Following his successful and very thorough despoilation of the sacred henge of the Basmatii Tribe, Centurion Perfidius, of Auxiliary Cohors X Flavian Conundrum, was tasked by his superiors with the suppression of the local sacrificial order of the Druids. For some considerable time, his quest proved to be most unproductive, with the guileful priests continually demonstrating an uncanny ability to disappear just moments before the Romans arrived at the scene of their reprehensible activities. Today, however, Perfidious is confident that things are about to change in his favour, having received a very reliable tip-off that Sunax the Despicable Druid, leader and most senior of the Basmatii Druids, has taken refuge in a nearby farmstead, with no-one, other than his Druidic donkey, Asal, for protection. Aware that the nobles of the Basmatii tribe will also be out searching for Sunax, Perfidius has included, not only a group of auxiliary archers in his force, but also, a small group of javelin armed warriors from the Basmatii's sworn enemies, the Amaretii tribe. As the early morning mist lifts, Perfidious, his Optio, Odius and their ad hoc warband warily approach the village, intent on the capture of the reprehensible Sunax and the rich rewards which will be sure to follow.
The scene of the action centred around the small farmstead, with its two buildings and flimsy wattle fence. To the east, the river flowed serenely over a ford before sweeping on its journey to the sea and it was across the ford that Perfidius and his forces would have to make their attack upon the unsuspecting druid. The Basmatii, lead by the nobles, Orthopedix and Spondulix were hastening from the west, eager to liberate Sunax and deal a bloody blow to their Roman adversaries. Perfidius and Odius both lead contubernia of auxiliary spearmen and the archers and Amaretti javelinmen advanced eagerly in support... The noble Spondulix exhorted his men, ten tribal warriors and half a dozen slingers, forward... while Orthopedix did the same, approaching the field of battle to the northern side of the farmstead with his group of noble swordsmen and yet more javelinmen... With the Roman auxiliaries racing to cross the ford, it was vital that the Basmatii prevented them from reaching the farmstead and snatching Sunax from under their noses. The wily Spondulix sent his slingers ahead, with the tribal warriors in hastening behind in support... On the opposite flank Orthopedix adopted the same stratagem, with javelinmen racing for the cover of the rocks with his noble warriors rushing to cross the wattle fencing and enter the farmstead in search of the druid. The race for the farmstead was going to be a close run thing, with Odius' auxiliaries crossing the ford and pressing on towards their goal. Meanwhile, the Basmatii slingers had hurried ahead of their warrior support, hoping to slow the auxiliaries down with some accurate missile fire, but, it was they who suffered the first casualty of the encounter when they were hit by a shower of arrows from the auxiliary archers, who had moved up towards the river bank. In their haste to take up a position behind the swamp flanking the river, the slingers had left themselves dangerously exposed and unable to react to the the fire they now found themselves under and, with the Roman spearmen crossing the ford just to their left, it was possible that they may have found themselves overrun by Odius' contubernium.
The Basmatii nobles were soon in the farmstead and it looked as though they might be about to whisk Sunax away before the Romans could force their way into the settlement, but Spondulix and his warriors were still not in a position to oppose the Romans. The auxiliary archers continued to move forward and took up a position on the river bank where they could lay down missile fire in support of Odius and his spearmen. On the opposite side of the farmstead, Orthopedix's javelinmen quickly got the better of their Amaretii counterparts, bringing four of their number down in a deadly shower of missiles. The remnants of the Amaretii were unable to stand and continue the fight and fled the field, leaving the Roman flank exposed. Seeing the threat that was ahead of him, Odius halted his men to form up into close order and this delay was sufficient to give the Basmatii warriors time to move into a position blocking the Romans advance on the farmstead. It was beginning to look as though Perfidius was not going to get his hands on Sunax after all. The Gods, however, were to look down favourably on the Romans and the tide of the battle was about to change very much in the favour of Odius and his disciplined spearmen... The Basmatii tribesmen hurled themselves against the auxiliaries in their close order formation, with Odius himself fighting in the front rank of his formation... In a dramatic turn of events, no fewer than six of the Basmatii fell to spear thrusts from the Romans and the remainder turned and fled. With the warriors gone, the Nobles now had no option but to leave Sunax cowering in the farmstead and hurl themselves into Odius' spearmen...
Casualties fell on both sides, but the outcome of this engagement was brought to a close when the slingers out on the flank brought down another auxiliary which sent them fleeing from the field. The advantage in this encounter swung rapidly from one side to the other and, having driven one unit of auxiliaries from the field, the Basmatii nobles were instantly hit in the flank by the other... Already fatigued from their first encounter, the nobles were unable to resist the onslaught and broke, leaving Perfidius and Odius in complete control of the battlefield... With their warriors and nobles driven from the field, the Basmatii morale crumbled, bringing the action to a dramatic conclusion. Orthopedix, Spondulix, Sunax and Asal the Donkey were all taken by the Romans and led away to face an unspecified but probably pretty awful fate.
The action lasted just five turns and all hinged on the calamitous attack by the Basmatii tribal warriors, who lost more than half their number in a single round of combat. With the loss of the warriors, the nobles were forced to abandon Sunax and attack Odius' auxiliaries which, in turn, exposed them to an attack by the other auxiliary unit, having already acquired five fatigue points!
The future for our brave Centurion and his faithful Optio now lies in a distant part of the empire, as they are transferred from Britannia to join Germanicus on his campaign against the Germanic tribes in the forests on the east bank of the Rhine!
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