Full steam ahead

 The beauty of retirement on such a wet and miserable day, a wargame in the morning and a blog post in the afternoon as the rain plays on the window.

But first the disaster of club night, Matt our leader had warned that the school was having an open night and parking might be a problem, when is it not. I had an ACW game organised with Fran and set off early in the false hope I might beat the crowd, no, it was like the dodgems in the street at the back of the school and I had to park several streets away and hoof it to the club. I then got a text from Fran saying he could not get parked and had went home, he offered to walk in with a board game but I had an idea of only staying and passing some stuff on to Rob before heading home. Simon and Jimi were having a Bolt Action game (British vs Russians) and kindly let myself and Rob join in, I was British with Jimi, we had to take a Soviet officer prisoner who was settled in a house right in the centre of the battlefield.

The terrain was fairly heavy and LOS was difficult to get, both sides brought monster tanks, the British a Churchill AVRE and the Ivan's a KV2, so the infantry kept hidden for the first part of the game as one hit from either of these tanks would kill a whole squad. As the KV moved around the British dashed for the objective while the Russian infantry also gingerly advanced. Casualties mounted on both sides, as most of the enemy were situated around the objectives house I dropped artillery into the area. I was spectacularly successful and everything in the area was hit, two British squads along with the Russians, oops.

I managed to get some PIAT shots in at the beast but I may as well have thrown eggs. As it became obvious we would not get the objective Jimi turned his giant mortar on the house and blew it and its occupants to smithereens, only two, shell shocked survivors were left in the rubble. Rob declared a draw but only because there was no objective left for either side to rescue. A good end to what was looking like a barren evening.

This morning Matt Crump turned up from sunny Penrith for a War and Conquest game, he brought a Persian army so I faced it with my Seleucids, the game was 2,500 points. I took a fairly typical army with a good mix of all troop types along with an elephant, something I don't normally choose but what is a Seleucid army without one. Matt's Persians were quite numerous but lacked good melee infantry apart from some mercenary hoplites, but nearly everything carried a bow.

Seleucids left, Persians right.

 

 

 Matt forced me to go first and I decided not to faff about and sent the whole army forward, the arrows came thick and fast and my men began to fall, my little band of casualties far outweighed the Persian one, I hesitated, but continued to advance my flanks and at last my shooting had an effect as the enemy cavalry began to die and the elephant chased off some horse archers. The pendulum swung again and the Persians made some aggressive moves, I had to try and hide my hoplites behind the hill to take them out of the arrow storm.With Matt's forward movement I once again pushed the army forward and there were several clashes, the White phalanx hardly gave me a shock with a pathetic effort but the Mercenary hoplites of the enemy made an even worse effort and they broke and ran. Things began to go south for the Persians, their chariots were shot and destroyed, a couple of cavalry units ran and the Seleucids were once more on the advance in the centre. The Greek heavy infantry slammed into the poorly protected Persians and before too long the whole army had collapsed. There were troops off table hoping to come back but they would be returning on their own.

So, a good game from my perspective but a bit one sided once my infantry got into action, Matt's desperate morale throws did not help. We had a chat and might look at doing a Chain of Command mini campaign in the future. I hope to get up to Penrith for a visit next month.

After all these years wargaming I now have a lead pile, my TAG stuff came last week, more on the way, and my Steel Fist order arrived today, so the winter months will just fly by. I am now spent up and will need to give the LMF a rest in the present financial climate for now.

I have finished more heavy cavalry for the French army and added another general figure in the shape of Giovanni de' Medici, this famous mercenary commanded a large company of arquebusiers and light cavalry and at times what would amount to a complete army, he died of a wound received from a falconet gun which turned gangrenous. After this his troops and he were referred to as 'the Black Bands.'

I also finished off the small number of buildings I had left for my Italian terrain, my idea is they will come together as a couple of farms and outbuildings with or without walls. I plan to add the usual scatter of carts, boxes, civilians etc. but that's for another day. I really need to get on and get another game of Furioso in to scratch an itch.

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.