CISALPINE GAUL. OUTSIDE THE TOWN OF COLICARIA..

It was more a restless angry creature than an army. And it was huge. It roiled forward, hungry and relentless. It was intent on its prey, which lay directly ahead of it.

King Boirix, commanding the right wing, waved his sword over his head. His nephew Bagotrix, seeing the signal, surged forward with 35,000 heavy cavalry. Boirix and his men began to surge forward as well, positioned so that the vast bulk of his army would crash against the Roman left. It would not be so much a flanking maneuver as it would be the effect of a tidal wave striking a pier at an oblique angle. It would spill around and consume it.

To his left, the remainder of his army surged forward, intent on slamming into the Roman center. To his extreme left, Teutobod and his Teutones moved along the river's edge to hit the Roman left. Teutobod had at his command 12,000 horse of his own, but he had "only" 7,000 leading his charge. The remainder were streaking south past the Roman lines on the far side of the river, seeking a ford somewhere to their enemy's rear.

Cimbric and Teutonic archers were now letting fly a deadly rain of arrows upon their foe. Bagotrix was surging around and behind the Roman wing, and Boirix was about to reach the enemy lines with his chosen band of thanes. The warcries of those around him were deafening.

The Battle of Colicaria had begun.

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OOC: Watch your e-mail inboxes for your Round 1 results and casualty rates.