A D.B.M. Battle Report or Doug Does It to the Barbarians... Again By Mike Sellman The attack into Gaul had gone well so far. One under- strength garrison Roman fort had fallen with much booty won and honour earned. Calaristus, chief of the Chatti had invited the neighbouring tribes of the Tencterii and their once bitter enemies, the Batavii (the Chattii and the Batavii had once been a single tribe until a civil war had broken out, forcing the Batavians to relocate to a large island in the middle of the Rhine), to join the conquest and the destruction of a Roman occupied Gallic province. The Gallic inhabitants had offered no resistance. They had grown weak from a hundred years of occupation and now expected Rome to fight their battles for them. Calaristus respected Ariostus, the Batavian chief but mistrusted him. The Batavians were good fighters, after all, had they not once been Chatti? The Tencterii chief, Barussus brought a small contingent, but the Tencterii were good fighters preferring to fight on horseback, so if the going got tough they could make quick their escape. However, their Cavalry had aided the Chatti much in the form of fast scouts. Calaristus knew this and therefore only gave the Tenctarii scouting and encircling orders, as their cavalry could never really stand up to a good shield wall of determined warriors. Calaristus respected the Roman warrior too. He knew what they were capable of. They were more organised than any other warrior caste he had fought before but the Romans lacked the true ferocity in battle that only his Chatti had. The Romans, after all, lived in big cities, he had heard, surrounded by great walls and hence he thought, any man who relied on a wall to protect him must be weak and therefore be taught what true courage and honour were capable of. Calaristus knew too, that he would be fighting fellow Germans, which did not really bother him. Any German who was willing to put the Roman yoke on his shoulders and fight their wars for them, giving the Roman dogs honour he and his tribe had fought and bled for was definitely dur for the freedom that Calaristus was prepared to give them in battle. It was a far better thing to die a free man than live a slave to a race that which is weaker than yours. For days now the Tencterii cavalry had reported on the approaching Roman army who were hoping to save face after the embarrassment of losing a fort. Several of the cavalry had brought back heads and equipment of Roman scouts while some of themselves had failed to return. The Germans and the Romans now marched and counter-marched, trying to find favourable terrain that the enemy would be willing to engage them in. Ariostus's matron look at the bones. "Do not fight `ere fore the sun is high, Else you and your kin are bound to die." Ariostus felt uneasy. This was the first time his matron had said anything like this. She had been fairly accurate before, should he heed her advice now? He went back to his lodge where his family were, they sense his unease but his wife knew better than to ask him. Ariostus lay down to sleep a sleepless night. He did not welcome the morning. During the night, a number of warriors, their bravery fortified by the strong brew they were drinking went to attack the Roman sentries believing they were invincible. Their comrades dragged their bodies back before dawn. The sun's first rays stretched across the plain and slammed into the staunch shields presented by the Romans to the dawn. The priest removed the lamb's liver and dissected it. All was good. He raised his hands triumphantly. The observing Legionaries cheered. Dougius Metius walked up to the podium. "Legions of Rome. Conquerors of the world. The time has come to cleanse the Empire of more barbarian filth that has dared to sully our lands. It is time to avenge your brothers' deaths. The omens are good and Mars is with us. Onwards to glory! Onwards to victory!" The Legions banged sword on shield and saluted their general. The sound of trumpets suddenly filled the air. The time of glory was at hand. "My bones are true master. I warn you not to engage the enemy before noon." Ariostus's matron pleaded again with him. Calaristus was planning strategies with the chiefs when Ariostus entered. "Ariostus. I want your war bands covering the two rocky outcrops and the pass between them. I'd also like your noble cavalry to be on their right flank. I then want you to then wheel your forces to the left after covering the outcrops and fall on the Roman fort." "Calaristus, my nobles do not wish to present their unshielded side to the enemy. Would it not be better to deploy them on the left flank of my war bands?" "No, Ariostus. By the time the nobles enter the combat, the Roman weaklings would have already been crushed by my warriors." "As you say, Calaristus." Ariostus felt uneasy as he believed the toughest fight would be for him and his men, not that he really minded. He just did not trust the Chatti chieftain. The Tencterii chieftains were then asked to cover the left flank of the Chatti war bands and support the main attack by an encircling manoeuvre. Calaristus's matron once more threw the bones. "Many will die before the day is done. You will be able to the tell the tale of your great battle with the Romans master." Calaristus grinned. This should sate his warriors' thirst for battle for a while but it was so quickly that they became restless and thirsted for yet more glory. He just hoped that he would able to control them during the battle today. All the chieftains then left the lodge of Calaristus and went to their war bands. Calaristus stood before his eager warriors. "Men of the Chatti, there is much honour and booty to be won this day. I can only call on your bravery this day which I know will not fail me or your tribe!" With that finished the warriors held their shields to their mouths and started bellowing a low octave roar that gradually reached a shrill crescendo. This was the signal to begin the attack. The Chatti and the Tenctarii moved off with the screams and cries from their women ringing in their ears as they waited in the wagon laager, baring their breasts and imploring their men not to let them be captured by the Roman dogs. The Tenctarii light horse then galloped off ahead on the left of the Chatti war bands, with the Tenctarii nobles casually trotting along on their horses with their squires holding onto the tails of the horses. "Quick to fight, quick to run!" Calaristus sniggered to himself as the Chatti war band steadily and purposefully walked to meet the waiting Romans. Ariostus had heard the signal but it was still a good two hours until midday, so what could he do? Already the Romans had sensed that something was amiss and were bring their full weight to bear upon him. They were coming at him at an incredible speed and ease through the outcrops, while the Romans' Sarmatian allies, mounted their magnificent, fully barded horses came thundering towards him through the gap between the two outcrops. Calaristus saw the inactive Batavians standing idle while their chieftain could not be seen anywhere. He also saw the Romans bearing down on the Batavians' position. While the Tencterii were racing off ahead on the left flank with nothing ahead of them but a weakly garrisoned Roman camp. Slowly he began to signal the great mass of Chatti warriors into a wheel to the right in an attempt to aid the faltering Batavians. He knew now that his plan was already ruined and he now had to rely on his allies' courage to do the best they can do. Arisostus waited. He knew the Romans would get to him well before noon. He want to turn his whole army around and march away. However, this was would clearly be an act of cowardice in the extreme, especially in front of neighbouring tribes. Already the Roman light cavalry had begun to encircle the impatient Batavian nobles. All they were waiting for was a signal from him. They would then charge into and smash the Roman horse back to Rome if need be. He had to act quickly. He could already see the Chatti change their direction of attack, obviously knowing that something was wrong, maybe even suspecting treachery. The cries of the Sarmatians grew louder. He could now hear the thunder of their horses' hooves as they moved towards him. Ariostus realised that there was no escape now. Raising his shield to his mouth, amplifying his great cry, he released a huge booming noise, ascending to a high pitch. His war bands and nobles upon hearing the cry, raised their own voices, adding to the cacophony of noise already present upon the battlefield. "Onwards! ONWARDS! ONWARDS TO HONOUR!!!" Yelled Ariostus as the Batavians surged forwards towards their destiny, the awaiting Roman archers and the Sarmatian cavalry. The charge caught the Roman archers completely unexpectedly. After a few hurried shots from their bows, the Batavians crashed into them. It was a sign of weakness to kill an enemy from a distance. Rather it was better to look into the eyes of one's enemies as one plunged a Saex into their hearts. After a brief struggle, the Roman archers were swept aside by the now crazed warriors and onwards the warriors charged to where the Roman Auxiliaries and Legionaries silently waited. Not all Romans though, are devoid of courage and the leader of the Roman archers signalled to the men who were out on the flank and not swept away or running from the carnage, to draw sword and charge into the now exposed flank of the war bands in an attempt to try and disorder them before they impacted with the Legionaries. This may seem good in theory or on the drill field, however, it is very different when a war band has started its thunderous charge. It takes more than a couple of hundred incompetent fighters charging into one's flank to stop it. The charge proved to be disastrous, one clan of Batavians wheeled their charge to meet them and clove straight through the remnants like a hot knife through butter. Their eyes wide with horror as Batavian warriors eagerly countered to meet them and break right through them only to keep on going, leaving the ground behind them littered with the dead and dying archers with only a handful of their own warriors' bodies scattered amongst the carnage. The Sarmatians, steadying their charging mounts and grasping their Kontos in both hands prepared for the imminent impact. With a resounding crash, the Sarmation horse pounded into the Batavians' shield wall. Bodies were gutted and ripped asunder by the lance charge. However, on the flanks, the Batavians were taking advantage of their sheer size and numbers. They dove under the horses to hamstring them, bringing the unwieldy riders off and within easy reach of their Saex. This is why German cavalry take infantry squires into battle with them. To protect the horses and aid them in their fight with the opposing infantry. The Sarmatian horses began to panic and swerving away from the melee, carrying their riders with them. The flanks of the Sarmatian charge had been turned. The centre though, was a different story. Led by their chieftain, a huge man named Versix, the Sarmatian charge was wreaking havoc. Most of the riders had dropped their Kontos in preference for their swords as these were less cumbersome in the thick of the fight, to hack and slash at the heads of the compressed bodies surrounding them. Ariostus dodged the lance bearing down on him, his cousin standing behind him was not as quick. With an agonising scream his torso was almost ripped apart by the mass of the horse and the rider. Dodging to his right and grabbing the horse's bridle, Ariostus wrenched the bridle clear of the horse's mouth, tearing it as he did so. The horse, panic stricken, with blood spurting from its mouth, reared and twisted, momentarily putting the rider off- balance. Ariostus, seeing this and taking full advantage of it, stabbed up with his spear, catching the rider between the neck and the chin. The rider, in one single motion, flung himself backward reflexively but was dead by the time he hit the ground. Looking around in the brief pause which followed, Ariostus saw his dead kin around him outnumbered the kin he could see who were still alive. Clearly the Sarmatians had broken through the ranks of the war band and had through the dust raised by the melee he could see some of his men beginning to make a run for it. He screamed to his men to make a stand. Were they not brave warriors of the Batavii? His cries were drowned out by the din of battle, by the yells and screams of men dying and the clash of arms. Suddenly he was lifted from his feet. He felt a sharp burning sensation tear through his body. He felt a sticky wetness subsiding down his stomach. Looking down he saw a lance point ripping through his stomach. He slumped to his knees as the Sarmation pulled his lance out of Ariostus's back. Bile and blood erupted from his mouth as he vomited his lifeblood away into the dust surrounding him. Ariostus was then knocked to the ground as the Sarmatian's horse bore its rider once more into the thick of the combat rapidly turning into a rout for the war band. Ariostus slowly watched his life force ebbing away through the great tear in his stomach. "Is this it then?" He thought to himself. "To die here on the battlefield, wounded in the back, like I was trying to run. To die here without honour, where none shall remember me?" Closing his eyes the last thing he perceived was the Sarmatians riding down his fleeing kin. He then died. The Batavians, upon seeing their war chief's clan so utterly smashed, began withdrawing in small groups. Which were then systematically wiped out by the now blood crazed Sarmatians who pursued them relentlessly. Calaristus saw all this happen. His warriors had not even come into contact with the Romans, who were apparently trying to avoid his warriors and were cowing in the rocky outcrops. He knew it would be a fatal error to continue the battle now, as he saw the Batavians in full flight. He called his war bands and ordered them to retire to the wagon laager, where they could then fight the now larger Roman force on their terms. The Romans however, did not pursue. Why? He could not say. Perhaps the Romans were scared to attack he thought. During the night, he would then strike camp and return to his homeland in shame. The alliance with what remained of the Batavii would be cancelled for their weakness in battle. He would not lose face and honour though. He would swear to return to this province, in front of his tribal elders and exact a terrible payment from the Romans for what had happened here this day.