Bob Kalinowski - Dec 28, 2004 8:27 pm (#420 Total: 427)   
"Tell the king that after the battle, my head is at his disposal; 
but meantime, I hope he will permit me to exercise it in his service!"
 -- Seydlitz at Zorndorf    
 
Caesar In Gallia Suggestion -- Major Victory Aftermath Tribute

I decided to take a deep dive into the Ancient Wars series over my
Christmas break, and let me add my congratulations to Joe and the
Decision team on an outstanding series. I am mid-way through the Caesar
in Gaul Campaign, and have been knocked out by the overall color,
flavor, and accuracy of the system. I am reading Caesar's Gallic
Campaigns in concert with play, and have been repeatedly impressed how
many of the campaign facets are captured by the system; Roman quality
vs. Gallic quantity; all the Gallic/Germanic/Briton treachery and ruses
(Agent strategems); relative Roman imperviousness when inside cities,
the critical Roman advantages with engineers and impetus units, etc.
(Basic) Combat is particularly enjoyable, as the smaller Roman armies
slug it out against huge Gallic opponents, usually survive their
Discipline checks, and punch 5-15 sp of losses into the Gauls, or,
occasionally, turn up that third battle round "G" result on Gauls'
Discipline checks, and cause 60-100,000 barbarians to scatter on the
winds. (Sorry, no way I have the time to battle board them all) Really
great stuff! 

In my game, after two and a half years, the Romans have taken possession
of six Gallic cities and built two colonies so far (as well as
converting 3 Gaul cities to Roman cities). But the Gauls finally got
Vercentigorex, and he pulled off a successful Uprising. And, along with
a few other good mobilization rolls, it came to pass about a year ago
that EVERY Gaul, Briton, and German tribe is mobilized against Caesar.
Since then, Caesar has been in about five close battles and sieges
against large Gallic armies. A few have been Draws, but a few were Roman
major wins. But the Romans can't ever seem to find the breathing space,
or dozens of Political strategems, or accompanying lucky die rolls, to
get any tribes back into submission again, as Caesar was able to achieve
historically. Here seems to be a mechanic where the Gallia specific
rules might be honed regarding Tribute. 

Caesar's Gallia writings continually point out that in the aftermath of
those major victories, often, the very tribes/leaders fighting him
immediately sent emissaries asking for mercy, sent hostages, and
promised to toe the line with the Romans again. Caesar invariably
accepted these offers (with some brutal exceptions). He cites a few
instances where 3-8 tribes caved in at once. Also, it's relayed that
several times, newly raised tribes hundreds of miles away learned of the
major wins and got while the getting was good, melting back into the
woodwork. Thus, Caesar's big wins did much more than just in game terms,
"clearing off Ariovistus' 10 combat units" – they also usually shifted a
big chunk of tribes off the Barbarian controlled line of the Tribal
Display, thus ensuring that when the next 8-9 is rolled on the Tribal
Council table, the Gauls aren't getting another 300,000 man mobilization
that seems to belie the political impact of Caesar's wins. 

With the current Tribute mechanic, there is no way the Roman player can
achieve this in Gallia. It essentially involves marching a Roman leader
onto a Tribal hex, or through it, playing Tribute markers, and having a
1/3 chance of converting the Tribe. It gives a 50% chance of Reaction,
which gives the Gallic player a free Strategem, which is nothing to be
sneezed at if Vercintegorix is on map. Also, in a typical turn/year,
I've found the Romans have to recruit their own units almost every turn
– this because they are facing tons of Galls; they're facing tons of
Gauls because despite the Roman wins, none of the Gallic tribes ever
revert; a closed loop vicious cycle. 

So I respectfully submit the following as a proposed additional Gallia
Specific Strategem. The concept may be considered in the draft stage,
and I welcome any further honing from the Ancients sages. I think it
enables major Roman wins to have the proper important short and mid-term
impacts on the whole campaign theater, while still allowing the Gallic
player to turn the tables again with another successful Uprising: 

Major Victory Aftermath Tribute: If the Roman player wins a major
victory, any one Tribute strategem played in that turn or the next Roman
player turn can be played as a Major Victory Aftermath. Roll 1 die,
treating a dr1 result as a 2. The result causes four possible effects: 

1. Enemy tribes revert to Independent: The result is the number of
enemy-controlled tribes that revert to independent status. The Roman
player may choose from any tribes with tribal centers within a 5 hex
radius of the victorious force. He can pick the closest ones outside
this radius if too few exist inside to fulfill the result. 

2. Enemy units desert: The result is also the number of additional enemy
combat units that must be removed from the map/leader displays. Combat
units must be the same color as those that lost the major battle. 

3. New Roman Clients: If the result die roll was a 1-3, mobilize one of
the newly independent tribes as a Roman client; if a 4-6, mobilize two
as clients. 

4. Major Gallic Leader Submission: If the result was a 4-6, choose one
on-map major named chief at random, and return him to the major leader
pool. The Supreme Leader, if any, is excluded from this pick. 

This Aftermath opportunity is lost if the Gallic player can win a minor
or major victory before the strategem is played.