MT05 Gothic War

Round 5 GI02 Battle of Taginae 552 AD

Steven (Goth) 4 banners, 26 blocks lost
Rams1984 (Byzantines): 6 banners, 18 blocks lost

Goths charged initially into Byzantine center, but could not do much damage, an ambush helped a bit. Byzantines bow were spot ondealt some damage to cavalries before they charged. Another mounted charge enused, after which Goths center were stranded. This gave Byzantines some time to fight back and clean up the stranded cavalries. A final foot onslaught form the Goths did little to prevent their fall. 

 

Round 3

gdnuke (Goth)  3 banners won, 25 blocks lostGonzo (Byzantine) 6 banners won, 20 blocks lost
Initial Got cav and warrior attack on their right killed 3 inf units but the Byzantine SHBC able to get a warrior and the HC on that flank over a few turns.  Goth HC attacks leaderless Byzantine inf formation, but not able to kill.  A cav charge allowed the imperial SHBC get to him and got 4 hits from 6 dice, then killed the leader.  Goth charge on right, but Byzantine SHBC able to evade a War.  Next it cam back with a Fire and Close to kill the Warrior.  Thanks for George for an exciting back and forth game. 

Round 1 GI06  Siege of Rome

javelinthrower (goths) : 5 banners  won : 26 units lost
toganalper (bzyn) : 6 banners won: 24 units lost

It was a tense and close battle. But the bzyn managed to conquer the goth campğ on the left flaank and won by a very close margin.

Marry X-mas and Happy New Year and Happy Holydays to all

Round 1 Opening Battle at the Siege of Rome 538 AD

Ostrogoths (JR) - 6 banners taken, 14 blocks lost

Byzantines (Gonzo Joe) - 4 banners taken, 26 blocks lost  

The score looks close but this was an insane dice-driven beat-down.  The fact Joe scored four banners after the way this opened is almost a victory unto itself.

Joe opened with Order Light Troops, and, rightly fearing the potential of my warbands, peppered my Warriors with multiple volleys, but only scored a single hit.  Prescient move, as my own opening was Foot Onslaught.  My Goths thundered forth and inflicted eight hits, killing an Aux and a Med and setting the tone for the rest of the game.

Joe’s Move-Fire-Move scored a banner by eliminating a banged-up Warrior unit.  I followed with Forward, with two center warbands doing the heaving lifting, killing another Aux and Med.  Joe, down 4-1, stormed back, sending his right flank cavalry forward.  He didn’t kill a unit but he grabbed the initiative on that flank and was determined to make this a real fight.


Joe’s play of Mounted Charge netted a Gothic Cav unit and its leader, and he followed with Leaders to kill yet another Medium Cav to tie things up at 4-4.  However, this left Belisarius behind the main Ostrogoth line, and I was able to use Order Medium Troops to get Warriors into contact with no space to Evade.  Thanks to an adjacent Gothic leader, my warband killed Belisarius’ unit and he failed the subsequent leader check.


My die-rolling was absolutely lethal.  Whenever Joe had a troop advantage or was mounted versus my infantry, I only threw unit symbols.  When it was like versus like, I threw a fistful of swords.  On top of that, I never lacked for cards.  Despite that, he made it a solid contest, and if I’d missed some of those killer rolls, there’s a decent chance he could’ve pulled out a victory against the odds.  Fun game against a challenging opponent.   

GI06 Open Battle at the Siege of Rome 537ADRiverWanderer (Goth) 5 banners won, 30 blocks lost.Nick P (Byzantine) 6 banners won, 31 blocks lost There was an initial exchange of ranged fire and the Goths moved forward to occupy the bridge adjacent to Campus Neroni. Belisarius and Valerian led their medium bow cavalry forward and, dispatching an auxilia and a light bow respectively, prevented the Goth Warriors from gaining a bridgehead. The Goths responded with a warrior foot onslaught supported by Vinges medium cavalry, killing a byzantine light bow and the medium infantry led by Principius, who escaped with his life and joined the auxilia unit in the gatehouse. The Byzantines responded by darkening the sky with their arrows, but to little effect as the Goths charged forward in the centre and on their left flank, killing an auxilia unit beneath the walls. The Byzantine cavalry threatened the Auxilia units in the hills behind Campus Neroni and rushed to the defence of Belisarius on the other flank, but to little avail as a first strike and then an ambush wiped them out. Their only consolation was that they took a Goth medium cavalry unit with them. Sensing victory, the Goths double timed three medium units forward, but the Byzantine medium cavalry fought them off bravely, killing one medium unit in the process and levelling the score at 4 banners each. Outclassed, Belisarius pulled his three cavalry units back into a defensive formation. The Goths cried “havoc” but were unable to alter the status quo, in spite of injuring several Byzantine units. The Byzantines responded by attacking the Goth auxilia units who were still hiding in the hills and reducing their numbers severely. The Goths then charged in with their medium cavalry in a desperate attempt to win the day. Vinges cavalry unit killed a medium infantry and then took on Principius auxilia unit, who were defending the Porta Salaria. The auxilia were badly injured and forced to retreat, leaving Vinges in command of the gate and Principius quivering on the base line with nothing but a one block auxilia unit to defend him. The other cavalry charge was less successful and retreated after a battle back, opening up an opportunity for the Byzantines to win the battle. The Byzantines cried “havoc” and Belisarius killed a medium cavalry unit, levelling the score once more at 5 banners each. Everything now depended on the light bow cavalry, who had circled behind a Goth warrior unit. A lucky dice roll from one of the cavalry killed the warrior unit and Rome was saved from the Goth hordes!

 

Round 4 GI05 Battle of Mons Lactarius 552AD

RiverWanderer (Goth) 3 banners 22 blocks lost
Rams1984 (Byzantines)  6 banners  23 blocks lost

Some initial missile fire was fairly inconsequential, and as the Goths hugged the terrain, the Byzantines came up their right with line command to push up against the broken terrain. Most of the action happened near the broken grounds. Goths cried havoc but the troops failed to pay heed resulting in assault with a lone warrior which dealt some damage to Auxilia, but Byzantines rallied to inflict some damage to the warrior. Should have inspired the medium but the Byzantine commander is uninspiring due to his "Ancients" approach.  A medium attack ensued, which eliminated the lingering auxilia and medium troops along with some heavy damage to the brave MC which managed to reduce the Goths strength a bit. Another line command from Byzantines on the right did some unexpected heavy damage,  Medium troops took out the lone warrior, Heavy destroyed the warriors led by Geberic but this time the Byzantine commander was able to overcome his anicient methods, the inspired John was abe to behead the lonely Geberic which turned the tide. An ambush against Heavy proved unsuccessful due to Geberic's loss, and John managed to clean up the demoralized warriors. A center command enabled Goths to attack the flanks the right one failed and the lone MC was able to run away unscathed, but the Heavy on the right cleaned up the auxilia and almost repeated it against the second one but just missed. 
A leadership command with inspired onslaught rounded and cleaned up the heavy, but somehow Teia managed to escape this time. A final push from 2 brave warriors against a lone Auxlia and a half hearted medium proved futile as the broken troops somehow survived. And the final leadership with command cleaned up the already defeated warrior to ensure a victory which was more close than the result showed.

This could have been 6-5 either ways but it ended 6-3 with more casualities on the winning side

 
 

This is a message to gdnuke. I can't seem to message you directly through this platform, so I'm just hoping you see this. We're scheduled to play the second round match against each other. Let me know what time works for you.

Hello Ben,
I am gdnuke@hotmail.com. I sent you an email a few days ago and I will resend it. That has that info and surely just went to your junk mail folder. If you don't get my email, shoot me one from yours.

For anyone else reading this, consider my email address an open invitation to hit me up for pretty much any Borg game. I think Red Alert and Battlelore are the only ones I haven't played.
Best,
George