The (Unofficial) Great Battles of History

Desperate Victors

Barbarian Armies, 365-415

Michael Erwin

10 Nov 01

This article continues what I began in Last Legions: a description (in GBoH terms) of the armies of the fall of Rome. As before, the individual entries are subject to debate; however the broad outlines are clearly known. I have chosen to restrict this to Rome's European frontiers. Players of Cataphract can probably adapt its Persian armies, while desert raiders never posed a major threat to Roman power.

I have used a different format for this section, outlining the composition of entire tribal armies rather than proceeding by troop type. The Romans, after all, had alimited ability to "mix & match" forces for a specific mission; the Barbarians none at all. Each section will list a series of army types & each type will contain a number of entries listing the number and type of each unit in the army. Each entry shares the following format:

	Troop Class	#	Type	Rating
	Swordsmen	2	MI	7-6-4  J

Troop Class
A description of the unit and its equipment. Unlike the Romans, most units should probably use only a tribal designation in play (not unlike Cataphract).

Number
The number of these units in the army.

Type
Unit Type; see the notes and table at the end.

Rating
Size (in 100-120 man increments), Troop Quality, and Movement Allowance. Missile abilities and any Shock Bonus (see the notes at the end).

Armies

The "traditional" tribal army or Laigaion represents the forces which Roman client rulers sent to support Roman armies; or which they used in their own wars. This usually comprised three "thousands" of around 800 men each. A similar organization probably fought against Rome.

The "later" tribal armies, some well over 10,000 strong, represent the full-scale invasion armies. These generally operate with the Carrago and tens of thousands of refugees. The "revolt" army reflects unusual conditions: the partly disarmed Thervingi in 376, and the well-attested mutinies and uprisings which Fritigern supported against the Romans in 376-380.

"Raider" armies should be self-explanatory.

The really large armies (of the 20,000-30,000 range) at Ad Salices, Adrianople, Pollentia, Fiesole, and elsewhere correspond to multiple allied tribal armies, usually one of the larger and a few of the smaller type. Tribal armies may also combine with a Roman army.

German Tribal Army (Saxones, Francii, Alamanni, Marcomani, Quadi, Suevi)
	Traditional
	Swordsmen	1	HI	7-6-4	+
	Swordsmen	2	MI	7-6-4	J or F
	Later
	Swordsmen	1	HI	7-6-4	+
	Swordsmen	5	MI	7-6-4	J or F
	Swordsmen	4	LI	7-6-4	J or F
Vandal Tribal Army (Asdingae, Silingae)
	Traditional
	Swordsmen	1	HI	7-6-4	+
	Swordsmen	2	MI	7-6-4	J
	Later
	Swordsmen	4	MI	7-6-4	J
	Archers	2	LI	7-6-5	B
	Cavalry	2	LC	7-6-9	+
West Gothic Tribal Army (Thervingi, Vesi; also use for Gepidae)
	Traditional
	Swordsmen	1	HI	7-6-4	+
	Swordsmen	2	MI	7-6-4	J
	Later
	Swordsmen	1	HI	7-6-4	+
	Swordsmen	6	MI	7-6-4	J
	Archers	2	LI	7-6-5	B
	Cavalry	1	LC	7-6-9
	Revolt Army (Early-376)
	Swordsmen	7	LI	7-6-5	J
	Archers	2	LI	7-6-5	B
	Revolt Army (Late-380)
	Swordsmen	7	MI	7-6-4	J
	Archers	3	LI	7-6-5	B
	Cavalry	1	LC	7-6-9	J
	Legionaries	3	HI	4-7-4	J
	Auxiliaries	3	LI	4-6-5	J
	Peasants	5	MI	7-6-4 or 7-5-4
	Freedmen	5	MI	7-6-4 or 7-5-4
East Gothic Tribal Army (Greutungi; also use for Taifali)
	Traditional
	Cavalry	1	MC	7-6-8	+
	Cavalry	2	MC	7-6-8	J
	Later
	Archers	2	LI	7-6-5	B
	Cavalry	3	MC	7-6-8	J
	Cavalry	2	LC	7-6-9	J
Steppe Iranian Army (Iazyges, Sauromatae, Alani, Heruli, Himmeri, Massagetae)
	Traditional
	Cavalry	3	LC	7-6-9	C
	Later
	Archers	2	LI	7-6-5	C
	Cavalry	3	MC	7-6-8	C
	Cavalry	2	LC	7-6-9	C
Raiding Army
	Western
	Swordsmen	1	MI	7-6-4	J
	Swordsmen	1	LI	7-6-5	J
	Eastern
	Cavalry	2	LC	7-6-9	J
	Hun
	Cavalry	1	LC	6-7-9	C+

The Carrago

The Alan and Gothic Carrago or "Wagon-Rampart" served both as a military camp and as the home of refugees; because of the latter, these are much larger than any comparable Roman camp.

Ammianus attributes the carrago's origin to the Alans, and it certainly seems most suitable for steppe nomads with plenty of wagons. A settled culture will rarely have enough wagons to surround its camps, and in a few cases (notably Athanaric's camp on the Dnestr River) these armies used earthworks instead.

Any assessment of the carrago depends on its actual size. 200,000 Goths (of different tribes), according to contemporary accounts, crossed the Danube in 376 and 80,000 Vandals crossed from Spain to Africa in 422. There is no particular reason to dismiss either claim, and I estimate that the refugee camps can each support about 10% of their number in the army, 10% who can defend the camp at need but which the camp cannot spare for any extended mission, and another 10-20% who can help with military tasks but are too young, old, or untrained to fight for long.

A carrago, like any fortification, grows more efficient as it protects more people. About 250 (or at most 300) people can live in a single hex, so a "typical" Carrago for 90-100,000 people will cover 350-400 hexes and require (depending on terrain) about 70 wagon-units (of 10 wagons each) to cover its perimeter.

A larger carrago would be almost impossible to feed; smaller ones may be possible if there are plenty of wagons available, but the literary sources only refer to the carrago for the larger armies and in the larger battles.

The wagons themselves are probably not remarkable. They may have a heavy board on one side (like later Hussite war-wagons) and a few may even carry light catapults, but most must still be usable for ordinary transportation. A few archers with plenty of ammunition probably fought from at least some of the wagons. When destroyed, players should probably replace both wagons and Roman carroballistae with "wreck" markers representing their continued effectiveness as a barrier and inflicting one or two cohesion hits on any units entering their hex.

Carrago (for a small tribal army of 3,000 men)
	Light Swordsmen	3	LI	7-5-4	J
	Wagons	40	EN	1-2-3	A

Carrago (for a large tribal army of 10,000 men)
	Light Swordsmen	10	LI	7-5-4	J
	Wagons	70	EN	1-2-3	A

A Note on Unit Types

In general, these lists use the same unit types as in Cataphract, adding only the "Medium Cavalry" and "War Engines". The first represents any unarmored or lightly-armored shield-bearing cavalry; the second includes the Roman artillery and Gothic wagon-ramparts. I have deleted the "Lancers";these are now "Light Cavalry" with a "Shock Bonus" (The Shock Bonus ("+") reflects the initial reach advantage of spear-armed and broadsword-armed troops. Any unit with the Shock Bonus recieves a -1 DRM to its own Pre-Shock TQ Check; any opposing unit (on attack or defense) receives a +1 DRM).

No one unit type had any great or universal advantage in this era, and (due to the widespread use of the shortsword) almost any unit could continue to fight even if the initial charge had broken their formation. Most infantry fought in a "Swine's Head" formation, a type of blunt wedge, which was slightly less effective in a frontal fight but had a far better chance against a flank attack.

Both because of the two new unit types and because I see no reason to apply attack or defense superiority (ignore 8.52), I include a new Clash of Spears and Swords Chart.

Clash of Spears and Swords Chart

Defender		Attacker Type
Type	Orientation	HC	MC	LC	HI	MI	LI	EN
Heavy Cav	Front	8	7	6	8	7	6	na
HC	Flank	9	8	7	10	9	8	na
	Rear	10	9	8	11	10	9	na
Medium Cav	Front	9	8	7	9	8	7	na
MC	Flank	10	9	8	11	10	9	na
	Rear	11	10	9	12	11	10	na
Light Cav	Front	10	9	8	10	9	8	na
LC	Flank	10	9	8	11	10	9	na
	Rear	11	10	9	12	11	10	na
Heavy Inf	Front	6	5	4	7	6	5	na
HI	Flank	9	8	7	10	9	8	na
	Rear	11	10	9	12	11	10	na
Medium Inf	Front	7	6	5	8	7	6	na
MI	Flank	9	8	7	10	9	8	na
	Rear	10	9	8	12	11	10	na
Light Inf	Front	8	7	6	9	8	7	na
LI	Flank	9	8	7	10	9	8	na
	Rear	10	9	8	11	10	9	na
War Engine	Front	7	6	5	9	8	7	na
EN	Flank	8	7	6	10	9	8	na
	Rear	8	7	6	10	9	8	na

Major Sources & Further Reading

Ammanius Marcellinus, The Later Roman Empire, (Hamilton Translation-Penguin Books, 1986). A detailed and readible, largely eyewitness, history concluding at the Battle of Adrianople.

Ammanius Marcellinus, Historiae, (whichever edition I could borrow at the time). Very readable in the original.

Delbrük, Hans, The Barbarian Invasions: History of the Art of War, vol. 2, (University of Nevada Press, 1990 reprint). Useful for dispelling number myths- but you knew that, didn't you?

Goscinny and Uderzo, Asterix and the Goths, (Hodder and Stoughten, 1974). Find any excuse to read this. See the notes on Gothic army sizes (p. 27).

Jones, A.H.M., The Later Roman Empire, 284-602, (Basil Blackwell, 1964). A remarkably good history with an even better study of the military organization.

Macdowall, Simon, Adrianople AD 378, (Osprey, 2001). An excellent history of the campaign, though a bit sketchy on the orders of battle. An ideal companion work to a copy of Jones; each is strongest where the other is weakest.

Wolfram, Herwig, History of the Goths, (University of California Press, 1988). Indispensible. A translation and revision of his 1979 (German) work, this explores Gothic history and culture, putting Gothic warfare in its proper context. It also puts paid to the nonsense about "Visigothic King Fritigern" (at Adrianople) and "Hordes of Gothic Cavalry" (everywhere).