Romans and Seleucids

A post I started writing a year ago but never finished until now!
The Romans came out of hiding- (as readers of the blog would know, my record with my Republican Romans has been pretty appalling) to fight my Macedonians, parading as a Early Seleucid army.
Romans: Lochlainn and myself.
Seleucids: Richard, Phil and Paul. ( Ross was advisor in chief)
Two well matched armies with elephants, good infantry but the Romans were completely outnumbered in cavalry.

The Romans in line: Looking good lads!

 Holding the Roman left back- Lochlainn led the right out quickly as I did with the center. Our opponents moved just as fast- we had to avoid getting smashed on our left as that was where the bulk of the Seleucid cavalry was ( I had no cavalry there!). The battle had to be decided, from our perspective, either in the centre or our right.

The Roman Line

The centre (legion vs phalanx) ended in a long bloody struggle- on our right Lochlainn managed to give Richard a very bloody nose- but the cost was so appalling that both sides found that they had little or nothing to fight with. The Legion and Phalanx slugged it out, both sides watching their lines become very depleted. As we reached the morale phase of turn 7- BOTH armies had lost over 50%- and as we don't take into consideration 'degrees of defeat'- we agreed it was bloody loss to both sides!
A very tense, action filled game- thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks lads.

The Macedonian Phalanx

The Seleucid Phalanx.

The Seleucid cavalry- on their right flank- commanded by Phil. Facing them I had some skirmishers, some Spanish light infantry and one unit of Triarii.

The Romans moving fast to contact.

Love this photo- Main battle lines moving in.

Seleucid Skythians-  Phil had them shooting throughout the game at my infantry on my left flank. Naturally I couldn't catch the b*stards.

Triarii - waiting and watching

The Roman right- elephants and cavalry

Richard's elephants hitting the Hastati. Princeps waiting their turn. Well actually here I completely screwed up. Lochlainn had sent his Hastati in and I was supposed to charge as well. And forgot to move them, leaving Lochlainn's unit to take on all of Richard's elephant. Lochlainn's comment was not recorded for posterity, thank goodness.

The Velites fall back as the Hastati go in- backed up by the Princeps

The center

The Roman left: I was holding on as the Seleucid cavalry came bearing down on me.

Phil throws the Seleucid cavalry against the Triarii and Princeps

The Center; The Roman commander is in the thick of it!

The center: The Maniples fighting the phalanx

The Roman Right flank- Seleucid Left- Nothing left!!! Everyone is either dead or fleeing, Lochlainn's commander and his elephant holds the field.

The Roman left Flank: Phil's cavalry had pinned down my flank for most of the battle and when he finally charged in, I managed to hold him- but only just.