to advance past them.

MID REPUBLICAN ROMANS

Name	Bases	Description	Points per base	Cost
Field Commander	1	8 mu command range light horse	40	40
Troop Commander	1	4 mu command range light horse	25	25
Hastati 1	4	Heavy Foot, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen, Average, Drilled (WHITE)	8	32
Hastati 2	4	Heavy Foot, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen, Average, Drilled (WHITE)	8	32
Hastati 3	4	Heavy Foot, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen, Average, Drilled (WHITE)	8	32
Hastati 4	4	Heavy Foot, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen, Superior, Drilled (RED)	11	44
Hastati 5	4	Heavy Foot, Protected, Impact Foot, Swordsmen, Superior, Drilled (RED)	11	44
Principes 6	4	Heavy Foot, Armoured, Impact Foot, Skilled Swordsmen, Superior, Drilled (RED, MAIL)	14	56
Principes 7	4	Heavy Foot, Armoured, Impact Foot, Skilled Swordsmen, Superior, Drilled (RED, MAIL)	14	56
Triarii 8	4	Heavy Foot, Armoured, Offensive Spearmen, Elite, Drilled (RED, MAIL)	16	64
Velites 9	4	Light Foot, Protected, Light Spear, Javelin, Average, Drilled	5	20
Velites 10	4	Light Foot, Protected, Light Spear, Javelin, Average, Drilled	5	20
Cavalry 11	4	Armoured, light spear, swordsmen, average, undrilled	12	48
	46	TOTAL		513

GAULS

Name	Bases	Description	Points per base	Cost
Field Commander	1	8 mu command range light chariot	40	40
Troop Commander	1	4 mu command range light chariot	25	25
Warriors	10	Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, undrilled, impact, swordsmen	7	70
Warriors	8	Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, undrilled, impact, swordsmen	7	56
Warriors	8	Heavy Foot, Protected, Average, undrilled, impact, swordsmen	7	56
Javelin men Ligurian Allies	6	Light Foot, Unprotected, Average, undrilled, Light Spear, Javelin,	4	24
Javelin men Ligurian Allies	6	Light Foot, Unprotected, Average, undrilled, Light Spear, Javelin,	4	24
Cavalry	6	Armoured, Superior, undrilled, light spear, swordsmen,	16	96
Cavalry	6	Protected, Superior, undrilled, light spear, swordsmen,	12	72
Cavalry	4	Protected, Superior, undrilled, light spear, swordsmen,	12	48
	54	TOTAL		511

The Romans are at the top of the picture, trying to realign themselves to face the Gauls advancing from the lower edge of the picture. Pete, with the advantage of deploying after Dave, chose to vacate the centre of the table, leaving only his Javelinmen to contest it, while advancing his infantry up the left (seen above) and his cavalry on the right (seen below)

It took several turns for battle to be joined and Dave hadn't quite managed to get his Romans across to defend against the three waves of cavalry when they struck the somewhat isolated hastati  and token Roman Cavalry. The thin Roman line was further weakened by the excellent efforts of the Javelins who pestered the reinforcements, safe in their ability to retreat from the roman charge which would have fractured the Roman line and drawn Dave off the high ground. Dave's Velite screen fought against the more numerous Javelinmen but the velite screen was broken and the hastati started taking nuisance casualties, seen below. This is a somewhat confused picture, the velites are in combat with the javelinmen (lower) while the second BG of Gallic javelinmen are harassing the hastati. Roman reinforcements are to the top left while the Roman cavalry (top right) is trying to realign to face the threat on the right, just out of picture. 

Below, the three waves of Gallic cavalry line up against the hastati (1BG). Javelins can be seen on the left flank of the cavalry.

The results of this uneven contest are shown below. The Romans gave way and routed. Even the counter charge by the Roman Cavalry found it tough going, forcing the Javelinmen to retire, but outnumbered, they also took casualties. Dave worked hard to get some more BG of Romans across, but the mechanics of  ancient warfare reward the generals who have a set battleline and this was evident here.

Meanwhile, on the Gallic left, three BG were scurrying to pin down the main Roman force, which had managed a semblance of a line. This provided a complicated (to us) impact and melee situation. Two large Gallic BG (8 bases each) fighting 4 BG of Romans (4 bases each) of different types, with commanders from both sides in the front ranks trying to tip the balance. Good fun and I think we got the combat resolutions sorted. The number of tokens used to keep track is testament to how this was fought.

Below, detail from the Gallic assault, on the Gaul's left flank, before casualties started to mount.

 The other maneuver of note was the outflanking move of the large (10 base) Gallic Infantry who had skirted around the Roman right flank opposed only by 4 bases of velites. This would have severely compromised the Roman line, even if the Gallic infantry (above) could have been defeated in the centre.

 We had to end the game hanging in the balance. The Gauls looked to have the upper hand, about to pursue the routing Romans on the Gallic right, with three waves of intact cavalry, with little to stop them hitting the Romans from that side. The centre (actually the centre left from the Gaul's perspective) was the scene of the big moshpit, the Romans having the upper hand, but being threatened by the final Gaul BG about to outflank them on the far left, once the velites had succumbed. Pete's idea to pin the Romans while he outflanked them on both sides was sound.

Interesting game and quite a good ruleset. Both Dave and I are frustrated by the language of the rules, simple in essence, but very poorly written. In some places, the wording is diabolical and resembles a complicated Boolean truth table with the complement being the defacto standard. Grrrr.

Thanks for the pics Pete, Congrats on the victory (sorry Dave, I think Pete had it won)