Pachyderm Pandemonium on the Po

Or Romanorum adepto suum anus vulnero
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A report from one of the Brothers: Paulus on the Po!

 It was a cold winter’s dawn but what the Carthaginians thought would be a token Roman force turned out to be a “table bending” tonnage of lethal metal.  Carthage called up all the Allies and all the Barbarians they could lay their hands on.

The Roman Van was certainly impressive.  Cohorts in depth always mean business and they ranged across the central battle field of the Po River Valley as far as the eye could see.  Hannibal and Hasdrubal both vied for command but in the end controlled the wings as Lachlanabal took command while they quibbled.

Hannibal ad portas- Hannibal at the gates

I got an email early in the week before our end of the month fight challenging my Romans to a showdown. The opponents were to be Nick's new Carthaginians and in line with his determination to have more figures in the world than anyone else - he also supplied some more Romans. Nick's Carthaginian force was still too big so we called in some of Ross' veteran Legions to help. Well, Nick got his troops packed and sent to my place in a fleet of road trains- he always does things to excess and as the Band of Wargame Brothers assembled for the end of the month meeting in the understated elegance of my garage - we had an historical rematch- Carthaginians vs Republican Romans.  Seven of the Brothers assembled and four played the Romans - Ross, Roger, Geoff and myself as C in C. Hannibal was played by Nick. Paul and Phil were his subordinates....

Republican Romans

A few years ago in 2008, Nick M handed me a box full of lead and said 'You can have these!' There was half a ton of metal and loads of figures. They sat in my garage for two and half years and then one day I sorted then out. There were enough figures to complete a Republican Roman army for Armati! So now four years down the track the figures are painted and ready to fight! With the inclusion of an HCH elephant from Essex Minitures ( Hi Ray!) I had a Core army and 96 bonus points. Now it's time to find an opponent!

More Pics from the 'Siege of Acre'

I had loads more photos from our big Chrstmas game 'the Siege of Acre' so I thought I'd throw them onto the 'net!
Christian Archers preparing to fire!
Saladin's right flank!

Muslim Infantry!

The Crusader Left Flank.

Saladin orders a major advance!

The Christian center.

The end of the line: Turkish light cavalry skimish with the Christian infantry on the extreme end of the battle field.

Crusader knights are about to cause some serious trouble to the Arab archers.

Shirkuh's mamluks charge Guy's infantry.

Siege of Acre

Our usual Christmas stoush brought together all the combined Norman/Crusader knights and foot sloggers that we could lay our hands on (Ralph's , Ross' and Richard's) to fight every Turkish spahi and Arab fellahin ( mine, Ross' and Nick's) that just happened to be lying around. There were six of us on the day and we were aiming to recreate the attempted relief of Acre by the armies of Saladin in 1191. Ralph took the command of the forces of Outremer as Guy de Lusignan, holding the right flank. Richard commanded the forces of Conrad de Montferrat in the center. Phil commanded the Holy Orders and other assorted knightly rabble on the left. Opposite him, commanding the Muslim right wing Nick led the hordes of Taqi al Din. The center was held by Ross who played the great man (Saladin) himself and I was given the Muslim left wing commanding the Egyptian troops of Asad ed-Din Shirkuh!
The Battle was a long drawn out affair with the Muslim forces launching initial attacks on the flanks but staying clear of the Christian center which had a lot of crossbows! On the Muslim right Taqi ed Din’s forces (Nick) substantially outnumbered those of the Grand Master of the Templars (Phil) who put up some stiff resistance. On the Muslim left the quick attack of the Egyptian Mamluks of Shirkuh(me) came to a grinding halt when they collided with Guy’s (Ralph) household troops. As the battle of attack and counter attack swirled on the flanks, wide ranging Muslim light cavalry began to harass the extreme end of the Christian line and then Saladin sent forward the main Muslim body in the center.
Under Armati each side has 'Key Units' and when a certain number of those are broken/destroyed then that side is defeated. The game went for the best part of 6 hours. There were over 500 cavalry and 260 infantry. It was a lot of fun and the game went down to the wire leaving Saladin the victor by a very narrow margin. However, our esteemed umpire and designer of the scenario decreed that due to the massive losses suffered by Saladin's forces, the Muslim forceas were unable to break Guy's grip on the city! In other words...it was an historical result! Nice one lads!

OVERVIEW OF THE BATTLE FIELD

The Holy Orders Charge the Muslim forces in their usual hell for leather style!

A View from the Saladin's lines.

The Muslim Center and Right flank.Infantry from the Christian center advance.

More Knights! I love these guys!

Close up of charging psychopaths!

Dismounted knights and crossbowmen- the troops of Conrad de Montferrat

Renaissance Poles and Turks

Here are some photos of a game played ages ago in 25mm, using Armati. Nick's Poles (long since sold) took on my Ottomans. I was winning (in the center and right), but as you can see in the last photos, my left wing collapsed and the Poles swept into my flank! It was race back to Istanbul!!