Romans vs Barbarians

I've just finished another "cracking" game against Brian,Romans vs Barbarians this time,we took the opportunity to try out some new "morale" ideas,which did work,but would have limited application in a "normal" game-good fun though!!

As Roman commander I held the left,in wonderful straight lines,and Brian's Barbarians were on the right-the objective was just to beat each other!!

The opening move saw the Barbarians rushing forward,to try and break my line,with a combination of Warbands and Chariots-the cavalry on the far flank are also moving to contact.

This photo shows Brian's first attack on my right flank hill-this was easily beaten off by my archers,and the new morale dice which I have produced(mainly for solo stuff!!)-any unit suffering a "set-back" throws this dice,marked "OK","OK-1" and "OFF"-pretty vicious to say the least!!

After initial skirmishing,the cavalry clash!!-The fight for this flank went on for the whole of the game.

Brian is throwing everything at my first line of cohorts,the pressure was tremendous,but I managed to hold the Warbands off,but for how long?
Brian's chariots were making mincemeat of my Auxilliaries,but I still hold the far hill-hurrah!!

Brian's second attack on my hill is shown here-this was successful,and unhinged my whole flank,combined with his chariots sending my aux.infantry packing!!

Oh dear!!I have exchanged the front line cohorts with my second line(whose fighting points were not too good!!) but still the Barbarians are pushing onwards-with my flank now uncovered,this could spell the end for the Romans.

I had to include this photo-my one success! the Barbarian cavalry are about to exit the board-hurrah!!
Another good game,roll on Sunday,probably English Civil War game,Dave will be with us,and hopefully Paul too.

Alexander vs Darius 330BC

Alexander is moving into Eastern Persia,chasing Darius and his vast army.
On the plains of Arachosia,Darius turns to fight the Macedonians-the future of the great Persian Empire will depend on this battle!
I was Darius ,whilst Brian was Alexander-the rest is history!!

Here are two views of the table,both Brian and I had similar plans,which were to attack in the centre,and on our "cavalry flank"ie my left,and Brian's right,and just mess about on the other flank,until the time was right to attack.The thought of me attacking the formidable Phalanx with my Persian infantry was not a good one!-Nor was my thought of attacking the Companion Cavalry(in wedge formation) with my own cavalry!!

The game started with a skirmish on my left flank,between horse archer units,whilst in the centre I launched my "one hit wonders"-the scythed chariots,at the Phalanx,hoping to catch it disordered by my infantry,who were following them up!!

The chariots,by some miracle, have contacted the phalanx,and disordered it,could my charging infantry complete their discomfort?

On my right flank,Brian's Companion cavalry have smashed into my mass of Persian cavalry-as he was in a wedge formation,he got the advantage,and beat me in the ensuing melee.

In the best move of the game,Brian's Agrianians have smashed into my flank of Mercenary Hoplites,who were beating a unit of Hypaspists,and completely routed them.In the centre,my infantry have pushed the phalanx back in disorder-hurrah!!

Victory in the centre!-but at what cost?-my left flank is insecure,my cavalry is being beaten on the right,and Brian still has untouched units of Peltasts "lurking" around!!

A final shot of the Persian cavalry being "hounded" out of the game-with my centre and flanks being threatened,I had to admit defeat(even though I beat the Phalanx!!)
This was a good game,and we used full bodies of troops (ie Left and Right flanks and Centre) as the unit,and not individual units as we usually do,giving the game a different feel.Well done Brian!
We will be playing tonight,hopefully Paul will come along,for probably, another Ancients game.

Romans vs Barbarians

On Thursday night Brian and I had an Ancients game,Paul arrived later on,but didn't take part,he just looked on and had a good laugh at our mistakes and bad dice throwing.

These two photo's show the scenario and the board before any movement-I was in charge of the Romans,on the right of the picture.

My "bridge" cohort has formed Testudo(Warrior Miniatures) and charged across the bridge-Brian had to reinforce the situation,and quickly!!-Meanwhile in the centre my cohorts have crossed the river and are being vigorously attacked by Warbands galore!!

The central battle continues,and the cohort on the bridge is being pushed back-I will have to reinforce too!
Brian has held his warbands on the far flank back,until he is in a position to outnumber me.

In this shot it looks as though I am doing well,however my cohorts have taken a bit of a battering,and Brian still has troops in reserve,which he is in the process of moving onto my flank!!

Brian is looking "pensive"-and so he should!!-hurrah.
This is the final move,and although,theoretically,I have achieved the objective of the game,my cohorts are completely done for,whilst Brian has troops,as yet,untouched,so we called it a draw!
Another good game,and we were pleased to see Paul,who had to cut short his holiday in Crete,due to a family tragedy,Brian has also had a death in his family,so difficult times for the two of them-my sympathy goes out to them.
We won't be playing on Sunday,my daughter is coming to pick little Elliot up and take him back home,and it's also her Birthday on Sunday.

Unscheduled Battle 1710

We had an unscheduled and impromptu battle on Sunday,and as I couldn't contact Richard,there was only Dave,Brian and I to play,nevertheless it was a thrilling affair!!

This was the table before any movement had taken place-Dave was in command of the Franco/Bavarian forces on the right,whilst Brian and I commanded the Allies-the objective was for both sides to capture the opposition's defensive positions.

The three photo's above show the amount of manoeuvering that went on prior to any action.Brian's advance over the bridge in the last shot ,was classed as offensive(the move,not Brian!!) and prompted Dave to open fire,then all hell broke loose!!

Brian's attack on the village is in full swing here,Dave was a bit worried about the number of troops Brian was putting in to the attack,however his brave Bavarians were up to the task of stopping him-hurrah!!

It was now my turn to be attacked,and Dave's French came on in fine style-our plans had been quite similar-ie hold the flanks and let the Devil throw the dice!!

Both centres advance in this shot,Dave had placed his artillery in a good position and enfiladed my attack-this proved disastrous to my Danish infantry and cavalry,and a bad morale throw saw my whole line having to stop and reform!!

The pressure is mounting on my defensive position,and the unit guarding it are hanging on by a thread-on the far left flank my cavalry have driven Dave's back,but he has fresh troops on the hill behind.

The Bavarians in the village are beaten-one last push by the "remaining" Danes will see us capture the position and win the game!!

How did he do it??-outnumbered 2 to 1,very few fighting points left,then he threw a 5 and we threw a 2!!!
We were pushed back out of the village and on my flank,the position was taken-we were beaten!!!
This was a very good game,both plans were good and well executed.
I have my Grandson up for a week's holiday,so don't know if we'll be playing on Thursday.

Germans vs Romans

This morning Brian and I had a really interesting game featuring Wild German tribesmen pitted against a Roman Legion. In our never ending search for historical accuracy in our wargames,we decided to try and emulate the German "wedge attack" to see how the Legion would do against it,and what counter-measures they could adopt-the result was a great game!!

This shows the table lay-out,with Brian's Germans defending a "Homestead"-my objective was to capture it!!-You will note the two wedges,about to start their move towards the Roman lines.

Brian's right flank(in line) has made contact with my left hand cohorts,and the cavalry have clashed-Brian has abandoned the homestead,and the defenders are rushing towards their death!!

While the skirmishers skirmish,the "wedges" are getting nearer,I have "doubled up" the central cohort in anticipation of the nearest "wedge" hitting there-it did and I had managed to stop an automatic push back,although I still had to endure an automatic "hit" of the leading cohort-this seemed to work-hurrah!!

The leading "wedge" has hit and the constituent warbands are "fanning out" to engage the cohorts on either side of the contact point-success!!
On the other flank my cavalry are taking a beating,although my cohorts are yet to make contact.

The Roman line is holding,but only just!!-on the other flank I am gaining a little ground,but I just couldn't compete with Brian's amazing dice throwing-just because Paul is on holiday in Crete doesn't mean you have to assume his "persona" Brian!!!

My left hand cohorts are becoming fragmented,and I am losing cohesion,as well as my mind!!
The Germans could win this,if I'm not careful.

This is the end,Legio Fragmentata,is beaten-oh well never mind,we'll just go back to Rome and raise another one!!
The "wedge" tactic worked(as long as you're not Roman!) and we also tried mixing infantry with cavalry,on the German side-only using the infantry in a melee,if the cavalry were being beaten-this also worked,so we're getting something right.
This was a good game,very interesting,and worth trying again.
If you're reading this blog in Crete,have a great holiday!

A Scottish Adventure 1810

Last night saw 7 of us start a very unusual Napoleonic game,a look at the scenario will explain!

We drew lots,and Graham was Hill,Paul was Ackland leaving Richard as Wellington,whilst Dave was Munro(clan leader),Michael was Soult,and Brian was Grouchy-I was the "umpire" and believe me trying to control 6 experienced blokes around a wargames table is not easy!!

This is a shot of the table,before any movement-each player was given a note telling them what they commanded and little bits of info. on the troops they had-for example,Munro(Dave) couldn't move his troops until move 3-because Munro was having his breakfast in the castle!!

After a five minute discussion,both side drew up a battle plan,and the game started-this shows move number 1,with Hill deploying to protect the stream crossing against the majority of the Clans.

The British battle plan called for Hill to guard the crossing places,but he got carried away and actually crossed the stream just as the Clans arrived,and a mass brawl erupted!!-The Scots Greys were told in their note,that the Clans could not stand up to a charge-so we all expected the Clan in front of them to get Slaughtered-however the Greys decided to charge the approaching Hussars instead!Meanwhile things were moving along nicely across the whole of the board,with lots of movement,especially from Michael,who had decided to move the 3 Clans under his control,across the board to the centre-excellent stuff!

A "pensive-looking" French team-Paul has moved a number of his troops around the far flank-can Michael react in time?? Richard has got his troops into a good position,and is awaiting the French onslaught.

The out-flanking move is shown here,Michael did manage to get his infantry into square and his Hussars to move against the threat-however Paul's "demonic" dice throwing tipped the scales in his favour,and eventually the flank was won-but not without a good show from the French!!

Munro has devastated Hill's incursion over the stream-the Rifles have been seen off,the 92nd have been beaten in melee,and the Scots Greys have been forced to retire out of the game.
The central position is being fiercely contested,and it it needed was a forceful push from Brian's command-would he do something dynamic??

We'll have to wait to find out..........
The battle raged on in the centre and right flank-this was intense stuff-come on Brian!!

Oh!! he's formed square on top of the hill!!-well I suppose from that position he can get a nice view of the rest of the battlefield!!!!
Paul's nice little out-flanking manoeuvre is now complete,and the Clans under Munro are exhausted,it looks like the end for the French "adventure".

This is a shot of Michael's troops in all kinds of "bother" and the rear of Brian's troops about to be "compromised"-well done to all who took part-it's difficult when an unusual game like this is played,it requires a bit of give and take,and acceptance that unusual things and situations will arise.
Roll on Thursday,Brian and I will be playing in the morning,but,as Paul is flying off to Crete tomorrow,we probably won't be playing at night(?)

Battle of "Waddi Rorki" Sudan 1898

Last night Brian,Paul and I had a strange colonial game,based around Rorke's Drift,but set in the Sudan-the game provided a lot of laughs,and was as fast flowing as this morning's game.

This is the general scenario and troop dispositions-the outlying picket were meant to be the sacrificial lambs of the game-they had other ideas!!

The British position with,quite accidentally,a fitting backdrop!!

Timetable of events-
0600 hours   Reveille.
0630 hours   Breakfast
0700 hours   Strange humming noise from desert
0730 hours   Shit hits fan!!!

The Haddendowah appear,from all directions,at this point,Paul who was in charge of the British,was visibly shaken!!

The attack begins-Brian was in charge of the Haddendowah,and I took charge of the Dervish "Ansar" troops in the foreground.My task was to occupy both hills and then attack the position,Brian's task was just to take the the supply dump position-this was an easy task for a man,who,this morning,destroyed a whole Roman Legion with a few Elephants!!

This shows Brian's first attack going in,but the "dead" figures are not a good sign,and he "bounced" off the walls-it's a good job he has loads of other troops-surely they would get in(??)

Although Paul's Gatling gun jammed a couple of times,he put up a stout defence, and the casualties were mounting up on Brian's side,and not much headway was being made.
On my side of the board,the "flying pickets" were making mincemeat of my Ansars,through cannister fire and well controlled volley fire!!

As if things weren't bad enough for the Dervish forces,Paul's reinforcements have arrived,in the form of Cavalry,Artillery and some Camel-mounted troops-however,you can just see my Ansars that have come down off their left hand hill,and have made contact with the wall,being defended by the Berks company.Inside the position,Brian has managed to get over the walls,has destroyed a company of Seaforths and a company of Northumberlands,and is pressing on to complete our victory-or is he??

I am about to be driven away in this photo,and Brian's troops are beaten in all sectors-what went wrong?Well I blame Brian!!
Seriously,this was a good game,played for laughs,lots of excitement,certainly very colouful,and Paul was a gallant winner.
We will be playing this Sunday,and should have a full house of 6-probably horse and musket,but which period,as yet,i don't know-roll on Sunday