ADLG Early Imperial Roman v Gallic

This week's game saw my Early Imperial Roman army take on Simon's Gallic horde in a 15mm ADLG encounter. I opted for a Western-themed army with one cavalry command, a strong Legionary command and a mixed Auxilia/Cavalry command.

The Romans won the initiative and decided to attack in the plains, managing to get a river down to narrow the table and with the rest of the terrain falling nicely for them. The cavalry command deployed up against the river, the Legionaries in the centre and the Auxila on the right:

The deployment looked good for the Romans with my cavalry facing some weaker Gallic chariots, the Legionaries against medium swordsmen and the Auxila tasked with holding back the rest of the Gallic horde as long as possible:

The Gauls rush forward, their centre of very tough elite heavy swordsmen might have problems getting into contact though with the faster moving and impetuous medium swordsmen on either flank:

Legions and wild Gallic warriors clash! the Legions have an overlap on one flank while the Gallic heavy swordsmen can't quite make it into overlap for the Gauls:

The Legions hold the initial Gallic charge and wound a couple of elements at no loss to themselves:

The next round of combat sees two Legions breaking their opponents cutting down swathes of Gauls. The Romans have a few shooting hits but other than that are undamaged:

The Roman cavalry are assailed by more javelin throwing chariots and hits start to mount up:

Meanwhile on the right the Auxilia have been nervously watching the rest of the Gallic army close in on them. A few skirmishers have been sacrificed to slow the Gauls down but the crunch is approaching!:

On the left and in the centre things continue to go well for the Romans, most of the Gallic medium swordsmen have been dispersed and the cavalry is starting to cut through the chariots:

On the right one Auxilia has advanced to protect the Legion's flank. The rest of the Auxilia are about to be hit by a wave of Gallic warriors though:

The last few Gallic elements are mopped up on the right, the Gallic general is about to fall in combat with his chariots:

In the centre the Legions are turning to outflank the Gallic elite warriors. The Auxilia do well and mostly hold the Gauls charging them inflicting significant losses:

The last few Gallic chariots struggle on:

The Auxilia continue their good work despatching more Gauls:

It's all over for the barbarians as the Gallic army breaks:

I think that this game was mostly decided on the terrain and deployment, the narrower frontage allowed the Romans to have one secure flank on the river and to delay much of the Gallic army getting into combat on the other flank with a few skirmishers. The Legions ended up facing the much weaker Gallic medium swordsmen while the very powerful elite Gallic heavy swordsmen found it hard to get into contact. I suspect I also had the best of the combat dice though not perhaps the shooting ones!

Hopefully Simon and I will get in a few more games in the New Year, since it was over a year since I'd seen him was great to play again.