The Original "Unleash Hell"!
The Battle of Idistaviso, AD16
CONTENT
Introduction
Initial Deployment
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Roman Army
Sheet
"UNLEASH HELL"
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This article reproduced from Wargames Journal (issue dated June 2003)
"When I give the signal...unleash hell!"
In
AD9, the Roman general Publius Quinctilius Varus was treacherously
ambushed in the Teutobergian Forest by the German chief Arminius.
Varus’ three legions were annihilated:
a disaster of such epic proportions that their numbers (XVII,
XVIII and XIX) were never used again.
Fast forward seven years, and
the Romans were back: this
time with Germanicus Caesar at their head.
Named for his father’s
successes against the Germans; Germanicus was the nephew, adopted son
and next in line to the throne of the Emperor Tiberius.
He was also the governor of two German provinces and had already
achieved some success against Arminius in earlier campaigns.
Now he was campaigning not only to demonstrate Rome’s power to
the ever-restless Germans, but also to keep his troops occupied at a
time when they were almost in a state of open revolt over issues of pay
and conditions.
In
the spring of AD16, Germanicus therefore
loaded his men onto ships and sailed down the Rhine, through the
canals that had been engineered by his father, to the mouth of the River
Ems. The Legions then
disembarked and headed upstream into German territory.
After a slight delay for bridge building and to dispatch a small
force to put down a rebellion in his rear, Germanicus’ force faced the
Germans across the river Weser.
There,
so the story goes, Arminius came forward and asked under flag of truce
to speak to his brother, Flavus, who served with the Romans.
Seeing
that his brother had lost an eye to a terrible face wound, Arminius (who
had also been a Roman auxilia officer as a young man) asked where Flavus
had received such an injury and what rewards he’d received for his
bravery and many years of loyal service. Flavus told him that he had had a pay rise, and had received
various symbolic rewards for his courage:
the Roman equivalent of medals for gallantry.
Arminius
apparently jeered at these ‘paltry’ rewards and a massive argument
broke out between the two brothers:
one proclaiming the glory and magnanimity that was Rome, the
other in favour of remaining loyal to his German fatherland, gods,
mother, people etc. The
brothers were separated before actual fighting broke out, so ending a
glorious opportunity for the ancient commentator, Tacitus, to state both
sides of the political situation of the moment!
The
next day saw a limited attack by the Roman cavalry across the river,
which was beaten off with some loss to the Romans when the Germans
feigned a retreat and successfully drew the horsemen into an ambush.
Germanicus
than crossed the river in strength and set up a fortified camp on the
same side of the river as the German host.
Warned by deserters and his scouts, a German surprise attack was
thwarted before it even began: with the Teutons deciding not to press home their charge when
they saw the legionaries drawn up in fighting order behind their
entrenchments.
Both
sides then engaged in the ancient equivalent of “Psych Op’s”.
The
Germans offered a bribe of 100 sesterces, a wife and some land to any
Roman soldier, legionary or auxiliary, who deserted and joined their
fight for liberation from the Roman yoke. Arminius also gave a speech in which he described Germanicus’
men as fugitives from Varus’ defeat with “wounds on their backs”
etc.
Germanicus,
on the other hand, reassured himself of his men’s loyalty by walking
through the Roman camp in disguise listening to all the nice things his
men had to say about him (Tacitus doesn’t state how good Germanicus’
disguise was) and then gave them a rousing speech in which he revealed
that he had had a dream full of good omens, that the auspices were most
favourable for a Roman victory in battle, and that eight eagles
(co-incidentally one for each legion present) had been seen flying into
the woods: an event also
full of positive significance.
Both
generals then led their men down into Idistaviso plain.
Initial
Deployment
Idistaviso (literally “the
valley of the maidens”) was fought across heights dominating an area
of open ground bordered by a bend in the River Weser and a forest.
The Romans were drawn up in
three lines, with their cavalry on their left, forest-side flank.
The first line consisted of auxiliaries supported by light
troops. The second
comprised four legions and Germanicus’ Praetorians.
The third consisted of more auxiliaries and elements of the other
four legions that Germanicus had at his disposal.
The Germans formed a great arc
across the heights, with their left flank just about on the river and
their right flank extending into the forest.
Arminius’ own tribe, the Cherusci, held the centre of the
German line.
The
Battle
The battle was actually a
comparatively simple affair.
Provoked by a Roman advance, the
German line charged forward. Sheer
Cherusci ferocity almost broke the first Roman line in the centre, but
the auxiliaries held and broke the rampaging tribesmen on either wing.
As the German left wing fled
away from the river for the perceived safety of the woods they were met
by the German right wing fleeing the other way.
Behind them were the ranks of Roman cavalry crashing through the
German flank.
With their wings collapsed, the
Cherusci in the centre also gave way, and a general rout ensued. Many Germans were shot whilst attempting to swim across the
river. Those that made the
forest and hid up trees were either shot down for sport or killed when
the trees they were in were felled by Roman axes.
Arminius only escaped by smearing his face with blood so that he
would not be recognised and fighting his way to safety.
Varus was avenged.
Wargaming
Idistaviso
I have included army sheets for
Vis Bellica for both the Germans and the Romans with each side shrunk by
some 80% to allow for a good evening’s game.
Start
Positions
To accurately re-fight
Idistaviso, each side should start as shown on the accompanying map and
on their army sheets
Note, however, that the shrunk
down forces mean that the distance between the river and the forest,
i.e. the width of the open part of the battlefield, should be no more
than 50” at its widest point (where 1”=1cm at 15mm or 1”=1 inch at
25/28mm). This should give
a distinctly different feel to the game than most made-up encounter
battles, which tend to consist of long, thin lines as opposed to the
deep formation the Romans adopted here.
Terrain
and Special Rules
Some historical commentators
state that the forest was fairly clear of undergrowth, so could
technically count as Woods-Rough terrain.
However, to give the Germans even a chance of winning against a
very superior force, the forest should be counted as Woods-Difficult
terrain.
The heights should count as
Rough terrain. The River
Weser should be 10” wide and count as Impassable terrain, with Open
terrain on the other side.
Due to the scaling down of each
side’s force, the Roman Praetorian base now represents a detachment of
Praetorians only. This is
why it has a much smaller Strength than normal.
Again to give the Germans a
fighting chance, although both sides should have the defeat condition
“All Gone”, the Romans should also have the defeat condition “Big
Man Down” on Germanicus.
Final
Note
The opening battle sequence from
Ridley Scott’s epic movie Gladiator
provided the inspiration for the giant “Unleash Hell!” demonstration
game that the chaps from the Wargames Journal and I put on at Salute
2003. Almost 1,000 28mm
figures fought their way across some fantastic terrain using my own Vis
Bellica rules.
As we were planning the game,
the Editor asked whether Scott had based Maximus’ victory on a
historical battle. After
some research, I’ve come to the conclusion that if it was based on any
battle from the period, it was based on Idistaviso:
if only because both battles are won largely by a Roman cavalry
charge from the flank through woods!
You can see photographs of the
game elsewhere in the Wargames Journal, but here are the army sheets for
Vis Bellica for our “Unleash Hell!” game.
Note, however, that both sides “grew” some extra figures on
the day: hence the reason
you’ll see an awful lot more Roman cavalry than you might expect!
I wonder which side the Editor was playing…?