Okay, so I predicted an update before the end of May, and I'm a week late. At least it’s less than a month since my last update!
Hopefully I haven't lost your attention, and you are still following. Better yet, if you don't remember what's going on, you're willing to re-read the thing to get back into the swing.
In any case, there is a tremendous battle for the boot of Italy, and my rebel armies are trying to fight their way out of western Hispania (have, for the most part) into north Hispania, where there are rebel strongholds. Agrippa is leading this struggle, and he is quite talented at it.
At Cassetani, in northern Hispania, Marcus Lepidus decides he has enough of an advantage that he can attempt to assault the walls. This would bring Rebel control further south of the Appenine Mountains, and be a feather in the cap of Caesar's armies.
It would also allow him to concentrate more fully on Ilergetes, also south of the Appenines, which is a Rebel-held territory under siege by the Loyalists. Here, we see the convergence of an army from the north which has just defeated some barbarians at Vascones, joining with the southern army led by Gen. Agrippa against Ilergetes, in order to relieve the siege there.
Meanwhile, at Campania, on the western coast of Italy, Gen. Labeo has defeated the siege army brought there by Loyalist Gen. Censorinus. This is a significant gain for the Rebels, as we've just recently gained two provinces on the eastern coast of the "boot" of Italy, and now we've defeated a Loyalist bid to retake territory south of besieged Rome. The Rebels suffered more losses, but the victory is a strategic one, so it’s a decent tradeoff.
Up north, the “mother of all battles” has commenced, between the Loyalist horde, under Gen. Gabinius (29,000 strong at the dawn of battle – down to 26,000 now) is trying to strangle the Rebellion’s hope at Paleoveneti, where Gen. Pictor leads 20,000 Rebels who have come to halt Gabinius.
Pictor’s army has gotten the drop on Gabinius, whose army is suffering almost 4:1 casualties.
And, back in the Appenines, Agrippa has successfully lifted the siege at Ilergetes, the Loyalists taking nearly 20:1 casualties!
By about a week later, this dreaded “doomstack” which had marched up from Greece via Illyria, is defeated by Pictor. Gabinius “retreats” toward Bononia, in the south. Finding that Palloveneti is defended only by a small garrison, Gaius Octavius Pictor first assaults and recaptures the city, then marches after Gabinius toward a second showdown in Bononia.
To the south of Rome, Appius Drusus’ valiant stand at Cassetani was eventually for naught. After having defeated the Loyalist attempt to breach the siege, he had spent his army’s strength upon the walls, there, having reduced the enemy garrison, and damaged her walls, perhaps softening the city for a later takeover. But it was not to be. Not yet, anyway.
In southern Spain, at Olissipo, the rebels who rose up there actually pulled off a significant victory! The allied dead were more than the enemy, though the tallies were more or less even. But the fact that the Romans fled from these irregulars at all is reason for celebration! And for embarrassment in the enemy camp!
Meanwhile, at the end of May, Julius Caesar has traveled to Hispania to take command of the forces there which hope to prevent a Loyalist breakthrough and perhaps even to tip the tide of war there in favor of the Rebels.
The Loyalists recently mustered 31 cohorts at Lusones, which defeated Agrippa at great cost. Now, they are in Caesar’s way… And if Caesar himself fails to pull off a victory there, Agrippa will by then have been regrouped and ready to make the second, deadly stab.
By mid-June, Pictor and Gabinius are at it again, this time in Bononia. Gaius Octavius Pictor somehow achieved TOTAL surprise against the somewhat stunned Loyalists, and the casualty figures at Bononia were actually 20:1 !!!
This news is somewhat mitigated by the devastating news from Lucania of Cotta’s utter defeat. Cotta escaped (barely!) with his life, and is fleeing to Campania where he hopes there will not be a followup victory by the Senate’s armies.
With victories in the north of Italy, and in the south, things had seemed to be very much favoring the Rebellion. But now, with Caesar preoccupied in Hispania, and Cotta on the run in Campania, we’re forced to wonder.
Is the situation in southern Italy spinning out of control???