Collaborative Campaign Year 16: Part 6

 The Year of the Garrulous Ram concludes with a further battle between the Picenians and Allies of the Cyraenian Tetrapolis. (Text and Pictures kindly provided by Mark Cordone).

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Conclusion of the Ptsas River campaign (the Battle of Norpalae)

As the army of Lucius Cornelius Balbas prepared to begin it's invasion of of the Tetropolis a centurion of the 5th legion, Titus Polio, who had been charged with coming up with tactics to use vs the terrifying elphas, discovered the beasts could not abide the squealing of pigs and were averse to fire.  He hit upon the idea of combining the two and tests with captured animals proved promising.  He was ordered to prepare a special unit to use them in the next battle.  He recruited some 50 swinherds and drilled them with his century, much to the amusement of the rest of the legion.

Having learned of the victory at Lycrum, Balbas crossed the frontier and advanced towards Sentis, the plan was to have Albinus fall upon the enemy rear while he engaged them in battle.  Anaxander, tyrant of Sentis, who command the Tetropolis army took up a position at the village of Norpalae to await the invaders.  Both sides set up fortified camps and several days of skirmishes followed as Balbas awaited news of Albinus.  Upon learning he was a days march away he decided to accept battle, he wanted the glory of the victory for himself, but if things went wrong then Albinus would be close at hand and thus able to mitigate the consequences of defeat.

It was a clear, hot day as the armies formed up for battle.  Anaxander placed his two phalanx's, some 10,000 men in all, on either flank with a further 5,000 spearmen in the village in the center of his line.  He had some 6,000 horse divided into two divisions in reserve along with some 100 elphas and 2000 peltasts as support.  His plan was to repel the initial Picenian attack then counter attack with his elphas and horse.  All of his troops were regular.

Balbas deployed his 11th legion on his left and the 12th on his right with his archers in the center.  In reserve he had the veteran 5th and 6th legions (disaplined).  He sent his cavalry (unreliable) on a flank march hoping to have them fall upon the enemy left flank.  (The rest of the army were rated as regular).  All in all he had about 24,000 foot and 2,000 horse at his disposal.

The battle opened with an advance in the right hand sector which saw the 12th legion rout the phalanx in front of them, only to be routed in turn by one of Anaxander's reserve cavalry divisions.  The 6th legion then advanced on the right only to meet the same fate as the 12th before them.  As this was happening both generals succeeded in rallying their routed troops.

The triumphant Tetropolis cavalry then moved to flank the Picenian archers in the center.  At first they were rebuffed, but they reformed and charged again and put the Bowman to flight.  Then the rallied 12th rejoined the fray and routed the blown Tetropolis cavalry.  They then flanked the spearmen in the center and drove them from the village. 

Anaxander then unleashed his elphas and rallied phalanx in a well coordinated attack on the 12th and destroyed it.  The 5th legion then advanced, with their incendiary swine in he lead, and attacked the elphas.  The flaming pigs had little effect however as the peltasts shot many of the down and the rest scattered as the elphas rolled forward and crushed the 5th.  (The victors would dine on BBQ pig after the battle.... )

Just as it seemed all was lost the tardy Picenian cavalry arrived and charged the victorious elphas.  However hope was soon dashed as the cavalry, daunted by the smell of burning pigs and the fearsome beasts fled the field in turn.

With the battle now irrecoverably lost Balbas retreated. The nearby presence of another Picenian army prevented pursuit, and Anaxander prepared for another battle.  However, the cautious Albinus chose not to fight, preferring not to gamble with the Republic's only remaining army on the mainland.  He withdrew back across the frontier, followed cautiously by Anaxander.

fter the battle:

The commanders of the Tetropolis held a council of war to decide what to do.  The Kartosians absented themselves, in two battles their vaunted hoplites had suffered very heavy losses and they needed to elect a new king.  This was a time consuming process attended by ritual and the consulting of oracles which would not be complete until the autumn was well advanced.  Anaxander, well aware of the threat posed by the Republic, wanted to attack and destroy the Picenian army and force the return of Therissa and perhaps even the collapse of Picenia.  However, the Cyraenians and Heralions were fearful of a Picenian attack on their cities from the rear and voted against it, with their contingents marching home.

In the end, a temporary one year cease fire was negotiated with the Picenians preparing to renew the struggle as the Tetropolis set about rebuilding its fleet.

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Note from Mark on Flaming Pigs:

 

Flaming Pigs:  the Romans weren't the only ones to try this, but their attempts were the most noted.  I decided it would be fun to use them in a game and came up with the following rule for Dominion of the Spear.

An army may purchase a unit of flaming pigs for 1 point.  They are placed in the reserve and do not count against the maximum number of units in the army.  During the game a player may deploy them on one of his turns to support an attack by any type of infantry unit on an elephant unit . They do not attack themselves, but instead cause the elephants to become unreliable and test before the combat is resolved.  If the elephants fail they rampage through their reserve area before exiting the field and can't be rallied.  If they pass they fight normally for the rest of the battle.  The pigs are removed regardless of the result.

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Thanks to Mark for another fantastic report - It seems that Picenia's ambitions have finally been slowed, at least temporarily. A brief pause should allow the two sides to rebuild their forces to some extent - of course it's the pigs that I feel sorry for...