Venta Icenorum 61AD

A depleted "crew" of three played this exciting and fascinating game last night-I took command of the Britons,whilst Graham and Brian took joint command of the Romans.

Top photo is scenario,bottom one is the table layout before any movement.

Part of my Iceni infantry and cavalry,plus chariots,surge forward in an attempt to stop Graham's cohorts from crossing the stream-the other part of the Iceni,I kept back as a reserve.

In this shot,I have sent the whole of the Trinovantes against Brian's auxiliaries,hoping to "swamp" him with numbers!-Graham,very graciously,is in the process of sending him reinforcements,in the form of 5 cohorts!!

Contact is made,and Brian's troops are fighting for their lives-in the background you can see the 5 cohorts being sent to his aid-this diverted 3 of my warbands,but I was still confident that I could beat the auxiliaries-hurrah!!

Meanwhile, on the other flank,I have stemmed the Roman flow!! but have had to commit my reserves to attack the Roman cohorts sent to support Brian-this is great stuff!-the cavalry battle in the foreground swayed to and fro,neither of us gaining a real advantage.

I have out-flanked the 5 cohort support units,and am just about to start my attack on them-come on the Brits!!!

Oh dear! the Trinovantes are being beaten by Brian's tenacious auxiliaries,and driven backwards-this wasn't expected!

Graham is doing a similar job on my Iceni!!-woe is me!!

Now the cavalry are being beaten,and forced back,is this the end???

A resounding YES!!-both the Trinovantes(top photo) and the Iceni(bottom photo) are fleeing for their lives,and this great game is over,leaving the Romans to build roads,schools,sewer systems,temples etc.etc.
This was an enjoyable game,so roll on next Sunday-could be Vikings or "El Cid" or anything really!!

Hasdrubal vs Celts 208BC

Last night saw Paul,acting as Hasdrubal Barca,leading a newly-recruited Spanish force,over to Italy to help his brother Hannibal.However a Celtic force,led by me,was massing at the Rhone,trying to exact a tribute payment to cross!!

The table before any movement,my tribesmen are "lurking" on the flank,and about to attack the Carthaginians in the rear(or so Paul was led to believe!!)-the troops in the foreground were just there as a threat-but of course,Paul didn't know that either!!

I had selected the warbands on the flank of Paul's column,to be my best troops,and duly sent them in against the Spanish first,hoping to gain an early success-and I did,winning the melees and killing most of the officers-hurrah!!-However,Paul never gives up,and fought back magnificently,eventually driving me back.

Despite the flank attack going on,Paul kept the head of his column together and moved them towards the river,where I only really had an archer unit,a light cavalry unit and a unit of heavy cavalry-had I made a big mistake??

I had written in my battle plan,for the far left troops,consisting of 4 warbands,some skirmishers and 2 cavalry units,to "feint" towards the rear of the column,and then turn to attack the centre of Paul's line from in between the gap in the mountains-this photo shows that happening-however,as usual,things didn't go to plan!!!

This is the view from Paul's side of the board,showing my attack on his flank,and the "gap" attack about to take place-nice straight lines!!!!!

Paul is using his elephants well,and by keeping them close enough to my cavalry,is forcing me to fight dis-ordered-the swine!!-this is the fight at the river,which is not going too well

Back at the centre,my initial success has been thwarted by good use of skirmishers,and the fact that my cavalry failed to charge home on the Spanish unit nearest to the gap-woe is me!!

My far left "holding force" is being beaten to a pulp by Paul's cavalry and,again,great use of his elephants-dis-ordering me-these were to be the eventual game winners for Paul,who drove me away and then was in a position to attack my exposed flank!!!!

This is it happening!!-cavalry all over the place,infantry being elephantised(new word!)-what do I have to do??

The head of the column is just about ready to cross the river,although it is still being assailed by arrows and javelins!but the centre and far flank is in tatters-looks like the end..........

Yes it is-hardly a Celt in sight-we didn't want your rotten money anyway!!
Once again a good game,lots of movement,melees,shooting and laughs-well done Paul,roll on Sunday,probably Colonial,and hopefully Brian will be able to join us.

Caesar vs Germans.

Anyone would think I had shares in the German Tourist board!! but here we are again in Germany-this was a head to head battle between Paul and Brian,I was referee 'cos my old knees aren't working too well just now,and anyway I deserved a comfy seat!!

This scenario,once again was taken from Miniature Wargames-Paul was in charge of the Germans and Brian was in charge of the Romans-although the scenario was fairly simple,the game was thrilling and full of tense moments,and actually started with the Germans in contact with the Watchtower Romans!!

Brian's plan was to march forward,then "plant" his standards in a line from the watchtower to the town,thus presenting two fronts to Paul,however this meant that he had to win the cavalry battle on his left flank-this was going to be tense!!

The fight for the watchtower was an absolute wargaming joy to see-first Paul had the advantage,then Brian-at one point the Germans were in and causing mayhem,but Brian kept his cool and ejected them-great stuff!!

Brian's parallel columns marching into their places-Paul attacked the left flank cavalry and a battle "Royale" ensued,with Brian being pushed back for three rounds until his morale gave way,this presented him with a massive problem,but once again he rose to the job and sent skirmishers forward to meet the threat-hurrah!!

With stretcher bearers and Priests working overtime,we had a coffee break,nobody wanted to risk an Oxo!! can't think why!!!!!

The bloody computer won't let me access any more photo's!!
I really don't understand what is going on,so I'll just have to continue in text only!!
Paul attacked with great gusto all along the Roman line,which was just about holding on,then a cavalry battle took place on Brian's right,which he lost-oh dear-both of Paul's cavalry units now joined up in Brian's rear,ready to pounce-all was lost-EXCEPT,the watchtower was still in Roman hands.
Both Paul and Brian continued to struggle on with their infantry,but finally the Germans were successful,and Paul was declared the winner of this most exciting game-well done lads,it was a pleasure to watch..roll on Sunday,hopefully the computer thing will have righted itself by then.

Spartans vs Persians 480BC

For our game on thursday I opted for an Ancients game,Spartans vs Persians,based on an incident at Thermopylae.

This is the scenario,and positions of both the Persians and Spartans.

This is a shot of the Persian centre and camp,which was the objective of the game.

This is a detail from the camp,showing "dusky maidens" cooking "dusky food"

This photo is of the Persian left flank.

This is the Persian right flank.For this game it was deemed that all the Persian cavalry,except guard cavalry,was away foraging.

This is the overall view of the table,with the Spartans on the left and the Persians on the right.

This is the Spartan left flank,made up of 3 units of Corinthians,and a unit of slingers.

This shows the Spartan right flank,c/w slings and cavalry.

This photo shows the Spartan centre,with King Leonidas standing on the hill behind.

Both sides had a good solid battle plan,I was in command of the Persians,and had decided to hold both flanks back for a while until I could see where the main Spartan attacks were coming from,and then strike!!
Paul was in charge of the Corinthians and Brian, who is about to be called Reggie (Regi for short) for reasons which will become clear as the blog continues,was in command of the Spartans.Both Paul and Regi,had decided to attack the camp and my left flank,whilst holding back on the Corinthian flank, to see what I was going to do.

The photo above shows my left flank being assailed by 3 units of Spartans,assisted by slingers and a unit of cavalry.

This is my right flank,I have attacked the Corinthians,and in sheer blind panic,Brian has thrown his king,Leonidas,into the fight,in response I have launched my guard cavalry at the Spartan king, to stabilise the situation.

This action shot is of my camp being assaulted by the cream of the Spartan army,one unit has beaten a unit of my Immortals,and have pushed them back,this is where I committed a fatal error of judgement,I threw my king,Xerxes, into the melee,to add points,and bolster the morale of my troops.......OH DEAR!!
On the next turn of melee,Brian,sorry,Regi, threw a five on the dice,and was able to throw another dice to see if he killed my king,and guess what???yes he killed him,hence his new name Regicide,or Regi !!

However, undetered,my troops fought on,after all they can elect another king after the battle!!
This shows my right flank in full swing against Paul's troops,this was particularly hard fought,as we were fairly equal in points and morale values.

This shot shows my depleted camp,and the battle still raging on my left flank,Regi is just about to get his Hoplites into the camp and finish off my last unit of Immortals.

The left flank battle continued right up to the end of the game,with successes and failures to both sides,however with superb fighting points and morale ,the Spartans did eventually win the flank.
I have to also report another disastrous intervention,by the commander of my right flank,who bravely threw himself into a melee,and was killed by that well known assasin,Regi/Brian.He must eat raw meat!!

Look at the state of these two, no wonder I can't throw decent dice faced with the brothers Grim!!!!!

This is a shot from the Spartan point of view,of the camp being overun,with the battle for the flank still raging in the background,don't the tents look nice?

It's all over now baby blue!! the camp has been captured,I have two commanders killed,one of them is the King,both flanks finally beaten,and my troops streaming off the board,ah well, there's always Sunday to look forward to.

This was a colourful and exciting game,filled with mistakes from the Persian high command,but nevertheless enjoyable,well done to Regi and Paul.

I think it only fair to mention that all of the fighting figures on the board are from the Warrior Miniatures range of Ancients.

Battle of the Metaurus 207 BC.played 9.9.12.

We fought this very interesting battle,last night, as a wargame and not an actual re-fight of the battle itself.Paul took the part of Porcius and Livius,Brian was Nero,and I was Hasdrubal. This is the overall view of the table,with Nero in the far right background,facing the Gauls,whilst the Roman centre/left faced my Ligurians,Spanish and Africans,with the cavalry facing each other in the foreground.

These are my Gauls,who were a mixed bag of good and bad fighting points,but were faced with a Legion,supported by Paul's whole back line of Triarii,and a cavalry unit.The Romans obviously meant to beat me on this flank,and of course, they did!! but not until I gave them a bit of a fright by coming down from my hill position and attacking them.

This is my centre/right flank,composed of light and heavy infantry and Elephants,which somehow managed to remain on the board for the whole game and did alot of damage to Paul's cavalry.

This shot is of the Roman centre/left,composed of two combined legions,in their traditional 3 lines.

This is the Roman right flank,commanded by Brian,and consisted of one full legion and a cavalry unit.

The cavalry battle!Paul attacked my cav. from move one,this surprised me,and he was successful until I moved my Elephants over to the flank,to disrupt his cavalry.Feeling desperate,Paul put his command figure into the fray,and he was killed,resulting in his cavalry having to take morale,luckily for me,they failed the test and routed!!This resulted in me being able to move my cavalry onto the exposed Roman flank,causing all kinds of problems.

On my right flank,things were not going according to plan,Brian,in this shot,has launched a furious attack against my Gallic cav. and has backed them up with two units of Princepes,this force won the ensuing melee,and forced me to commit my warbands into a precipitous attack down the hill,not a good thing to do!! they too were beaten,morale was taken,and they took off,dragging the other warbands with them!

This is the clash in the centre,which swung both ways,and I was only saved by my Elephant and cavalry moving onto Paul's exposed flank.

This is our new member,Brian, looking very pleased with himself,having given my Gallic contingent a right old beating!

This shows the aftermath of the "Gallic Departure" Brians legion and supporting troops rushing over the stream and taking my hill,thus exposing my left flank.

This is the final photo,showing the Carthaginians winning in the centre,and forcing Paul to move troops to protect his flank.

We decide that a "draw" was a fair result,and I was happy with that,we all enjoyed the game,roll on Thursday.