Carthaginians and Macedonians

Ross called up and threw down the gauntlet. I hadn't played him in an ancients game in a very long time ( nearly a year!!)

His Macedonians under Antigonus One-Eye were itching to fight. I looked over my armies and thought...'Early Carthaginians...why not?'. 

Now, non historical match-ups can be problematic but as these two armies were almost from the same time period we didn't think it was going to be an issue!!

Carthaginian Line

The Macedonians

My new Vikings take the field...and lose...but my old Romans win.

 A couple of games from the last couple of months......

Ross was aware that I had finished my Vikings. As he has Byzantines, Normans and Muslim forces that are all from the same period- I took my army off to his place and found an army waiting for them!

What did I find? A Hamdanid Arab force - awaiting my plundering and rampaging Vikings.

Both from the same time period - mid 10th Century....but very different in composition!

My Vikings. Anchoring my left flank on some low hills.

Romans vs Macedonians

 A few months ago Geoff and Zels asked us to put on a game to run through our own home grown set of ancient rules that we have been using for a long time now. It was my Republican Romans vs Ross' Antigonas One-Eye's Macedonians. 

The Roman right flank- Elephants and Light Infantry backed up by a unit of Triarii. We won on this side.

SWORD AND SPEAR

 I was given the opportunity to be walked thru the Sword and Spear rules by Chris P,  a good friend of Spyros'. 

He brought his two very well painted armies- Republican Roman and Pyrrhic Macedonian.

I have never played these rules but Chris knew them well. The command and control were straight forward. Each unit has a die and they are all put into a bag. We drew 9 dice out each time. The side that drew the most had the initiative. All the dice that are drawn out are rolled. 1s are discarded. The other numbers are placed next to the units that you wish to move/fight or fire that turn.  

Romans and Macedonians- Ancients

( A report from about two years ago- that I wrote up- and never posted!) Some of the Brothers were summoned to a game of monumental importance. Well, it wasn't all that important, but someone must have thought it was important because there was an almost full house with 9 assembled in the understated elegance of my overdone car park spaces. Ross, Paul, Geoff, Richard, Roger, Lochlainn, Nick, Phil and I piled in on a cold winter's night to watch two large armies, Romans and Macedonians vie for the right to be proclaimed victor for the night- a rather dubious honour! It was good to have a big gathering again for an ancient game- coffee was on the boil, chocolate biscuits were on the table and the game was on. Geoff, Nick, Paul, Roger and Lochlainn were the Romans and Richard, Phil, Ross and I were the Macedonian.
Given my record with my Roman armies of late- no one was willing to let me side with the Legions!

How many defeats can a wargamer bear????? My Roman Shame....AGAIN.

This game was played late last year after many  humiliating defeats at the hands of Ross' Macedonians. I demanded a rematch to restore the honour of the Roman army and stop the shame and humiliation that had been attached to my family name for generations to come. The table was set up, the rules produced, the armies deployed...and well.....read the report.....my Romans are persistent if nothing else.

I had high hopes when I deployed my troops. I was wiser after my multiple defeats and was determined not to let Ross and Paul have a victory again !!!

Well rather than bore you all with a long report that basically tries to make excuses for my catastrophic defeat...just look at the photos. Suffice to say I led with my left- held back my right and got kicked in the balls. I give up. The Romans are going into a cupboard and staying there for a while.

My Romans

Romans get their backsides kicked - again. By Everybody.

Rather than give a blow by blow description of my continued humiliation at the hands of my so called friends- I'll just provide you with loads of pictures with a caption or two- I find typing out the details of my sordid defeats too distressing to give the full details of the shame and denigration of my Romans at the hands of Gauls, Macedonians, a pack of rabid penguins, and I think the ladies from local Cup Cake making guild.....or was that the Seleucids.?..I don't remember...one defeat is pretty much the same as another- they all become a  blur in my memory. Poor Romans. Crap Generalship.
This post is therefore dedicated to the piles of Roman lead left strewn about the battlefields in recent times, self pity and self deprecation....and for my opponents....supposed friends-  they said it should be call 'The Joy of Six'.

The humiliation begins. I deployed well (in the far corner) but the enemy- Ross and Richard managed to get their elephants across (right of screen) in the nick of time and snatch victory from the jaws of defeat...what a lousy cliche- and it comes nowhere near encapsulating the angst of my despair!

Ancients 28mm

Gaming has been very thin on the ground recently due to work commitments and the fact that I moved house and need to  reorganize the hallowed gaming space- there’s been no time to Blog, paint or play!!  That should be remedied soon – there wasn’t even time for my Big Christmas Bash- the first omission in 15 years! Disgraceful! I've managed to squeeze in a few games since December and will get around to adding them all.

 I got a quick ancients game in with Ross with my Republican Romans fighting with his Macedonians- a nice historical match. My Romans proved very adaptable, efficient and aggressive. The same could not be said for my generalship. Ross deployed his pikes in depth- historically correct. I deployed my Romans in checker board- historically correct. I put my cavalry on the flanks....right in front of his elephants. Oh sh*t.
I lost.
Something went wrong!
Besides my haphazard deployment , I committed my legionaries piecemeal and my cavalry got stopped by his bl**dy great elephants. Note to self for next time- don't lose.
Admittedly my Legions put up a good fight but it was my cavalry that took a beating. Ross neutralised my elephants with his light troops but I let my boys down by allowing his cavalry to ride my lights down and then expecting my cavalry to defeat his elephants. Stooopid. A narrow victory for the sage from the eastern suburbs......but I'll kick his ass next time.



My Legions- in the center of the picture my Hastati were pushing the pike block back....but it is at the top of the photo you can see my cavalry being swamped. 

Alex and Darius at Gaugemala

The lads got together for a game in early January in the understated elegance of my garage for our usual Christmas bash. It was decided that we would refight Alexander the Great's biggest stoush: Gaugemala. Using Armati we assembled over 900 infantry and around 300 cavalry. I think just about everybody had soemthing to contribute: Thanks guys!!Ralph was Darius and Nick played the ever aggressive Alex...something Nick has no worries about playing. Nick doesn't ask who they are ...but where they are! The above photo shows the initial deployment.

On the left flank of the Persians Phil initially found his light cavalry ridden down by the Thessalian cavalry commanded by Paul, but using his advantage in numbers he held and then counter attacked, driving the Greek allied cavalry from the field. The center was where the battle would be won and lost and true to form it was a bloodbath when the rampaging Hypaspists and the Companions broke through the first Persian line. Initally it looked like it would be a Macedonian walk over but the Persians fought on grimly. On the Persian left Roger fought a long drawn out conflict with the mercenary hoplites and other assorted cavalry commanded by Ross. In the center Ralph managed to get one of his heavy infantry units to wheel ( not all that easy under Armati) and slam several units of the Macedonian phalanx- commanded by Lochlainn- in the flank. The game was completed in 9 turns and took six hours to play on a very pleasant Saturday! With a Macedonian victory- and the death of 2 Macedonian commanders ..and ALL of the Persian senior officers except Darius.....it was a great afternoon- for the Macedonians anyway!!

Persian cavalry.

The Phalanx.

The Phalanx advances!!
Below: Persian skirmishers in front of the main battle line.

Alex with his Companions and the Hypaspists at the rear of the photo.

Another view of Alex hitting the Persian cavalry. In Armati the general's element is attached to the rear of the accompanying unit.
The center of the Persian line- with the horses of Darius' chariot in the foreground.

Greek mercenary hoplites clash with the phalanx in the left center.

The Persian heavy unit that hit the phlanax in the flank!!