Raphia Revisited

After the success and excitement of the AMW Raphia refight from a few weeks ago I decided to re-run it on a Wednesday evening for the Monday Night Group. This was a bit ambitious as we normally have a maximum of three hours for an evening game and the original run through took about four and a half hours to play.

On the other hand I would have two players aside and I had learned some lessons from the previous game to make the game go a bit quicker. Like deploying the infantry lines closer together.

In the end the attempt was too ambitious. With one player unfamiliar with the system and therefore reluctant just to "go for it" although we got a lot done, we didn't get a full conclusion. However, it was clear Ptolemy was going to lose again, despite great efforts put in by Phil and Will. Aniochus' right flank cavalry were just too strong and allied to good dice rolling and a poor performance by the Ptolemaic phalanx meant Ptolemy  was condemned to a second failure. Any how, here's the pictures.

The armies deployed. Ptolemy on the left, Antiochus on the right

Ptolemy tries to draw Antiochus' left wing cavalry out wide to defeat them in detail

The far wings edge round each other. Richard points at something.

Everything starts to get stuck in. Antiochus hangs back with his centre.

Phil, commanding Ptolemy's left wing, is outnumbered but is pulling his opponents out of shape.

Ptolemy's centre closes, but will it be too late?

The centres approach. Antiochus' light troops inflict some significant hits

The phalanxes shape up to each other

The centre clash begins. Ptolemy's luck doesn't change. He will get the worst of this, mostly.

Will has done an excellent job roughing up Ian's heavy cavalry, but couldn't get his light infantry out of the way

Ptolemy finally punches a hole in the line, but the reserves rush to fill it.

In the distance Ptolemy's cavalry have been destroyed.

Ptolemy's infantry seem to be masters of the field, but is it too late?

Not quite all over, but no way out for Ptolemy

The game was not as satisfactory as the previous run through as on this occasion all of the issues with AMW did bubble to the surface. Some of the special rules aren't totally well thought out (phalanxes fall apart after losing a base even if facing poor quality infantry) and a run of bad luck is magnified by the morale rules.

Of course we are playing the game in a way it was never intended to be, so any issues are with me really.

To prove to myself that the rules still work I ran a quick solo game on Friday afternoon with my new Indians using the game as intended. Report on that later.