The First Dacian War
Praeses
The First Dacian War
The First Dacian War
Last edited by Magicman2051; October 13, 2011 at 10:45 AM.
Vae victis
Re: The First Dacian War
The advance of the Romans through Thrace
With the thawing of the winter snows the lands of Thrace begun to come alive again. Corva had arrived from Sicily not days ago to oversee the preparations of the generals. Lucullus and Sertorius had arrived early to scout the situation and the movement of the Dacians as well as muster the forces of Prince Rhescuporis. Licinius Scipio had arrived with more legions and brought the roman forces to a substantial size. Corva himself had masterminded the campaign from the outset, and had begun moving soldiers from across the republic many months ago, he had a talent for organization.
The army had marched northwards to fight the Dacians near Serdica, cavalry was used to scout the land and besides the Dacian army was so large it could not hide...especially in enemy territory. Rome had come to honor its treaty, and with excessive force.
ooc: waiting for you to post a battle map. Also, if you wait for the armies to arrive then it will waste time, post it now so that by the time we all send battle plans it will be completed on time.
Last edited by Aetius; October 10, 2011 at 08:28 PM.
Blut und Boden
Re: The First Dacian War
The battlefield is attached.
The Dacian forces were pursuing the supposedly routing Thracian forces, after the death of their king they began an undisciplined but tactical retreat, hoping to outpace the larger and more disorganised Dacians. Eventually they managed to hook up with advance units from both the Roman and Thracian advance. Both armies have now met on the field of battle, in full array.
The Dacians have had more time to set up a defensive line and distribute their forces, whereas the Romans/Thracians are working on a short clock if they want to rebuke any major Dacian push.
Romans on the right, Dacians on the left. Enjoy.
Vae victis
Re: The First Dacian War
Corva looked over the featureless thracian plain at the barbarian horde, it was large but unorganized. In contrast, the legions were in tight order, ready for combat. On his right were his three best generals; Sertorius (Infantry commander), Licinius (Cavalry commander), and Lucullus (Skirmisher commander).
"Burebista seems to have brought all the scum from beyond the Danube to this fight. This will be a good fight, one in which discipline is once again proven to be superior to savagery.
We will convene in my tent and discuss a strategy for the battle, I would appreciate any input. (ooc: going to send out a battle plan pm)
For now though, I must speak with Rhescuporis, he seems to be emotionally compromised, and may threaten to disobey orders. "
Blut und Boden
Vae victis
Re: Dacian War OOC
Corva road to the Thracian battle formation ssking the Thracian prince, and spotted him mounted on a horse overlooking the coming battle.
“Rhescuporis!
I know that you must be feeling great loss for your father’s death. I too have lost in this war."
He paused quietly
"…my own wife was killed by my enemy as well. Ares can sometimes be a cruel god; we mortals cannot understand his will. All the blood in the world will never fill the hole left behind by this conflict.
Know though that what we do is just, and this is why Rome has marched to your aid. Despite our own personal losses, we still fight on and must inspire others to do so as leaders. Because if we do not, then who will? Men like Burebista and Severus? They will destroy everything.
I knew your father, Coty’s was a wise man who foresaw the day of aggression and made the treaty with Rome. He sacrificed himself in battle so that you would carry on the fight. Despite your rage, you must remain calm now; this is your true test. Emotions drive you to folly, there is too much at risk, your people need you the most now. "
ooc: RPing so that Rhescuporis follows orders
Blut und Boden
Re: The First Dacian War
Ok, there were over 600 rolls involved here, accounting for every move made by either party. I will post all of these rolls once I've had time to review them, order them better and probably condense down several sections.
In the meantime I will post a complete as I can battle overview, a "who won it" and a casualty list.
The early stages of the battle went to the Dacians, their horse archers advanced and deployed in a Cantabrian Circle along the left flank which decimated both the Roman Archer Aux and a good portion of their Cavalry Aux as well as knocking the Legio VI out of action early on. Though the Dacian horse archers themselves suffered some pretty extensive casualties they managed to effectively neuter that entire aspect of the battle very early on. They continued relatively unopposed rain down arrows in the main Roman advance before being forced back by a concerted infantry push. Corva himself was injured in this engagement, but not seriously (a beauty scar). With the Horse Archers pushing back several thousand Dacian infantry engaged the Romans.
((The XIV and the VII both get a star from this engagement, as well as massive "I survived that" bragging rights, the VI however was completely decimated. Several detachments of Roman Aux Cav remain alive and well, assisting the beleaguered infantry on this flank with hit and run attacks, largely unable to commit to a full engagement because of the continued Dacian threat.
The Dacian Horse Archers themselves have been cut down significantly but will still remain an irritant throughout the fight, Deceneus was less than happy with the orders given and they pulled back before they probably should have and the entire division (on the order of Deceneus) is seeing to their wounded and such before returning to battle proper.
Both Corva and Deceneus were injured in this exchange.))
The bulk of the Roman advance along the centre, now suffering from some missile attacks on their flank, still maintained proper discipline and managed to do some pretty horrific damage to the Dacian Phalanx as they advanced with javelin throws, but were themselves also subject to Dacian missile attack from the bulk of their archers secured behind the solid flesh wall of the Phalanx. The Thracians advanced slightly ahead of the Romans and, abusing a small stream ditch for all the tactical superiority it was worth, managed to engage the flank of the Dacian Phalanx and their melee infantry on the right flank without taking too many casualties.
((Small and fast moving > big and slow regardless of discipline. The Roman advanced was faltered by the lack of support on their left flank, aswell as being exposed there, but managed to advanced with only a proportionally small amount of casualties. The Thracian infantry advance easily got the most broken series of rolls I've ever seen and are the process of balancing the terms of the engagement through their sweat and Dacian blood. In the next part of this engagement the Roman advance will meet the wavering spear wall of the Dacian phalanx, reality ensues!
Sertorius and Rhescuporis both come out of this without any injury.))
The right flank saw a mixed engagement, with Dacian cavalry initially doing some serious damage to Thracian Skirmishers and even the spear armed legions before eventually wheeling into the flank of the Roman advance. The remain Thracian and Roman units on this flank made good on the opening Rhescuporis had opened in the right flank of the Dacians and coming in to support that manoeuvre. The legions and Thracian horse archers were subject to an intense shower of javelin weapons from Dacian skirmishers but managed to pull through it in an intact formation.
((Roman legionary rolls for how they handled the skirmisher attack were extremely good, and the Thracian Horse Archers are now in a relatively secure position both peppering the Dacian infantry line and covering both the legions and their own infantry from any rear attacks.))
Despite getting massacred by Thracian infantry on their flank the Dacian Phalanx held a solid line against the initial Roman push which resulted in some serious losses for the Romans, however a second Javelin throw and advance broke their formation and they began advancing erratically. Rhescuporis continued to do some spectacular damage to both Dacian infantry and archers before spying the Dacian cavalry charge on the Roman rear. The Romans, also aware of this, managed to switch formation while holding the Phalanx and dealing with enemy missiles enough to mitigate the damage of the Cavalry charge, dismounted several dozen, before the line re-engaged with the Dacians. Rhescuporis took a significant bulk of his infantry around the back of the Dacian line and through their defences before crashing into the Phalanx and actually pushing a hole through it back to the Roman advance. A few hundred Thracian horse archers diverted from their current position to both cover the Roman rear, assist them in their main advance and keep an eye on the left flank.
((That is fairly self explanatory, I will say that as it stands the Romans are coming off worse in this than the Thracians but not so much that it is immediately noticeable.))
The left flank was a mess for both sides, with the now arrowless horse archers resorting to quick hit and run attacks, and the Roman legions spread to thin to make any significant advance and having actually been pushed back. The remaining Roman Cav Aux held the left flank static with similar tactics to the Dacian horse archers. A portion of the Dacian cavalry came in on the rear, almost unopposed and did some spectacular damage to the Romans before Deceneus signalled a retreat, using the Dacian cavalry to distract the Roman Aux Cav. Effectively abandoning them.
((I'll elaborate of what Deceneus is doing later, both of the remaining legions on the left flank were considerably beaten and barely functioning following this.))
In the centre things had taken a turn for the worst, if you were a Dacian. Burebista had been dismounted and was now on foot, trapped between the Roman line and his own infantry advance, Rhescuporis saw this and literally walked across freshly slain Dacian corpses to get to Burebista but was unable to catch him. Despite having turned the battles the Roman lines were considerably shaken and unable to really be effectual, at this stage with an obvious stalemate approaching Deceneus signalled a retreat and the Dacian line fell back, a furious Burebista among them.
((Minor victory for the Romans, serious casualties all round.))
This was effectively a stalemate and the Dacians could have actually won this but with unimaginable losses to both sides, it was a 45-55 to them at the end, but Deceneus signalled a retreat as he believed Burebista to be dead, thus invalidating the entire war from his perspective. He is also expecting reinforcements from the Dardanians to be arriving within the next two days, so he sees this battle as merely sorting the wheat from the chaff and possibly an easy kill on Burebista. How that will turn out... we'll see.
Casualties will be updated in the OP.
+4 LL for Sertorius
-1 LL for Corva
Last edited by Magicman2051; October 13, 2011 at 07:51 AM.
Re: The First Dacian War
Burebista is dead.
Deceneus extolled a tale of rampant idiocy and mismanagement on the part of Burebista and challenged him to a duel. The tired but younger Burebista put up a good fight but was overpowered by Deceneus and beheaded. The head, along with Burebista's crown and an assortment of his riches, was sent to Thrace, to be presented to the new King Rhescuporis, as both an acknowledgement of his prowess in battle and as an appeasement. Rhescuporis promptly tossed the head into a funeral pyre for some of his men lost in battle, not one to stick to sentiment his rage is sated with the death of Burebista and he now turns his full attention to the defence of Thrace.
The Thracian military, buoyed by patriotic fervour and the elation of their mighty King leading them to a spectacular victory against vastly superior numbers, expands its troop base and recover losses. Rhescuporis now looks to Dacia for reparations and perhaps expansion.
Last edited by Magicman2051; October 13, 2011 at 07:51 AM.
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