Fighting for Empire with Neil Thomas' AMW

The rules and changes worked well - satisfied, I got my buddy Ken to throw his Germans and Imperial Romans on the table over at his place. After a few explanations, we set up and had a pretty gripping battle that oriented around key decisions:

- when to commit the main battle lines

- how to manage the two flanks: on the one hand, you would like to gain an advantage and flank the line. OTOH, you don't want to risk losing your flank troops and getting rolled up yourself!

The Romans had all the legions in the center. On the left flank, covering a steep hill, they put two Light Infantry [Jav] to delay two Warbands. The center four Warbands faced off against the legions, while the Roman right tangled their Roman heavy cavalry and Auxilia against German Heavy Cavalry and Light Infantry [Bow] - then a Warband jumped in....

Below, the decision as to when the main battle lines should clash was not easy to make. I made a partial commitment with one Legion against a Warband, rolled poorly, and quickly found the entire right half of my army in jeopardy as the flank was already doing poorly, with the cavalry slowly losing to the German cavalry, and the Auxilia slowly losing to a warband.

Below, from the right, the Roman heavy cavalry, Auxilia and a legion hang on best they can against a lot of German pressure in the form of their heavy cavalry and two Warbands [the Light Infantry [bow] dashed away before the Auxilia could finish them off]. To their left, one Legion is doing poorly, over half gone. On the hill, the legions are holding their own or staring down their opponents.

Below, on the left, the Roman Light Infantry shot, maneuvered and fought to destroy a Warband and most of a second. This cost them nearly all of both Light Infantry, and the steep hill protecting the Legion's left flank is pretty much secure - there are no strong troops around as there is only one stand of Warband and one stand each of two light Units.

Below, a couple turns later, the Roman left legion had pushed back the opposing Warband, while the Warband on the hill destroyed a Light Infantry - it then began advancing against the rear of the legions, but was in a very weakened state, only one Base. The Roman right units were all destroyed and the center legion in reserve had to slowly shift to the right, just barely making it in time to prevent an ugly flank attack.

Unfortunately, the loss of the right-most legion resulted in a break test, which the Romans failed, resulting in a German Victory!

No complaints with how it played out - there being no decisive result in the center or the left, the right flank ended up deciding the battle. Had the Romans passed their Break Test, they may have forced a roll by the Germans instead. 

One problem was that the Germans managed to extricate their units from destruction [except one warband] while the Romans were not able to do so. Something the Roman player should keep in mind next time...

And next time happened just a few weeks later....