The Great Battles of Spartacus!C3i-GBoH Module for Caesar: Conquest of Gaul

IntroductionThis module covers the key battles of the

Spartacid or Third Servile War. Salinae, MountGarganus, Picenum, Camalatrum and SilarusRiver. The five battles in this module weresome of the main large scale battles betweenthe Slave Army of Italy under Spartacus andhis gladiator lieutenants on one side and thelegions of Rome under her consuls, praetors,pro-praetors and legates on the other.

• IMPORTANT NOTE: In order toplay this module you need to have a copy ofCaesar: Conquest of Gaul (CCoG). Forsome counters, you will also need SPQR andthe counter insert that came with this issue ofC3i. However, in case you don't have SPQR,

substitute counters from CCoG are listed.

Historical NotesThe Turmoil of the Late Republic

The Third Servile, or Spartacid, War wasthe product of major demographic, social andmilitary currents during the Late Republic,intersecting with one extraordinary leader.We can begin this story in 146 BC whenRome completed the destruction of two ofher greatest foes. After a brutal siege, ScipioAemilianus sacked Carthage, razed the city,salted its fields and cursed the site. Mean-while, in Greece, Lucius Mummius wassacking Corinth, the last Greek city resistingRoman rule. Rome was now supreme fromthe Pillars of Hercules to the Cilician Gatesin Asia Minor. A major byproduct of Rome'smany victorious wars was a massive influx ofslaves. Eventually the slaves came to greatlyoutnumber the free men, especially in Sicilyand southern Italy. The first of the great slaverevolts, or Servile Wars, engulfed Sicily in

135 BC. The Roman senate was no longer theeffective supreme war council it had been inHannibal's day. Civil strife had rendered theRepublic increasingly impotent. It took fouryears to suppress this first major slave rebel-lion. Roman nobles were loathe to campaignagainst mere slaves, and as long as the rebel-lion was safely confined to an island, it wasallowed to fester. Eventually, by 132 BC, allthe rebel slaves had been killed in battle orexecuted. But the Republic did nothing to ad-dress the underlying causes of the rebellion—avast underclass of slaves and displaced prole-tariat exploited by a handful of rich plantationowners, and peasant farmers continued to bedriven off their land.

The slaves were quiet for twenty-five years.

By Daniel A. FournieBut Rome faced external threats as well. Atthe Battle of Arausio on the Rhone River, theGerman Cimbri and Teutones annihilatedtwo Roman armies, slaying 80,000 men in 105BC. It was Rome's greatest defeat since Can-nae. The road into Italy was open. Manpowershortages forced Rome to call on her alliedclient kings for troops. Nicomedes, the Kingof Bithynia, complained that he could notfurnish soldiers because the rapacious Romantax farmers endured had enslaved too many ofhis subjects. In response, the senate issued adecree that all enslaved subjects of allied king-doms should be emancipated. The governor

of Sicily began to implement this directiveand freed 800 slaves before the local landowners pressured him to cease. However, theunfulfilled expectation of manumission led toa second great slave revolt in Sicily, in 104 BC.Again, this rebellion was allowed to continuefor five years before the Romans suppressedthe last of the armed slaves.

Rome was free from major slave revolts forthe next three decades. However, the republicwas wracked with the Social War with herItalian allies, followed by Civil War betweenMarius and Sulla, while simultaneously fight-ing Mithradates of Pontus in Greece. Sullaand his `optimates' emerged as the ultimatevictors in the Civil War, but Sertorius carriedon the `populares' cause in Hispania and cre-ated a senate in exile, while brilliantly fendingoff the attacks of Pompey. Meanwhile, theunrest caused by Mithradates' invasion ofGreece facilitated the raids of the Dacians,Scordissi and Maedi along the Macedonianand Thracian frontiers.

Enter SpartacusOnto this stage a Thracian named

Spartacus appeared. Believed to have beenborn around 109 BC, of his early life noth-ing is known. But by the early 70s BC hewas serving as an auxiliary alongside Rome'slegions on the wild Danube frontier. Sparta-cus learned much about soldiering, and alsohow Rome's legions operated. After beingdischarged or deserting, Spartacus was cap-tured by slavers and shipped to Italy. Here hewas purchased by Lentulus Batiatus and sentto train as a gladiator at his school outsideCapua. Spartacus was an able student, andsoon mastered not only fighting techniques,but the training regimen of the gladiators.But this remarkable fighter was not con-tent to fight as a slave-gladiator. Spartacusengineered a mass escape from the gladiator

school and ignited the Third Servile War in73 BC. Spartacus escaped from the schoolwith just 78 fellow gladiators. After somesuccessful skirmishes with local guards, hisforce set about raiding the countryside, freeingmore slaves to join their ranks. Spartacus setup a base on the defensible slopes of MountVesuvius.

Remembering the earlier Slave Wars inSicily, the senate in Rome took this outbreakmore seriously. They dispatched the praetorsClaudius Glaber and Publius Varinius with3,000 men to suppress the rising. Glaber andVarinius surrounded Spartacus at his base onMount Vesuvius, intending to starve out therebels. The Mountain was only accessible by anarrow and difficult passage but Spartacushad a plan. While some of the rebels rushedthe Roman camp from the mountainSpartacus and the rest made ladders from thevines that grew on the mountain and climbeddown and attacked at the same time. Attackedfrom both sides the Roman camp fell in shortorder. This victory over regular Roman forcesallowed Spartacus to expand his operations andrecruit growing numbers of slaves andfreemen.

With captured Roman arms and the training ;techniques of the gladiators, Spartacus quicklytransformed an unruly mob into a real army.

The Battle of Salinae, 73 BCIn a second expedition against Spartacus,

the praetor Publius Varinius was sent againstthe growing slave army. The Romans stillconsidered this a law enforcement operation,rather than a military campaign. Their greatestfear was that the rebel slaves would escapeand scatter. So Varinius split his forces underthe command of his subordinates Furius andCossinius, in order to surround the slaves.While the Roman commands were separated,Spartacus attacked. The slave army's attack wasled by Spartacus' able gladiator lieutenants-Oenomaus, Crixus, Castus and Gannicus. Theslaves first defeated Furius' detachment, in asharp struggle. The slave general then movedagainst Cossinius, and struck by surprise.

This Roman noble was almost captured whilebathing in the Salinae River. Cossinius madehis escape back to his camp but there he waskilled as the slave army stormed his ramparts.Varinius was also nearly captured in a surpriseattack. Spartacus captured the Praetor's horse,as he managed to escape on foot in the confu-sion. With this success, more slaves flocked tothe Spartacus' camp. According to the ancienthistorians, his followers soon numbered

The Great Battles of Spartacus!70,000, including many women and children.Thousands of gladiators were freed fromschools across southern Italy, and these fight-ers became the hard core of Spartacus' Army.The gladiators instituted massive training pro-grams to transform all the slaves into fightersduring the winter of 73-72 BC. Likely, not allSpartacus' followers had been slaves, but manywere free proletariat and landless peasantswho rallied to his call.

The Battle of Mount Garganus, 72 BCSpartacus was an able strategist, and he

knew that his rag-tag army could not expectto defy Rome indefinitely. Spartacus planned

to escape from Roman authority by cross-

ing over the Alps, and headed north throughApulia in the spring. He divided his ever-growing army into two columns. Spartacusplaced his lieutenant Crixus, a Gaul, in chargeof a force of 30,000 German and Gallicslaves, while he maintained personal com-mand of the remaining 40,000 fighters. Crixushad become over confident after their manyvictories and moved slowly as he allowed hismen to continue their raiding and pillaging.Meanwhile, Rome sent both consuls, LuciusGellius Publicola and Gnaeus CorneliusLentulus Clodianus, with two legions each,after the slaves. Publicola, supported by thePraetor Arius with a third legion, came uponCrixus suddenly and forced a battle. Crixushastily formed his free slaves into a line ofbattle on high ground at the base of MountGarganus. Crixus placed his raw German andGallic slave levies in front, and held his elitegladiators back as a reserve with which tocounter-attack. But Publicola's legionnairescut the leading slave units to pieces, causingpanic to sweep through the rebel army. Crixuswas killed along with two-thirds of his of hismen. The survivors scattered, and many likelyre-joined Spartacus's main column.

The Battle of Picenum, 72 BCFollowing the defeat of his lieutenant

Crixus, Spartacus again struck out north forthe Alps, moving into Picenum. Two Romanarmies opposed him. From the south theconsul Publicola pursued with his army, freshfrom his victory at Mount Garganus. To thenorth his fellow consul Lentulus maneuveredto block his path. The two Roman columnsattempted a pincer movement, to encircle theslaves. An inviting gap, as if in error, was leftby the Roman command to invite Spartacus toattempt a breakout, but instead Spartacus splithis army. In a brilliant campaign, Spartacusleft a small force to keep Lentulus busy, whilehe led the main attack against Publicola. ThisRoman army was defeated and Spartacus thenturned all his troops against Lentulus. Thesecond consular army was also smashed. The

Roman leaders escaped capture, but enormousnumbers of prisoners and equipment fellinto the hands of the slave army. Spartacussacrificed 300 Roman captives to the shades ofCrixus. Spartacus then resumed his march tothe Alps and freedom.

Enter Crassus

On his way north, Spartacus was met byyet another Roman army under Cassius, thegovernor of Cisalpine Gaul. Cassius com-manded a praetorian army of ten thousandmen. In the battle that ensued, just north ofthe River Po, Cassius was defeated and lostmany men, and he barely managed to escapecapture. There were now no Roman forces leftin Italy to stop the slave army from crossingthe Alps and escaping to freedom. However,for reasons that remain obscure, the slavearmy turned south back into Italy instead.Some have speculated that most of Spartacus'men preferred to continue plundering Italy.According to one tradition, some of the slavesand their families did cross into Gaul, but inany case the main army turned back into Italy.Rome faced a great crisis at this point. Besidesthe war with Spartacus, the republic faced aseparatist `populares' force in Hispania underSertorius in the west, the growing power

of Burebista of Dacia in the north and theempire of Pontus under Mithridates in theeast. It seemed the Roman Republic lackedthe power and cohesiveness to simultaneouslydefeat her many foes.

Rome had run out of legions and generalsto fight Spartacus. One Roman saw this as anopportunity. In the autumn of 72 BC, MarcusLicinius Crassus offered to take the com-mand against the slaves. The Senate readilyacquiesced. Crassus was a veteran commanderof the Civil Wars, a leading politician andpurportedly the richest man in Rome. Manynoble volunteers flocked to join him, and hepersonally raised and equipped an army ofsix legions. He formed two additional legionsfrom the survivors of the two consular armiesand other shattered forces. Meanwhile, thevictorious slave army was marching south-wards again. Spartacus proposed a negotiatedsettlement, but Crassus refused to consider it.Next, Crassus assigned his deputy Mummiustwo legions and gave him the task of harass-ing the flank of the slave army. Mummius wasto slow down the slave army while the mainforce under Crassus waited on the border ofPicenum, expecting Spartacus would returnthat way. But Mummius, seeking glory, uponthe first opportunity attacked the slaves on

The Great Battles of Spartacus! — A Caesar: Conquest of Gaul Modulehis own. Mummius' detachment was routed,and many of his legionnaires only survived byabandoning their arms and fleeing. Crassussubjected the remnants of Mummius legionsto decimation, a harsh punishment not in usefor many years. One man in each squad often was chosen by lot and executed before thewhole army. This had the desired effect. Thelegionnaires learned to fear Crassus more thanthey feared Spartacus.

Spartacus slipped past Crassus andretreated through Lucania into Bruttium andtoward the sea. He encamped at Rhegiumwhere he attempted to gain passage to Sicilywith the help of some Cilician pirate ships.Spartacus judged he could open a new frontagainst Rome by fomenting another slaverebellion in Sicily, where two great slave rebel-lions had occurred in the past six decades. Butthe treacherous pirates (are there any otherkind?) deceived Spartacus. After coming toterms with him and receiving payment, theysimply sailed away. When Crassus came

upon Spartacus at Rhegium, he decided toexploit the engineering skills of his legions.The Roman army built a wall and ditch acrossthe narrow neck of the isthmus, some 60kilometers in length. It was not a completelynew project, as Dionysius of Syracuse hadfirst built his "Scylletian Wall" here to keepnorthern tribes out some three centuries ear-lier. Spartacus was walled in. When provisionsbegan to fail he was forced to attempt a breakout. After two strenuous efforts to break freehis main force still remained trapped. Waiting

and watching for a weak spot, the opportunitycame one snowy night early in 71 BC. TheSlave army crossed the ditch and breached thewall to gain its freedom, but only about a thirdof Spartacus' men were able to escape. Crassushurried after them in pursuit. The great crisisof the Roman Republic had passed. Unexpect-edly, Sertorius had been assassinated by oneof his captains, allowing Pompey to crushthe separatist populares state in Hispania.Meanwhile, Lucullus defeated Mithradates,and drove his opponent into the wilds of the

Caucasus. With Crassus' successful operationsagainst Spartacus in Bruttium, Rome couldbreath easier. Pompey now raced to Italy to`assist' Crassus against Spartacus.

The Battle of Camalatrum, 71 BC

After Spartacus escaped the Roman siegein Bruttium, the Gaulish and German sec-tion of his slave army again moved separatelyunder the command of Gannicus and Castus.Crassus was now in a race, not with theenemy, but with his rival Pompey. In addition,Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus was also onhis way from Macedon to provide assistance.Crassus felt he had won this war on his own,and now wanted to complete it before Pompey

and Lucullus could arrive and rob him ofsome of his glory. Desperate to annihilate theslaves before Pompey's arrival, Crassus gam-bled on a risky move. He dispatched QuintusMarcius Rufus to make a flank march andgain the rear of the Gallic detachment of theslave army. Two Gallic women spotted Mar-cius' flanking force and ruined the surprise.Marcius' command was in great danger untilCrassus, after a forced march, engaged the en-emy in battle from the front. The two Romanforces would have overwhelmed the Gauls hadnot Spartacus come to their rescue. Crassusscored an incomplete victory, and Spartacuscontinued his retreat.

The Battle of the Silarus River, 71 BC

Spartacus found his army trapped betweenthe armies of Crassus to his front and Pompeyand Lucullus approaching from the rear.Crassus had started construction of his campand the skirmish between slave scouts and

the Roman camp guards escalated. Spartacusdecided to fight the climatic battle now, beforethe massive Roman reinforcements arrived.Crassus, in response, launched a full-scaleattack. Spartacus, seeing that his army wasin jeopardy, killed his warhorse in front ofhis troops, a clear sign of defiance could onlymean one thing — he would fight to the death.As it became clear that the Slave army wasbeing defeated, Spartacus attempted to cut hisway through the Roman troops to get at Cras-sus, in one last desperate attempt to save theday. Spartacus was cut down by an arrow. Inthe end, thousands of men lay dead near theRiver Silarus, with Spartacus simply one bodyamongst the many. Amongst the booty cap-tured were five legionary eagles that the slaveshad captured in earlier battles. Over 6,000slave soldiers were captured, and Crassus hadthem all crucified along the Appian Way

from Capua to Rome. Crassus had defeatedSpartacus, but Pompey managed to mop up afew thousand slave fugitives, and took creditfor ending the rebellion. No slave rebellion onthe magnitude of Spartacus' War would everagain wrack Rome. This was probably because,with Spartacus' example in mind, much moreforceful measures were taken against minoroutbreaks in the future. More importantly, noleader of Spartacus' caliber again emerged tolead the slaves.

The Sources and Spartacus' Reputation

Spartacus only became a heroic figure inthe 19th and 20th Centuries, as a symbol ofoppressed peoples fighting for freedom. Tothe Romans, he was a despicable, if capable,outlaw. Since Roman historians took this view,they were reluctant to record his campaignsin detail. Therefore the descriptions of hisarmy and operations are woefully poor. He is

not usually regarded in the same class as the`Great Captains' such as Alexander, Hannibaland Caesar. However, his accomplishmentsmay have actually been greater. The 'GreatCaptains' all benefitted from existing armies,and the institutional support of their states.Spartacus, on the other hand, created anarmy from scratch. His slave armies includedpeoples from all over the Mediterraneanworld, with no common language, culture orcustoms. With this polyglot force Spartacusout-fought and out-maneuvered a series ofRoman commanders, leading professionallegions. Spartacus may very well have beenthe equal of the accepted 'Great Captains.'However, the poorly recorded history of hiscampaigns makes a definitive judgment virtu-ally impossible.

The main ancient sources are: Appian, Civil Wars 1.111-121. Florus, Epitome of Roman History 2.8.20. Orosius, Histories. 5.24.1-8 Plutarch, The Life of Crassus and

The Life of Pompey

General Notes

The Gladiators

There were many types of gladiators,equipped with exotic and varied arms andarmor. While their sword-fighting skills wereeasily adapted from the arena to the battle-field, other specialties (such as the retiarius'trident and net) were probably not as useful.Since the gladiators comprised only a smallpercentage of Spartacus' army, their greatestvalue may have been as trainers and instruc-tors. The list below outlines some of the basicgladiator types:

Types of gladiator:

Andebate — limbs and lower torso protectedby mail armor, chest and back plate, largevizored helmet with eye holes Dimachaerus — sword fighter,butusing twoswords, no shield Equestrian — armored riders, chest plate,back plate, thigh armor, shield, lance Essedarius — fights from war chariots Hoplomachus — Very similar to the Samnite,but with a larger shield. His name was theLatin term for a Greek hoplite. Laquearius — most likely much like the Re-tiarius, but using a 'lasso' instead of a net andmost likely a lance instead of a trident Myrmillo — large, crested helmet with vizor(with a fish on its crest), little shield, lance Paegniarius — whip, club and a shieldwhich is fixed to the left arm with straps Provocator — like Samnite, but with shieldand lance Retiarius — trident, net, dagger, scaled armor(manica) covering left arm, projecting shoul-derpiece to protect the neck (galerus)

The Great Battles of Spartacus! Samnite — medium shield, short sword,1 greave (ocrea) on left leg, protective leatherbands covering wrists and knee and ankle ofright leg (fasciae), large, crested helmet withvizor, small chest plate (spongia)

Secutor — large, almost spherical helmet witheye holes or large crested helmet with vizor,small/medium shield Tertiarius — substitute fighter

Thracian — curved short sword (sica), scaledarmor (manica) covering left arm, 2 greaves(ocreae)

The fighters' equipment as it is mentionedabove is not based on an absolute rule.Equipment could vary to a point. A retiariusfor example did not necessarily always havea manica on his arm, or a galerus on hisshoulder. The above descriptions are merelyrough guidelines.

Gladiator Leaders: Gladiator leaders areeither Gladiator Generals (G. Gen),equivalent to "Tribal Chiefs" (TCs) in CCoG

or Gladiator Chiefs (G. Chief) equivalent to"Chiefs" in CCOG. These counters areprovided with the C3i insert in this issue.

Gladiator Leader Names: Spartacus,Crixus, Castus and Gannicus were the actualgladiator-officers of the slave army. Three laterfamous gladiator names are used for otherleaders.1. We know Flamma from his gravestone "a

secutor, lived 30 years, fought 34 times, won21 times, fought to a draw 9 times, defeated 4times, a Syrian by nationality. Delicatus madethis for his deserving comrade-in-arms."2. Hermes, according to the poet Martial,

was a great star, considered the masterswordsman of his day.3. Rutuba was another star of the Coliseum.

Counters: come from either Caesar: Con-

quest of Gaul, SPQR (for Picenum andSilarus only) or the insert included with thisissue of C3i. The counters From column in theset-ups indicates the origin of the counter;either CCoG for Caesar: Conquest of Gaul,

SPQR for SPQR or C3i for the C3i insert.

Substitute Counters: If you have only CCoGbut not SPQR, don't despair. You cansubstitute counters from CCoG as follows:

for SPQR (green) Numidian LI (1-10),use CCoG (grey) Briton LI (1-10).

for SPQR (light blue) Iberian LI (1-10),use CCoG (blue) Helvet LI (3-12).

for SPQR (brown) Pergamum & AchaeaLI (6), use CCoG (grey) Briton LI (11-16).

for SPQR Macedon and Numidia LCuse CCoG (grey) Briton LC (1-2)

for SPQR Iberian LN use CCoGHelvet LN.

Maps: come from Caesar: Conquest of Gaul.

Set-ups: see the Spartacus GBoH/SimpleGBoH Inserts in this issue of C3i Magazine.

Special Rules:

1.Slave Tribes: The groups of units listedin each scenario (Germans, N. Gauls,S. Gauls, Belgae, Iberians, Africans, East,Gladiators, Mounted Slaves, etc.) each func-tion as a single "Slave Tribe," even when theunits may come from multiple tribes. SlaveTribes (including BI, LI and GS) benefitfrom Rule 6.8 (Barbarian Impetuosity)and Rule 8.5 (Barbarian Ferocity).2.Slave Command System: In general, theSlave Armies follow Rule 4.5 (Tribal Com-mand System). Gladiator Chiefs functionas Tribal Chiefs (Rule 4.52) except thatthey may command any assigned Slave Tribe.Gladiator Generals (Spartacus, Crixus andCastus) may command an assigned SlaveTribe, or an entire Slave Army. Chiefs listedwith a Slave Tribe may command all theunits in that Slave Tribe.

3.Spartacus as Elite Commander:

The provisions of Rule 5.5 (Caesar asElite Commander) applies to Spartacusin all scenarios where he is present.4.Labienus: The counter for this legatemay not be used in any of these scenarios.5.Gladiator GS: These elite units maybelong to any slave tribe, or be formedas their own tribe (at Mt Garganus).Although they are HI (or LG?), they mayjoin any tribal line of BI and/or LI (standardrules) or any Slave Tribe formation (Simple)to which they are assigned. Gladiator GSbenefit from Rule 6.8 (Barbarian Impetuos-ity) and Rule 8.5 (Barbarian Ferocity) as ifthey were BI of their assigned Slave Tribe.

SimpleGBoH Special Rules:

1.All Slave leaders use the smaller of the twoCommand Ranges printed on the counter,unless noted otherwise. A contiguous linemay NOT be used to extend the range.Spartacus is also treated as an elite leader.2.Units that are Out of Command may notmove adjacent to an enemy unit nor maythey leave a hex if already in an enemy ZOC.Out of Command units may change facingin an enemy ZOC, unless or until they havean enemy unit in their ZOC. Units thatbegin the turn in an enemy ZOC and moveout of that ZOC, may not move adjacentto an enemy unit during the rest of themovement turn.

Formation ChartsBoth players have a Formation Chart that

describes the overall organizational capabili-ties of that army. Each row of the chart lists

the units in the Formation and the leader thatcommands that Formation. If more than onetype of unit is given for a single Formation, allunits of those types must activate unless thephrase and/or appears in that Formation entry.In this case, the player can activate any com-bination of the unit types listed. However, ifa given type is activated, all units of that typemust activate. Formations without a Forma-tion Commander are treated as Auxiliaries. Adashed line denotes separate Formations thatare led by the same Commander.

Formation Groups

If a Formation has more than one com-mander listed, any one of the leaders listedcan be used to command that Formationduring that Player Turn. Allowable Forma-tion Groups and their Commanders are eitherindicated as separate entries on the FormationChart or indicated as notes. The Formationscan be activated as a group if the followingconditions are met:

•• the individual Formation Commander iswithin Command Range of the Commanderof the group listed on the Formation Chart,and

•• the Formation Commander is stacked withor adjacent to a unit in his FormationThe Commander of the group is activatedand may move whether or not he commandsone of the Formations. If there is no Com-mander for the group, all listed Formationsmay activate, however, the player must roll onedie for and compare the roll to each Forma-tion Commander's Initiative Rating. If the

die roll is higher, the units in that Formationare automatically Out of Command for theplayer turn. If the die roll is a '9', only one ofthe eligible Formations may activate — owningplayer's choice. If a Formation is not automat-ically Out of Command, the Command statusis determined separately for each Formationper 4.11. The player is not required to activateall of the listed Formations.

Cavalry Formations

Formations listed as Cavalry Formationson the chart may activate on every non-SeizedPlayer Turn along with any other Forma-tion or group of Formations. TheFormation is automatically Out ofCommand whenactivated along with any other Formation. Theunits may, however, leave an enemy ZOC atthe cost of 1 Hit.

Cavalry formations are defined as forma-tions that contain only cavalry or chariotmounted infantry units. There may be noother types of units in these formations to beeligible for this rule.