The army I took was Marian Roman and the list was (queue somebody spotting its illegal or something like that):
Command 1:
Lucius Licinius Lucullus as a Brilliant Reg Cv(O) C-in-C, 8 Reg Bd(S), 2 Irr Ax(S), 3 Irr Ps(S), 1 Reg Ps(O), 1 Irr El(I) = 29 ME
Command 2:
Appius Claudius Pulcher as a Reg Cv(O) SG, 6 Reg Bd(S), 4 Irr Ax(S) = 24 ME
Command 3:
Gaius Sornatius Barber as a Reg Cv(O) SG, 6 Reg Ax(S), 2 Reg Ps(S), 2 Reg Ps(O) = 16 ME
Baggage Command:
6 Reg Bge(O), 10 TF = 12 ME
For a grand total of 81 ME. Although I was probably the smallest army there at only 52 elements including the baggage, I think I had more ME than most of my opponents because of the Bd(S). OTOH, that means that they can be lost pretty quickly.
The army is a refinement of the one I took to Warfare last year. The main changes were to make the commands more asymmetric to allow one to have the low PIPs (which involved concentrating the Bd(S), to drop the Cv(O) (that just got themselves into trouble), to add the El(I) to try and counter the nasty wedged Kn(F) and to have space to put some real elements to defend the camp.
The strategy was that we would normally try and deploy on just one side of the table and turn a flank, hoping that we could destroy that before the other flank of the enemy could wheel across and engage. Against a mobile steppe enemy we would just hunker down and rely on the toughness of the Bd(S) and Ax(S) rather than advance and risk the flanks as they just evaded away. Lucullus’ command would normally go in the centre as the main fighting command, and get the middle die. One flank command would then be the hinge and would deploy with its auxilia in the camp, giving them a factor of 6 behind the TF and making them very difficult to winkle out. The other flank would then get the high die and push forward as far and fast as possible, using the Auxilia to deploy in the flank zone and push through any terrain on the side of the table. If I defended then a BUA could help push the hinge point as far forward as possible.
Game 1 was vs Ian Sims with LIR. An army and opponent that I had faced at Warfare. I was scared of his Gothic warband and his Art(F) who can kill Bd(S) quite easily if they gang up on them. I invaded in Spring (hoping for rain to affect his Art(F)). Instead we got mist and a 2 am start which I leapt for so rapidly that neither of us remembered that we should have re-rolled (point out to us the next morning). I started a night attack an hour before dawn and ganged up on his left flank – Ax and Bd defending a RGo with a column of LH(S) behind,
avoiding the Wb on the adjacent hill in the centre. We marched up through the mist which cleared just as dawn broke and we bore down on the RGo. Pulcher’s command had reached the rear table edge by this point and had boxed in the LH(S) behind the RGo. Barba’s Ax(S) tried to hold off the Cv(O) between the RGo and the hill and the Wb advancing off the hill. They were taking a fair few casualties doing this and things were starting to get very ropey over there although the elephant wandered over to lend a hand as well. Just as they demoralised though the legionaries finished carving up the Bd and Ax in the RGo (after a rather slow start) and Ian’s combat luck completely deserted him as elements started dying like flies. Can’t remember exact result but it didn’t reflect how tough a resistance Ian had put up. The Bd(S) are just incredibly resilient and in the end the S kicks in and starts making holes.
Second game was against Steve Scott with Hsiung Nu, including a large foot contingent. He invaded Italy but was forced to deploy first. The centre of the table had a BUA, with my camp deployed behind it to wall my deployment zone into two halves. The camp was defended by 3 of Pulcher’s Spanish Ax(S) with the rest of his command lurking around the BUA to act as the hinge. The other two commands deployed facing Steve’s right flank infantry command who where in front of a vineyard. The centre of Steve’s army was LH(S) and Kn(F), the right was a command of LH(S). Lucullus and Barba’s commands zoomed forwards as fast as they could to take out the enemy infantry as quickly as possible while Pulcher skirmished against the enemy centre. Steve was hampered throughout the battle by not having enough PIPs with his key central command to get it into action quickly enough. The left-most LH(S) command quickly redeployed across the back of the table to his right flank, trying to come around the 1 element wide gap between the vineyard and the table edge. The main Roman line went through the infantry pretty rapidly, breaking then shattering it. We held up the centre until the Kn(F) got into action, when they rapidly killed 4 of Pulcher’s Bd(S), breaking that command. It was all looking pretty hairy especially as the LH(S) were skirmishing quite effectively with my Ax(S) in the vineyard and I was having to throw Lucullus’ Bd(S) over there to try and stave them off. Then the Kn(F) general of the LH command was 6-1ed when overlapped in my bound by a Ps(O) and went down, and it was all over. Very very close battle, seat of the pants
right up to the end.
Third game was vs Mike Newham with a very tough looking Lysimachid. He invaded, but deployed first, and there was rain threatening and mud, which took his Kn(F) down by a factor. He deployed from right to left with a huge command of Ax(S) facing some vineyards I had put down, then Art(O), Pk(O) phalanx, then the Kn(F) wedges then some more Ax, Ps and LH on a gentle hill. I had built a nice defensive perimeter with two vineyards and a BUA, which Mike had deployed to take, so I deployed on the other side of the board that was nice and open. Barba got to defend the camp and the BUA, Lucullus went in the centre and Pulcher was tasked with assaulting the muddy hill. We pretty much kept to that plan. Mike was able to redeploy his Illyrian Ax(S) rapidly across the table but they had to fight their way step by step through the BUA. They just emerged on the other side at the end of the game. Pulcher’s assault on the hill went very well, despite the mud and we reasonably rapidly took it. In the centre the Kn(F) were wary to come forward because of the mud and the elephant, but finally committed. The elephant killed a LH and a Kn(F) but was then skewered by a bolt-thrower. But that gave me enough to break the command and it instantly went to shattered because of the number of spent elements. I was unable to restrain my army (I had only 1 group on the table, of a Cv(O) general and a Bd(S) so a lot of them went hurtling forward to fight shattered troops. I lost one more Ax(S) which I thought was enough to dishearten Lucullus’ command until I realised I was looking at the ME total for Pulcher’s command. Time was called at that point with a very bloody battlefield ending in a draw. It could have gone either way from that point.
Game 4 was against Ian MacKay’s Hsiung-Nu, which was a matchup from hell for me. There was no upside to winning for me and everything to lose, so I hoped for a solid defensive position. Instead I invaded Mongolia in the Spring. Fortunately I managed to get a scrubby flat in each corner of my table edge. I put the camp in the centre and Pulcher in the camp. Then Lucullus with a solid line of two deep Bd(S). then Barba in the RGo with a solid line of Ax(S). The weather difference meant that his LH would be downgraded after 8 turns. Ian hadn’t flank marched and after a brief demonstration against my line realised he wasn’t going to crack it in 8 turns with LH and it was too risky to send in Kn(X) against double ranked Bd(S) and potentially lose everything, so we shook on a draw, which was all we needed to end up 1st and 2nd.
Its a very tough army and after the practice at Warfare I am now much happier using it in a suicidally aggressive manner, which it needs to win games. The Bd(S) are very resilient, but when a couple of them go, the whole thing can unravel very rapidly.