Friday, 23 March 2018

Scratched an Itch

I am in the Doldrums at the moment, I always find coming down from the excitement of a wargame weekend away a bit of a bind as I enjoy them so much, new armies, new people, good games and usually a social evening discussing rules, armies, tactics and battles long gone with like minded folks. Anyway I didn't make it to the club, Rob was going to organise a Colonial bash which I always enjoy but he had to work, so I took the opportunity to get on with a couple of important map projects.

I had a Dark Age game organised for the Sunday last weekend and didn't manage it due to the weather but I really wanted to get my Romano-British onto the table so I asked Kevin if he fancied a Dark Age clash this week. I wanted to test out the army I had chosen for the gaming weekend so Kevin would be the Saxons, he was kind of dropped into it as he had not played the army before and only made his list up when he arrived at my door before we started.

I had a typical army with a couple of elite units, some average troops, a Frankish (yes, them again) warband and a few skirmishers, I had no cavalry. Kevin lined up almost the same, his warband were Picts and he had a small unit of cavalry, I noted his surprise when he saw no horsemen on my side of the battlefield. There were two steep hills in the centre of the table which would disorder Regular troops, I decided to sit a couple of units on the one nearest to me and concentrate on the enemy flanks, if the Saxons went for my centre both of us would be disordered but I would be uphill. The battle was fairly straightforward and I managed to win on both flanks, Kevin was therefore forced to charge off his small hill but I had moved up to the base of it in preparation for this therefore his men fought at a disadvantage as my men, not being on the hill, were not disordered. At this point it became obvious that the Saxons, having lost several units were now at a serious disadvantage, therefore Kevin offered his sword. The Franks, were at first held then pushed back by the Picts and I thought here we go again, but in a titanic effort they turned the tables on the Jocks and sent them packing, a big surprise to me but vindication for my continuing faith in them.

Romano-Brits on the left, Saxons on the right.

I happily sit on the hill.

Volleys of javelins are exchanged with the Saxons getting thew worst of it.

The Saxon right about to collapse.

The Saxon left collapsing.

The isolated Saxon centre.

A decent game if not overly exciting, but then Dark Age clashes between armies very similar in make up do not have the same cut and thrust as Ancient armies with their myriad troops types, but they have their own charm and I have fought many which were desperate struggles for both sides.

I have caught up with my painting and with the arrival of the shield transfers and bases managed to finish my Mercenary Peltasts, I then moved on to my command figures. I decided after much soul searching and online research to go to Wargames Foundry for my King and used one of their Alexander figures, the horse of course has a skin of some kind on it and as I have a tiger with my 2i/c I decided on a leopard (I hope PETA don't find out). I didn't realise there were so many different leopards, so I went with Persian, more a creamy colour than orange, I am just waiting of course for 'that guy' to point out it is not orange enough. I have also primed my second scythed chariot so that is next, all the units left now to get are extras, so no hurry although I am sure I won't slow down.





My wargamers OCD has kicked in again, I have a habit of extending the ranks of my Cohorts but don't have enough single figures in the units to make it easy, I decided after last weekend to do something about it. Yesterday I took all six Legionary and Auxilia cohorts and rebased the rear ranks. I also made my mind up to rebase all my skirmishers in the five armies to 25mm instead of 20mm square bases, I am still at it while I type, the glue is drying on the Patrician skirmishers. I have to live with the Dark Age skirmishers remaining on 20mm bases, I attempted to take one off and it was a nightmare, I am not doing two armies worth and possibly ruin the figures in the process by breaking bows and javelins. I could however get the new, very thin, plywood bases from Warbases and simply sit them on and build them up, mmmmm.

Sunday, 18 March 2018

War and Conquest Weekend Bristol

Sadly it wasn't a weekend, the Gods chose this weekend to dump a mini snow storm right on the area around Bristol, while the Met Office gleefully told people not to travel and gave out Defcon 1 warnings all the way up and down the motorway. Despite this I set off on Friday and travelled in good time to my hotel just north of Bristol, a small flurry of snow yesterday which did not last but when I looked out this morning around 6.30 am the place was covered and the wind howling. Although host Rob offered to put me up if I got stuck later tonight I did not want to get stuck and still have to fight my way through bad weather on the Monday so I took the decision to head home before or in case things got worse during the day. Travel was not great until I got north of Birmingham, when I made a stop for a toilet break, the fifty yards to the services nearly froze me, I do not think I have ever been so cold, fifty yards!

So, I got to the venue in Iron Acton first thing Saturday morning to be met by Rob and mate Matt who I would be fighting in the afternoon, I said hello to some of the other players and slightly late my opponent turned up, a nice bloke called Nigel, of course he was. Nigel was a full time wargamer but a newcomer to WAC having only fought one game, he also had Early Imperial Romans, Nigel deployed his army which was almost completely made up of heavy infantry, he also had a small skirmish unit and some cavalry. The Thunderbolts, having experience, fielded three cohorts of Recruits which I prefer to call not veterans as it sounds better, because these lads are no less tough than other legionaries and one veteran cohort, supporting these I had an Auxiliary cohort, archers, slingers, Lanciarii, horse archers and a bolt shooter. The latter was there because at some point over the weekend I was supposed to fight a Successor army.


Nigel's men on the left, Thunderbolts on the right.

My plan was to hit Nigel's flanks then weaken his cohorts with missile fire before they hit my waiting line. Everything went to plan at first, Nigel quite rightly threw his men forward while I wiped out his cavalry then began to whittle away at his right flank cohorts, which, although having an elite unit in reserve, were small sixteen man units. The bolt shooter crew were particularly effective in this game never missing a target. I saw an opportunity and threw my Praetorians (the veterans) into Nigel's left most cohort and readied the Lanciarii to hit them in the flank, to my amazement the Praetorians dealt out no casualties and fled only to be pursued and chased from the field. Meanwhile Nigels line hit mine, but a combination of tough defending and numbers stopped his men in their tracks and then turned the tables on him, soon all but one of his units were fleeing. Cohort I had held magnificently despite being beaten nearly every turn and held long enough for the Lanciarii to come to their aid, Auxilia II routed one unit then beat Nigel's elites. It was a victory for the Twelfth, a good start and a good game played well by Nigel despite his inexperience. I had achieved my objective and the scores were 36/9.



Next up was the match I had been waiting just over three years for, which was the last time I met Matt at a WAC do. Matt had borrowed a mate's Celtic army as I don't think his own Legion is quite ready yet. This game was deploy by formation type, and as Matt's whole army was skirmish or light he basically had to deploy first, four massive warbands appeared supported by a horde of skirmishers, including chariots and cavalry, Matt loaded his left with the horse, and wheels. I put the Lanciarii on my left hoping to kill his slingers and threaten his flank, the rest of my missile troops and the Auxiliaries I put on the right, hoping to wipe out his chariots and cavalry but I still wasn't happy with this flank as the battle started.

Savages on the left, Romans on the right.
 



To fight large warbands I need to thin out my cohorts and I managed this with three of them before being hit by a tribal tidal wave. Before that however I foolishly lost my Lanciarii by advancing them too far, they did however rally and return but stayed behind the legionaries, I also lost my slingers to an aggressive charge by the chariots, not only that but my horse archers had fled to the rear as well, things had not started well, it was my flanks which were now in danger. Due to no skirmish cover I had to put my cohorts into Testudo as missiles rained down on them, this slowed my advance but I needn't have worried as Matt's plan was to run over the top of my men at speed. As the game progressed I got my horse archers back and my own archers and the bolt shooter wiped out one of the cavalry units, I held the Auxiliaries back a tad in case I needed them to turn and take on the chariots in my rear.


Now in came the warbands, they had everything going for them in the first clash, superior combat factors and numbers, Centurions up and down the line shouted in unison "shields up, wait for it, throw!" As the turn ended every cohort still stood in line, some had been dealt large numbers of casualties but had managed to still stand firm helped by the Consul and his officers (a desperate use of initiative points). A huge melee now began, sometimes one side or the other would be on top or more often the legionaries made incredible saving and morale throws, Cohors I and II were especially hard pressed.



As the fighting ebbed and flowed Matt threw his Noble cavalry forward against the Auxiliaries, hoping to at last punch a hole in the Roman line, Auxilia II took their time but eventually sent the cavalry fleeing to the rear, then Cohors III defeated their opponents, the pendulum was swinging Rome's way. The Praetorians also defeated their opposite numbers and turned to help Cohors I, as they hit the warband both it and Cohors I routed, no shame to the First who had held back the Celts in a titanic struggle. The Celtic chief and his warband now managed to rout Cohors II and captured them and the Consul, however their joy did not last as the Third turned and hit them from the rear, freeing the Consul and capturing the Chieftain. It was all over, a superb game and a memorable one to be talked about at tables groaning with ale for some time to come. Oh and it ended 32/11 (I miscounted Rob, lol).



So there you have it, a long way for two games but well worth it despite what the missus says about money wasted, not your cash dear and who can control the weather? The Twelfth had turned up with a reputation and ended the day with it untarnished, despite being mocked with good humour by some, in the last battle all but one Centurion had fell in the fighting, testimony to the slaughter.


A big thanks to my opponents, gentlemen both, my apologies to those I had to let down today, great to meet up with Trevor, Steve, Matt, Nigel and Mick (a Thunderbolts fan would you believe) and of course Rob.

Thursday, 15 March 2018

Frustrations

Mate Simon has fixed my broken PC and put the blame on the last people to touch it, that was the original firm, but as with putting my car into a service I have no idea what happens to it, but it has cost me dear and I have probably spent a lot of money for no need.

Anyway we turned up at the club as Andy was putting on a WWII Battlegroup game, as things happened I, along with Ian, was German while Simon and Rob were British and American. The scenario had been taken from some other WWII rules, basically we had to attack along a narrow frontage to take the Sorn bridge while it was being held by some dug in American paratroops, British armour was on the way, Market Garden, or a part of it.  We had a half decent little Kampfgruppe with three Panthers and some Grenadiers, but the paras were elite and in cover, as soon as I saw it I knew this was going to be hard or even impossible, just like the real thing.




In Battlegroup you roll a number of dice which, added to how many officers you have, gives you the number of chits you can use to order your force about, not a favourite mechanic of mine as you will know by now. Sure enough due to low die rolls we never had enough chits to bring in all our forces or coordinate a proper attack while the other side were throwing their surplus in the bin. We took a lot of suppressing fire which made things worse, especially from a small 50mm mortar firing over open sights, we had 80mm mortars but required a spotter who for some reason had to stay with the HQ rather than creep forward for some juicy targets. As we found out it took three chits to fire the mortars and the way things were going that was half our funds, and even when we did get it in it was rather underwhelming.

Rob and Simon contemplate my Panther making about five saving rolls.
A bridge too far.
We did manage to kick the paras on our side of the river out of their foxholes but as the British armour had now turned up our tanks could no longer support the infantry, many of mine were still languishing at the start point. We took a Cromwell out but were never going to get to the bridge, as time was called it was an Allied victory. Not a bad set of rules for a quick game and it may be realistic with troops having a hard time going forward but it is frustrating, you get suppressed but then cannot unsuppress until the end of the move, which normally means the unit gets suppressed again! I think the scenario was small scale and the rules are for much larger forces. Perhaps Bolt Action or some such would have been better. Elsewhere we had some RPG set in 17C France and a Kings of War game, not my cuppa but some beautiful brushwork by Ryan on the figures.



As I said in my last post I have been trying to clear the decks over the past week, I have lots of map work on and have had to give extra hours to the Battle of Dresden project (30+ maps) then get ready for sixteen maps for a WWI book next week, I have managed this, just, so I should possibly not have organised a game with Kevin today, but I did. I managed to check the army list five minutes before Kevin rang the doorbell.

We were doing a Greek City States match up, I went for cheap Citizen Hoplites for numbers with only one elite unit, support was two cavalry units, skirmishers and a Hill Tribes warband. Kevin had Trained Hoplites and one elite and the same kind of support. Kevin had to deploy first, so as I looked at the battlefield I thought I would advance my left, hold back the right and advance aggressively with the centre, my idea being not to go into phalanx but race for the hills, thinking that being on the hill would counterbalance Kevin's units in phalanx, mmmm.

Me on the left, Kevin on the right.

I managed to sweep away his right but then kind of lost the plot as I left my elite unit and the heavy cavalry without moving them for a full move, the battle on the hills was that intense, this was not my only cock up. I got to the hills and was hoping to form phalanx on them and stand like a stone wall, but no, Kevin got a charge in first and it was here my second stupid mistake happened, I forgot my men had 'extra armour' so I fought that round without it, aaaargh! I didn't win one melee, having said I mucked up Kevin caused so many casualties on me I doubt it would have helped, only in one fight might it have mattered, and only might.

Looking good, but only for a short while.
My centre disappears while my left watches.
My warband gives me something to smile about.
 As my boys on the hills were beaten I did manage at last to galvanise my elites who took out a small Peltast unit which had steadfastly refused to simply die the first time I hit them, rallied off table and came back, my warband had the honour of defeating their larger opponents but it was all over as the last unit on the hill broke and dispersed. Yes, I could and maybe should have gone into phalanx before taking the hills but that wasn't the plan and if we had had two hoplite lines clashing I think we might have got a result by next Thursday. Kudos to Kevin for a good win and I hope I sharpen up for this weekend, I am taking the Twelfth to fight Successors, EIR and Celts while my Romano-British will be up against Anglo-Saxons, I haven't fought early Romans before so that will be an interesting match up, also the objective system will be used, not simply a stand up battle which of course is what I like. I might sneak in one more map tonight, despite the pressure I am enjoying drawing these, then I better give some thought to the army lists for the weekend.



Monday, 12 March 2018

Under Pressure

Doing a bit of catch up over the past week I should be finished several units by now and looking at getting a few more extra's for the Seleucids but I slipped up on a couple of fronts. I got some unarmoured peltasts from Crusader but they arrived without their shields, I therefore decided to arm them in the main with round shields as I had quite a few lying about, but it dawned on me as they neared completion that I didn't have any transfers, so I popped a quick email off to Little Big Man Studios, I also decided as I had the figures that this unit would be 18 men rising to 20 rather than 16, so I had to order some new movement trays from Warbases. LBMS went on holiday and Warbases was a tad slow which is unusual for them, I am now at the stage where the trays have been posted but not arrived, getting a bad feeling about this package, and LBMS is back from holiday and the transfers are in the post. There was a package waiting at the Sorting Office today but it was not the trays but peltast shields from Crusader, in a rather big box which wouldn't fit through my letter box, eight shields! So I sit at a standstill at the moment.

Wait, wait................

I also forgot about last week at the club, Simon put on a Dystopian Wars naval battle, Germany vs Great Britain, I was the Germans. We ended up with only two players and Simon as umpire, Simon had expected more so the game was a bit large for two players, I had played before but I think Andy was brand new so to be honest not a lot happened. There was a ship in the centre of the table which had to be captured and I managed to do this as time was called, despite this we did have some interesting little actions between our air forces including bombers, some launched from two beautiful model air ships and a bit of surface combat between the ships, I think I lost more small ships than Andy. Elsewhere we had Shadespire and underground Frostgrave so a fantasy and futuristic night.






Battlegroup at the club tomorrow somewhere in Normandy I believe, so that should be lively. No boardgaming today as I only arrived back from London at lunchtime and then had to have blood taken, I also have to get a move on with maps as several projects seem to be building up on me at the moment, Helion are republishing George Nafziger's book on the Battle of Dresden and I have about 34 maps to draw for this. I am also turning into the travelling wargamer again on Friday as I head to Bristol for a weekend of War and Conquest organised by author Rob Broom, I have army lists to get ready at some point in the next couple of days. We are also planning a Hoplite vs Hoplite bash on Thursday afternoon as well, where does the time go?

Tuesday, 6 March 2018

Third Crusade And the Tuetoburger Wald

We went from the cold of Russia last week to the scorching sands of Outremer this week. Another block game from Columbia Games (Crusader REX) this time recreating the Third Crusade, the one where Richard the Lionheart turns up, along with some other important Frenchies and Germans. The aim of the game is to win outright by taking all of the main cities i.e. Jerusalem, Antioch, Damascus etc. about seven all in or win by holding the most at the end, it runs from 1187-1192 and there are six turns per year with the last being a winter turn.

It is a very pretty map and the colours of the blocks is fairly striking, orange and green in the main. I took the Saracens and Kevin handled the Christian locals and the Crusaders. After the first turn or so it quickly became obvious that this was Hammer of the Scots but with sand, the mechanics were very much the same as was the playability. You start out with grand ideas and build up some big armies but then find that when winter approaches you have to make a dash for a castle or your troops melt away, so you can run about daft during the 'campaign season' at the beginning of the year but then have to look over your shoulders for castles to garrison over the winter and start withdrawing your men so that you do not lose them. There are some differences of course and castles are crucial in this game, there are not a lot of battles but you can spend a lot of time besieging or storming a city or castle, and as you would expect the advantage lies with the defender. I suppose it does what it says on the tin, it is relatively easy to play once you get used to the rules and it doesn't last forever, about three hours is probably fine after the first couple of games.

How did our game go, well we naturally made some mistakes but by the end we had it off pat I think. I struck hard at Aleppo and Antioch and kicked the locals out, but I didn't realise that the Germans were coming overland and could turn up behind me, so I messed up and let them take back Antioch. However I started taking all the castles in the area and especially the ports so that no more Crusaders could turn up unexpectedly, this was a highly effective strategy and allowed my armies to remain in the field for the start of the next year, albeit spread out. I took Tripoli and just at the last minute I launched a huge assault on Jerusalem, this was a titanic struggle and I came within an ace of taking the Holy City, sadly there are only four combat turns and at the end of this there were two men and a dog on the city walls but I had to cease the attack. No matter, I held four of the prizes while Kevin held three.

I read some fiction about a year or more ago, Harry Sidebottom, and enjoyed them, they had been out some time so I picked them up very cheaply, I have just finished the excellent non-fiction Rome: A City In Seven Sackings, and thought I would like to try some more fiction for a change, somewhere I saw Ben Kane recommended so picked up his three books (all hardback) on the Varus debacle in the Tuetoburger Wald, I got two of them for 1p each. I have been riveted by the story of Centurion Tullus and his nemesis Arminius. I, like most other people no doubt, have always thought of Quinctilius Varus the Roman commander of the three legions wiped out in the forest as an idiot. Kane puts Varus in a different light and shows him as a real man rather than a cipher and a byword for military incompetence, yes he made a mistake and was literally led down the garden path despite being warned, but I felt very sorry for him as his world collapsed around him. And the good thing about enjoying Ben Kane is that he has several other series already out there which I suppose will be available again for a couple of pence.


I have now got my General and officers primed for the Seleucids, this means in effect the army now has enough choices to take to the field up to at least 3,000 points. It is not finished by a long shot though, you know I have a couple of cavalry units still to add, along with Thracians, I have been looking at a 'Late' Seleucid list by a gentleman called Jeff Jonas who is a bit of an expert in Successor armies, so to this end I will also be adding some mercenary hoplites and massed Iranian/Mede archers, alright the latter are the bottom of the barrel but a large number of them cannot be ignored, oh, and a couple of bolt shooters as well, so no hanging the brushes up for a wee while yet.

Friday, 2 March 2018

Wot, no Elephants?

With two fingers up to 'The Beast from the East" Kevin braved the freezing wind and arrived at the PO door looking like a survivor from Captain Scott's expedition to the South Pole, thermal underwear sufficed for me, spacious it may be but the PO is not always so warm and it is too large an area to heat without taking out a new mortgage.

Kevin has been busy selling boardgames at a furious rate over the last week or so so hasn't managed to organise or paint his new army choices of Republican Roman and Pyrrhic, I suspect we will see the former before the latter as I believe they are complete but need movement trays. So for this weeks game it was back to the Carthaginians for him and Seleucids for me, I had speed painted a new elephant with the intention of hitting him with two but in the end couldn't afford them in the army, I prefer real men to watch my flanks not big, lumbering beasts. Anyway I had four phalanxes, one of which was Levy, supported by skirmishers, horse archers, one cavalry unit, Theurophoroi and some Galatian mercenaries. Opposite was the usual mix of African spearmen, Italian allies, skirmishers and light cavalry also with a large Gaul warband.

I deployed with my cavalry on my left, infantry in the centre and the warband on my right, I was going to be cautious with my left while pushing my right to take the enemy flank, the way the deployment had gone I saw that if I was quick I could possibly outflank the Carthaginian heavy infantry on the centre left, then hopefully roll them up. I was depending on my Galatians who were elite to beat their tribal counterparts on the other side so that I could attempt the flank attack without interference.

Seleucids on the left, Carthaginians on the right.
My army advances as does the enemy left.
Having said all that I also noticed my left was glaringly weak, if it was vigorously attacked I would have to pull a phalanx away from the main line. I managed to get rid of the enemy skirmishers here but made a mess of a cavalry charge which was a couple of inches short. I recovered slightly but Kevin got the next charge in first, my cavalry were solid troopers with high morale, but once again they could not manage to beat the enemy, they failed on several occasions to wipe them out needing only one lousy casualty, they then routed, taking the horse archers with them. Thankfully I managed to get both units back and eventually I destroyed that enemy cavalry, but it was touch and go and very frustrating. Thankfully however there was still no movement from the Italian infantry on that flank.

I chase away the enemy javelinmen.

On the right I did much better, my Galatians caught the Gauls and dispersed them, my swift advance and luck in winning the initiative threw the Carthaginian cavalry into disarray and they retreated, the Galatians also managed to send one of these units packing as well, a terrific first appearance for them. I was brought back to earth however as my 'purple' phalanx charged in to pin a unit of spearmen for the intended flank attack only to be outfought, routed and dispersed! Lucky for me this put the pursuers right in front of the Theurophoroi which then hit them on the flank and took them out, a magnificent feat for such a small unit considering these very same troops had wiped out a phalanx without breaking sweat.

Looking good.
Oh dear, a hole in the line.

I did recover however and as planned I hit the enemy centre and it slowly crumbled, the Italians now moved but it was too late, and once again Kevin's hard luck Italian unit ran on seeing the mayhem in the centre, it was all over.

We start to roll up the enemy line.
Carthaginian morale fails.
 A very good showing by the Seleucids, although I do wonder why my cavalry never seems keen to fight. The surprising loss of the 'purple' phalanx shook me but once again brought home my need to hit these units in the flank at all costs, it is a quirk of the army lists (not the rules) that Hoplite type units with large shields actually have a better chance of beating a real phalanx than the other way around. Dice luck was average but I did win several crucial initiative rolls during the mid phase of the battle when it mattered while Kevin won most during the early part. I am getting ready to add some mercenary peltasts to the army and another unit of javelin armed skirmishers simply for choice and I have the figures anyway. I have my main General and now only need the Companions and cataphracts to complete the army, but I am skint for now so can wait a bit longer for Aventine to get them into production.


Thursday, 1 March 2018

Wot, no Prosecco?

At one point on Tuesday night I had decided not to bother braving the weather, the 'Beast from the East' as the weather pundits are calling the cold snap. We had had a flurry of snow and I don't like driving in snow conditions, I used to do it a lot driving to Aberdeen and made an attempt to get to Scotland a few years back which frightened the hell out of me, so I am loath to do it. The snow was powdery and the roads clear and I had arranged a game so off I went.

I was at last about to meet Julian's Italians in a Bolt Action game, this is a very nice army with real character, the Italians for several reasons picked up a bad rep during WWII and most of it was not earned. Anyway I was the British and took three squads along with an MMG, a Bren carrier and a Humber armoured car, I couldn't afford a tank at the points we were playing, but I was worried that one of those Italian tankette things would turn up so took a PIAT team as well. Julian had three large squads, two veterans and one regular, a sniper and an armoured car. We both had an objective marker in our own areas and one in the centre of the table, you got two points for capturing the enemy marker, one for the centre and one for each unit destroyed. We used Julian's lovely desert/Spanish/Mexican/Italian scenery which is lovely, especially the beautiful bridge which he intends using for Gangs of Rome, an epic piece very well painted.

The wooden pieces are a dry waterbed.
I put my forces down intending to protect my own marker while destroying the Italians in front of it, my right would simply await an opportunity to do the same to the enemy defending their own marker, I would wait and make a decision on the centre later.



Things went very much how I planned them although I had to become very aggressive on the right, the Italian armoured car took up a good position on the bridge and I would have to deal with it before I could get anywhere near the Italian home objective. I had a free artillery barrage and unloaded it on the bridge, at best it took some paint off the armoured car, but I had also managed to get my PIAT into range, bang, a hit, but it bounced off. I now threw caution to the winds and advanced my two squads in that area, Julian was a little hesitant with his veterans on this front which allowed me to assault the annoying armoured car, this time the menace went on fire, which the crew would put out during the next turn, so it still blocked the bridge.

 

I moved my infantry past the vehicle and they now took the Italian infantry under an accurate fire which caused them to return to the shelter of a small copse and their objective. The PIAT took another careful shot and this time the armoured car exploded, the bridge was clear. Over on the left my Humber and troops had wiped out a squad and the sneaky sniper but it had taken too long, Julian made a run for my objective while wiping out my MMG on the way, I could have run my squad back to contest the marker but I was too intent on killing the men in front of me. In the centre we both had men near the marker so it was contested, I had slipped up here but Julian had not and made his moves calculating that I would not be able to get back in time, he was almost correct.

 

On the right it looked like the Italian objective would again simply be contested, so I threw in a squad to close quarters, they got beaten and routed, bad move, but Julian, now flushed with victory decided to clear my other squad in order to keep the objective to himself, this time I won and his men disappeared.


A good game on lovely terrain with lovely troops, Julian had some dire luck on his dice during parts of the game and my assault on his right went really well apart from the blip of losing one squad, he almost pulled off taking two of the objectives and at the end of the day we were even on those but I had killed off one more unit than he had, so a British win, if a very narrow one.

I was painting like a mad man over the last few days and have now finished all my phalangites and a second elephant for the Seleucids although god knows when I will be able to afford to have two on the battlefield as they are point hungry beasts.