Battle Report: Wars of the Republic- Ambush on Cossinius

[Easy E]

Praetor Glaber underestimated Spartacus and his slave forces at Vesuvius.  Glaber paid the ultimate price for his error.  However, his error was soon compounded.  A new praetor raised a new set of recruits to put down the slave uprising.  The Praetor was named Varinius, and he kept as his aid a man named Cossinius. 

Spartacus and his troops managed to get the drop on their Roman oppressor's yet again!  According to the story, Cossinius was ambushed by Spartacus while he was bathing in a Roman villa.  The ambush was successful, and the aid was killed and his troops routed. 

Today's battle will be re-fighting this action.  Will Spartacus be able to slay Cossinius this time?  Will the Roman forces be able to put down the slaves?  Let's find out!

Forces:

Cossinius' Levy
1 Militia Legion
2 Irregular Infantry
1 Light Infantry

Cossinius will lead the unit that is placed in the Villa at the start of the battle.

Spartacus' Slaves
1 Elite Infantry- Spartacus
1 Drilled Infantry
1 Irregular Infantry

The Drilled Infantry represent the Gallic/Germanic contingent of Spartacus' force.  They were probably warriors captured and sold into slavery.  I like to think they were led by Crixus.  The Irregular Infantry represents the other slaves that would have been attracted to Spartacus' escaped band, who were looking to escape their bonds, but with little military skill. 

Set-up:
Today we will be using a 48MU by 48MU board.  The center of the board is a Roman Villa or similar terrain feature.  For the rest of the board we have:

1- Stream- Dangerous
2- Stream- Dangerous
3- 1-level hill- Difficult
4- Hedge- Blocking

The Villa can hold one unit, and it counts as Difficult terrain, and units inside must be in open order.  1 Roman unit must start within the Villa.  This unit will be led by Cossinius.  All other units are set-up with a leader within 6MU of the Villa.

The Romans choose to put their Light Infantry in the Villa as Cossinius' escorts.  The Militia Legion is deployed near the hedge, and the irregular infantry is closer to the 1-level hill.   

The Slaves can be set-up on any board edge with the focal point up to 6 MU in from the edge.  Spartacus is aimed at the Militia Legion.  The Drilled Infantry are on the hill.  The Irregulars are positioned to cross the stream. 



Mission:
The Slaves are trying to destroy the unit that has Cossinius in it.  Meanwhile, Cossinius is trying to survive the battle or escape from any board edge within 6 turns. 

This is a variant mission from the one actually found in the Revolt! supplement for Wars of the Republic found on the Wargame Vault.  I am interested to see how the different win conditions impact how the game is played.



You can read the full battle report at the Blood and Spectacles blog.
http://bloodandspectacles.blogspot.com/2022/04/battle-report-wars-of-republic-ambush.html

You can also find the Revolt! supplement on the Blood and Spectacles Wargame Vault page:
https://www.wargamevault.com/browse.php?keywords=blood+and+spectacles&x=0&y=0&author=&artist=&pfrom=&pto=   

[fred]

Interesting little game - do you think the Slaves had a chance to win? Seemed fairly easy for the Romans to run off the table.


I think you could do with some new hedges - those are a bit basic compared to the figures and the other terrain.

[Easy E]

Oh yeah, they were an alternate win condition that I was testing to see how it changed the game.  As you can see, it made it pretty easy for the Romans. 

As for the hedges, they are a tried and true method!     Looking at the photos, it is clear they need at least a dry brush or something.