MEG Maximus Cyrenean Greek vs Late Republican Roman

 

Hi All

On Saturday we had a very interesting and full of suspense game of MEG Maximus

We played at IDAS wargame club in the center of Athens.

My Cyrenean Greeks against Kostas Later Republican Romans

Kostas had opted for a foot heavy army with only 2 units (1 was a skirmisher) of cavalry, while I had 4 units of horse and lots of Hoplites.

I won the roll of and opted to be the defender (I have only plains).

After the terrain set up only one hill was placed my right (close to Kostas board edge).

I won the scouting by 10% and we set up our forces.

My plan was to have the Hoplites in deep formations as to survive the Roman charge, while using my Horse units to turn his flank from my left side.

Kostas opted to put his sup legions in front of the Hoplites as to try and brake them while some average legionaries and the cavalry would try to hold me on the left. Kostas put some archers and the Thracians with some more average legionaries on the mountain to my right.

Turn 1

Kostas moved one of the 4 sup legionaries from the center to my left as to support his units on that side.
I moved two units of chariots forward, while I moved my Xystoforoi to charge a unit of average legionaries.

On my right I moved my ally forward as to pin the enemy troops in the area.

Turn 2

The Xystophoroi charged the average legionaries, while the 3 units of superior legionaries charged 6 units of Hoplites in the center.
On my left one chariot charged some cavalry but the skirmished so we had no contact.

The impact was brutal and the superior legions caused losses to my hoplites but thanks to the deep formation I was able to absorb the impact and even caused some wounds to the Romans ( the white dice has 2/6 chance of wounds).

The Xystophoroi on the other hand did a bit better but the average legion was holding on.

In the movement I only maneuvered my second chariot on my left as to take shots at the superior legion.

The melee that followed was more of the same.

The roman superior foot was causing hits to the hoplites but they were spread on 6 units while the hits that the hoplites made were more concentrated.

The Xysrtophoroi again could not break the average legionaries and I opted to break of and charge again in the next round.

Turn 3

The Xystophoroi charged again, as did the chariots against the roman cavalry, Kostas charged with his Thracians on my far right.

This time the Xystophoroi broke the average legion thanks to some shatter roles.

The chariots came in contact with the cavalry.

In the movement we had some more micro movement

The Melee saw the first of the superior legions in the center breaking while my chariots were taking more hits than the enemy cavalry was   

Turn 4

the superior legion on my left charge my chariots (I charged as well)

The impact was even so we both took some hits.

In the movement my Xystophoroi moved as to charge the 2 superior legions in the center

Melee was again bloody and I had 2 units of Hoplites that need 2-3 more wounds to break but they were still in the fight.

Turn 5

I charged with the Xystophoroi, while kostas charged my chariots with skirmish units (they can charge if the enemy is close to breaking)

The charge of the Xystophoroi from the rear broke both legions

Both my chariot units also broke in the impact.

 

A very strong test for both the armies and a very good opponent.

My Hoplites can only have a chance against the superior legions only in mass numbers.
The Xystophoroi (the most expensive unit in the army) earned the points they cost

I need to make some more experiments with the chariots as to optimize them.

The Romans on the other hand are very powerful in the foot department but if the terrain is open the lack of cavalry can cause problems