Battles for Wargamers: Watling Street 61 A.D.

By Michael Lane

Yesterday five of us attended the IPMS Avon Modelling and Wargames Show in Thornbury. Once again I was able to put on a demonstration wargame. Last year it was Von Bredow’s Death Ride in Augus t 1870, this year I went back in history nearly 2,000 years to the Battle of Watling Street fought in 61 AD between Boudica and her rebellious Britons and the Roman Army in the Province of Britannia under its Governor, Gaius Suetonius Paulinus.

I had put on a similar game at the Society of Ancients Convention in 2024 but this was a bigger game for which I have been busy painting both more Britons and Romans plus a lot more baggage – the Britons had brought along their families who crowded behind their battle line.

The Romans, as both Marius and Caesar had done in the past, when with their backs were to the wall chose a strong defensive position on a hill with impassable woods on each flank. The Britons, who heavily outnumbered the Romans, would need to attack!

We had four players, two of whom were familiar with my chosen ruleset, Simon Miller’s “To the Strongest!”, and two who had either played an occasional game or not at all. We put one of each on each side with Don McHugh and Thomas Major commanding the Romans in the first game and William Morriss and Bill Cainan commanding the Britons.

This first game was hard fought but eventually, though the Britons did break into the Roman line in several places, the Romans prevailed taking all 27 of the British Victory Medals while losing 12 of their own 19 Victory Medals themselves. That game took us no more than two and a quarter hours.

So after a break for lunch and a look around the show (I bought some new Ospreys and some paint brushes), we set up the battlefield again with the players changing sides. This time the Britons did not initially press so hard with their massed warriors but instead relied on their chariotry who both showered the Roman Auxilia on each flank with javelins and charged them when the opportunity presented itself. That change combined with a run of luck with the cards and some poor Roman cards saw an almost miraculous victory for the Britons, no longer mere Rebels as they had won the day! The only fly in their ointment was that Queen Boudica herself fell almost in the hour of victory – an almost Nelsonic sacrifice! This time the Britons took all 19 Roman Victory Medals while losing a mere 4 of their own 27! The game, ultimately being so “one sided”, was over much quicker than our first game! We had packed everything away by 3:15 or thereabouts.

As at my Cunaxa game at the Society of Ancients Battle Day earlier this year, we easily managed two big games in the day and, again as at Cunaxa, the same team won both games despite swopping sides. Well to misquote from “Life of Brian”, what has Simon Miller ever done for us? Well, games played on a grid to avoid measuring distances, to avoid having to check whether you are in range to charge or shoot or not …… a game with simple shooting and melee rules … using playing cards instead of dice ….. shorter games than under past rules and …. lots and lots of fun! What’s not to like I ask myself? Thanks Simon.