Greeks vs Persians 490BC

A few weeks ago Brian painted some Greek Hoplites,and started to do a bit of research into weapons,tactics,uniforms etc.and got himself "hooked" into the period,he consequently challenged me to a game,using a Hoplite army against a Persian army.
We decided on the terrain,and both went away and planned our dispositions and battle plan,the resulting battle was marvellous,to say the least,with over 400 figures per side,at the end we were both "exhausted".

This shows the general layout of the table,with instructions as to where we could position our troops.

This shows the forces employed,although I had more units than Brian,his morale/fighting points were greater than mine,so it ended up equal for the game.

From the word "go" it was action all the way,with both sides advancing,intent on capturing each other's "temple".Brian's plan was toprotect his temple with his best troops,the dreaded Spartans,but to also attack along the whole front,this attack threw me,I must admit,and didn't allow me much time to get my troops into their desired positions!

This shot is of my left flank,where I threw my hordes of light infantry against Brian's Hoplites.I had backed my inf. with horse archers and scythed chariots,and these proved to be a bit of a life saver for me,although I was given a bloody nose!!

This is an overall view of the table,showing the Persian line advancing against the Greeks,with the "Immortals" being not very "Immortal" and being beaten in melee!In the background to the right of the picture you can just see my right flank cavalry moving to outflank the Spartans defending the temple,after having beaten Brian's cavalry in a 2:1 melee.

I don't know how,but I managed to beat Brian's hoplites with my light  inf.however my success was short lived,and my morale broke,mainly due to good use of skirmishers by Brian,which forced my whole flank to collapse.

This shot is of the whole table,late on during the game,Brian's luck seemed to have left him and a series of "diabolical" dice throws left him on the back foot,and holding his head in his hands,and asking the "gods" why they had abandoned him!!

Brian looking like he needs a "cuddle",volunteers form an orderly queue outside the garage!!

The Persians are winning in the centre,my heavy inf,have pushed the Spartans back,and have outflanked them on their hill/temple side,so although my left flank was in dis-array,the Persians had won the day!

Onefinal photo,my left flank,devoid of any Persian troops,however Brian's Hoplites were in no position to capitalise on the situation,as I had some inf. and cavalry moving to protect the flank.

This was a"cracking" game ,and Brian's "agressive" tactics almost paid off, and certainly had me worried for a long time,until I could get my troops into their destined positions.

Roman Civil War 100AD.28.12.12.

Well,what superlatives can I come up with to describe this game? Probably one will suffice...Tremendous!!
The scenario was that two Roman armies were facing each other,supplemented by Barbarians,and just had to beat each other,easier said than done!
Paul and I were in charge of Legio Nova (blue) and Brian and Dave were in charge of Legio Phoenix (red).

Brian had a paricularly hard job of advancing with his mixed force of Auxilliaries and cavalry,to cross a stream and then take on Paul's waiting Barbarians.This shot shows him just about to cross the stream,with Paul assaulting him,and trying to get his cavalry around Brian's flank.

This is my right flank,with Auxilliaries pushing forward in support of my Barbarians,however Dave had his barbarians in a good position to stop them,this melee went on for about two years!! We both had to put in extra troops to stem the flow,but eventually D ave made the move of the game by Outflanking me with a regiment of cavalry,which caused all sorts of trouble for me.

Whilst the flanks were fighting for their lives,the centres began to advance on each other,and with a clash and thud of pila,they met!! Because they were evenly matched,neither side could gain a real advantage,this is where tactics and cunning came into the game,however we both decided to do the same thing,and reinforced the lines,and tried to extend outwards to the flanks.

Brian is seen here rushing to support his flank with a couple of cohorts,in the meantime Dave is sending cohorts to support his centre,we were now in trouble! A quick prayer to the Gods is needed,either that or a couple of good dice throws!! Guess what? Paul's famous dice throws came to our rescue,and the flank was stabilised.

Meanwhile,on my flank,Dave has managed to gain the upper hand and is forcing me backwards,where's  the cavalry?

In this shot,Brian has managed to beat Paul's Barbarians,however Paul had a unit of cavalry "lurking" on the flank,and used these to stem the tide.

This gives agood impression of what was happening along the whole length of the table,both flanks engaged and the centres punching holes in each other,somethings got to give!!

Brian's flank has just about had it! His cavalry are beaten,and his cohorts are suffering from repeated attacks by Paul's infantry and cavalry,however it's not over 'til the fat lady sings!!

This photo shows the climax of the melee in the centre,Dave's cohorts are being pushed back,and I have reinforced my flank,and am ready to deal the death blow to Dave's barbarians.

Legio Phoenix has cracked!! with the position in the centre and both flanks in trouble,very graciously,Dave and Brian conceded the game,and Paul and I both breathed a sigh of relief!
After the game,Brian had to go for a lie down in a darkened room,Dave had to go home for a drink,Paul had to have a cuddle,and I had to be wiped down with a chamois leather!!

roll on the next game!








                                                     

Napoleonic game 23.12.12.

For last night's game we had a Napoleonics,based on a couple of French columns having to get down a pass and then capturing a stronghold held by a British force.This turned out to be an epic game,with both sides having to be on their finest tactical mettle.

This is the scenario,I commanded the British,and Paul commanded the right hand column of French,whilst Brian commanded the left hand column of French.

Paul and Brian marched down their respective passes,commenting on how the grass was at this time of year,picking the odd flower,listening to the birds in the trees,THEN...Guerrillos,bursting from the mountain side on Paul's flank!!They shot at one of Paul's regiments,who then had to test morale,being surprised,shot at and in the flank upset them and caused them to retire,almost dragging a gun battery with them,however Paul put his Brigadier amaongst them and stopped the rot.

It must be said at this point that Brian spent the rest of the game expecting an attack by more Guerrillos.

The second French columns arrived on the board on move number three,as did the British reinforcements,this put four French against three British,and put me under considerable pressure.This shot shows my gun battery in the stronhold firing on Paul's leading regiments.

This photo shows my right flank being attacked by Brian,who came down his pass in grand style,but was forced into square by the only cavalry on the board,British light Dragoons.These wonderful cavalry charged and captured Brian's gun battery,however he was so strong in infantry that I had to retire them behind my lines.By this time I was being subjected to attacks on both flanks,and even with cannister being fired on the French,and muskets blazing along my whole line,it seemed that it was going to be only a matter of time before my troops broke somewhere!!

In this shot Brian is pushing forward with ever increasing numbers,and Paul has launched an attack on the stronghold,which was held by one regiment only,big mistake I think!

Away on my left flank,Paul continued his attack,and with a carefully timed charge with a column of infantry,managed to break my line,forcing me to fall back,onto the relief troops,who just managed to get into position and so a status quo was maintained.However paul's attacks on the stronghold continued,and the troops in the strong hold were eventually "ousted" or "ejaculated" from said position!This put me in an awkward position,and I had to reinforce the position,using one of my reserve regiments.

Look at this!The French seem determined to get into this position,meanwhile Brian is forever pushing forwardon my other flank,can I hold out?

This is a shot of the whole French attack going in,magnificent stuff,who couldn't be impressed??

This shows my counter-attack,which was successful to a degree,but with more and more French troops coming up the hill,I suppose it was really a futile gesture!!

The final photograph,the stronhold has been taken,I have two regiments running away (retiring!) and both flanks under tremendous pressure,so the French were declared the winners,and justly so.
this was a tremendous game,and enjoyed by us all.

And finally I,on behalf of the Westerhope Wargames Group,Paul,Brian,Dave and Graham,would like to wish all of our followers and readers,all over the world,a very merry Christmas,and a happy and peaceful New Year.

Mahratta Command

My Mahratta project continues to proceed slowly but I have made an early New Years resolution to push on with this in 2013. My first Mahratta regular brigade is almost finished and I have started to paint and base some command groups. John posted a photo of my first British command group in a previous post. The photos here show my first completed brigade command base for the Mahrattas. In 1803 most of Scindias brigades were commanded by Frenchmen so I decided to use a Revolutionary period figure to represent this. The mounted figure is by Elite Miniatures and the foot figure is a Redoubt Indian commander from their Wellington in India range.

I am quite pleased at how the base has come out and my painting does seem to be improving. I plan to have 3 or 4 of these brigade commands in the Mahratta army to lead the infantry brigades. They will wear different coloured jackets to differentiate them.

I have 12 figures currently on the painting table to complete the regular element of my first brigade and plan to have the brigade complete and based during the Xmas holidays. I will post some photos once I have finished.

Ancients game before the end of the world.20.12.2012.

I'm sure Brian and Paul will agree that last night's game was not the best we've had,my fault I suppose,too few figures on too big a space,the scenario was ok  but the game was a bit "flat",however we played it and discovered a few twists and turns.

This is the scenario,I thought it was quite interesting,and posed problems for both sides.

This is the overall view of the table,with the Romans on the left and Carthaginians on the right.

this is the Roman position before the game started,Paul was in charge of the Romans,whilst Brian and I took command of the Carthaginians.

This is about move number 4,with both sides charging after initial moving backwards and forwards,Paul had decided to shorten his line,and moved back to a position between the "peach orchard" and the Villa,this was a good move and funelled my troops into a narrow gap,he also occupied the orchard,which was also my plan,so we had to fight for it!

Brian's cavalry charging into ,again, a narrow gap,he was hit by javelins from the Villa,on his way past,and then he hit Paul's 1st cohort.The rersulting melee swayed both ways,until Paul put half a unit of supporting cavalry into the fray.and Brian was beaten.A similar fate awaited his second unit of cavalry too!!

Brian had two units of spearmen,supported by two units of Elephants,onthe far left flank,and these moved forward,only to be charged by Paul's mercenary Gauls! As Brian was hit whilst stationary,he was at adisadvantage in the ensuing melee,and was beaten, and pushed back,luckily his elephants were near enough to act as support,and saved the situation.

This photo shows the clash in the centre,with my Celts and Spanish troops,hitting the Roman legion,again this went on for quite some time,but eventually better training and discipline paid off and my whole line disintergrated into a flying rabble!!

This is the cavalry melee in full swing,just before they broke and headed for home! Brian did well on this flank,overall,but bad dice throwing was our downfall ! (now where have I heard that before?)

Despite having been beaten once,Brian bravely put his spearmen and elephants back into the fight,and pushed Paul's Gauls back,and after morale checks,they had to retire,so I suppose Brian had won that flank,however our cavalry was a spent force,and my centre had collapsed,so Paul was the winner,and well desereved too.

O.M.G. Santa's little helpers! It's enough to frighten the bairns into being good for Xmas !

Roll on Sunday,haven't decided what to play yet.

Indians vs Romans 45AD. 16.12.12.

For last night's game I laid on a rather ficticious game,pitting Indians against Romans.As it turned out this was an interesting game with lots of twists and turns.We drew lots before the game and it fell that Paul and I were Romans,and Brian and Graham were Indians.The scenario was once again very simple,the Romans had to cross the river,capture the village and fort to win the game.

This is the scenario,plain and simple,it always is until you start to play!!

This is the fort,with Indian troops streaming out ready to stop the Romans from crossing the very wide river,keep an eye on the Elephants!!

Move number one,Paul's Auxilliaries have already crossed the river and are attacking the Village,this tussle went on for most of the game.

This shows Graham's troops emerging from the fort,keep your eye on the Elephants!

Brian's troops ruishing towards the river,cavalry on his right flank,and Elephants in front of his infantry,keep your eye on the Elephants!!

This photo shows the lovely Roman lines,all poised to cross the river,my "storming party" is on the road leading to the bridge,these troops were classed s "raw" and probably not the best troops to storm the fort,which Brian,and his naked (well bare breasted) bodyguard defended very well.

In this shot you can see Graham's elephants running amok,after Paul had shot his bolt throwers at them,"they don't like it up 'em" well this lot didn't.The elephant stampede blocked Graham's cavalry and infantry advance,and it is fair to say that he was not a happy bunny (or elephant!)

After both Paul and I had pulverised the fort gate with our catapults,the storming party (might as well be the Lib-dem party!) surged forward,only to be met with a fusilade of arrows from the naked ladied on the parapets,the "stormers" did not like it up them either!! and the attack failed,Brian had also got some Indian infantry onto their flank,which didn't help matters.

My right flank cavalry are attacking Brian's light cavalry,this should have been a "walk over",however,as you can see,coming in on my flank,is an elephant,which has gone beserk,after having been shot at by my bolt throwers,this resulted in me being dis-ordered and I lost the bloody melee!!

I have formed "testudo" with two cohorts in this shot and am advancing onto Brian's infantry,his skirmishers were no good against this wonderful formation (well done Romans,and well done Warrior Miniatures)

The on-going melee at the village,Graham's stout defence of this position held Paul up for a long time,but eventually Paul's troops fought their way into the village and began to threaten Graham's flank.

Brian has managed to get one of his elephant units to charge my cohorts crossing the river,against two cohorts the result was inevitable,but he held me up for two moves,until his morale cracked and the elephant ran amok,and off the board.

This shows the right flank,and village,with Graham's four cavalry units being held up until the "procession" of elephants passes,however paul had other ideas and attacked the passing elephants in the flank,resulting in them taking off to their left!! which once again disrupted the cavalry,much to Graham's chagrine! In fact it was at this point that he lost control of all his faculties and withdrew all the cavalry,much to Paul's delight,the flank was open and his attack began in ernest.

This shot shows Paul's troops wading across the river,just before his attack on the elephants,and their disastrous move to the left.

My "storming party" is being finished off in this shot by Brian's Indain infantry,luckily Paul was sending a cohort to assist me,what a fine chap he is! (note elephant (amok) sneaking up on us from the rear,this animal happened to disrupt Brian's inf. as well as mine,so it wasn't all bad.)

Paul's cohort storming the fort and showing the Auxilliaries how it should be done.

Final shot,Paul's cavalry are beating Graham's cavalry,and his centre cohorts are pushing the Indians back,meanwhile on the other flank I managed to defeat Brian's cavalry and infantry,and so the Romans were declared the winners.
A very colourful and exciting game,we must do it again some time,maybe leave it a while though !!

roll on Thursday.