Big Battle "Dominion of the Spear"

Yeah man!  This is more like it cuz it's More Better!

Why settle for 9 units when you can have 22??

The obvious next step in the enjoyable journey of getting to know Dominion of the Spears [CLICK] is to jump into the Big Battle rules in the Designer Notes [p.29]. This gives better "feel" as it widens the center so it feels more like a large battle line.  My choice was to go 5 wide with a Reserve Sector, so 6 total Sectors a side. 

However, I also wanted to try out a "clash of light troops" at the start, as a sort of "Act One" of the game narrative. So both Armies had three units of light troops fight it out before the main clash of battlelines. The sole purpose of this is to see if one side got any advantage out of it by taking out a battle line Unit.  History tells us this is the purpose of light troops [in addition to being camp servants], so I wanted to model that somehow but without changing the game.

Polybian [Republic] Roman Army - 10 Units, 30 Points:

3 x Elite Armoured Melee Infantry - Principes [brown] and Triarii [red]

2 x Melee Infantry - Hastati [blue] and Italian Allies [white]

2 x Melee Mounted - Equites and allied Italian Cavalry [white]

3 x Melee Infantry - Velites

Deployment of the Romans is in order listed above, from the back. The red Triarii are in Reserve.

Carthaginian [Hannibal] Army - 12 Units, 30 Points:

2 x Missile Infantry 1 x Melee Infantry - Balearic Slingers and Caetrati

3 x Melee Infantry - Gauls  [left] and Spanish Scutarii [brown] in center

3 x Melee Mounted - Spanish, Gallic, and Numidian Cavalry

1 x Melee Mounted Armoured - Elephants [right]

2 x Melee Infantry Armoured - Libyans [reserve]

Deployment of the Carthaginians is in order listed above, from the back, with cavalry on the wings [elephants on right of battleline].

Reserve Sector is Numidians, 2 x Libyans, and Spanish Cavalry.

In the clash of light infantry over 2 Rounds, Carthage was bested despite having the advantage of going first with their Missile Infantry, the Balaeric Slingers. Below, you see the advance of the entire Roman Army, led by the two surviving units of Velites. Now, however, the Velites will fight the Carthaginian main battle line to see if they can take out a unit before being "removed" [retiring to the rear after a job well done].

And they do very well for themselves, indeed! They take out 2 x Melee Infantry before being themselves "destroyed", a Gallic and a Spanish Scutarii. Hannibal will have to commit his Reserve Libyans!

Second Round of Battleline Combat. Elephants destroy Italian Cavalry, Principes and last Scutarii mutually destroy in center Sector, Gallic Cavalry destroy Equites. Libyans held their own against the Italians and Hastati.

With no other choice, Hannibal commits the Spanish Cavalry to hold the Center Sector, and the Romans commit a Triarii to the Center [I forgot to commit the other Triarii against the Elephants on the Right, however].

Next Round, the Elephants take out the Italian Infantry. The '4' would not have destroyed the Armoured Triarii Unit, however.

The Libyans fail to destroy the Triarii with a Flank attack, but the Spanish Cavalry destroy them and pursue them off the battlefield [both destroyed, actually].

Gallic Warband knock out the Hastati - a '6' destroys anything.

The Might of Carthage now faces a lone Triarii! The game ends as the Romans have 0-1 Unit, and less than Carthage.

Obviously, I messed up the reinforcements, as the Triarii would have held against the Elephants and saved the Italian Foot. But the loss of the Hastati - who were also Flanked by the Gallic Cavalry - and the Numidian Cavalry reinforcing the center would still leave the final Roman Units badly outnumbered and likely to lose.

Despite the rule mistake, a great little game, probly took about 15-20 minutes to set up and execute.  Dominion of the Spears really shines with an expanded center, and what I will keep as an Optional Rule:

Clash of Skirmishers

The Skirmishers form opposed battlelines in the center. They fight until one side has all Units removed [retire to rear]. Remaining Skirmishers of the winner then fight until removed against the enemy main battle line sectors normally, until they are also removed [retire to the rear]. After this, the main battlelines clash as normal.

Without using any special rules, this "battle before the battle" doesn't just enhance the narrative, it provides an opportunity for Lights to affect the main battleline fight that is next.  While it didn't work out for the Romans since they lost 3-1 in the first Round, followed by being outflanked on their right, it could easily have gone differently if the Carthaginians had fewer Reserve Units.

************************************** Second Big Battle **************************

Well, that played quickly and enjoyably, so I had to have another go!

Again, the Velites managed to win. They then fought the Gallic warband in the main battle line...

...and mutually destroyed them.

This required a Libyan Infantry Unit to be deployed from the Reserve.

In the following Rounds, the Carthaginians bested the Italian Cavalry on the right, but lost in the Center and Left Flank Sectors.

These holes were plugged with Reserves, but the elite Principes and Triarii showed their worth, defeating the Libyans and Elephants [respectively] after the cavalry mutually destroyed each other. Below is the final Round Battle Line Matchup! 

Amazingly, the Spanish Cavalry destroyed the Triarii, but no surprise that the Scutarii didn't survive the frontal attack of the Italian Allies, followed by Flank Attacks from the Hastati and Principes. Game over, man, Game Over!

I hope these posts show how much better this game plays with:

- the Big Battle version from the rules

- a deepening of both sides by a Sector, allowing a clash of Light Troops as the opening stage of the battle.  This could easily be ignored if you feel that historically the light fight wasn't very impactful.  However, in both my battles they destroyed a Carthaginian battle line Unit. Despite this, Carthage still won the first battle, only losing the second.

Next, I will be working on rules for the Generals. This will result in several more opportunities for player decisions, which is all this game really needs to check all my boxes at this point. Stay Tuned!