Caesar at Munda

And now to a battle report. Munda, Caesar's last victory, was the scenario. As usual, the rules used were Lost Battles, but I did tweak the scenario slightly.

Caesar's account gives the impression that he was trying to tempt the Pompeians to come down off their hill onto the plain, while the Pompeians for their part were trying to induce Caesar to attack them in their hilltop position.

To reflect the tension over this, I would dice each turn until one side gave in and advanced. I also decided to dice for other potentially critical moves, such as the timing of cavalry charges on the wings.

Finally, I downgraded Caesar from a brilliant general to an inspirational one because he didn't seem to do anything particularly tricky at Munda except for nearly lose. The two armies were therefore very closely matched, with Caesar's just superior at a fighting value of 90 versus the 83 of Pompeius Jr. and Labienus.

Turn 1: 

Deployment, as described by Phil Sabin in Strategos II. Caesar has all-veteran legions; Gnaeus and Labienus have a mixture of average and veteran. Caesar has the edge in cavalry, but the Pompeians the edge in position.

Turn 2: 

Gnaeus adjusts the positioning of his wings, but does not advance off the heights. Bogud takes his Numidians to the far right wing. Caesar brings all the troops forward, with unrulier elements shouting at their opponents to come on down and fight.

"Come down here and fight!"

"How about you come HERE and fight!"

Turn 3: 

Gnaeus and his men remain on the hill. Caesar's also remain in place, continuing to indulge in 'banter' with the enemy.

Turn 4: 

They've had enough. Gnaeus senses the dissatisfaction in his ranks and brings his men down off the hill. The cavalry wings remain in place with one legion to reinforce the right flank and another to stay on the hill and support the left.

Caesar gleefully attacks, and a third of the Pompeian legions are spent in the first onslaught.

Turn 5: 

The Pompeians recover from the first attack and strike strongly at the Caesarian centre. Elsewhere, however, they make no progress.

Caesar hits Gnaeus' command again, putting him in a precarious position and in need of reinforcement. On the right, Bogud advances with his horse. Although the attack is against Caesar's better judgement (a 6 is rolled in answer to my 'will he or won't he?' question), he drives off the light infantry, so the great man is not unhappy.

Turn 6: 

The Spanish cavalry take the attack to Bogud, hitting the Numidians in a powerful countercharge. Disaster is avoided only by Bogud's personal intervention. Gnaeus, given the fragility of his position, pulls his command back onto the hill. Not only will it buy time and space, but it will break up the continuity of Caesar's infantry line and so prevent him from being able to easily relocate reserve legions to needy areas.

Caesar follows up, but is forced to leave one legion behind as a reserve. The fighting continues along the line.

Turn 7: 

The cavalry strikes Bogud again. Once more he rallies, but the attack on that wing is proving to be a drain on Caesarian resources. In the centre, the Pompeians push, and, catching the veterans at a bad moment, maul them badly. One unit shatters, and Caesar is obliged to find reserves for two places at once.

Turn 8: 

Inspired by the success of the centre, Gnaeus' command also falls upon the enemy with renewed vigour. Another unit is shattered in the centre before the reinforcements can move into line, and Caesar is now under genuine pressure. Bogud is again hit, but this time cannot rally his men, and they too are now in a precarious state.

The veteran legionaries of Caesar's centre-left restore calm by shattering a unit under Labienus' command. Seeing this, and knowing that the Pompeians have weakened their right to strengthen the centre, the Gallic cavalry of the left judges it an opportune moment to engage. An all-out-attack sees them clear the light infantry from the foward slopes of the hill, but it is harder going against the Spanish cavalry.

Turn 9: 

Following the loss of his lead unit (and the example of Gnaeus), Labienus also pulls his command back onto the hill. On the opposite end of the infantry line Gnaeus scores another hit against Caesar, who must commit yet another of his fast-dwindling reserves.

The Spanish cavalry on both wings now turn their position to account: a double hit on Bogud's zone sees him killed and his command destroyed; while on the right, the cavalry on the hill perform similar feats, shattering the lead Gallic unit and forcing the other to flee.

The tide has surely now turned in favour of the Pompeians.

In such a desperate situation, Caesar is heard to say that he must fight now not for glory, but for his life. The men respond, shattering one of Gnaeus' units, and another in the centre.

Bogud hit and killed.

The Gallic cavalry swept away.

Desperate times for both sides, but Caesar has lost his cavalry.

Turn 10: 

The Pompeians seize the moment, shattering two more units, in Caesar's zone and (again) in the centre. But Caesar's men are veterans, and do not run.

The cavalry comes down off the hill to engage the light infantry, and the other cavalry outflank Caesar himself.

The Caesarians strike back by shattering two units in the centre and centre-left. Suddenly fearing a rout, the Spanish cavalry skedaddle, easing the pressure on Caesar's zone somewhat.

(In normal Lost Battles the game would be up after ten turns, but this is not normal Lost Battles, so we continue.)

Turn 11: 

Troubles multiply for Caesar: three shattering hits are inflicted on his centre. His veterans are too stubborn to rout, but he can muster nothing in return.

Turn 12: 

The Spanish cavalry shatter the light infantry. The coup de grace sees the centre give way, and all, for Caesar, is darkness.

And in this manner was Caesar defeated, hunted down by his enemies, and slain.

Caesar's last battle indeed.