Domitian and the Dacian

Six players met in my club to play the Dacian scenario that is simply a serie of three games between Dacians and Romans linked, with each battle giving score modifiers to the following one in the time setting. The rules are there.

The players were:

Rome-

Domitian: Stefano G.

Cornelius Fuscus: Stefano T.

Tettius Iulianus: Filippo M.

Dacian-

Duras- Lorenzo M

Diurpaneus- Paolo V.

Rubobostes- Fabrizio D.

The two team leader decided how to assign the players and we started

The first game was the Dacian attack to Moesia in 86AD, using DBMM200

I made an unusual dacian army, using BwI to support BdF. The Sarmatians were fielded too.

The Roman was able to occupy a strong defensive position on two rocky hills. I deployed the IKnF in second line, aimed at the gap between the terrain features

The Dacians advanced fast, giving few time to the Roman to redeploy

Here the decisive error by the Dacian: not move the IKnF through the wbF to engage the roman infantry.

The Roman took advantage of it. The sarmatians did not entered combat at all, a blunder. The Roman under pressure withdrew on the left leaving the hill.

General assault all over the line. The romans on the right are under pressure from front and flank

The wb slowly are lost, but the smaller roman armies have taken some losses too, and the demise of a Bd column on the far right disheartens the corps

Dacians tried to deliver the killing blow. Romans have two corps at risk

The Roman right breaks and the left is disheartened

Time called, with the dacian center near to being disheartened and the Roman army risking the collapse: 15-10 to dacians

The second battle, between 400AP armies, has not been recorded. We have though the Dacian king Diurpaneus speech before the battle:

"And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by from this day until the ending of the world but we in it shall be remembered. We few Dacians, we happy few Dacians, we band of Dacian brothers, For he today who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother, Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition, and gentlemen now abed or at home watching TV with girlfriends shall think themselves acursed they were not here, and hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks, that fought with us upon St. Crispin's day!"

Nonetheless, the Roman army led by the Emperor himself stopped the dreadful dacian attacks for a 14-11 victory

The last game was the decisive one, between Stefano "Trebellus" T. and the dacian subking Fabrizio

The Romans deployed on a flank, trying to gain local superiority while keeping at bay with uphill advantage the barbarians

Roman cavalry attack the weakest dacian wing

First charge. The dacian infantry is slower in the run to attack the enemy.

.

The Roman support their cavalry attack with the infantry.

The dacian light cavalry is swept away and the roman can roll the center now. A wild combat between infantries start now. Note how the roman position put out of game a good portion of dacian forces.

The Dacian center is destroyed too, for a 23-2 Roman victory. Nice victory by the roman, with a sound plan.

After the games we applied the score modifier

15-10 to Dacian the first game

11-14 the second, modified to 17-10

2-23 the last one that thanks to the previous Roman victory became 1-35

The final score was 55-33 to the Romans, a victory but not decisive enough to destroy the dacian power.

More campaigns will be necessary.....