I have been playing a "cracking" solo game over the past two nights,and my interest is back to 100%-hurrah.
Top photo is the terrain being used-bottom is the "scenario.
Troop in their places,with hills being attacked-Spartans on the right-all was set for a thrilling game.
Hills being hotly contested-the "southern" hill stayed in Athenian hands,whilst the "northern" hill was captured by the Spartan light troops-but now the "heavies" can begin to move-or can they?? Using my simple rules-an average dice is thrown for each unit with an order- 3 or 4,the order is obeyed,2 the order is dis-obeyed(no movement!) 5 the unit moves twice its normal move-this caused quite a bit of chaos!!
The Spartan cohesion is broken-some troops refusing to move,whilst others "gallop" ahead,eager to get stuck into the enemy!!The Athenians are having the same problem!!-damn the dice!!
Both sides have sorted themselves out,and are marching forward determined to solve the battle one way or another-I am trying to transfer the Spartan,victorious light troops across the front of the Hoplite line to support the left flank-"stupid boy!"
Almost within "smelling distance"-the light troops have had to be transferred behind the hoplite line,and took no further part in the battle!!-heavy cavalry are engaged on the right flank.CRASH!!!-I gave the Spartans a plus two onto their dice to portray their superior training etc. and you can see the immediate result in red "pom-poms"(indicating casualties) on the Athenians,although the Spartans didn't have it all their own way!
After a long and hard struggle,the Spartans have forced the Athenian centre back-this was the beginning of the end-the Athenian "Guard" was put into the melee,but they too were beaten-hurrah(if you are Spartan!)Apart from the central success,the Athenian left flank unit was soundly beaten and had to leave the field-so the Spartan right flank unit,supported by heavy cavalry crashed into the unprotected flank of the main line-in my simple rules,any unit hit in the flank or rear is immediately lost!!-so as you can see the whole of the Athenian army would be lost in the following moves.
This was my first game/battle with these hoplites,and it proved to be both frustrating(movement) and exciting in equal measures-I'm sure the tussles will continue over the next few weeks!
Nothing like a bit of rules friction when you're playing solo! :o))
ReplyDeleteYo,Steve the wargamer,It can be frustrating but other than knowing what each side is going to do,this solves a minor problem-I am thinking of adding a couple of other "frustrations",but at the moment I will concentrate on getting back to "normal"(what the hell is normal??). thanks for comment,
Deletejohnc
Two nice looking armies you got there, good idea on the shields. I'm a fan of painting big numbers of figures, to war games standard. Using the three foot viewing distance as a guide. Too much detail just gets lost tbh. I painted my Spartans whilst watching the 300 hundred Spartans on youtube, the original 196? film, that was the one which must have inspired several wargame figure makers at the time.
ReplyDeleteHi James-we are like peas in a pod!!!
DeleteGreat stuff John. Your solo games with the 15s always look the business. Very inspiring. Cheers Chris
ReplyDeleteHI Chris,nice of you to say so!
Deletejohnc