Sertorius against Pompey: the heat is on

The heat is turning up right across the field. More photos supplied by Colin, from Pompey's perspective:

At the far right of the field, the Gallic contingent of Pompey's forces is having a really bad time against the masses of Spanish Caetrati - hence the ominous gap in the photo above. The cavalry will have to attack to try to stem the white tide.

Meanwhile, back on our flank, a civilised little war is taking place. My Spanish have broken through, only for the foot to be faced with Pompey's reserve of Roman heavy cavalry.

The struggle in the centre between the legions intensifies. Several of Pompey's legions are feeling the pressure from Sertorius' veterans.

However, the demise of the Celtiberians has provided the rightmost Pompeian legion with an opportunity to lap round onto the now open flank of Sertorius' legions. The terrain will, however, slow this down. The question is can the Pompeians here relieve the pressure on their comrades in the middle, or will Sertorius break through first?

The photo above shows the same gap from the flank view: Pompeians to the left of the picture as you look at it.

Back on our own flank at the other end of the battle, my Spanish cavalry mop up the remaining Numidian light infantry.

How it is beginning to look from Colin's side at this point: the Spanish are threatening to break through.

My foot have advance on the Roman heavies, while at the top of the photo you can see Colin's Italian auxiliary infantry having a good time against one of the other Spanish infantry blocks.

The cunning Romans pull back one of the cavalry units to buy more time: a low level shot of how it all looks to them.

Another low level shot, this time of the struggle more into the centre: Pompeian Romans against the rest of the Spanish infantry. This Roman legion is beginning to show worrying signs of exhaustion, since they are also fighting part of a Sectarian legion.

At the far side, though, the Pompeians who saw off the Celtiberians have arrived to add their weight against the endmost of the Sertorians - but will it be too late?

Further off to the right, the Gallic auxiliaries are bogged down against more of Sertorius' allies.

More of the same. You can tell these are Gauls and not legionaries because although they have the same equipment as the Romans, they have kept their cloaks.

A higher level shot shows the whole situation at the right of Pompey's line. Just off to the right of the photo, the Caetrati are on the rampage. Looks like Pompey has lost that bit of the battle.

And this part: my Spanish cavalry are having fun.

In the centre, the final lines have gone in as Pompey tries to shore up the line.

Here, though, Pompey is having some local success: more of the Celtiberians have run away, this time from the Gallic auxiliaries. At the top of this photo you can see some legionaries piling in against the flank of Sertorius' legions.

More to come in another post as the fighting reaches its climax: will the pressure on the flank of the Sartorial legions become too much, or will they hold their nerve and crack Pompey's centre?