Warlords of Erehwon AAR - late Romans v Alamanni

Introduction

I finally got the time I needed to set up and play my first game of the year.  As I'd been working on them for what seemed like forever I took the recently finished Victrix late-Romans and Germanics to the field.  I didn't have a rules set in mind when I started this collection, but I decided to use Warlords of Erehwon as I'm familiar with it.

Set up

I played the basic Upon the Field of Battle scenario from the WoE rulebook.  Each side was around 450 points.  I based the forces on the WoE Roman and Barbarian lists available from Rick Priestley's website and took guidance from the Warhammer Ancient Battles Fall of the West supplement to give a flavour of this later period.  I calculated the points using the Points Values file also from the site.  The force lists are here. 

I used my usual trick to help randomise the game by numbering each unit and each order dice.  I use this to randomly deploy the units, as an order dice is picked from the bag, I deploy the unit working from top to bottom of the table, avoiding matching up units during set up.   As I draw each dice during the game I activate the appropriately numbered unit.  

Starting points with Alamanni to the Left

Turn 1

As is usual in most games, turn 1 was spent manoeuvring  with the two opposing battle lines using a mix of standard Move and Run actions to close the gap between them.

Turn 1 end with the battle lines advancing

Turn 2

The Alamanni warriors of unit A use a standard Move of 5’ to close with the Roman battle line.  The next unit to activate is the Roman commander who Moves, and taking advantage of their close proximity and his Follow Special rule, the two Roman legions also Move to maintain the cohesion of the battle line.  The next dice out the bag is for the Alamanni warrior unit C who have to negotiate some rough terrain to move which they do by successfully passing a test against Agility.  The Alamanni Warlord moves up next.  The Roman Archers are next and they take an Advance order, moving up and then unleashing a volley against Alamanni warrior unit A who are just in range.  They are hit 3 times of which only one is Resisted, so suffer 2 casualties and 1 pin.  First blood to the Romans.  Alamanni warrior unit C moves up and the final dice to be drawn is for the Alamanni Archers. The Roman battle line is now in range so they take a Fire order and open up on the Regii unit  They hit 3 times which will at least place a pin on the Romans.  The Romans need 6 or less to Resist and get 7, 9 and 10!  Three pedes drop to the ground.  That’s the end of the turn and the Romans have come off worse.

Ooops photo taken wrong way! Alamanni at the top.

Turn 3

Alamanni warrior unit A draws it’s dice first.  As it has a pin it must take an Order test.  Luckily it’s within 10 inches of the Warlord so they can use his special rule of Command utilising his Command stat to test.  They pass and remove the pin and also complete their Move order.  The Alamanni Archers activate next and take another Fire order to continue whittling away the Roman Regii.  All 6 dice score hits, the Roman dice are terrible again and only one hit is resisted causing a whopping 5 casualties against the unit and reducing it to 1 figure!  Not surprisingly the remaining figure fails the Break test and the unit takes another 4 pins and is routed.  The Roman Petulantes move up.   The Roman Archers seeking to emulate their Germanic counterparts fire another volley at Alamanni warrior unit A but only manage one casualty and pin, but that unit of Germans is now down to half strength.  The Roman Commander decides to hold his position.  Alamanni warrior unit B Move up  as do unit C and the Warlord and that ends the turn, which was very costly for the Romans, 

Turn 4

The Roman Petulantes activate first and deciding it’s better to die gloriously, they pass an Agility test to cross rough ground and charge the Alamanni line with a Run order.  This brings them into Close Combat with Alamanni warrior units B and C.  First there is an exchange of missiles.  The Romans hit 3 times, the Alamanni 4 but 2 Alamanni fall and no Romans.  Both sides take 1 pin.  Now it comes down to sword and axe.  The charging Romans score a maximum 9 hits, the Alamanni respond with 5 hits. Amazingly the Alamanni resists all but 2 of the attacks, as do the Romans which adds another 2 pins to each side for a total of 3.  The combat is drawn and both decide to fight a follow on.  The Romans hit 5 times, the Alamanni 3.  3 more Germanics fall and no Romans.  The Alamanni have lost the combat.  Warrior unit C fails it’s break test takes another 3 pins and is destroyed.  Warrior unit B consolidates moving away from the Romans.  

Alamanni unit A passes their Order test sheds a pin and Sprints to charge the Roman Warlord.  The Alamanni hit twice the Romans only once.  One Roman Bodyguard falls to the Germans.  The Romans pass the initial Break test for losing the combat and both sides decide to fight on.  This time the Romans hit twice and the Germans only once but neither side take any damage.  The two sides break apart to Consolidate.

The Roman Archers swing round and Advance, firing on the Alamanni warrior unit A but although they score 2 hits forcing a pin, they don’t inflict any casualties.   

Sensing the moment of glory the Alamanni Warlord invokes the war God Tiewaz and charges the Roman commander.  3 hits are scored, the Roman response is a single hit.  The Roman Commander’s last bodyguard falls with no damage to the Germanics.  The Roman Commander passes his break test on losing the combat.  In the follow up round the Germans hit twice against the Roman once.  One Alamanni falls but disaster for the Roman Commander as he rolls 2 10s! His Tough rule allows him to reroll once and he passes this time and by having the Wound special ability he’s still just in the game. Amazingly he also passes his Break test.  One tough old bugger.  The sides move apart again.

The final unit to activate are the Alamanni Archers who now have line of sight on the Roman Archers.  They aim, fire and score a maximum 6 hits and 5 casualties!  They’ve been lethal.  The sole surviving  Roman Archer passes his Break test but has a pin on him.

Turn 5

Alamanni warrior unit A pass their order test shedding a pin and charge the Roman Commander again.  They score two hits but thanks to his Tough attribute the Commander comes through unscathed.  The Commander scores with all three of his hand-to-hand attacks, cutting down two of the Germans.  The survivor fails his break test taking another 2 pins and consolidating back.  

The Alamanni Archers’ dice is next to be drawn and they complete the job of wiping out the Roman archers as the last one falls.  

The Alamanni Warlord now attacks the Roman Commander.  Four hits are scored, the Roman manages to shrug off three and even with his Tough ability reroll he can’t shrug off the last.  He was wounded last round and this time he falls. 

Alamanni warrior unit B fail their Order test, lose a pin and go Down.  The last surviving Roman unit pass their order test and charge the Alamanni scoring three hits and killing two. Incredibly the last one standing passes his break test but the Romans press on cutting him down.

That's all the units activated not that there's many remaining.  At this point with the Roman commander dead and all but one Roman unit in the same state I decided to end the game. 

Summary 

Totting up the victory points shows the Alamanni are clear winners, having destroyed a total of 371 points worth of Roman units against a loss of 114 points.  The Alamanni Archers had proved decisive  accounting for the destruction of two Roman units.  Their Roman counterparts had proved largely ineffective. 

This was another enjoyable game of Warlords of Eherwon.  It's simple so suits me perfectly!  I'm going to do some more work on the forces to try to better represent them historically.  I've also got some more units to add which will give a different game.  I'm also thinking of going retro and using this collection for a game of Warhammer Ancient Battles.