Seleucis and Alexander

It's been a quiet week and same again next week with nothing on the cards and real life getting in the way of wargaming. I did have a weekend trip to Darlington where my son took me on a run ashore and a meal, and quite superb it was too, we found an old fashioned pub which had a varied mix of clientele, no televisions, no drunks, no shouting and where we could sit and sup decent beer and have a conversation, where the barmaid, no spring chicken, could remember our order each time.

I did however have one game sorted today, it was a trial of On Bloody Ground, a ruleset written by a good friend of mine and his son, Dave has been at me for ages to try them out and as he could sell ice to Eskimos it has been hard to resist. My opponent Stuart had played the rules but some time ago, he also had his Macedonian army ready for the table so it was time to come off the fence. My army was Seleucid so slightly later than Stuart's but otherwise both had basically the same troop types, I took pikes, mercenary Hoplites, skirmishers, horse archers and Companion cavalry, I felt obliged to take an elephant so Nellie came along as well. Stuart faced me with Hypaspists, pikes, Hoplites, skirmishers and Peltasts, he had two units of Companions and some light cavalry.

My boys.

Stuart’s lads.

Seleucid on the left, Alexander on the right.

Looking from Seleucid’s line.

Thankfully Stuart put his cavalry opposite my horse on his right, I had been a bit anxious that he might threaten my right which had only a skirmish unit to guard the flank, but I was quite sure I could match his mounted troops on my left. Sure enough my Skythian's and slingers managed to wipe out the light cavalry and eventually do the same to the Peltasts, I took advantage of this and moved my Companions and the elephant towards the enemy household cavalry, the rest of my line went forward to engage the Macedonian infantry in echelon against their left.

The ‘heavies’ move off.

The first clash.

The enemy right suffers.

Slowly does it boys.

As the dust settled from the initial charges my Companions and Hoplites had beaten their opponents and as the enemy fled turned in against their main line, both flanks now looked very shaky. The second group of enemy Companions were now hit in the flank by my own elites and frontally by the elephant, they were pushed back. Time was getting on and with both his flanks gone and now outnumbered Stuart offered his sword.

It’s all over.

If you read this blog you will know I am pretty set in my ways and it takes a lot for me to change from what I like, I like War and Conquest and it does what it says on the tin for me. OBG has a faster play style and certain rule mechanics offer enough complexity for interesting tactics to keep players coming back for more, they are also very well supported by Dave and Dan and they have plans to keep this up during the next year with possible weekend events. I wish them well, me, I'm just an old fossil.

Royal Mail are still struggling to deliver my support weapons for the BEF as 1st Corps posted them almost a week ago, so in the meantime I finished off some NCO's and Soviet tank riders, the latter I got from Mardav Miniatures and am really pleased with them. I also managed to paint up my Nashorn this morning, I still have the crew to paint but the new tank killer will be ready to roll by the weekend, will it ever see the table, who knows, but I'm happy, and you can take that to the bank.

I gave up with the 'Last Yorkists' and did indeed jump to the Battle of Pavia, the book was too much like a novel and read as such, I also think that the author overplayed much of the supposed influence the Yorkist pretenders had with the Holy Roman emperor or the French king. Anyway I am now back on the Eastern Front with Prit Buttar's 'Bagration 1944'. I have watched several pieces by Buttar on WW2TV and he knows his stuff.

I was taken in by the rave reviews of the BBC comedy, and I use the term loosely, 'Small Prophets', I don't get it. I find the main character a drag and when I watch him I know he is acting and trying hard, I long for him to lose his job. Thankfully a German spy thriller called 'Unfamiliar' is streaming on Netflix, and, wait for it, I like it.

 I notice that no less an august establishment as the British Museum is touting the 'fact' that 50% of all Samurai were women in its new exhibition, a blatant lie, but what does Joe Public know eh?

 Can I end on a high, eh, I really did enjoy that weekend.

Legio XII Victrix

 Rob Broom, author of War and Conquest rules intimated he would be happy to try a game over Zoom and as the first had been successful I decided to try again. I lost two hours of my life trying to circumvent the 40 minute limit on Zoom in order to use two cameras and have a third participant, yes I could have paid £119 but hoping that the lockdown will end at some point this year I did not want to hand over my hard earned sheckles for a few months, anyway, the suits at the LMF would not have agreed.

It was Rob that came up with the idea that we use Zoom for one camera and Facetime for the other, this worked a treat as my headache retreated. Rob as usual was the Seleucid commander and I led the Thunderbolts, my boys, we went for the usual 2,500 points on a 6x4 foot table. The Twelfth mustered three cohorts, one of recruits, along with an Auxiliary cohort supported by skirmishers, a ballista and auxiliary archers (for the inevitable elephants) and some Contarii as my cavalry element. Rob went for two pike blocks, two elephants, Thracians and Companions supported by horse archers and javelins.

 Rob was aggressive from the start as his left and centre advanced at a fast pace, I was a bit worried about the movement of his Companions as all I had to halt them was my Lanciari who could be easily rode over. I was left with no choice but to attack the Purple pike block with Cohors I to get them out of the way of a flank attack, led by the Legate the prima cohort slaughtered the pikemen and soon had them on the run, a profound shock to the Seleucid King. Meanwhile the elephants crashed into the Roman line, Cohors III and Auxiliary I at first held the beasts and although the Auxiliaries came within a whisker of slaying the monster they broke under the pressure. It was now Rob who was forced to attack in order to keep up the momentum and the White pike block charged up the hill and into Cohors II.

 

On the Roman left I had failed to chase away the Skythians and the Contarii were losing to many men, I had to try a desperate charge but the men from the Steppes cut down Rome's finest, all was not lost as the Auxiliary archers had caught the javelinmen and routed them.

 Despite losing Auxiliary I to the elephant which then scattered my skirmishers and ran down the ballista crew, Cohors II had defeated the second pike block and dispersed them. The second elephant had routed and sped across to the Roman right enraged, heading straight for the flank of the Companions who had at last got into action and were in a desperate melee with Cohors I. The horsemen fled just before the elephant hit them, over on the left Cohors III after chasing away their elephant, smashed the Thracians who in turn ran. It was all over, a fine showing by the Thunderbolts and a sad defeat for the Seleucids.

Now the game, Rob has a reputation as a bad die roller and he just about lived up to it in this game, he hardly ever won initiative during the turns and some of his combat and saving rolls were simply dire, he was not alone however as my missile troops all proved to be useless, even my favourite Lanciari, also my heavily armoured Contarii simply refused to save any hits and died to a man for it. On the other hand my legionaries were simply unbeatable, three times Cohors I hit with 95%  of their dice, Rob made some decent saving rolls during these combats but the writing was on the wall. I missed charging the Skythians and should have hounded them from the beginning but I doubt if this would have helped the Contarii much. I learned a few things about using elephants and realised I had them wrong before, so playing the author does help. A great afternoon.

My early war German infantry are now all but done, a few to varnish and base and that's it, still looking for a sniper figure and a decent Forward Observer but they can wait. I have not got my Blitzkrieg order yet and dropped them a line, hoping to get them tomorrow, I also have no idea when in March the new Soviet squads will be turning up at my door. I did get a Warlord Panzer 38(t) on Amazon as they are out of stock at Warlord, it turned up within 24 hrs and I had it done and dusted before the sun went down. A beautiful little kit, I used my Panzer Grey for the first time and thought it was going to dry shiny as it looked to be a high gloss, no fear though and after a few hours it had turned matt, with a bit of dry brushing and weathering it turned out lovely. I also finished my 76mm infantry gun for the Soviets, I had to look up pictures of the real thing in order to build it, OK, there was not a huge amount of pieces but why not pop in a piece of paper with instructions, how lazy and annoying is that.

 I joined and watched an excellent piece of military history on the Battle of Sedgemoor 1685 during the week by the author of 'Fighting for Liberty' Steve Carter and General Jack Deverell, I enjoyed it so much I am going to order Steve's book. I also watched the Tank Museum piece on modelling, a very pleasant little video.

So what for the future apart from some early war vehicles and the Soviets, well nothing for now, I hope to try another few remote games and wonder how a WWII game would work. Mate Rob Martin is starting a WWII naval campaign in which I shall play the part of the CinC Royal Navy (natch) trying to catch Scharnhorst and I think Gneisenau as they attempt to interfere with British convoys. Another couple of SYW battalions will be on the cards but not until well into the year.

Rome Triumphant

 We have had some visitors recently so that along with trying to work out how many people I could meet within a radius of two meters, six and a half feet for we awkward folks and not be £10,000 lighter I haven't got much done.

I had thought of starting an ACW campaign involving mates Matt and Rob, hoping that Rob could come here and fight any battles which turned up, but the loons in Westminster put an end to that, although I believe as of writing I still may be able to venture two miles up the road and enter Cumbria, but then what do I know. With the ACW on hold I set up a War and Conquest rematch with Rob Broom down in Bristol, Rob would again be the Seleucids and I would lead the Twelfth, a large game this time of 3,500 points, I would kick it off once my visitors had gone. I would send Rob a grid map and photographs for him to make his moves, it worked well the last time and this time with a small grid attached he should have a better idea of distance.

Rob brought three phalanxes supported by Companions, medium cavalry and horse archers, also in the mix were light infantry, skirmishers and two elephants. I took four Roman cohorts and one Auxiliary cohort, cataphracts, horse archers, Auxiliary cavalry and archers, Lanciari and skirmishers along with two bolt shooters to deal with the elephants. A lot of firepower there. The Seleucids lined up with the phalanx in the centre, Thracians and horse archers on the right the rest of the cavalry on the left along with the skirmishers and Thureophoroi light infantry. I put my heavy infantry in my centre with the Auxiliary troops on my left, the Auxiliary archers I sat in a wood on the right, also on that flank were the Cataphracts, one Roman cohort and my Lanciari.

 

  I decided that I could probably win on the right, the Lanciari being an excellent unit to beat skirmishers and probably the enemy medium cavalry, the cataphracts hopefully could take the Companions and Cohors II should easily beat the Thureophoroi. My left looked threatened by the Thracians as I did not want to peel off the Auxiliary cohort from the main line as there was a handy hill to their front which they could stand on. So I decided my Auxiliary cavalry would deal with the Skythians while my horse archers harassed the Thracians. Rob I think simply wanted to crush my centre, he did want the Thracians to threaten my left but they got bogged down a bit in the orchard due to bad movement rolls.

 As the initial moves played out Rob surprised me and took his cavalry away from his left and sent them straight at my line, the elephants also advanced along with the Purple (veteran) phalanx, the Whites stayed on their hill while the Blue ran forward. I sent a hail of arrows and bolts towards the Greeks and failed miserably, so much for plan A. Rob now won the initiative and slammed his cavalry into Cohors I and the Auxiliary archers while the phalanx moved slowly forward in line with the elephants. My boys took the shock and bent but did not break. Meanwhile I had chased away the Skythians and moved my Auxiliary cavalry forward to hopefully turn and hit the Purple phalanx or at least give Rob pause in his advance. I had secured the right flank and turned the cataphracts towards the enemy engaged with the archers.

 A crises had now approached as the elephants and the veteran phalanx also smashed into the Roman line. Although I was happy with the situation on the flanks I wondered what I would do if my centre disappeared. First up the Auxiliary cohort was sent packing by the veterans, sadly they failed to inflict any casualties on the Greeks and their morale failed, but all was not lost. Within a few minutes disaster struck the Seleucids, the victory against the Auxiliaries was a cruel twist by the Gods, the Seleucid cavalry were beat, routed and caught, this debacle also saw the morale of the Blue phalanx crumble and they too fled. To make matters worse Cohors II broke the Thureophoroi and dispersed them also, the poor Thracians with only a shield now fell prey to Roman barbs and suffered horrendous casualties. What about the elephants, well they too were defeated and ran amuck, one turned on the Purple phalanx and moved through it causing mayhem and stopping them following up their victory. The other ran through the Praetorians and caused the rallying slingers to once again run, the bolt shooters tried to kill it but failed although it was certainly on its last legs but still managed to be a danger to the Romans as it wandered here and there.

 

The Thunderbolts managed to grab the initiative for what would become the last move as the destruction of the Seleucid army continued. As the rest of the legion reorganised to sweep forward Cohors III charged downhill into the bewildered White phalanx and sent them packing, I was disappointed that my Auxiliary cavalry had been spooked by the elephant before it had died but you can't have everything. A great opportunity to get a lot of figures on the table and throw some dice, big thanks to Rob for taking part.

So what have I done, well working slowly, very slowly on those extra warband figures, probably because they are just extras and not a complete new unit, also in the mix has been a couple of map projects. The one on Charles XII of Sweden and his campaigns has been completed and a re-rendering of some Russian maps involving their attack on the Finns, early war I think but of course I don't read Russian, I have just started those.

What next I wonder, perhaps I could rope someone else into a War and Conquest game or try some Market Garden scenarios as I have just got the campaign book from Warlord. I am looking into buildings and terrain for my Berlin Project as well, I have decided not to do battle boards as I just do not have the room to store them unless I close the PO, so the buildings will be free standing with added scatter terrain, lots of it.

Game against Rob, the author of War and Conquest.

I put the Eastern Front aside last week and sorted out a game with War and Conquest author Rob Broom, Rob was keen after reading the last report when Matt Smith took control of the Romans, this time I would put all my efforts into commanding the Twelfth and send maps and photographs so that Rob could take as much control as possible.

I formed up with the bulk of my cavalry on my right, then two bolt shooters on a hill, this being the only height in my deployment area and these machines were hopefully going to bring down the elephants when they turned up. Next came the main line of the Legion in the center and on my left were the auxiliary troops, archers, infantry and cavalry. Opposite Rob had placed the elephants and Phalanxes on the left along with the Companions, his right consisted of lighter troops, Theurophoroi, Thracians, scythed chariots, skirmishers, horse archers and some medium cavalry. When I saw this I checked my points as I seemed to have a lot more than Rob, they turned out fine I also checked his as I was sure he had some left, but again the numbers were correct. On reflection Rob had paid a lot for his pikemen, Companions and command, the lighter troops don't come cheap either. I on the other hand only paid for two normal cohorts and two with recruits, I am cheap OK.

My plan was to kill the elephants as quickly as possible and luckily my bolt shooters were in a perfect position to shoot at them, I also moved the horse archers and the slingers in to take shots as well, the Auxiliary troops would advance with the possible aid of Cohors II and destroy the Seleucid right then the Legion would advance and finish the job.

 The first Roman volleys yielded no casualties at all which surprised me, the Seleucids did not have a lot to retaliate with and both armies got on with manouvering. Rob wanted his elephants and chariots to move to contact as fast as they could, despite this the elephants could only lumber on at a snails pace and this time they began to take hits, one looked like it would not make it to the Roman line so I turned it towards the Roman cavalry to force morale checks (I had to take some decisions for the enemy). One chariot fell to massed archery but the other hit Auxiliary Cohors II and caused a fistful of damage before succumbing. Nevertheless the Lanciari (Aux. Light Infantry) routed the Skythian horse archers so honours were even. Now Rob turned his cavalry back to his right and moved his light troops forward with the intention of taking on the Roman left. Cohors II peeled off to threaten this move.

I had moved the Contari back from fear of the Elephant but then decided as it turned back into the centre towards the Cataphracts to move them forward again and chance their morale. The second Elephant had got into charge reach of one of the Bolt Shooters and decided to go for it, the artillerymen held their nerves and the elephant took several hits as it came in, in a surprise outcome the artillerymen held and actually won the combat, the second round would result in a draw and the elephant near death. The White phalanx cautiously edged forward. On the Roman left the crises had arrived and the Seleucids threw all their troops at the Roman Auxiliaries and Cohors II, despite being lighter than the Auxiliaries the Greeks at first did quite well, but as the combats continued the heavier Roman troops routed the Theurophoroi and Thracians, the Macedonian light cavalry also lost their edge in the second round. The Companions now found themselves the sole targets of the massed archers on the hill and men and horses began to fall. I called a halt here and as I looked over the battlefield I felt the Legate of the Twelfth was on his way to a Triumph.

Being a bank holiday I got up early and returned to the fray, I had it in my mind that I would be packing things up after I had destroyed the remaining troops on the Seleucid right, how wrong that turned out to be. It started well and my Auxiliary Cohort hit the Macedonian light cavalry after they had routed my medium cavalry, the Companions now turned on Cohors II an easy victory thought I. Within so many blinks of an eye the Companions had ridden down Cohors II and nearby Cohors III and my Auxiliary archers had decided they would join the rout. The archers refused to rally for the rest of the game and the Seleucid cavalry now caught and dispersed Cohors III, almost all of my left flank was running or dispersed, and the Phalanxes were now advancing against my remaining two cohorts, I started to get a trifle nervous. On my right my artillerymen now managed to kill the elephant, I am glad it was not mine as it had been basically useless throughout the battle, I now sent my Contari on a wide flanking movement against the Greek left, would I have time to throw them into the battle before my legionaries fell to the phalanx.

 

I managed to hit the phalanxes before they charged me, but my elation did not last long as they pushed my boys back and I furtively glanced for a white flag. The long suffering left flank elephant had lined up to take the Praetorians in the flank but a host of missile fire at last put it out of its misery, but my guys were still on the back foot, however their morale held as the bodies piled up, the Legate could see his Triumph disappearing. The Contari now rode in to rescue the Thunderbolts reputation and the legionaries found renewed strength, the White phalanx crumbled as the horsemen hit them in the rear and the Praetorians, under threat of decimation, made a superhuman effort and did their part to rout the Whites. Cohors I also rose to the occasion and caused enough casualties to reverse their fortunes and cause the Purple phalanx to fail its morale and rout. The day had been saved, "Remember you are mortal" as the Romans say.

 

  A lot more maps this time from the normal three as once I needed input from Rob I sent a map and photographs. A very enjoyable game for me and although there is always a problem of judging distance through maps and photographs I felt Rob was as good as standing across from me, almost. As the Seleucids closed to hand to hand combat their die rolls were unbelievably bad, don't tell me I need yet another set of dice, the amount of 1s and 2s turning up was depressing especially as some of the units only needed 3 and above to save or kill. I asked Rob why the phalanxes were not moving and he said he was looking out for their flanks. I think if he had advanced them with or close behind the elephants a bit earlier it might have been a different game, I also thought the use of the elephants a good tactic as they nullified my shock cavalry and I was at first a bit wary of them. As Cohors II had been pulled to my left flank the two large phalanxes I suspect could have given my Legion a very hard time.

So there you have it, an excellent game. Back to the Eastern Front next to finish the Konigsberg Campaign.

And now a few words from our Sponsor.

Hammer and Anvil

When George invited me to play against him remotely using War & Conquest and his Successor army I must say I was looking forward to the challenge. His Successor army has plenty of choices so I selected elephants and scythed chariots to disrupt his forces, pike blocks to act as an anvil and then Companions and experienced light cavalry to act as the hammer.

It became obviously early in the game that being a remote general really gives you more a feel for how helpless some of the ancient generals must have felt once the action started - you know what you want the troops to do - and you issue the orders - but at times they come up short :)

My plan had been to hold the cavalry back, show a bit of feint and then race the cavalry to strike at a suitable flank or weak spot. In this case it ended up being the Roman Auxiliary flank. As Georges excellent report, maps and photos will show, the best plans don’t always work out and apparently, ‘my’ dice rolling was very poor!

But come the end, the game ran close - the stewards enquiry on the dice is still out, and a rematch will be most welcome. My thanks to George for a superb bit of entertainment and I really would recommend you trying out this kind of game - it really gives a new twist and overview of ancient battles.