Loot the Villa

There is a villa somewhere in Etruria circa 390 BC. It looks like rich pickings for a marauding band of Romans. Learning of the Roman incursion, the Etruscans march out to stop them.

The Etruscans send their slingers forward in front of their force, hoping to pick of a few of the enemy and give time for the close combat troops to deploy. The Roman equites quickly ride them down, scattering them to the four winds.

The opposing lines begin to square up. The Roman levy taking a position on high ground as the Etruscans deploy.

The Etruscan cavalry take revenge on the Roman Equites. After a couple of rounds of combat the Roman cavalry are routed.

Coming down off the hill the Roman levy catch the Etruscan warriors before they are able to form into a tight phalanx. Casualties are heavy on both sides and so after a few rounds of combat both pull back to recoup.

In the centre of the field the elite hoplites of both sides meet in a grinding combat. The hoplite armour prevents too many casualties and there is a long back and forth until eventually both left wings begin to push back their respective opponents.

As all this is going on the Roman skirmishers break into the villa and begin looting it.

Eventually the long push of spears results in one group of Roman hoplites breaking. It is beginning to look as if the Etruscans may win the day.

The Romans however still have a lot of fight in them. The surviving group of hoplites charge the Etruscan warriors who are still reeling from their earlier mauling by the Roman levy. Although not broken, the Etruscans are driven from the field.

Hoping to turn the tide, the Etruscan levy prepare what they hoped would be a devastating javelin volley followed up by a charge into combat against the Roman antepilani. It does not go well. The javelin volley has only minimal effect and the charge does not hit home. When the Romans surge forward the Etruscan levy is broken.

At this point the Etruscan prince Larth Ulthes (Lars Voltius in Latin) decides it is time to withdraw from the field to conserve his forces. The villa is left to the depredations of the Romans.

This was another great game using Andy Hawes’ Dux Italica rules — an adaptation of Dux Britanniarum for 4^th C BC conflict in Italy