The Battle of Petra, Spring 361 AD

Outside the city of Petra, 18th February 361 AD

Marcus Alfidus was roused from his sleep by the bellowing of the horns around the camp. The barbarians within the city were pouring out and forming up for battle nearby. Cursing all barbarians, Marcus struggled into his armour as the army was brought to order. Soldiers swore, officers yelled and the servants scrambled to provide all the services needed. 

Presently Marcus was leading his army out of camp to battle. For the past few weeks, the army had been assaulting the city, his men were tired and many were wounded. If he could defeat this army in the field he could reward his men (the Emperor's men he mentally corrected himself, mindful of the presence of several Imperial appointees in his bodyguard) with the sack of a city. All that was needed now was to drive back the barbarians.

He rode out in front of his men, met by deafening cheers and the bellow of horns and trumpets. Over the field the Huns were bellowing their own unintelligible, barely human, language, or the closest they came to it. The thud of their battle drums could almost be felt in the air. "Today, brothers, we drive back the barbarians, in the Name of the Emperor. Cut down the savages, show no mercy!"

The third battle of our Caucasian Campaign, the Second Battle of Petra pitted the forces of the Eastern Roman Empire under Johan, who had been besieging the city, against Joe's Hun garrison who had sallied out. Joe was defending and set up another of his now classic empty battlefields (see here for the first example) with a handful of hills around the edge of the battlefield and a large, open, cavalry friendly area in the centre. The stage was set for quite a game.

Joe's Hunnic Army:

1 x General (Command Value 3)
4 x Hunnic Heavy Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Heavy Cavalry) *One unit suffered from demoralisation due to Roman subversion attempts so was reduced to C Class.
3 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (10 figures per unit, B Class Light Cavalry)
2 x Hunnic Light Cavalry (15 figures per unit, C Class Light Cavalry)

Johan's Roman Army:

1 x General (Command Value 2)
1 x Bodyguard Cavalry (10 A Class Heavy Cavalry)
1 x Clibarnarii (10 B Class Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Cataphracts (10 B Class Fully Armoured Cavalry)
1 x Horse Archers (10 B Class Light Cavalry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 B Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Comitatenses (24 C Class Heavy Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (18 C Class Medium Infantry)
1 x Medium Archers (12 C Class Loose Order Medium Infantry)

Deployment:

Johan deployed on the hilliest side of the battlefield, two small hills dominating the left side of the battlefield. His line from left to right and starting from effectively the centre of the field was made up of the B Class Comitatenses, the Clibanarii, the Cataphracts with horse archers and the larger Medium Archer unit in support. The remaining Comitatenses formed the far right flank with the small Medium Archer regiment supporting them and the general and his bodyguard in close attendance.

In the opposite corner the Huns were formed up in a wide double crescent with four units of light cavalry (two small and two large) forming the forewardmost arc, the other light cavalry unit and the heavy cavalry units forming the rear arc.The general was attached to one of the heavy regiments.

The Plans:

 Joe:

Charge!!!!

Johan:

My initial plan was to advance on Joe, shower him with arrows and then smash him with my cavalry. As Joe failed to cooperate by staying still, I had to improvise and a running battle developed.

The Battle:

The battle began with a general sweeping advance by both sides towards the centre of the field. The Roman cavalry rapidly outpaced the footsloggers, beginning what appeared to be a very dangerous dispersal of the army, while the Huns began to close down the Romans, getting around the cavalry on the Roman left and moving in to threaten the infantry from the flanks.

Cavalry thunder across the field as arrows begin to fly.

The Romans were soon feeling the effects of massed Hunnic bows, particularly the Roman Horse Archers who were far ahead of the other Roman forces and facing rather daunting odds.

An arrow storm descends on the Roman light cavalry.

To try and alleviate the barrage of arrows, the Romans threw their Heavy Cavalry, Cataphracts and Clibanarii at the leftmost Hun Light Cavalry unit, which wisely chose to fall back away from the ironclad horde bearing down on it. The Roman Horse archers charged into another unit of Hunnic Light Cavalry who countercharged into melee. Pressing the advantage with the Roman cavalry fully engaged elsewhere (including almost half of the points value of their army charging after a single low cost Hun unit) Hunnic cavalry swept into the virtually abandoned Roman infantry who were barraged with arrows.

Roman cavalry chase an elusive target back toward the Hunnic rear while Hun cavalry sweep around the exposed Roman infantry.

The Roman infantry managed to swing around to take on the flanking Huns, with the archer units giving as good as they got in the missile fire while the Comitatenses regiment on the left pushed forward towards javelin range in the teeth or Hunnic missile fire and a feint charge. The smaller unit of Roman archers attempted to evade a unit of Huns who charged them and ended up being run down and routed. Meanwhile the mass of Roman cavalry charging off after the Hunnic lights came under threat from Hun heavies on their left flank. The cataphracts were halted and started to reform. The Hun heavies charged into the Roman general and his bodyguard, who managed to swing around and countercahrge. Despite being disorganised, the Roman troops managed with the inspiration of their general win the ensuing melee. The Roman horse archers and the Hun light cavalry in the centre fought themselves to a standstill with both units suffering morale losses and being forced to break off.

Heavy fighting breaks out in the cavalry horde and the infantry stand their ground.

The next round, things went south quickly for the Huns. The unit of heavy cavalry facing the Roman general lost their combat and broke, fleeing through another heavy cavalry unit that was then hit in the flank by the victorious Romans and broke after a round of melee. The light cavalry being chased by the Roman Clibanarii fled the field while the Romans managed to bring the Clibanarii under control and keep them in the game. Although they were inflicting heavy losses on the fleeing Roman medium archers, the pursuing light cavalry disobeyed orders to halt and were heading rapidly towards leaving the field in pursuit of their quarry. Other Hun units were suffering morale losses under fire from the Romans, and Roman heavy infantry waded into combat with some Hun heavy cavalry and drove them back.

As chaos consumed the Hun army, the Huns tried to regain the initiative, surrounding the isolated Cataphracts and hammering arrows into them, to little effect. Unwilling to confront the Roman armoured cavalry openly, the Huns commander conceded the match and the Huns fled into the hills.

In one last push the Huns try to break the Romans as the dice turn on them.

Marcus Alfidus watched as the Huns fled into the gathering dark, his men pursuing them halfheartedly. His shield arm was in agony from the battering it had taken, his sword arm ached and his sword was welded to his hand by drying blood from men and horses. Around him, he could hear celebrations from his men, but other troops were helping the large numbers of wounded men to the camp for treatment. In addition, his men were setting upon any Hun stragglers or wounded and cutting them down, in no mood to show mercy after such a hard fight.

At dawn, he accepted the surrender of the city of Petra. He had given the Emperor a victory and a new city, now he needed to reward the army. "It's yours men!" he cried out to the assembled army. A deafening cheer accompanied the army as they stormed into the city.

Closing thoughts:

This was easily the bloodiest of the battles fought up until this point in the campaign. The Huns had a great chance to inflict a devastating defeat on the Romans. The Romans failed to remain in a cohesive whole, leaving their infantry exposed as their cavalry stormed off into the aether. With a bedraggled line of cavalry exposing their flanks, the Huns tried to take full advantage, slamming into the exposed Roman cavalry and infantry, but they were badly let down by the dice.

Joe:

Gargh! Barbarians don't write!

Johan:

In the end Joe lost the battle partly due to unlucky morale checks and disobedient soldiers and partly due to underestimating the morale of my troops. Several times at critical moments Joe attempted charges that were denied for lack of morale on Joe's side.