The Dacian deployment is rather congested

The Romans are a bit more organised

Roman Auxiliary and Foederati cavalry

Roman right flank

There’s a log jam around the woods

Last Thursday afternoon just before Easter, Craig, Garry and Rick came over and we played a Hail Caesar Second Edition game, of the Battle of Adamclisi, out in the shed. We used to play a lot of Hail Caesar games back in the day at the club and Craig wrote the Rome’s Dacian Wars supplement which was published in 2013. It was quite nostalgic really, the game proved to be a fairly chaotic affair, but provided plenty of laughs. Craig and I were the Roman commanders with four divisions and Garry and Rick the Dacian commanders with five divisions. 

As usual the Dacians had a hard time fitting all their troops on the table. The scenario had both forces deployed on the short sides of the table and this created a bit of a log jam around the woods in the centre of the table. The Romans got off to a shaky start on the right flank with Trajan’s two divisions. The guard cavalry here were eventually broken. On the left flank Sarmatian cataphracts charged the Romans and an auxiliary cavalry unit was broken. The Foederati cavalry managed to avert disaster by forcing one Sarmatian unit to retire disordered. At this point we ran out of time but it was a minor victory for the Dacians, although neither side had any broken divisions.

Roman cavalry and skirmishers fight on the right flank

Skirmishing continues on the left flank

Sarrmatian cataphracts charge