Rome's Frenemies at Warfare 2025
Numidian vs Bosporan
Game 1 Numidian vs Ancient British
Game 2 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (Italian)
Game 3 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (French)
Game 4 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (English)
Game 5 Numidian vs Bosporan (quite near Derby)
Three wins and a narrow defeat left the Numidian army in a classic submarining position going into the final round (of 5) at Warfare, but this time a Hellenistic-styled Roma-infused Bosporan army lay in wait for them, almost certainly meaning that my preference for fairly open terrain would be either matched or even exceeded by Nik's army opposite me.
Nobody seems entirely sure what the Bosporans should be like - were they Hellenistic Companion-style cavalrymen, or Scythian/Sarmatian steppe nomads recently settled in the northern reaches of the Graeco-Roman world?
In reality that means any old figures can be cobbled together to make up the pointy sharp end of the army list, the dozen or so permitted Impetuous Heavy Cavalry.
This is backed up with plenty of Light and Medium cavalry horse archers, and in the later, Roman-subjugation period, some lightweight Legionaries and Auxilia as well.
The Early Imperial Roman ally is an oft-seen component of the army too, making it even more Romanized overall once it appears on table.
The lists for the Numidian and Bosporans from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Warfare can be seen here in the ADLG Wiki.
The Bosporan Kingdom
In The Centre: In the end I'd ended up deciding to try and narrow the table somewhat, with a Marsh and a plantation-covered hill falling nicely to squeeze the mounted Bosporan attack into a section of the table where I could do my best to get the resilient Imitation Legionaries in front of at least some of the enemy charging cavalry, and try and squeeze as much value out of the cavalry-scaring abilities of the 2 Numidian elephants as well
This pretty much dictated where the Bosporan mounted force would go, leaving a decent-sized Romanized Auxilia contingent poised to sweep through the terrain on my right where my only real plan was to refuse battle for as long as possible with the small cavalry command holding the line as best they could.
In The Centre: With an army that was still some way short of being able to cover the open part of the battlefield with proper combat troops, I'd opted to deploy the Numidian Legionaries quite far back initially.
This would in theory give my many skirmishers more time and space to inflict some trickle-damage on the enemy as they advanced, and would also make it harder for the Bosporans to mass their cavalry in one spot and try and force a breakthrough before I could redeploy to block it
On The Right: Finally, the Numidian javelinmen had managed to find some terrain to hide in - and they were making dammed sure they took full advantage by clambering onto the plantation-covered hill to anchor the flank of the Spanish/Elephant line.
Between the two lines of battle troops, skirmishers from both wides exchanged cursory fire, with javelins and arrows flying between them at pace
On The Right: The hill-bound Javelineers had accidentally left a sandals worth of base frontage in the open, and this triggered the Bosporans to launch a tentative cavalry charge, which immediately caused the javelinmen to flee away.
The Bosporan horse archers also charged home, keen to drive away the skirmishers protecting the Crappy Elephant, but the brave Numidians managed to stand firm as further along the plantation-covered hill a wall of Bosporan infantrymen moved up to threaten the other unit of rarely-seen javelineers.
On the Left: The small command of Numidians had by now inserted itself in between the Imitation Legionaries and their supporting Light Horsemen, extending the line of Heavy Infantry with cavalry and creating a veritable desert cloud of light horse at the tables edge to threaten the small packets of Bosporan horse archers who in most other games would probably have expected to have the edge of the board to themselves.
The Bosporan Kingdom
On The Right: The Bosporan horse archers were now enmeshed in a lengthy struggle against ever-increasing numbers of proper Numidian units, with even some of the Imitation Legionaries being drawn into the scrum.
Numidian javelineers fled from the plantation-covered hill in the face of massed Bosporan infantry, keen to delay any sort of actual combat breaking out on the far right of the battle line.
Numidian Facts - The Numidians were masters of feigned retreat, luring enemies into ambushes. Livy writes that a Roman cohort once pursued them for three days, only to find themselves back at their starting point — proving that even geography could be persuaded to lie for Numidia.
In The Centre: A lurch forward by the Numidian Legionaries and elephants suddenly drove off the Bosporan slingers, and put them right into the faces of the Bosporan cavalry
The match-up that the Numidians craved was now looming large, with Impetuous Bosporan cavalry starting to consider which of their fast-narrowing range of generally unpleasant options thay should thematically take.
On The Left: The outnumbered Bosporan horse archers were driven off by a Numidian charge which saw javelin-armed light cavalry almost end up behind the end of the line of Bosporan archers.
The archers were a great support troop, dangerous at distance against most enemy cavalry, but against the sheer quantity of horsemen the Numidians could thrown at them, they suddenly started to feel rather exposed.
On The Left: With time and space rapidly being constricted by the Numidian advance, the Bosporans decided that this was the ideal moment to make the best of a rapidly deteriorating tactical situation and hurl in a limited charge at the end of the Numidian line.
The red-cloaked Commander of the Numidian small command was poised and waiting to backfill if the Imitation Legionaries crumbled, as the Elephant revved its engines ominously, eyeing up the rest of the Bosporan lancers arrayed before it
On The Right: With the Bosporan horse archers by now somewhat whittled away, the Bosporan lancers launched another limited attack, again trying to avoid the Numidian elephant as they crashed into the eclectic formation of Numidian troops and mercenaries.
The Bosporan infantry had also by now completely overrun the plantation-covered hill, causing javelineers and light horse to flee into the end zone of the Numidian deployment area as they sought to avoid anything that might put them at risk given the upper hand the rest of their army seemed to be enjoying elsewhere on the park.
In The Centre: The Imitation Legions had successfully absorbed the initial Bosporan charge, and now floods of Numidian cavalry swept forward to attack the now-exposed archers and pressurise their accompanying horse archers
But more importantly the Numidian elephant now launched itself into the rest of the lancers, forcing them into a combat they really didn't want and in the process buying space for more Legionaries to begin the process of overwhelming the engaged lancers.
On The Left: The combination of light horse and Elite cavalry were flowing in all directions, overwhelming the Bosporans with their myriad of attacks, overlaps and the ability to pin any enemy units with evade-capable javelin skirmishers
Numidian Facts - They sometimes painted their faces with ochre or ash before battle, to “disappear into the land.” Later writers claimed that, during twilight, the earth itself rose to fight alongside them — a fine example of poetic exaggeration mistaken for journalism.
On The Right: The Bosporan infantry were now all over the hill, and successfully chasing down evading javelineers behind the Numidian battle line.
The Numidian elephant was making its presence felt with a disruptive smell that discomfited the Bosporan cavalry to such an extent that they were losing the battle against the nominally squishy Spaniards
On The Right: As was happening elsewhere however, the sheer numbers of Numidian reserve cavalry yet again allowed them to quickly snuff out any probing forays and attempted breakthroughs the Bosporans might wish to conjure up, this time slamming into their infantry with support from yet more javelin-armed skirmishing foot.
With the elephant slowly grinding its way forward, the Bosporan cavalry were seemingly unable to find an answer to the odious beast
On The Left: With the Bosporan archers having been overrun, the Numidian Cavalry were now able to return to help sort out the surprisingly obdurate Bosporan lancers, who were now totally surrounded by Numidians of all flavours.
On The Right: With the battle fast slipping away, some of the last remnants of the Bosporan strike force launched a charge against yet more Imitation Legionaries - who stood resilient in the face of the lancers attack, buying time for the much-lauded Elephant Corps to slam into the flank of the dejected Bosporan cavalrymen.
The Bosporan Civil War
In The Centre: The Bosporan cavalry were now reeling, as Numidians flooded forward to try and assault them from all sides.
The Imitation legions had been left far behind as the Numidians chased the conclusion of the battle, seeking to take out the last few enemy lancers to close out the battle.
On The Right: The Elephants were proving to be the game winners here, and eager to hog the glory a Numidian Commander clambered astride one of the mighty beasts to help finish off the embattled Bosporan cavalry as swiftly as possible
In fact, both Numidian commanders were now drawn like moths to a flame to this combat, with the other one encouraging his Imitation Legionaries to hold firm until the Elephants had done their business.
On The Left: Another bout of elephant-clattering drew a North African coloured line under the game, with a stomping of yet more Bosporan lancers. The end result was a decisive victory for the forces of Numidia!
Post Match Summary from the Numidian Commander
Listen well, you who have learned to read victory in dust and shadow, for this one required interpretation.
We faced the Bosporans—men suspended between identities, uncertain whether they were born of the steppe wind or the echo of Greek theatres. They dressed for two histories and fought as if either might answer for them. Such armies are always dangerous at first contact and fragile thereafter.
They placed their faith in the centre, as uncertain men always do. There they massed their lancer cavalry, a forest of points aimed at the future, confident that speed and weight would carve meaning from confusion. I allowed them that confidence.
Against them I set our imitation legions, solid as packed earth, and our elephants, who have never cared what a man believes about himself. The charge came, fierce and sincere—and went nowhere. Spears glanced, horses balked, and the great beasts absorbed their ambition like sand drinking rain.
Thus the Bosporan centre discovered stillness.
On their right they trusted to horse archers, thinly spread, more suggestion than wall. Our javelin cavalry rode them down with professional irritation, driving them off like birds from a field, and then—finding the flank suddenly available—rolled inward upon the Bosporan line, which had already begun to doubt its own coherence.
On their left, auxiliary infantry struggled through wooded hills, chasing our skirmishers as one chases laughter through trees. We appeared, vanished, reappeared elsewhere. By the time they emerged into what they believed was our rear, they found only abandonment and the footprints of panic—left by their own army, already in flight.
So ended the Bosporans’ experiment in self-definition.
They did not lose because they were steppe or Greek, cavalry or infantry. They lost because they tried to be many things at once, while I required my army to be one thing at a time, everywhere it mattered.
As the desert teaches: a mirage may look like many cities, but it quenches no thirst. Remember this victory—not for its noise, but for its clarity.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Ah. The Bosporans again. Those half-remembered men of horse and column, forever unsure whether they ride from the steppe or walk out of a theatre. Very well—let us cut them open and see what you did with them.
Yes, you refused your right flank. I see the shape of the thought and will not pretend it was accidental. But then—by all the treacherous gods of coastline and wine—you left it naked. Barely a veil of skirmishers, scarcely enough to frighten a fox, let alone delay determined infantry pouring through wooded hills like ants through a cracked jar.
Your army is made for such ground. Rough terrain is your inheritance. And yet you allowed Bosporan infantry to wade through trees and slopes almost unopposed, until they were gnawing at the right end of your centre like rats at a grain sack. That is not refusal; that is abandonment with paperwork.
Because of this, you panicked forward.
Your left and centre were forced to advance hard and fast, not because the moment was ripe, but because your flank was about to fold behind you. You took risks you did not need to take—charging momentum into uncertainty, pressing against cavalry lancers whose entire religion is built around sudden ruin. One bad angle, one well-timed thrust, and your light troops would have been decorating Bosporan spears like festival ribbons. That you survived this does not make it wise.
And yet—and yet—here come the elephants, lumbering in like truth at the end of a lie. They broke what needed breaking. They stilled the centre, unnerved the lancers, and turned panic into decision. The Bosporans fled, and your army stood victorious despite having flirted shamelessly with disaster.
Which brings us to the matter we can no longer avoid. This victory smells familiar.
Elephants used not as ornaments but as arbiters. Pressure applied at the hinge of morale. Fear leveraged where doctrine fails. These are not the conclusions of your desert proverbs—they are mine. You have borrowed my handwriting and signed your own name beneath it.
Do not deny it; imitation has always been your truest legion.
So yes, you won. The Bosporans are scattered, history is satisfied, and your banners remain upright. But understand this clearly, my sandy friend: the battle was saved not by your philosophy, but by my ideas walking on four legs in this so-called "Numidian" army list which in reality resembled nothing so much as a Carthaginian army with different shaped shields for its heavy infantrymen.
Call it your victory if you must.
I will know better.
Here's me, talking you through this game
That's the end - so why not go back to the Match Reports Index and read some more reports?
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Game 1 Numidian vs Ancient British
Game 2 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (Italian)
Game 3 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (French)
Game 4 Numidian vs Late Imperial Roman (English)
Game 5 Numidian vs Bosporan (quite near Derby)
