Hard_Rom
Northumbrian Skald
- Joined
- Apr 24, 2014
- Posts
- 13,623
101 BC near Vercellae in Cisalpine Gaul, Northern Italy on the Raudine Plain near the junction of the Po and Sesia rivers.
The fog lies heavy on the Raudine Plain in the six hundred and fifty third year after the founding of Rome. Eight legions of the new Roman professional army and their fifteen thousand cavalry assemble in the pre-dawn. As agreed by the leaders of both armies, the fifty thousand legionnaires of the Roman army and their auxiliary cavalry led by the Consul Gaius Marius, the architect of the new Roman army, will today do battle with the over two hundred thousand Cimbri army that has invaded Italy. What the Cimbri army and it's leaders do not realize is that the Romans are already deployed and ready before the sun begins to rise. To preserve the element of surprise, no trumpets announce the assembly or order to march. Waved flags, barely visible through the fog, and torches are all that is needed to get the attack underway. The army, with the cavalry on it's right, marches forward into the fog and halts halfway across the wide plain.
The scent and sounds of an entire people on the move carries across the still plain. Only with the first lighting of the eastern sky does the huge Cimbri army begin to stir. Slowly the tens of thousands of barbarians begin to assemble on their side of the plain, unaware that the Romans have stolen much valuable ground and are fully ready. The massive phalanx of armed men and women, many women fight alongside the men swelling the ranks of infantry and cavalry, which will be thrown in a headlong screaming mass at the enemy, gathers with it's own cavalry on it's left, opposing the Roman cavalry. Hugely out numbered by infantry, the numerical advantage is less in cavalry. Plus the Cimbri cavalry are light skirmishing troops not the heavy armoured cavalry of the Romans using the tactic of the shock charge.
Deeming the time to start the battle is here, Marius raises and drops his arm. A single trumpet sounds through the still thick fog. With the precision that will make the Roman Army famous, the legions begin the final advance. On it's right the cavalry, under the Legate Cornelius Sulla trots forward, advancing in echelon with the army. Within minutes auxiliary light cavalry troops screening the advance return to report contact with the Cimbri cavalry. The Roman cavalry quickens it's pace. Just as the sun breaks the horizon, it goes to the gallop.
The fog lies heavy on the Raudine Plain in the six hundred and fifty third year after the founding of Rome. Eight legions of the new Roman professional army and their fifteen thousand cavalry assemble in the pre-dawn. As agreed by the leaders of both armies, the fifty thousand legionnaires of the Roman army and their auxiliary cavalry led by the Consul Gaius Marius, the architect of the new Roman army, will today do battle with the over two hundred thousand Cimbri army that has invaded Italy. What the Cimbri army and it's leaders do not realize is that the Romans are already deployed and ready before the sun begins to rise. To preserve the element of surprise, no trumpets announce the assembly or order to march. Waved flags, barely visible through the fog, and torches are all that is needed to get the attack underway. The army, with the cavalry on it's right, marches forward into the fog and halts halfway across the wide plain.
The scent and sounds of an entire people on the move carries across the still plain. Only with the first lighting of the eastern sky does the huge Cimbri army begin to stir. Slowly the tens of thousands of barbarians begin to assemble on their side of the plain, unaware that the Romans have stolen much valuable ground and are fully ready. The massive phalanx of armed men and women, many women fight alongside the men swelling the ranks of infantry and cavalry, which will be thrown in a headlong screaming mass at the enemy, gathers with it's own cavalry on it's left, opposing the Roman cavalry. Hugely out numbered by infantry, the numerical advantage is less in cavalry. Plus the Cimbri cavalry are light skirmishing troops not the heavy armoured cavalry of the Romans using the tactic of the shock charge.
Deeming the time to start the battle is here, Marius raises and drops his arm. A single trumpet sounds through the still thick fog. With the precision that will make the Roman Army famous, the legions begin the final advance. On it's right the cavalry, under the Legate Cornelius Sulla trots forward, advancing in echelon with the army. Within minutes auxiliary light cavalry troops screening the advance return to report contact with the Cimbri cavalry. The Roman cavalry quickens it's pace. Just as the sun breaks the horizon, it goes to the gallop.