* * *
"For the purposes of this exercise," the General smiled, "you are here with five cohorts of infantry, and a well-organized enemy is seen here coming towards you. His infantry outnumber yours three to one, and he also has archers and six hundred cavalry troops, neither of which you have. Your move."
Gaius stared at the board. This was almost the reverse of the situation at Alesia, except that on the right of the approaching enemy there were woods on the valley floor and halfway up the rise. "I march my men to the top of this hill here and fortify," Gaius replied.
"The enemy arrive and open up with archers."
"We adopt the testudo formation," Gaius replied.
"Their cavalry charges, and while you lose some men, they fail to penetrate, they appear to get badly mauled, so they retreat, seemingly to lick their wounds."
"What is their infantry doing?"
"They have formed lines," the General smiled, "and are now marching up towards you. You fight for about two hours, but despite their numbers, with your superior drill you hold out. Eventually, the back starts to falter, and before long, they start to retreat."
"I send three cohorts after them," Gaius frowned. What was the problem? "The other two follow with a view to flanking the enemy if they. ."
"The enemy start running."
"We chase."
"The enemy cavalry comes out of the woods and cuts your men to pieces," the General stared at Gaius, challenging him to contradict. "Meanwhile the enemy infantry turn and fight with renewed vigour. This was a trap and you should be massacred."
Gaius stared back. This was unfair! He was rigging the situation.
"What did you do wrong?" the General asked.
"Obviously I didn't know where the cavalry was, or I wouldn't. ."
"You didn't ask where they were," the General said. "You were outnumbered, and many of their forces were missing."
"You didn't tell me where they were," Gaius protested. "You said I had to take the initiative and. ."
"You didn't ask," the General repeated. "The lesson here is, before you start charging off impulsively, always check that you can account for everything you know about. You were in an ideal defensive position, and that was good. Don't give it up unless you are sure why you're giving it up. Yes, I know much of the advice you're getting is contradictory, but the real trick is, how do you read the situation? Always ask yourself, what are you giving up? In this case, it was the defence against cavalry, because they don't charge up hills very well, so where is the cavalry? If you can't account for it, hold your advantage. Remember, you're still outnumbered, and pursuing a fleeing enemy is a job best left to cavalry which, as you may note, you don't have."
Chapter 17
The war games continued. At first Gaius became discouraged. No matter how well he thought he was doing, there seemed to be an interminable number of points he had forgotten, and, after a while, he felt that he was also losing unfairly, because the General was making up situations that worked because he knew what Gaius had done, and then found the optimum response, after the fact. Eventually he muttered something like that to the General, who laughed.
"Of course I'm doing what no opponent would do," the General said. "This isn't about winning a board game. It's about improving your ability."
Perhaps it was working, for eventually he felt his mistakes were becoming fewer, and, more importantly, less important. Then the General confirmed this, and congratulated him on becoming much better. At the same time, lessons continued. He had to read and understand all the major works of Aristotle, and read some of the major Greek plays. And throughout all this, the local legionnaires ensured his weapons skills were maintained, and his physical fitness kept high.
"Tribunes and Legates don't personally fight," the old man advised, "or at least they don't unless something is going very very wrong. But you seem to have a bit of flair with some of these weapons, so it doesn't hurt to get a lot of practice. It helps command."
"How?" Gaius asked in a disbelieving tone.
"You want the men to follow," the old man said. "The centurion and his cane'll see they do what they're told, but if the men respect you, they'll go a lot further than where the threat of getting their arses whipped will drive them. Same with marching. You may be on a horse but even so, if they know you're doing what you have to do, and they know you're fit, they'll do their best not to let on they're tiring. Remember Julius. His troops did the impossible for him because they recognized he was doing the impossible himself. So, get fit, and learn to shoot the bow better."
"I'm trying," Gaius replied.
"Now," the older man stood up so he could look down on Gaius, "time for a revision. Let's see how much you've learned. We shall start with Pharsalus. You be Pompey, and you must defeat Caesar."
"And I'm not allowed to do that at Dyrrachium?"
"No," the older man smiled. "Mind you, when Caesar's men started fleeing, that was the time to put the issue to rest. That was the time for Pompey to give chase and clean up, particularly since he held the superior cavalry. Why do you think he didn't?"
"Presumably he was afraid of a Caesar counter-attack," Gaius said, remembering one of his failed exercises, "although that doesn't seem likely."
"Couldn't happen," the old man said. "Caesar's men attacked a fortified position, they fought well, then they began to flee. You can't organize an ambush with fleeing soldiers, so an ambush had to be prepared. That meant Caesar planned to flee. That wasn't Caesar."
"Caesar hasn't used his cavalry," Gaius pointed out.
"True, but cavalry was Pompey's strength, and Caesar's weakness. Yes, Caesar may turn and fight, but Pompey has more men, far more cavalry, and having defended fortified positions, they'll be fresher. If Caesar has hidden cavalry, Pompey's cavalry will deal with them and have plenty of cavalry to spare, bearing in mind Caesar's men won't be in line. No, Pompey messed up.
"However, as Pompey, you marched to Pharsalus, and have another chance. Your infantry outnumber Caesar's two to one, your cavalry nearly seven to one, but Caesar's infantry are of much higher quality. You arrive to find Caesar's men camped on the plain, and you secure your men on the prominent rise. Caesar marches towards you, you form your lines on the hill slopes, but then Caesar sees your advantage of terrain, and retreats. He camps three to four mile away, with the Enipeus River on his left. A day passes, and Caesar does not attack. Your move."
"The consensus of opinion is that Pompey should have stayed put," Gaius replied.
"It is your opinion I seek!"
"I think Pompey has to attack," Gaius said. "The defensive strategy failed at Dyrrachium through not following it up. I have pursued Caesar, so I have to fight."
"Very thoughtful, but you're still stuck on the hill," the old man remarked caustically.
"What I do next depends on the geography," Gaius said. "Using your analogy of the strategic square, the river forms a northern barrier, Caesar controls the west, my hills control the east, so if there's room, I set up observers on the hill and march to the south of Caesar."
"Why?"
"My strength is in cavalry and in numbers. If I do what Pompey did and march straight out, I have to launch a frontal attack, which plays into Caesar's hands if he has the best troops, or try to flank him on the left. I know Caesar kept six reserve cohorts hidden at an oblique angle to defend against a flanking attack but. ."
"Fight your battle!" the older man spat.
"I know Caesar is my enemy," Gaius retorted, "and I know he will keep reserves for a secondary move. With the river, there's only one side that can come from. That's not. ."