VERONA
September 30, 489 - v1.0
By Chris Jackson
SYMBOL SET REQUIRED: Master 1


HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

By defeating Odoacer's army and crossing the Sontius River, Theodoric not only gained a 
psychological advantage by stepping onto Italian soil, but also relieved the immediate needs
of his people.

Coming down from the harsh wilderness of the Julian Alps, the beautiful Venetian plain provided
the Ostrogoths with some food and shelter for the large non-combatant portion of the kingdom. 
Any opinions of the local Italians to the Ostrogoth invasion are not recorded, but the cities of
Udine, Venice, Vicenza and Padua all accepted the rule of Theodoric without resistance. However,
despite being "not well provided with warlike appliances", Theodoric judged that he could not 
wait too long to follow up his initial victory, and took his army in pursuit of Odoacer.
 
Meanwhile, Odoacer prepared to make a second stand. Outside Verona he readied another huge 
square camp (fossatum) strengthened by deep ditches and rows of stakes. Odoacer also defied all
military protocol by placing the camp right on the banks of the deep, swift Adige River with no
way of getting across - forcing his men to fight bravely by removing the option of retreat. In
parleys before the battle Odoacer's stirring words were full of confidence, and his army was 
indeed impressive in terms of numbers. Theodoric, meanwhile, remained outwardly calm.

On the morning of September 30th, the trumpets of both armies sounded for battle. As Theodoric 
put on his armour, his mother Erelieva and sister Amalfrida came to him for reassurance. 
Theodoric proclaimed this day was to show Erelieva that she had given birth to a hero on the day
the Ostrogoths had defeated the Huns, and in a dramatic gesture of proto-medieval chivalry he 
opted to wear his most splendid robes, embroidered by their hands, so he would become the most 
conspicuous figure on the battlefield. Should he fall in battle on this day, Theodoric wanted
to ensure a grand reward to any man who could slay him, and also be remembered as looking 
splendid in death. With those words he leapt on his charger and joined the battle.

His appearance was timely, as the Ostrogoths were already wavering under the enemy. The charge 
of Theodoric and some chosen men turned the tide of battle. However, Odoacer's men, with nowhere
to go, put up a much tougher fight than at the Sontius one month earlier. It is estimated that
just as many of them were killed by drowning in the Adige as by the Ostrogoth sword. The 
Ostrogoth losses were also very heavy in the bloodiest and most hard-fought battle in the 
campaign. The plain was white with the litter of human bones for years afterward. 

However, Theodoric had carried the fossatum and won what was considered his greatest victory.
The original 'foederati' of barbarian soldiers from the Rugian, Herulian, Sciri and Turcilingian
tribes, who had crowned Odoacer as king and divided part of Italy between themselves, was 
utterly crushed in this battle and would no longer be a factor. In October 489 Theodoric, 
marching westward, entered the important city of Mediolanum (Milan) and received the blessing 
and accomodations of its bishop Laurentius and citizens, as well as the surrender of a large 
portion of Odoacer's remaining army. Odoacer himself had escaped at Verona and fled south-
eastward toward Ravenna, but it appeared that Theodoric had already won the decisive battle for
the conquest of Italy. 


SOURCES

Hodgkin, Thomas. "Italy and Her Invaders, Volume 3". London: Russell and Russell,
     (1880-89), 1967.

Hodgkin, Thomas. "Theodoric the Goth". London: GP Putnam's Sons, 1891.

"Theodoric". Encyclopedia Britannica, volume 11, p. 688. Chicago University Press, 1995.


BATTLE NOTES

Once again, no battle maps for the area could be found so I estimated roughly, using the best 
maps of modern Verona that I could find. One source describes Odoacer as having Verona "behind"
his camp, but I couldn't find any bends in the Adige near Verona that would allow for that. The
movement point requirement to cross the Adige is very high, so routed and broken Rugo-Herulian
units, instead of retreating over it, just tend to stay in one place and become easy targets to
destroy or make surrender, which I figure is just as good a way to simulate being pushed into the
Adige. Those caltrop icons surrounding the camp don't function as caltrops in the game, they're 
just there because they're the closest to stakes that the symbol set had available.

To properly simulate the battle it is best to lower the surrender points (especially for the 
Rugo-Herulians) and make it more of a battle to the death, take no prisoners, no quarter asked 
or given, as indeed was the historical case.

The best strategy for the Ostrogoth player is to resist the temptation to attack everything at
once. That would make it hard to exploit a breakthrough. Attack only one wall and keep the rest
back until an opening is made to pour them into. As the Rugo-Herulians, the small space makes it
hard to shuffle men around where needed, so not much strategy is possible. The computer's AI 
is almost useless for this scenario as the Ostrogoths, since it leaves a lot of its forces 
wandering around in the upper portion of the battlefield. For a bigger challenge, try playing as
the Ostrogoth player and see how well your forces can do if you keep Theodoric back for a few 
turns to simulate his late joining of the battle.


- Chris Jackson, January 12, 1999
  jackson@nornet.on.ca

