Kings of War Historical (in the Barbarian West)

Too much going on non-gaming wise so another solo Kings of War Historical solo game, this time with the Late Romans. 1,250 points per side roughly which worked out to four heavy infantry regiments, three archer troops, two cavalry troops, and a regiment of cataphracts for the Romans, up against six regiments of warriors, three archer troops, and three cavalry troops for their Germanic opponents (mostly Goths with some Frankish allies).

I used my terrain cards random draw system to set up the table and a random deployment table to deploy the armies.  The result was that the Romans ended up in a single line but behind the woods.  The Goths were deployed in two divisions.  The Romans accordingly split into two divisions and used the woods to anchor a flank for each division.

End of Turn 1.

Roman archers.

Roman legionnaires.

Kings of War Historical continues to hit a lot of sweet spots for me. Movement/charges are not subject to the whimsy of dice, which puts the onus on the player to make the right move at the right time. Combat is not too swingy. Shooting is not overly effective. The 'Heavy Warrior' Roman legionaries held their ground against lighter 'Warrior' Gothic infantry. A six turn limit to the game with victory points awarded for moving your units across the table disposes with tendency to 'turtle up' or to wait for other side to make a mistake. The moral bonus of Generals is small but not insignificant.

Roman right gets into line.

End of Turn 2.

Things I am less sure about include whether Kings of War Historical can support multiplayer games (with two or even three players sharing a side), and also what would happen if terrain and especially deployment were not randomized. Especially with deployment, I think competitive thinking by players would result in some more gamey, less realistic battles.

Goth left looking towards Roman line.

Scattered state of affairs on opposite flank.

Goth cavalry has routed a troop of Roman archers but taken some casualties from ranged attacks.

Things getting heated on right Roman flank. Gothic cavalry taking casualties from Roman cavaly and cataphracts.... 

...while Roman legions push through Gothic archer screens.

Infantry finally getting in range of eachother on Roman left.

Roman cataphracts (by Old Glory miniatures).

Roman legions (finally) clashing with Gothic warriors.

For this game the basic arc was that the Roman right, which included its big regiment of cataphracts, was easily able to cross the table middle point and push back the Goths, while on the opposite flank, while the Goths were able to cross the middle point (but not push back the Romans), the point total of the handful of warrior units was not greater than the entirety of the Roman right.  So, a Roman victory, which was clearly how the game was flowing anyways.