Hill Of Watchfires - Turn III: Attack Phase

If my spearmen, or the legion, for that matter, can eliminate the Dacians' only cavalry unit, that would be a big momentum swing in favour of the Romans

However, it is the Dacian cavalry, with their initiative number of 4, who get to attack first (the Dacian archers on the hill cannot shoot at my cavalry as their line-of-sight is blocked by trees). The horsemen's preferred target is legionaries, and they need 7+, but with a +1 modifier for attacking from rocky ground. The dice total 9, forcing my men to retreat two hexes to the edge of the battlefield.

Now it is my spearmen's turn. They need 6+ against cavalry, and I roll 7. This routs the cavalry as two of their possible retreat squares are occupied by Dacian warriors, including, ironically, a unit that just moved up to support them, and the third possible square is adjacent to a Roman unit (my spearmen), which is not allowed.

We now have an interesting imbalance in that the Romans have no firepower, and the Dacians no cavalry

Indeed, if you include warriors as missile men (they can on occasion hurl javelins two hexes), eight of the 12 surviving Dacian units have ranged firepower, while three of the seven surviving Roman units are mounted.