421 Pavia (271 AD)

Pavia - 271 AD
Alemanni vs ...

421 Pavia (271 AD)

I don't see how it is possible for the Romans to win this one.

A 6-3 victory for the Alemanni. In the second turn, they exit three units. Then an unlucky attack by the Romans ends with two Roman cavalries destroyed by one barbarian warrior unit. On the third turn the Alemanni exit another cavalry for the victory. The entire game lasted 10 minutes. Not a great scenario.

I never much like Exit VC scenarios

I get the fact that not all battles are even but this was not fun from a gaming perspective. Might have been better if the Alemanni army didn't have mounted units.

Maybe a house rule removing the exit points and forcing the Allemanni to fight (Since the mountain passes are blocked as the scenario says) would make things both more historical and more entertaining. I think I'll try that.

Pavia revisited

Messed up posting about Pavia revisited. 
Anyway, 2 more solitaire games, with the Alemanni winning both, 6 - 1, and 6 - 4.  The second was a little closer, but it was too much cavalry once again. There is no way the Romans can catch them from escaping.

The armies here are identical to the previous battle, Fano, but the set ups make a huge difference - the Romans are compact and the Alemanni are all over the place. Despite this, they got off to a flying start, counter-attacking a Roman cavalry charge to go 2-0 up. However, successive Roman cards of order light troops, darken the skies, line command and double time finished them off for a 6-3 Roman victory.

The return battle went more like one would expect. Roman missile cards resulted in retreats, enabling 4 Alemanni cavalry units to exit in short order. The Roman card draws were sufficient to allow them to close with the enemy, but indifferent die-rolling meant they lost 2 units to destroy 3, resulting in a 6-3 Alemanni victory. I agree with GF1954 below - unless they are extraordinarily lucky, the Romans will lose most times.