Fielding a 6mm Roman Cohort at 1:1

When I moved to Cyprus one of the figure collections I brought with me was a large army of 6mm Romans, with various smaller sized enemy forces, Gauls, Sarmatians, Parthians Numidians and Macedonians. As I was painting the last elements this week I suddenly had an epiphany, when I realised that I could field a Roman Cohort at 1 figure equals 1 man.

Simon Scarrow and Anthony Riches both write novels with this level of unit as the main focus.  Using some of the plots and scenes from these would also give me some interesting scenarios.  I have spent hours following the fortunes of Centurions Cato and Macro, as well as Marcus Valerius Aquila.  Great stuff, which I`d never considered actually gaming before.

One issue is that my figures are Marian Roman, chainmail, helmet, big shields with rounded edges.  For the wars of the Late Republic the legion seems to be the base unit, but as I examined them it occurred to me that they would make passable Auxillia of the Early Empire.  Further examination confirmed that my cavalry is also pretty much just generic, so I can muster a Turmae at 1:1 too.  Setting a game in this period has a lot of appeal, the invasion of Britain, the Batavian Revolt, the year of the Four Emperors...  What's not to like... 

My figures are based in groups of 16 men, and a cohort of 80 has a 10cm frontage. That would give the entire cohort a 60cm frontage in four ranks.  They look impressive.

The Cohort will be the 1st Batavians.  Command structure is:

Prefect         Flatuous Maximus     (Overweight) Praefectus cohortis
First Spear  "Uncle" Quintus         (Fatherly)
Centurion    Figulus Incontius       (Martyr to his bowels)
Centurion    Quilpius Magnificus  (Vain)
Centurion    Sextus Iraticus            (Angry boy)
Centurion    Pubicus Impetuous    (Rash)
Centurion    Inflamius Ictis           (the Weasel)

To run these guys through an opening Mini Campaign game I drew up a map.

 The Mini Campaign Map

There are six scenarios in this mini campaign, deliberately made to be typical of Simon Scarrow or Anthony Riches novels.  These will occur in a random order (although I rolled 1 for the patrol so it will actually be the first game as well as being the first on the list:

1. The Patrol
2. The Hill fort
3. The Village
4. The Oak Grove
5. Attack on the second fort
6. Attack on the Walls

The third century of the 1st Batavii have been sent out from the newly occupied fort at The Hill.  The Centurion Sextus Iraticus, is known for his bad temper and avaricious nature, is a proficient Officer and is supported by his Chosen Man and Watch Officer.  The Century comprises 80 Auxiliaries in 10 tent partys of 8 men.

In wargaming terms Sextus has five double elements, giving him ten groups of eight.  The strength of the Selgovae is unclear, and if only light opposition is faced Sextus will press on.  Rumours are that the Selgove nobility wear golden torcs, and that would give Sextus a nice retirement nest egg.

At the Second waypoint Sextus is ambushed by  warband of the Selgovae.  Its a poor ambush since he has time to get ready for them...

The patrol

The Welcoming party

Sextus forms the Century up

The Warband charges.

I still need to flock the Roman bases!

No contest as Sextus sees off the Celts.

Game 2

At the fourth waypoint on the map Sextus and his men encounter Segovae cavalry.  Game on...

The Romans stand on the edge of a steep hill, and the, somewhat impetuous, Celtic Cavalry charge them.  Not going to end well for the Selgovae!

In 6mm a little contoured terrain goes a long way

The Cavalry get stuck in.  Foolhardy?

Working on "the Look," but its getting there.

The cavalry bounce, and Sextus lives to fight another day...

A word on Rules

I tried a few different rules out for the Auxilia games.  5th Edition WRG was probably the most wacky.  It relies on form not function so didn`t really work for me.  Similarly I took a fleeting glance at DBA, but my "element" is the century, so that didn't work either.
Sword and Spear would have made a good rule set, but ultimately I decided on Dux Bellorum. 

The Centurions make up my LPs for the game, one per century.  The Gauls get chieftain counters.  
I`m still working on any period amendments I need...