The issues with the message board last monday meant I could not post this update, I hope you'll like it !
Castra Regina, province of Raetia, temporary camp of the VII Gemina, May 127 CE
The soldiers were sitting around the campfire, eating their supper while exchanging the last gossips. The big news of the day was the major battle an auxiliary unit had fought against the Marcomanni a few weeks before and of which the news had just arrived in the camp. The IX Batavorum were said to be victorious but at an horrendous cost to themselves, with more than half of the men dead and all the survivors being hurt in some way. The unit would be out of combat for a while, if the men were not simply cannibalized to replenish other formations.
But they had given worse than they had received. At least three thousands dead barbarians, including their king, who’d been killed in the middle of the Marcomanni’s rout, and the best of his warriors. The tribe’s power was broken and their allies had lost the ability to communicate between themselves. One could even say there would be two wars now, one in the Dacian area and one in the Agri Decumates…
This also meant that their general, the Caesar Voltinius, would want to move earlier to benefit from the opportunities opened by the barbarians’ defeat. And that, many thought, was bad news : more walking, and possible death at the end of the day. Others argued that at least it’d take them off from the bloody training they’d had to do since they’d left Hiberia, which would be a bloody relief even if they still had to use the nails on the sole of their calligaes. And then there were those who simply shrugged, not caring one way or another as long as food was to be had and loot was possible…
In the officer's’ tent the atmosphere was rather different. There the staff officers were delighted with the news they’d received and were looking at how to best capitalize on the victory. The soldiers had arrived a few days ago after a long march of some 60 days from the south, 1700 miles on the imperial roads. During those two months the barbarians had ravaged the Agri Decumates, pillaging towns such as Aquilea or Arae Flaviae, but had been contained by the local units and proved unable to cross either the Rhenus or the Danuvius. Now, heavy with plunder, they would slowly retreat north… where the legions would await them.
Benefiting from a secure eastern flank, Voltunius has decided to strike north at the limit between the Hermunduri and Marcomanni territories, while the legion based at Mongotiacum would strike south toward the Necer river. Hopefully the two legions would be able to bag the barbarians inside the Agri Decumanes and destroy them in one swoop before moving inside the barbarians’ territory and ravaging it. With some luck they expected to be able to build a new limes starting from the Rhenus along the Moenus up to a point north of Castra Regina, and then a chain of control points south to the city, adding a huge buffer in front of the Agri Decumanes made of the Hermunduri territory. Such an addition to the empire would probably not shorten the borders for much, but would provide a lot of security to Raetia and Germania Superior…
Quintus Baebius Novalis was not thinking about those lofty considerations. With his men he was trying to keep the legion in shape for the fight. Missing or broken caligae, lost pilum, new nails, even a godsdamned piece of ballista, it seemed every damn soldier of the unit had lost something that needed replacement. And that meant finding supplies, asking the right man to make the requested item, checking that the soldiers paid for their item and that the money did not go lost in some grubby hands…
It was not fun to manage the logistics of an army in campaign, and the damn legatus was not making his job any easier by forcing the men do to quick marches that used men and equipment, and disrupted his production and distribution planning. He was really more of a garrison kind of guy...