Hail Caesar Battle Report: Early Imperial Romans ~350 points

In this video we bring you a Hail Caesar battle report seeing a civil war of Early Imperial Romans (EIR) taking on Early Imperial Romans and with both sides allied & auxiliary troops.
The armies are a little under 350 points each, with each army being 2 Divisions, and led by a separate General.
The mission played was Scenario 2: Approach Battle
The video style is what I'd call a 'banter battle report'... as I find this a little more entertaining to view / listen too... and we kept in the dice rolls for command and movements as this is a key part of the game showing how forces are moved around the table.
We thoroughly enjoyed the game, being a relatively fast play, no 'faffing about' style of game.
This was our first go at the rules of the 2nd Edition book and we did make some errors, which I've commented on in video where possible. No doubt we may have made others too!
I did make a rather crucial error in use of the separate Army Generals and his commands, I was getting confused with how they work in Warmaster. Although in the end we quite enjoyed this and kept going with it. Afterall amongst friends the game is up to you to modify as you see fit.
The figures presented are a mix of brands from Warlord Games, Foundry Miniatures, Wargames factory etc.
The Roman Villa was a scratch build by Ste Haran from foamcore and Laser cut roof tile sheet and plastic roof tile sheets.
The small dice holders for casualty trackers are 3D print from a file I designed.
The Hail Caesar game is available from Warlord Games and your Friendly Local Game Store!
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[@SissonG37]

Really enjoy these long form battle reports, they're helping me to learn the rules in practice after having read the book. Very entertaining.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you glad it helped

[@leadbelcher7248]

Great report. It was easy to follow your orders and all dice rolls👍

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thanks for the feedback much appreciated, glad you liked the report :)

[@MedievalWargamer]

Very enjoyable! Subscribed.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you, we have more planned :)

[@TheRendar]

Excellent battle report !

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you Matt, glad you enjoyed it!

[@darrinstanaway8943]

good sportsmanship and good game to watch

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you for the feedback :)

[@matthewwilkinson4781]

I really like your game board! Game boards are not like this in the games I play. Im pretty curious about Hail Caeser and historicals in general. I have Clash Of Spears with a few Carthage and Roman figures but nothing this scale. Big battles can be fun. This channel is awesome thanks for the content!

[@hobbyspotnz2833]

Looks pretty good.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you :) We have more games planned as our armies grow.

[@HO-bndk]

Generationes fortissimorum Romanorum in Elysiis rident! 😂

[@garycarter2522]

@49.57. I think there should be something in the rules that, if the cavalry is going in for a second fresh charge into melee, then they should suffer or test or some kind of penalty... the horses may be blown or tired after the first malee, so too might the unit that is continuing its malee. This would make sense as both horses and units fighting in malee would tire over time.. Good game. '50;46 the archers got two sixes, not one? Interesting game, I do think fatigue should play some part in prolonged combat.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Yeah I agree, a 'blown cavalry' mod might be a good house rule. Perhaps simply removing the +1 to hit for charging could effect that. I think some peeps who play Pike & Shotte did something similar?

[@stevelille54]

Hi - I enjoy you batreps as they make the game easy to understand. One question regarding Sweeping Advances - I thought this had to be made to your front quarter, or have I misunderstood that?

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Yeah, Ive seen the same question answered both ways on the HC FB Forum... so I am unsure. I like the idea a unit can swing and wrap a flank, so one move to turn into charge arc, and second move to charge. But Its powerful so you may need to agree on this with your playing group.

[@hurdleguy8014]

I am new to historical table top, so this video is a good learning video for me. I love history though! So I have a question. I notice your warband for instance seem to all be in one big tray. Are they glued permanently like that? Do they always move in such large of a group or can your units be broken down into smaller groups? I’m thinking of building a Punic war scenario, but like I said, this is all new to me. Thanks for a great video!

[@frphoenix202]

Not the creator, but I believe they are just in a movement tray, meaning they can be taken out and used differently, just makes it easier for moving them in that formation.

[@robertodominguez8495]

Great report, thanks for sharing!! I am new playing Hail Caesar and it was very instructive. Could you explain a little bit more how the match finish? Who win or lose?

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Unfortunately we ran out of time. The game would normally end with one side breaking. An army breaks if it loses more than half of its divisions. A division breaks if it loses more than half its units. Hope this helps?

[@robertodominguez8495]

@@kapitihobbies9360 Ohh bad luck then! Yep it helps thank you again!!

[@hurdleguy8014]

Also, what size minis did y’all use?

[@johnp4000]

Great report, some dramatic combats there! Could I ask do you build your own movement trays?

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Thank you. Yes they are very basic... 3mm plastic sheet (I used Palite from an NZ supplier), but you probably have access to evergreen styrene at your FLGS? I then just glued matchsticks round the perimeter, sprayed the whole thing dark brown then flocked the edges. (PVA and model flock mixture)

[@johnp4000]

@@kapitihobbies9360 I noticed it really speeds play up without having to fiddle with the individual bases.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

@@johnp4000 Yes, and since the game doesnt require miniature removal either as casualties, thats a big relief too compared to prior WAB ruleset I used to play many years ago

[@johnp4000]

@@kapitihobbies9360 I am a WAB veteran too, I also like the smaller footprint of the units

[@Downwithchomos4526]

were did you get the long movement trays?

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Theyre home made from 3mm plastic sheet and matchsticks glued on the edges, then painted and flocked.

[@CheckYourLeaderTV]

You can only close ranks AFTER the INITIAL round of combat. Both sides must fight the initial round without closing ranks. 😀👍

[@kapitihobbies9360]

Ah Ok, I knew the chargers couldnt close ranks on the charge but had thought the receivers could.

[@CheckYourLeaderTV]

@@kapitihobbies9360 I suspect it makes sense as both sides are using their ‘Clash’ rating initially. I suspect it’s abstracting the idea that the defenders might be launching a short ‘counter charge’ or wielding their offensive weapons more freely on initial impact.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

@@CheckYourLeaderTV That makes sense.

[@kapitihobbies9360]

I had another look over the rules in new book, and as far as I can tell, only the charger cant close ranks on the charge move. The receiver of the charge does appear to be able to receive the charge and close ranks to do so in first round of combat.

[@CheckYourLeaderTV]

@@kapitihobbies9360 seems you’re right. 👍

[@BearGrisham]

What size is the table you’re playing on?

[@kapitihobbies9360]

It's a 8'x6'... but this size game, you could also have played on a 6'x 4' cheers

[@BearGrisham]

Nice. I’m scoping out different rulesets for ancients and looking into investing in 28mm so videos like this are brilliant. It does seem like you need an 8x6 to enjoy 28mm and to allow some sort of space for manoeuvrability

[@kapitihobbies9360]

@@BearGrisham 8'x6' certainly gives you some space, though at this size game you could still have had an enjoyable though possibly 'busier' game on a 6x4. But we plan to keep adding to or armies so bigger games for us in the future are expected and the big table will come in handy

[@BearGrisham]

It seems to me like 28mm works well for ancients because of the type of warfare in those days. I don’t like it for other periods I play as I think it’s too big but of course love the models and the aesthetics it brings when out on the table.