Wagon Train

‘You gave him the money?’

‘We … negotiated.’

‘What did you get out of it? He’s got all the money.’

‘Well, I didn’t have to die a glorious but pointless death.’

‘So now you want the money back?’

‘Well, not really. But if the Germans make it to the Empire with it, they’ll buy themselves a patch of land next door to us, and that might be a bad thing for both of us. So if we get the money back, we can keep them from settling on our borders.’

‘Very well, my friend, we shall plan to do just that. But the Romans are usually not happy when people attempt to keep money from them.’

*

So, here is the setup for the next battle in the Sarmatian Nation campaign. Actually, it is based on a venerable wagon train scenario, from George Gush’s Airfix Guide to the English Civil War. I’m probably showing my age now. Indeed, the scenario was to be run with my ECW troops, but I decided to switch things around and use the ancients, in, for me, copious quantities. In the original scenario, the Parliamentarians were required to escort some wagons from Little Pottering to Puddleby, while a Royalist raiding force tried to stop them. In my reworking, the Germans are attempting to take their booty from Temeshvekovar to the Roman Empire to buy some land. The Dacians and Sarmatians are trying to stop them.

The above picture shows the starting positions, roughly. The Germans, at the far end, got a few moves to get started. The wagons (or, actually, pack animals – Dacia is hilly) are divided into three. Two on the left-hand road, three on the middle, and one on the right as we look at it. Figulus Modicum is in the distance, while Conlectus is nearest the camera, with the Roman infantry gathering. Rubigo Praetorium is in the middle distance, with a small Roman outpost. The Dacians arrive at the far end, on a cumulative tempo roll of 18, while the Sarmatians arrive on the right with a cumulative roll of 19.

A few moves later, things are starting to happen. The Dacians have arrived at the far end, moving along the roads in an effort to catch the pack horses. In the distance on the right, the German sub-general has moved his charges and tribal foot into Collis Agri and is preparing to defy all comers. This is because the Sarmatians have just arrived on the right of the picture and split into three forces: one to face the Romans, one to attack towards the middle road, and the other to intercept the left road.

It got quite complicated quite quickly. I managed to sort out who won the tempo and keep track of that, and the above picture shows the opening clashes in the centre of the battlefield. The first wave of Sarmatians charged and caught the German train guards before they deployed properly. They are now fleeing (yellow markers) while the Sarmatians follow up. In the right foreground, the German tribal foot are cowering in the field, while the Romans face more Sarmatians.

It went downhill from there for the Germans and Romans. Towards the river, the Romans started to cross the river, but they were a bit stymied by the Sarmatians under Vodkaschnapps himself. While the Sarmatians declined to charge the deploying Roman infantry, they did charge the deployed auxiliary cavalry and routed them in one go, on a fluky dice roll. This caused the Romans to fall back across the river, as they had, in addition, lost the Romans based at Rubigo Praetorium had also mostly been lost to Sarmatian charges.

At this point, the Romans and Germans conceded the game. The Romans were knocked out and the Germans had lost three of the loads of money, another would have to surrender as soon as Dubloswhiskos brought up some more troops. The other two loads, on the left-hand road, might make it to Roman territory but also might be overtaken either by the Dacians pursuing them or by Sarmatians spared from the centre.

That was a complicated but fun action. In this campaign the Sarmatians have really been devastating, I do not think Vodkaschnapps lost a battle, or, indeed, I suspect, and bases along the way. Neither the Romans, Germans nor the Dacians turned out to have anything much to oppose a full-blooded Sarmatian cataphract charge. The Roman cavalry, it is true, were unfortunate to get caught with their backs to a river and on the receiving end of the 6-1 roll, and in the centre Vodkaschnapps had to be careful, as the cataphracts are a definite one-shot weapon, although a rallying base of Sarmatians did manage to best some German cavalry at the end.

I am not sure if there are many more wargames left in this campaign. The Sarmatians can more or less do what they want, the Romans will remain behind their border fortification. Dubloswhiskos can live in peace with his Dacian tribe (which is all he ever wanted to do), while the Germans might be able to acquire a little land from the Romans and Dacians to scratch a living from. The campaign has resulted in 10 wargames since February 2020, it seems. Not bad for a campaign with no maps, I think, but Dubloswhiskos and Vodkaschnapps deserve a happy retirement, I think.

*

‘We did it, my friend.’

‘We? You did most of it. Those cavalry of yours are terrifying.’

‘They do the job. But now the boys would like to go home.’

‘Home. I thought you were trying to make this your home.’

‘Ah, well. They prefer the life of the steppe, rather than this so-called civilised activity, like planting and harvesting.’

‘More like paying taxes and having people marching through your land, you mean.’

‘Yes, there has been a bit of that, I grant. But it was all for a good cause.’

‘You mean taking three loads of Roman money back to the steppe with you?’

‘It will, of course, help. And, when the boys get bored again, or their wives start nagging, we might start on building my khanate.’

‘Farewell, Vodkaschnapps. Don’t be a stranger, but don’t bring an army next time you visit.’

‘Farewell, my friend. Keep the Romans at bay and enjoy your fields.’