The Battle of Argentoratum, AD357
1. Background
6. Setting Up the Scaled Down Game
8. Ways to Re-fight the Battle
This article first appeared in The Courier magazine #90.
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The
fourth century AD was a time of almost continual crisis for the Roman
Empire, with enemies pushing at every border.
The
Emperor, Constantius, recognised that the situation was too much for one
man to handle, and so appointed Julian, his cousin and only remaining male
descendant of Constantine the Great, as commander in the West.
Julian
was a scholar with a bent for war, which was quite fortunate as at that
time Gaul was overrun with bands of roving Germanic barbarians held at bay
only by the strong walls of various fortified towns and cities.
Leaving
Vienna with a comparatively small force, Julian fought his way through
Gaul until he had pacified all the Roman territory south of the Rhine.
His tactics were to fight only when he was sure of winning,
avoiding the larger groups of Germans until his steadily-growing army was
large enough to deal with them.
With
Gaul now safe, Constantius decided that now was the time to deter the
Alamanni from future raids by launching a two-pronged punitive strike into
German territory itself. His
newly appointed magister peditum,
Barbatio, would attack with 25,000 troops from Southern Gaul;
Julian would attack with his 13,000 troops from Northern Gaul.
Julian's
first thrust was very successful: the
barbarians were caught napping on a series of islands in the centre of the
Rhine and largely slaughtered, with the Romans able to re-stock from the
Alamanni's own supply train and fields.
Barbatio,
however, was not doing so well. Surprised
with the speed of a German advance against him, he was forced to retreat
back to his winter quarters: leaving
Julian isolated north of the Rhine.
Julian's
small force proved too much of a temptation for the Alamanni commanders to
resist. Chnodomar, one of
their Kings, led a force of some 35,000 tribesmen against him where he was
camped near Argentoratum, modern day Strasbourg.
Confident
of victory, the Germans first sent envoys to Julian, demanding he retreat
from their territory. Julian held on to the envoys until he had finished the
construction of a fortified camp, then
released them and advanced to do battle.
The
Roman army set out at dawn, and marched some 21 miles forward on a hot
August morning to where the Alamanni were arrayed.
Julian wanted to wait until his men had had a chance to rest, but
his general's were keen to do battle.
Persuaded to fight, Julian began advancing his men down from a hill
towards the German lines.
The Battle
The
Germans were deployed in a line with their right flank anchored on some
difficult terrain: either a
wood or an area of marshy ground. Within this, they had constructed some sort of ambush, with
some translations even stating that they had men hidden in trenches.
Whatever
form this trap took, Julian didn't fall for it.
His battle-line stopped well clear of whatever it was, and deployed
for action.
Julian's
left wing comprised a line of auxiliary infantry backed by legionaries.
His right was fronted by the clibanarii
extraheavy horse, backed up by his veteran auxiliaries and his elite
Palatine troops, with its open end protected by light horse.
The
Germans were massed in a long line with, according to the commentaries,
their noble cavalry deployed on foot to bolster the morale of the great
mass of tribal levy.
As
the battle began, the Germans launched a fierce charge at the centre of
the Roman line. In almost the
first clash, the Roman clibanarii
commander was killed, with the Roman cavalry falling back in panic and
disorder as a result.
The
Roman veteran auxilia, the Batavii and Regii, charged into the gap caused
by the cavalry's retreat, holding the Roman line.
The retreating clibanarii
were prevented from leaving the field by the Palatine legion, then rallied
by Julian himself and hurled back into the fray.
Meanwhile
the Roman left was slowly pushing forward, but such was the pressure on
the Roman line that a group of German nobles burst through the centre.
Now was the moment of decision:
quickly the Palatine legion, now clear of panicked cavalry, charged
the triumphant Alamanni and re-established the Roman battle-line.
Now
the superlative Roman mincing machine came into action.
Grinding forward, the Romans slowly but surely drove the Germans
back. The enemy line bowed
then broke, with slaughter ensuing as the Romans took full advantage of
their victory.
Chnodomar was captured and lost over 6,000 men. Only some 250 Romans have lost their lives. It was the high point of Julian's military career.
-
1,500 elite legionaries (possibly the Primani legion, or elite guard units such as the Scutarii, Armaturae and Gentiles).
-
2,500 veteran auxilia (four cohorts: the Cornuti, Bracchiatii, Batavi, and Regii).
-
3,000 average legionaries (possibly the Joviani, Heculani and Celtae legions, and perhaos also the Primani, if the elites were the guard units mentioned above).
-
3,000 other auxilia (six cohorts, including the Petulantes, Heruli and Sagitarii light bowmen).
-
600 cataphract cavalry.
-
2,500 or so light cavalry, some of which were horse archers.
Chnodomar could field a force of some 32,000 foot, the majority of which would have been poor quality tribal levy. There would also have been noble cavalry (around 2-3,000) either dismounted or with light infantry skirmishers mixed in.
Wargaming Argentoratum Using Vis Bellica
Wargaming Argentoratum at correct ground scale is possible, and gives a large battle with the Romans fielding about 750 points and the Germans about 1,500. You can click through to full army rosters in the column to the left.
Below, however, you will find OB for both sides scaled down to 500 points a side. This no longer represents a historically proportionate battle, but does provide a good evening's game. The numbers given are the number of bases of each troop type from the appropriate Book 2 Army List.
Romans
SubGeneral
Leader 1: 2 x Elite Legionaries, 2 x Veteran Auxilia
Leader 2: 2 x Cataphracts, 2 x Light Cavalry
Leader 3: 2 x Legionaries
Leader 4: 3 x Auxilia
Leader 5: 2 x Auxiliary Bow, 1 x Light Artillery
2 False Leader Bases
Defeat Conditions: Big Man Down on the SubGeneral (Julian)
Germans
SubGeneral
Leader 1: 2 x Noble Cavalry
Leader 2: 2 x Veteran Warriors
Leader 3: 4 x Warriors
Leader 4: 5 x Tribal levy (OO Levy MI)
Leader 5: 5 x Tribal levy (OO Levy MI)
2 False Leader Bases
Defeat Conditions: All Gone (18 bases)
For start positions, see Map 1.
The Romans lined up with a front line consisting of, from left to right, five cohorts of auxilia, two cohorts of veteran auxilia (the Cornuti and Bracchiatii), the cataphracts, and most of the light horse. Behind them was another line consisting of, again from left to right, one cohort of auxilia, the normal legions, the elite legion, two cohorts of veteran auxilia (the Batavi and Regii), and the rest of the light cavalry.
The Germans should form a rough line opposite the Romans with Chnodomar commanding the noble dismounted cavalry on their left, and Serapio commanding on their right.
Setting Up the Scaled Down Battle
The Romans can still be deployed historically if using scaled down armies. From left to right, bases should be deployed:
Front Line: Auxiliary Bow, Auxilia, Auxilia, Cataphracts, Light Cavalry, Light Cavalry.
Back Line: Auxiliary Bow, Legionaries, Legionaries, Elite Legionaries, Elite Legionaries, Veteran Auxilia, Veteran Auxilia.
On Hill: Artillery.
The Roman base line should be the crest of the low hill which they have just marched down.
Both sides should have one flank (the Roman left, the German right) anchored on thick woods counting as Difficult terrain.
The Germans have some kind of light works running about a quarter of the way up the battlefield from their baseline, on the right.
Players can start from the initial positions detailed above and see if their game follows the course of history.
Alternatively they can deploy troops as usual using Leader bases and see if they can do better than their historical counterparts. The Germans would then be allowed to use their light works for an attempted ambush: seeing if they can lure the Romans far enough forward for an assault from the woods on their flank.
Solo wargamers should re-fight the battle from the Roman viewpoint: with the Germans programmed with Attack or Forward orders.
Maps of the Battle
Start Positions
1st
Phase: Roman Cavalry Dispersed
2nd Phase: The Line Bolstered
3rd Phase: The Line Breaks!
4th Phase: The Line Re-Established
Final Phase: The Germans Falter & Break