ADLG Early Imperial Romans v Germans

My Early Imperial Roman army has not had a game in a long time so when Clive wanted a practice game for Roll Call against his Germans it seemed a good opportunity to drag them back into the daylight!

The Germans with their strategist Hermann (the German) won the initiative and decided to defend in the forests of Germany:

The Romans deployed mainly on the left of the battlefield with Legions in the centre, Auxilia on the left and a cavalry command on the right. The Germans had constructed a fort with some Gallic allies in the middle, two forests doubtless containing ambushing German fanatics and a few cavalry on the German left. The Gallic commander immediately became recalcitrant and refused to join the fight giving the Romans an opportunity to attack on the left while ignoring the Gauls:

The Roman left rushes forward and the Auxilia and Legions prepare to attack the wood:

It will soon come to the crunch, the Gauls are still refusing to move while Hermann has started to bring some more German fanatics over from his left to support his right:

The ambush is sprung and the Auxila await the wild charge of the Germans. Being in the wood significantly helps the Auxilia as they retain their impact if the Germans charge them and the Germans also lose both impact and furious charge:

The Roman cavalry moves to attack on the right to put more pressure on Hermann's strategical ability:

After a few turns of restraint the Germans finally charge into a fairly disadvantageous situation. Initial results are reasonable for the Romans with three out of four warbands taking hits:

The Gauls have now decided to join in with the Germans while the Auxilia cut down the German warriors:

Having dealt with the German warbands the Auxila then fall dismally to a combination of German javelin skirmishers and a couple more warband from Hermann's command. What looked like a hopeful situation has quickly imploded for the Romans:

All may not be lost though as the Roman cavalry attack on the right presses home. The Romans have more elements, the advantage of armour and for two of their cavalry impact ability while the Germans medium cavalry are elite. The attack goes badly though and the Romans look doomed:

The Auxilia have been wiped out and the remaining Legions and Roman cavalry have fallen back to regroup:

On the right the last few Roman cavalry are cut down breaking the Roman army:

So another ADLG defeat though this time I think I played better than usual. My plan was good and delivered advantages for my troops both on the left and right, they just didn't really take those advantages!

Clive was helped by the massive size of his army (28 breakpoint to my 22), the elite upgrade for his fighting troops really helped and his light infantry are tough even against Auxila in the woods. He also had an excellent defensive position which, in an actual competition, I'd probably have refused to attack. A fun game though and nice to get the Romans in action again.