Battle Report: Hail Caesar Baggage Raid

Introduction

So, our second game of Hail Caesar was played last weekend.  After last time (here), we decided to avoid built-up areas for now, but we didn't want to line up equal forces for a straightforward "encounter" battle either.

I searched the Internet for suggestions and one of the first sites I found was this: https://janwillembootsblog.wordpress.com/scenarios/ .  The very first scenario in this article was titled "Crusaders raiding an Ayyubid caravan"; that sounded interesting.  It was easy enough to transpose it to 700BC to suit my 15mm armies, so we now have my Assyrians attacking a Hebrew supply train.  Since these supplies are being transported as payment for the Hebrew's Midianite allies, the Midianites have a joint interest in defeating the raiders.

The Game

We decided to use 3 divisions each, randomly selected from the 4 divisions fielded in the previous game.  For the defenders:

• The infantry from Hezekiah's (Hebrew) Division guarded the mules, bearers and caravans of the supply convoy.  Hezekiah's chariots were off-table to the right.
• 2 Midianite divisions would enter as reinforcements from the left.

The attacking Assyrians had these:

• The Nineveh infantry division was on-table from the start.  One unit was hidden down by the river and would spring the ambush; the remainder were further off.
• The Royal division was split: the cavalry were on-table (to the right); they intended to cut off the Hebrews' path of retreat.  The royal chariots were off-table in reserve.
• The Ashur infantry division was entirely in reserve.

The ambush was sprung!  Assyrian regulars leaped up from their hiding places amongst the river reeds and peppered the leading Hebrew unit with arrows.  They did a lot of damage, but not enough to make the defenders flee - or even to prevent them from counter-attacking.

Midianite camels were quick to aid their allies, though the rest of their forces were still some way off.  Meanwhile, 2 of the baggage units attempted to skirt around the ambushers' melee, but they were very slow-moving and didn't get far.

The rest of the Nineveh division moved forwards at great speed, no doubt desperate to relieve their compatriots and much encouraged by the prospect of so much loot with so little protection.

None of the Assyrian reserves arrived.

The rearmost baggage and its supporting infantry attempted to double back and escape that way.  Assyrian cavalry advanced rapidly to intercept them, though and it looked as if this part of the caravan might be overwhelmed in short order...

...but swift Hebrew reinforcements caught the Assyrians in the flank.  The horsemen barely had time to turn to face before the Hebrew chariots rumbled into them.  To be honest, I didn't think my cavalry had much of a chance, but amazingly even though they were thrown back in disorder, with heavy casualties, they didn't break for several turns

The second Hebrew chariot unit then attempted to catch the other, now-uncovered Assyrian cavalry in the flank as well.  Once more, the defenders only had time to turn and shoot a few arrows - but this time a lucky near miss caused the chariots to fall back in disorder.  Obviously the leader of this group of Hebrews was a court favourite rather than a warrior: I suspect that some prophet or other would be preaching sermons against decadence and nepotism amongst the nation's elite before the week was out!

Meanwhile, the baggage camels were getting away.

At the head of the convoy, the Nineveh division tore into the caravan guards and started chasing down the baggage, while Hezekiah watched helplessly from his nearby command chariot.

One fly in the ointment was that the leading Midianites were perfectly positioned to charge into the rear of the ambushers.  Astonishingly, the Assyrian regulars held their ground and even inflicted some hurt on their attackers [Maybe this isn't completely surprising, as the Midianite camels are not a particularly strong charging force.  However, they had quite a margin of superiority in this situation and might well have expected to brush the infantry aside].

Assyrian reserves entering the table this turn: none.

Unexpectedly, the camelry was so badly shaken up that they fled soon after when shot up by some Assyrian skirmishers.  However, there were many more Midianites on the horizon - and no sign at all of the Assyrian reserves.

The Nineveh division started to retreat with its captives, when finally the Ashur division arrived from reserve.  They were a long way off, though - could they reach the fight before the Midianites?

On the right-hand flank, the Hebrew chariots were still occupied in chasing down the outclassed Assyrian cavalry; a task made somewhat more urgent by the approach of the Assyrians' own chariot force.

The Hebrews planned to sandwich the last of the Assyrian cavalry between their two chariot units.  This would almost certainly have been enough to wipe them out, but the Hebrew Gibborim infantry decided to join in as well [A blunder was rolled: King Hezekiah was attempting to rally the infantry.  However they were so fired up that they decided to attack, dragging the king into the melee with them!].

Once again, the Assyrian horsemen managed to drive off one chariot unit with accurate archery, before the cavalry disintegrated under a combined rear and flank attack.

The masses of Midianite infantry advanced very sluggishly - there was even some pushing and shoving [disorder!] as units fought not to be in the lead.  Their camel riders were obviously made of sterner stuff, though: they charged forwards, saw off a unit of Assyrian territorials and claimed one of the baggage units for their own.

Before the Ashur division could wend its way through or around the broken ground to reclaim this lost loot, the Midianite general took personal charge of the baggage.  He issued a "Follow me!" order and led them rapidly off the field, leaving all the other combatants (on both sides) dumbstruck!

After this unexpected, but rather brilliant, manoeuvre it was immediately apparent that the Assyrians couldn't move fast enough to recapture the loot, so I conceded the game.

Conclusion

In case you have lost count, here's how it stood at the end:

• The Hebrews spirited one baggage unit safely off the right-hand side of the table.  For a brief moment it looked as if the Assyrian cavalry might have a chance of capturing this, but it wasn't to be.  The Assyrian chariots did drive off the Hebrew chariots to avenge their fallen horsemen but this was just revenge; the baggage was long gone by that time.
• The Nineveh division had captured 2 parts of the caravan with relative ease, but they were unsupported and could only hold on to one.
• The Midianite commander took the third baggage unit and ran with it.  Realistically, the Ashur division wasn't likely to catch up with him this side of Jericho!

So each of the players ended up with 1/3 of the spoils.  However, since the Hebrews and Midianites were allies their combined forces won the game by 4 points to 2!

Everyone had something to grumble about.  The Assyrian reserves took forever to appear, the Midianite infantry just didn't want to move forwards and the Hebrews were fighting one and a half times their own numbers.  Yet, for all that I felt that it was a good game with a lot of narrative and you know what?  Everyone had something to cheer about too!

Hail Caesar: The Race for Ashkod

Introduction

My very first adult wargaming army was my 15mm Assyrians.  In the early 1980s they took on various forces owned by university friends - Saxons, Byzantines, Han Chinese, Carthaginians - using WRG Ancients Rules (5th or 6th edition, if I remember correctly).

I figured that the only way I would be able to field my Assyrians against a contemporary army was if I collected it myself, so I started to build forces for late Hebrews (Judeans), Midianite Arabs and Kushite Egyptians (the black, 25th dynasty).  Pretty much all of these could be used as enemies or allies for any of the others.

And that was that.  I moved away to take up my first job and suddenly was in a strange town, buying and renovating my first house and didn't have time to play wargames.  In any case, my enthusiasm for 1980s-style WRG rules had started to pale...

Roll on several decades and Hail Caesar was published by Warlord Games.  It's taken me a few years of wishing, but we finally played our first game of this last Sunday.

Setup

So, nothing too elaborate for our first outing with Hail Caesar.  This was to be a straight-up fight between 2 similarly-sized forces, with just a medium-sized town, some gentle hills and a small wood for terrain.  The town was divided into 4 sectors, each capable of holding one standard-sized unit.

Assyrians

• 2 x mixed infantry divisions
• 1 x light infantry division
• 1 x royal division, entirely cavalry and heavy chariots.

Allies

• 2 x Hebrew divisions, each a mixture of medium and light infantry.  King Hezekiah's division also had a couple of heavy chariot units.
• 2 x Midianite Arab divisions, each a mixture of camels, light infantry archers, warbands and skirmishers.

The Game

• An early series of good command rolls saw the Assyrian centre advance unopposed through the town, whilst the nearby Hebrews looked on, bemused.
• Elsewhere, the Assyrians also seized the woods, though only with a very small force.
• On the left flank, King Balaam's Midianites moved forwards swiftly and began to pelt the much larger Assyrian force with missiles.

• First kill of the game went to some Assyrian skirmishers; some shooting and a failed morale roll saw opposing Hebrew skirmishers run away.  A small triumph, but still...
• To the extreme right, a number of Midianite camels held up the Assyrian advance for pretty much the entire game, preventing their light infantry from supporting their skirmishers in the woods.

• A determined Hebrew attack saw them gain a foothold in the town...
• ...but another assault was repulsed bloodily, with both sides suffering heavy casualties.

• The Midianites on the left had caused a lot of damage to the opposing infantry, taking only a few casualties in return.  Even though they were badly shaken, the Assyrians held their ground; they just wouldn't flee...
• Near the town, the Hebrew mercenary medium infantry clashed with a lone Assyrian unit, but suffered greatly for their bravery.
• An uncontrolled advance saw more Assyrians move deep into the Midianite lines.

• The Assyrian light division and the Midianites on the right flank exchanged many arrows, but neither side seemed prepared to force the issue by charging into melee - at least until very late in the game.
• Finally, King Hezekiah realised that there was nothing much in front of him other than some enemy skirmishers.  It took a few turns for his ponderous heavy chariots to catch these Assyrian levies (they kept evading!), but when he did so the outcome was completely predictable: the Hebrew chariots obliterated their foes.

• Seeing that their skirmishers were on the verge of running away, the Assyrians' Royal Division launched a devastating mounted charge against their Midianite enemies, shattering and overrunning infantry and camels alike.
• With other losses from the nearby infantry fights, the Midianite king's division just disintegrated; the few survivors hastened off the field.

• Hebrew infantry pressed on through the town, but the fighting was bloody and they ran out of steam by the time they got to the half-way point.

• Indeed, the Hebrews in the town were so exhausted that even a feeble attack by a tired Assyrian force was enough to destroy one unit.  This broke one of the Hebrew divisions, at which point we called it a day.

Winners and Losers

There's no doubt that this game ended in an Assyrian victory.  Indeed, they lost very few units - and almost all of those were expendable skirmishers.  However, there were not many units left in their army who didn't have a large number of casualties, so it was by no means a pushover!

I think that the crisis came early with the sluggishness of the Hebrew centre.  They should have advanced into the empty town easily; the failure to do so put them on the back foot throughout the game.  Although they eventually forced their way in the buildings, this was at a great (and ultimately unsustainable) cost.

On the left flank, the Midianite king gallantly held up 2 entire Assyrian divisions pretty much unaided.  However, he was too outnumbered and just couldn't convert the early casualties he caused into routing enemy units.  Eventually, the counterattack swept him away.

The right flank was a stalemate, with neither side's light forces able to gain any real advantage.

Conclusion

We will certainly play Hail Caesar again!  This was a fun game, though the multi-zone built-up area did cause us some confusion about rules.  Indeed, I've posted questions about this on the Warlord Games forum to see if anyone can offer a definitive interpretation.

So, our next game will probably not use buildings (or not many, at least!) and will have a more interesting scenario.  I'm hoping so, at least!