Pila vs Pike.170BC

Last night saw a very interesting game,throwing up challenges to both sides and testing our knowledge and rules-great stuff!

Top photo shows scenario and bottom shows the table layout before any movement.Paul and Brian were the Macedonians and Graham and I were the Romans.

Graham's Hastati and Brian's Illyrians started the contest,with Javelins and Pila filling the air,and then the melee began!!
Charlie Wesencraft paid us a visit just before the game started,mainly to return a book he had borrowed last week,but stayed for about an hour,cheering us on from the sidelines,and enjoying,in his words,the spectacle of the game-praise indeed!!

I have marched half of the Triarii over to the right to form a flanking force to prevent Paul from attacking my cavalry-fat chance!!!

This looks serious!!-no laughs here,but lots of action,as Brian and Graham are still locked in melee with their front line troops.In the foreground you can see that Paul and I are getting ready for a glorious cavalry battle.

Both Paul and I are ready to do battle-on the far right flank,horse archers and light infantry are skirmishing,each trying to gain the flank.

The cavalry clash begins-Paul's dice throwing was "uncanny" and smacked of "Witchcraft"-Brian is holding his head in his hands because Paul has sent his Commander into the fray to gain an advantage in one of the melees-and,of course,he got killed,resulting in his whole cavalry contingent leaving the field-hurrah!!!

With cavalry superiority,the flank should have been mine,but Paul,being Paul, attacked with his heavy infantry-the swine!!! But what of the other flank?-with both first line troops exhausted,they decided to pull back and let the "big boys" have a go!!!

Graham's Princepes and Brian's Phalanx move towards each other,both have the same points but are armed with different weapons-this is going to be tight!!

The "grind" begins-the Roman pila did some damage,but the pikes did as much!!-the melee went on for three rounds,with the Romans eventually winning,due to gaps appearing in the phalanx-wargaming at its best!!
Because we had a couple of more units left on the board than the Macedonians,we declared the winners,in this very hard fought and tight battle-well done lads!!
Roll on Thursday,we will be running through the Participation game we will be putting on at Stockton next Saturday (9th July)