Greeks, with a fighting value of 74:
5 units of average and 2 units of levy phalangites (18,000 men)
7 units of average and 1 unit of levy heavy infantry (18,000 men)
1 unit of elephants, and one of light infantry (20 elephants and 3000 men)
2 units of average light cavalry (2000 horse)
1 unit of veteran and 3 units of average heavy cavalry (3500 horse)
Average leader, a precocious Alexander perhaps?
Romans, with a fighting value of 80:
13 units of average legionaries (26,000 men)
2 units of levy light infantry (8000 men)
5 units of average heavy cavalry (5000 horse)
Average commander (Publius Decius Mus), uninspired leader (Sulpicius)
The Greeks deploy their main cavalry force on the right and have strong infantry centres. Rome looks to win the cavalry fight on their own right and hold on the left. The Romans err in not activating the cavalry of the left separately and securing their left wing.
Elephants and light infantry in advance of the Greek centre left.
Equites deploy with the infantry of the left centre.
(Very!) Young Alexander of Epirus out for revenge.
The lines engage. The Roman left is weaker than the opponents they face, so a speedy win on their own right is required.
Alexander double moves his men forward to trap the equites behind the Roman infantry line and reduce their room to manoeuvre.
The Greek right exerts tremendous pressure.
The Roman right shatters the enemy cavalry, but at a cost of some disorder to their own ranks.
Both sides' lefts are beset by superior forces, but the Greek attacks have more sting.
The legionaries begin to succumb to the spears of the enemy...
The last line on the left.
Charge and...
The Roman left breaks! They rout, but the centre holds firm.
The Roman right tries to emulate that of the enemy, but without the same degree of success.
It's now the turn of Decius and the Roman centre to take the brunt of the Greek attack as the phalangites look to roll up the line.
Sulpicius breaks the Greek left in turn! Again, the Greek centre refuses to panic.
The Roman centre with enemies on three sides.
The elephants show no mercy.
The Roman right turns its attention to the Greek centre in a classic 'revolving door' clash. Both centres finally give way, but without the respective right flanks hold.
The victorious rights cross as darkness falls.
Sulpicius tries one last attack, but without success. The remnants of both armies return to camp, having fought each other to a standstill.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Well, after ten turns of carnage both sides still had forces on the field, so a draw was declared. The victory points told a different story however - a narrow victory to the Epirote prince, 102 to 90. A fine battle, and a thoroughly deserved victory to Luke and his Greeks. Sadly, due to my work commitments in the morning, we did not have enough time to fit in the third of our trinity, Beneventum. We may save that for another time.
All in all, it was a fantastic day's gaming. Lots of laughs and plenty of moments of high tension as fortunes ebbed and flowed. Many thanks to Luke for making the trip down, and will look forward to doing it again as soon as possible.
