Vengeance at Vesuvius AAR from Cold Wars

VENGEANCE AT VESUVIUS!! 73BC

6 players met at the base of Mount Vesuvius in 73 BC for Vengeance at the 2014 Cold Wars Convention.  Each player controlled a single model, playing out Spartacus’s raid against the camp of Praetor Gaius Glaber who was tasked with destroying the banditry the escaped gladiators and slaves were perpetrating against their former Roman masters.

The game began In Media Res with tents blazing with fire and Romans in a state of panic.  The sole Legionnaire on the table did not even have time to grab his shield in the melee that would ensue.

The Gladiators were Spartacus, a Hoplomachus, and a Dimachaerius who quickly began looking for their target, Gaius Glaber.  The Roman players were Gaius, a Centurion and a Legionnaire who were tasked with defending their Praetor, Glaber, until the game would end in 12 turns.

To add to the chaos of the game, a bull was also loose which could not attack, but could block another players movement.  The player with the lowest Initiative of the turn would roll a d10 at the end of all other actions and move the bull freely the number of spaces on the die.

The Roman camp at the base of Vesuvius.  Spartacus and his followers rappelled down the mountain side at night using vines to surprise the Romans.

 The scale for the game is 54mm.  The table surface is 2 pieces of foamcore duct taped together with a hex mapped out using brads, then flocked over.

The tents are from Michael's crafts, used with their ACW toy soldiers.

The start.  The Gladiators begin on the left with Glaber on the right, in the center.

Turn I

The Gladiators advance, Gaius slinks back as the Centurion and Legionnaire go forward.  A Hasta (spear) is cast from the Hoplomachus wounding the Legionaire in the right arm causing him to drop his Pilum.  He suffers several wounds, but he, with the help of Glaber's Dux ability are able to clear them.

Turn II

The wounded Legionnaire draws his Spatha wielding it with his good left hand and moves to close with the Hoplomachus.  Spartacus moves to the rear of the Gladiator as he is attacked by the Hoplomachus.  Spartacus hacks into the turned back of the Roman, cleaving his left hand and bringing him to the shades with blows to his back.

At the other end of town, the Centurion decides its safest to put his back to the tent.  The bull is randomly moved and blocks Glaber's path.  The Gladiators receive a boost to their morale!

Turn III

The Gladiators regroup and chase toward Glaber as the Dimachareus rushes to attack the Centurion.  Combat does not go in favor of the Gladiator and he is disarmed of one of his swords and is too far from Spartacus to remove extra stuns!

Turn IV

The Gladiator takes more wounds from the Centurion and is hanging by a thread.  The other Gladiators rush to aid him as Glaber also advances.

Turn V

Glaber administers the final blow to the Gladiator who is all but dead from his fight with the Centurion. With disdain, Glaber beheads him as the other Gladiators close on the 2 remaining Romans.  The bull is again randomly moved to block Spartacus from the 2 Romans.

Turn VI

Glaber closes on Spartacus and fells him in hand to hand.  The Hoplomachus throws his Hasta, but Glaber avoids it, letting it fall harmlessly into a tent.

By Turn VII or maybe it was VIII ;) the Gladiators had conceded.

I was blessed with a great group of players making the game a lot of fun.  The lack of Missio (Mercy) made for some exceptionally gruesome deaths, which is just what everybody wanted! I think looking more at the scenario, I would like to rebalance the characters, tone down the Centurion and Glaber, but I was happy with some of the new abilities like Dux that were used.

More to Come!

Doc