If you go down the woods today, you'll surely be in for a surprise

With plenty of test games under our belt, we gathered last Saturday to play out the first scenario in the Hail Ceaser, Germania. This is the battle for the Teutoburg Forest, where Varius led his legions to disaster.


As you can see from the photo to the left, the legions are deployed randomly along the road, with the Germanic tribesmen rushing in from the side.

Sides were drawn, Terry, John M, and Ben were to commanding the Romans, whilst John S, Jim and myself were the Germans who were to do their best to introduce them to a world of pain.

The objectives for the Romans was to get off the board in reasonable shape. For the Germans, it was to kill and loot as much as possible.

Turn One.

With the men deployed, the first turn fell to the Germans and we did our best to charge forward. However, a flurry of bad dice rolls saw only a couple of units getting into combat. John S saw his cavalry charge in and break one of the Roman Legions at the front. Whilst, at the rear, Jim did something similar with one of Terry's unit.

To represent the desperate last stand of this fight, there was an unusual special rule which saw the Romans reduce in size, when they break from combat, instead of being removed from the table.

In response, the Romans did their best to reorganize their lines, but a flurry of bad command rolls and units stuck in combat, saw little movement. Ben was able to charge his auxiliary cavalry into the flank of one of my warbands, and after causing many casualties, I retreated. Worse lay ahead for Ben as John S wiped out the lead unit in combat.

Turn Two.

With a lucky flank appearing before me, I charged a small unit of skirmishers, as seen in the photo to the left, into Ben's cavalry. The combat ensued, and I managed to cause a mighty six wounds to Ben's one in return. The cavalry disintegrated and the skirmishers swarmed forward, taking the Roman baggage train. They would do very little for the rest of the game, so I imagine them drinking their way through the wine. 

Elsewhere, John S was able to get two units into combat but saw his archers blunder and retreat in panic, gaining a wound as well. This combat was a success for John and saw Ben's forces retreat under the Germanic pressure. At the rear of the table, Jim was about to make his move to charge Terry but was left standing out on his own, after failing a command test. 

The Romans reply saw Terry charge Jim. The combat was quick and furious and saw the drilled might of Rome teaching the locals a lesson as Jim gave ground disordered. In other parts of the table the battle between Ben and John S carried on, but this time, it ended in a stalemate. John M tried to charge my skirmishers, but I successfully evaded them. The wine was mine, and I was not going to be giving it back. 

Turn Three.

Turn 3, was going to be an important turn, the Germans had been able to get the upper hand from their surprise charge. Jim was able to carry this on and was able to get a nice flank charge on Terry's forces. The combat was quick with Jim coming out on top. Terry's units, breaking, were once again reduced in size as they desperately fought on.

At the top of the table, more jockeying for position happened, whilst John S carried on his fight against Ben. It was another draw, but Ben had reached his limit and was forced to roll on the break table. Breaths were held to see what would happen, and the Romans sighed with relief as the unit was forced to give ground. 

In response, the Romans turn was somewhat poor. Trying a cunning plan to get them out of the road, and into a fighting position. However, several poor rolls for command checks left them strung out across the road.

Turn Four.

Again for the Germans, there was further moving into position at the top of the table. Many units passed their command tests, however, were left frustratingly short of getting into combat. However, the excitement was still happening at the rear of the table. Carrying on the combat Jim rolled well, causing hits left, right and center on Terry's unit.

Failing five saves, the unit crumbled and disappeared.

At the top of the table, the Romans were able to get into the action. Despite Ben failing his test, a regular occurrence during this game, John M was able to get a charge in against John S. The combat was short and fast, with John M coming out on top and John S forced to give ground.

At this point, we stopped for lunch and discussed the game so far. The Romans were still holding out, but their numbers were dwindling. The chances of getting a second game in that day looked less and less likely, however, we would be home in time to see England smash Wales. 

Turn Five.

In this turn, I was hoping that I would be able to get two of my units into combat but failed to roll well enough to get into combat with John M. 

John S and Jim did something similar to each other. Moving forward, whilst trying their best to remove wounds where they could. 

The John's carried on their combat, causing four wounds apiece. The result of this combat was that each unit became shattered and they were required to take a break test. John M became a smaller unit whilst John S gave ground. 

In response, the Romans threw caution to the wind and John M was able to cause some wounds with a  good round of shooting. 

Turn Six.

John and I charged into the Roman lines, getting several different charges off. With a good round of combat, we could finish the Romans off. John was more successful in beating Ben's forces, as you can see from the photo above. I, on the other hand, bounced John M's Romans. However, to help round up the turn, John S's cavalry made short work of a unit of Romans. Jim, having wiped our Terry's division was making his way as fast as he could to the top of the table.

In the Roman turn, things went more their way. John M was able to cause wounds left, right and centre, but in a moment of foolishness, he added Varius to one of his units, which was beaten in combat, allowing John S to kill Varius. Another point to the Germans.

Turn Seven. 

The final turn. Both Jim and I saw all of our movement stalled as we failed to roll well enough. John S was better, getting into combat with Ben's unit. The combat was quick and fierce with John S coming out the victor, breaking Ben's division at the same time.

In the final Roman turn, John M went all out for it and charged as much as he could. He won several combats which saw my division finally break. However, it was too little too late, the damage had been done and the game was over.

So, a quick top up of the scores saw the Germans win by 94 points to the Romans 65. Points were awarded for capturing baggage, destroying units and so on. The final score really shows how close a game it was. John M's last minute fight back helped them get some last minute points, but the German surprise attack had won them the game.

Now, to the next scenario.