Weekend Ancients with Mortem et Gloriam

This past weekend, Bradley and I got together to bash some Ancient armies at each other. He brought his Carthaginians and I fielded Gallic Foederate Romans. The system of choice was our favorite, Mortem et Gloriam. We played the Maximus scale of 10,000 point armies. I placed a Large wood in the center of the table, which irritated Bradley to no end. His Carthaginians outscouted me by 70%, so I was on the receiving end of that move. 

The game began with my Foederate infantry moving through the thick woods to engage the enemy. I also pushed my Skirmishers on my left flank up to slow down his advance. I had my Roman-trained Warriors on this flank, and I only intended to fight defensively here.

Bradley countered by pushing his Numidians fast up to my cavalry on his left flank. I immediately charged and began pushing my strong cavalry on this flank. After taking some missile hits, the Carthaginian cavalry and Numidians melted away here. 

The fighting in the woods was vicious, as both sides beat each other up.

The action on the Roman left saw mostly skirmish missile fire, as both sides took grievous casualties. The Romans stood motionless, waiting for the inevitable clash on this flank. Carthaginian cavalry began to move around the enemy, towards the line of Roman steel.  In a flash, both sides’ Archers and Javelin-men ran, leaving the way open to attack the motionless Roman-trained warriors. At this point, the Romans were feeling confident with an 8-2 lead in points. 

At this point though, the tide began to turn. In the woods, Carthaginian infantry charged the Foederate Germans in the flank, beginning to inflict massive casualties. On the Roman right, the victorious cavalry ran into reserve infantry armed with long spears. The results were devastating to the Roman cavalry. The score tightened and then was suddenly tied 8-8. 

On the Roman left, Balearic slingers and Numidian horsemen began to pelt the Roman-trained warriors, who were forced to adopt Testudo. 

Right before the three hour point, the rest of the Foederate infantry collapsed in the center and that was the game. In a stunning comeback, the Carthaginians won 12-10. Bradley played brilliantly and definitely deserved the win. What a game !