Quintus and the battle of Aduatuca

We left Quintus as the revolting Gallic Tribes gathered around his Winter Camp.  The Legatus (called "the Noblest Roman" by Cicero,* possibly in a bout of his characteristic sarcasm) had sent out his scouting parties and was beginning to get a feel for the enemy.

I decided to tempt "the Noblest Roman" further, and sticking broadly with the events of the Great revolt of 53 BC, and the sieges of the Winter camps in the lands of the Belgae, I mixed it up a little with few reports from the legate's deputies:

I then quickly added the information Quints had actually asked for, details of the Fort`s readiness!

In a private meeting with Quilpius Cacophonous: "My dear boy, you are quite right of course, the Eubrones would never dare attack us on their own, it would be madness. I sure they want us off their lands at once to save them from German wrath and who can blame them. Caesar really has made an awful mess of things.

Now we have supplies for 4 months but I do think we should take everything and march west to join Labenius just to be on the safe side. I intend to set out as soon as the Eubrones can provide us with scouts.

There's no place for an old man like me in today's diplomatic world. Go to Prefix yourself and speak with him. Just think my lad, you could be "The Man who saved the Fourteenth". How would that sound in Rome?"

To Prefix of the Eubrones: Quintus Witmorus sends his greetings and thanks you for your invitation to dine. Regretfully he is indisposed due to an undercooked quail but is pleased to send Tribune Quilpius Cacophonous who enjoys his fullest confidence and will speak in his stead.

Once Quilpus has left hold an immediate council of war with my own senior commanders.

"Gentlemen, treachery is in the air. Those of us who were at Axona know what tricky blighters these Belgae can be. Well we're not going to let these treacherous cheese eaters get the better of us. Brave Quilpus has gone to parlay with the Eubrones, in the meantime......"

To Marcus Cadaverus: have a word with your fellow member of the Centurions Union, Dextro Illegitimus and get him on board.

To Gaius Crismus Bonus: Start preparing now for a rapid exit by the west gate at my command. Do it quietly, minimum rations, minimum kit, minimum fuss. Once outside the camp we will deploy in legion square. Half cavalry and skirmishers to the north: half to the south. I want to be able to pivot to use the camp as a secure locus should an immediate threat present itself.

Double the night watch and use the youngest lads with the best eyes and ears. If an asthmatic squirrel moves within half a mile I want to know about it. Bulbus tells me that tonight's moon will be a waxing gibbon, I think the man's been smoking mistletoe again.

The Gallic response didn`t really need me to roll any dice.  Caesar recounts a similar situation in the loss of the camp of Sabienus and Cotta.  There are also echoes of the events of 9AD and the Tuetoberg Wald.   The Roman negotiators are promptly executed to give heart to the nascent rebellion.  It sets the scene for the fighting to follow.

Quintus desire to give battle is just as well for me.  I have hastily built a Roman fort, with only some finishing touches left to complete.  For rules I turned to Sword and Spear.  Game on...

By marching out of the west gate the Romans wrong foot the Gallic ambush, which had been fooled by Quintus into thinking that he was going East.  The tribesmen actually facing the Romans at the west gate amounted to no more than a quarter of the Gauls.   These refused to unleash their famous charge, and skulked outside the woods, whilst the rest of the tribesmen attempted to join them.

Quintus threw good command dice, activating his units again and again.  It was quite a demonstration of regular Roman Phlegm.

The Romans withdrew their cavalry and light troops to the rear.

Quintus now formed a double line and advanced, forcing the warbands facing him to fight.

Limited local success by the tribes was rewarded by the death of the Sub Chief Suffix, whilst the Romans virtually annihilated the wing of the Gallic army facing them.

Note that Quintus lurks in the rear forming a group of four cohorts.  This is an old trick he learned from his Republican days!

The remaining tribesmen charged into contact, only to have Quintus himself lead four cohorts onto their flank.

With half of the Gallic army gone the Romans could now push on and capture the all important hillfort.

The rebellion in this part of Gaul had been stamped out before it flared up into something far more serious.



From Wikipedia:

Gaius Crismus Bonus became famed as a landowner in southern Gaul.
Quilpius Cacophonous ended his career as a skull on display in the Gallic hillfort.  He is less noisy these days.
Quintus Witmorus went on to even greater glories as the subject of a heroic poem by Cicero the skinny and less well known, a cousin of the more famous Marcus Tullius Cicero, Orator and poet.

* Marcus Tullius Cicero aka "Chubby Sissy", whose most famous poem begins "there was a young man called Labenius, who was equipped with a very large..."  He never could pull off a decent rhyme.