Battle of Turin 312

 Sunday saw us gaming at Chris Flowers Barn and re fighting the Battle of Turin one of the decisive battles of a Roman Civil War which saw Constantine turn the Romans into a Christian Empire.

The armies were pretty huge and included supporting Goth troops, Constanine's forces were led by Chris Charlton, Andy Lawson, John Smith and Richard Croisdale, whilst Maxentius had me in the centre with Richard Lawrence on my right and Mike on my left.

Move one and Rich Croisdale's light cavalry poor forward to put Mike under immediate pressure.

Rather than write up the orders of battle I have taken pictures of Chris Flowers great work organising them, note that rules are Hail Caesar so any specials refer to these rules.

Lots of photos to share of this fabulous collection, not a huge ammount to say. We got our arses handed to us.

In the centre I had the best of the Legionaries and the Cataphracts under the Pagan Emperor, Chris and Andy fielded Constantine with his heavy foot, allied Goths and Cataphracts directly opposite me. 

We were relatively evenly matched but the bonuses provided by Constantine tipped the scales just enough, his better troops all passed their first break test automatically and had a plus one in combat, it was just enough to ensure that we couldn't break them and eventually they ground us down in the centre.

The only minor victory achieved was the Emperors Cataphracts driving off the Christian Pretenders after a hard fought melee in the centre.

The Roman Christians were supplemented with some very tough Goths, the heavy Goth cavalry being better than the Cataphracts.

Mike on our left roles notoriously badly , he started quite well but just as Rich C was getting the upper hand Mike rolled this in combat.

Meanwhile Rich L was being bullied back on the right by John Smiths troops and in particular the Heavy Goth Cavalry which broke 6 units of Romans to appear behind my Cataphracts later in the game.

It wasnt all bad for Mike and he insisted on a photo call when he rolled this in one combat! 

Unfortunately it was not enough to stop Rich C steam rollering our left flank.

With the heavy Goth cavalry in my rear my Cataphracts were actually forced to form a square.

At this point with my commanders looking at me for what's next I let everyone know "Just wait here and I will go for help!" and the emperor scarpers.

A resounding win for the forces of Christianity, well done fellas.

Great game.