Corvus rode forth on his horse, giving last minute adjustments and words of encouragement to his men. Riding from the right end of the Third, to the left end of the First, he saw dread reflected on every man's face. A rumbling in the distance cause Corvus to turn, and see the second most terrible sight of his life.

A carpet of Germans blanketed the fields. The dust kicked up behind them blocked all views beyond their advancing line. Turning back to his men, he saw the dread turn to outright fear. The carpet seemed especially thick directly opposite Corvus.

"Terrano!" Corvus called. His faithful steward and aide was right beside him in a flash. "Send word to Zosimus. We need more men on the left. Do it now!" Without a word, Terrano's horse galloped off.

"Time to die, men!" Corvus called out with a wicked grin. Leaping off his horse and giving it a smart smack on the rump, he drew his sword, and called for a shield. "But not before we take all of them with us!"

It took ages for the Germans to close the gap, but not so long as a real army would have - for they did not form lines and advance. Instead, they continued their headlong rush - straight into the trench. Thousands upon thousands of men fell in, and soon the trench was full enough for the Germans to pass over it without knowing what it was they ran over.

Arrows rained out of the sky, catching the Romans unaware. Hastily bringing his shield up, Corvus wondered where in Hades they had come from - but didn't have long to ponder it. With a deafening crash, like a thousands waves breaking on the shore, the German horde met the best hope of the Romans...

Blood, loosened bowels, sweat - the smells of war immediately flooded the air, seeming to rob it of oxygen.

"Steady! Steady!" Corvus called out. The line was wavering, naturally, and falling back faster than he had intended - but it was still a line, and that was something. With terrible ferocity, his blade leapt forth. Eyes, mouth, throat, arms, chest - whatever fool German body part was exposed, Corvus shot for, and usually hit. Sensing that the line had fallen back far enough, Corvus took a big breath, and yelled:

"HAMMER!"

Instantly the legionnaires around him took up the call, and a thunderous "HAMMER" rang out. In a long ripple emanating from Corvus' position, the front rank put their shoulders into their shields, and drove forward. The coordinated shield slam stunned their opponents, and soon a different rumble was added to the earthquaking mix.

It was just then that Corvus noticed a taller than usual German - very unusual, given the full foot advantage most enjoyed. He seemed to be barking out commands to the Germanic cavalry that wheeled all over the flank. Driving forward, Corvus called out again:

"HAMMER!"

Again the shields slammed their opponents, and Corvus got closer. However, his bid to kill their chieftain was ended when the man disappeared from sight. Cursing, Corvus turned around to fend off a particularly mean German with a huge hammer, and noticed that the Roman ranks were thinning quickly.

"MORE TO THE FRONT!"

"It's too late, sir!" a breathless Optio to Corvus' right answered. "All that's left is us!"

"Who is 'us'?!" Corvus demanded, stabbing another German in the thigh.

"The Nineteenth sir!"

"Damn!" A whizzing axe narrowly missed Corvus' head - instead slicing the tops of his raven feathers. Enraged at the situation and, of all things, his feathers being cut down, Corvus whirled towards the man and planted his gladius up to its hilt in the heaving chest of his enemy.

"We've got to go Marcus!" a familiar face, hoarse from the dust in the air, called out.

"Terrano! Alright then, sound the retreat!"

~~~~~

Corvus orders what is left of his troops to retreat to the camp.

RESULTS:
Germans crushed the line.
ROMAN: 9675 KIA, 3455 WIA, 85 MIA.
Available for round 2 (including survivors, some wounded and the 19th) 4557 Heavy Infantry, 2200 light.

The Cavalry counter-attack of M. Munatius Lucanus:
73% casualty rate for Lucannus.
1934 KIA, 1375 Wounded, 86 MIA.
That leaves 1100 Heavy Cav and 149 Light Horse to apply to Round II.

GERMANS:
Estimated total killed/wounded/missing: 12,000k (Tac left out the exact numbers from my email!) 79,000 remain.

MAC