Following hard on the visit of Mr Wallace of Treefrog, Shedquarters hosted another visitor. Richard Lockwood, who organises the Society of Ancients battle day, came up for a full day's gaming and joined a number of the Monday Night Group for the occasion.
The opening game was another AMW Successor refight - Paraitakene/Paraitacene. The set up was based on "Lost Battles" as usual.
Apart from using more than eight units we applied the following modifications:
First player to arrive was Richard, and he leapt at the chance to play Eumenes. He was followed shortly afterwards by Chris W, who willingly took Antigonus.
We had a short chat and decided to start without our other two players who had been unable to meet the agreed start time.
Chris decided to advance generally, eschewing the opportunity to refuse one of his wings. He was keen to get his infantry involved asap. The unit at top left on the white piece of paper is Eumenes' light cavalry on the left wing who historically re-deploy to the right in double quick time. I gave Richard the chance to do the same, but he declined.
Richard as Eumenes started to push his units out wider to stop him being outflanked by the missile armed light cavalry near the camera.
The Antigonian right wing turned into a bit of a traffic jam or exercise in formation dancing depending on your perspective as Chris wheeled his light cavalry out from reserve to cover his extreme right.
The wings are both heading towards each other at maximum speed. The white markers, BTW, indicate if the unit is either Elite or Levy. All other units are average.
After about an hour's play Phil & Will arrived. Will teamed up with Chris, & Phil joined Richard.
It was difficult to know who had been given the most difficult start. Richard, as Eumenes, took the right wing, facing off against Will. Phil was given the other end of the table with the instruction to "hold the left wing". Their arrival was timely, as it just preceded the first major clashes of arms.
Eumenes lead his Companions into the heavy cavalry opposite him, and Will galloped his general figure up to help out. As you can see it availed him little and he lost two bases in short order, one due to a morale roll.
This shot shows the Eumenids getting stuck in. On the right what you can see of the Antigonid body language shows they are very relaxed about where they have got to.
A pure eye-candy picture, this one. This is the Antigonid right wing cavalry moving up, supported by elephants.
Phil by this point has organised the left wing defence, creating a crescent to receive the on-rushing cavalry. He has pushed the light horse archers out left to try and slow the advance down.
Back on the other flank Eumenes' troop did for his opponents pretty much immediately. Will's general survived, but suddenly looked a bit lonely.
Everything then happened at once at the far end of the table. I think Phil had just about got the line up of who was fighting who to his advantage, but Chris had more units, so Phil was always at a disadvantage.
In the centre of the table Richard did the equivalent of tossing a coin and hoping for the best, by charging his elephant into its opposite number. He got the better of the first round of combat, so it looked like an inspired decision.
Back on the Antigonid right Phil had seen off Chris' elephants and nearly lost a phalanx in the process. The Heavy Cavalry of both sides was locked in a death struggle, and both players had their generals at the red-hot point of contact.
Things were going really well for Richard on his right (near the camera). He drove Will's light cavalry out wide, creating a gap to push his cavalry through to turn the flank of the phalanx. However, he was relying on his left holding out against strong Antigonid pressure.
...and then Antigonus died at the head of his Companions. Chris remarked. "Well, that's about it then. Can we stop now?"
Yes, he took this reversal of fortune really well. However, Will was not down hearted, and believed he could grab victory from the position. Especially as he was now in charge of the army and the Antigonid head of state.
That view lasted for about a turn, when he was then trapped and killed whilst leading a heavy infantry unit.
Sometimes it just doesn't go for you, does it?
I was still not convinced it was all over, and made the players run through another couple of turns.
Richard finally won out in the elephant combat and so was able to inflict damage on the supporting Antigonid phalanx.
So I called the game as a Eumenid victory before the full victory conditions had occurred (quite a lot of the Antigonid army is still in place) as it looked like it could now only go one way. Plus it was lunchtime.
Richard provided our afternoon entertainment with some 15mm War of Spanish Succession and a set of rules he'd written in a coffee shop on the way to see us.
Last time he came to see us he gave us WSS using Charles Grant's "The War Game".
Now, with all due respect to Old School Wargamers, I have to say those rules suck. They're clumsy and unrealistic and take hours to achieve next to nothing. On this occasion we were only about 10 minutes in and I was able to say to Richard that he'd written a better set of rules than Charles Grant. Result.
Phil & I took the Anglo/Dutch forces, against Will & Chris. The scenario was a bridgehead, with the French trying to push us back across the river. Phil & I decided to counter-attack.
I was faced off against Will, commanding the cavalry.
We were soon into it with gusto. The rules use a "Disruption Point" system that reduces a unit's effectiveness and also enforces some compulsory actions, depending upon circumstances. This produced lots of charging, retiring and counter-charging.
Which seemed about right.
Infantry stop about two inches apart and have to fire at each other. Rules cover the removal of DPs, so positioning of brigade commanders is key.
Our reinforcements arrive. Lots of Austrian Cuirassiers.
Phil pushes our infantry reinforcements out wide to flank the French position.
Will is under a lot of pressure and has to stop for a refuel,
Not sure why I took this picture, but I can assure you it was exciting at the time.
We opened a chink in the French line between their foot & horse and in best Alexandrian style thrust some cavalry into it.
Oh yes! Cuirassiers exploit the gap and ram into the side of a French foot unit. French blushes are saved by the need to pack up and go down the pub for dinner. We were joined by Mrs T & Mrs W and it was only slightly marred by the decision of our chosen pub not to serve food on Mondays & Tuesdays, all signs outside to the contrary. So we went up the road to The Coach & Horses which I can thoroughly recommend.
Phil did some North African PBI (Italians v French) as the evening entertainment and as I was handling the Italians on my own I only took a couple of pictures, so I have no narrative. Hopefully Phil will supplement this with a full description over at his blog. Anyway, it looked great, and I was probably losing when we had to call it a day.
The Italian defensive position, before deployment.
The opening game was another AMW Successor refight - Paraitakene/Paraitacene. The set up was based on "Lost Battles" as usual.
Apart from using more than eight units we applied the following modifications:
- Generals: Eumenes & Antigonus got one selective re-roll per turn if attached to a unit. Subordinate generals got one total re-roll per turn.
- Elephants: Represented by four bases, one per hit, rolling 1 or 2 dice per base depending on opponent.
- Elite Troops: Elite troops were allowed a complete re-roll of combat dice if desired.
 |
| The set up: Eumenes to the left, Antigonus to the right. |
We had a short chat and decided to start without our other two players who had been unable to meet the agreed start time.
 |
| Antigonus' right wing |
Based on Phil Sabin's analysis, we had Antigonus move first.
Chris decided to advance generally, eschewing the opportunity to refuse one of his wings. He was keen to get his infantry involved asap. The unit at top left on the white piece of paper is Eumenes' light cavalry on the left wing who historically re-deploy to the right in double quick time. I gave Richard the chance to do the same, but he declined.
Richard as Eumenes started to push his units out wider to stop him being outflanked by the missile armed light cavalry near the camera.
The Antigonian right wing turned into a bit of a traffic jam or exercise in formation dancing depending on your perspective as Chris wheeled his light cavalry out from reserve to cover his extreme right.
The wings are both heading towards each other at maximum speed. The white markers, BTW, indicate if the unit is either Elite or Levy. All other units are average.
It was difficult to know who had been given the most difficult start. Richard, as Eumenes, took the right wing, facing off against Will. Phil was given the other end of the table with the instruction to "hold the left wing". Their arrival was timely, as it just preceded the first major clashes of arms.
Eumenes lead his Companions into the heavy cavalry opposite him, and Will galloped his general figure up to help out. As you can see it availed him little and he lost two bases in short order, one due to a morale roll.
This shot shows the Eumenids getting stuck in. On the right what you can see of the Antigonid body language shows they are very relaxed about where they have got to.
Phil by this point has organised the left wing defence, creating a crescent to receive the on-rushing cavalry. He has pushed the light horse archers out left to try and slow the advance down.
Back on the other flank Eumenes' troop did for his opponents pretty much immediately. Will's general survived, but suddenly looked a bit lonely.
Everything then happened at once at the far end of the table. I think Phil had just about got the line up of who was fighting who to his advantage, but Chris had more units, so Phil was always at a disadvantage.
Chris' master stroke turned out to be catching the elephant unit in the flank with his Companions. I think this may need looking at in future games.
In the centre of the table Richard did the equivalent of tossing a coin and hoping for the best, by charging his elephant into its opposite number. He got the better of the first round of combat, so it looked like an inspired decision.
Back on the Antigonid right Phil had seen off Chris' elephants and nearly lost a phalanx in the process. The Heavy Cavalry of both sides was locked in a death struggle, and both players had their generals at the red-hot point of contact.
Things were going really well for Richard on his right (near the camera). He drove Will's light cavalry out wide, creating a gap to push his cavalry through to turn the flank of the phalanx. However, he was relying on his left holding out against strong Antigonid pressure.
...and then Antigonus died at the head of his Companions. Chris remarked. "Well, that's about it then. Can we stop now?"
Yes, he took this reversal of fortune really well. However, Will was not down hearted, and believed he could grab victory from the position. Especially as he was now in charge of the army and the Antigonid head of state.
That view lasted for about a turn, when he was then trapped and killed whilst leading a heavy infantry unit.
Sometimes it just doesn't go for you, does it?
I was still not convinced it was all over, and made the players run through another couple of turns.
Richard finally won out in the elephant combat and so was able to inflict damage on the supporting Antigonid phalanx.
So I called the game as a Eumenid victory before the full victory conditions had occurred (quite a lot of the Antigonid army is still in place) as it looked like it could now only go one way. Plus it was lunchtime.
Richard provided our afternoon entertainment with some 15mm War of Spanish Succession and a set of rules he'd written in a coffee shop on the way to see us.
Last time he came to see us he gave us WSS using Charles Grant's "The War Game".
Now, with all due respect to Old School Wargamers, I have to say those rules suck. They're clumsy and unrealistic and take hours to achieve next to nothing. On this occasion we were only about 10 minutes in and I was able to say to Richard that he'd written a better set of rules than Charles Grant. Result.
Phil & I took the Anglo/Dutch forces, against Will & Chris. The scenario was a bridgehead, with the French trying to push us back across the river. Phil & I decided to counter-attack.
I was faced off against Will, commanding the cavalry.
We were soon into it with gusto. The rules use a "Disruption Point" system that reduces a unit's effectiveness and also enforces some compulsory actions, depending upon circumstances. This produced lots of charging, retiring and counter-charging.
Which seemed about right.
Infantry stop about two inches apart and have to fire at each other. Rules cover the removal of DPs, so positioning of brigade commanders is key.
Our reinforcements arrive. Lots of Austrian Cuirassiers.
Phil pushes our infantry reinforcements out wide to flank the French position.
Will is under a lot of pressure and has to stop for a refuel,
Not sure why I took this picture, but I can assure you it was exciting at the time.
We opened a chink in the French line between their foot & horse and in best Alexandrian style thrust some cavalry into it.
Oh yes! Cuirassiers exploit the gap and ram into the side of a French foot unit. French blushes are saved by the need to pack up and go down the pub for dinner. We were joined by Mrs T & Mrs W and it was only slightly marred by the decision of our chosen pub not to serve food on Mondays & Tuesdays, all signs outside to the contrary. So we went up the road to The Coach & Horses which I can thoroughly recommend.
Phil did some North African PBI (Italians v French) as the evening entertainment and as I was handling the Italians on my own I only took a couple of pictures, so I have no narrative. Hopefully Phil will supplement this with a full description over at his blog. Anyway, it looked great, and I was probably losing when we had to call it a day.
The Italian defensive position, before deployment.
My Syriana armoured car defends the oil depot.
Phil also brought along his quick paced WW2/Ironclad Naval Game. We squeezed in a quick run through of that. I hope to do it proper justice when it re-emerges on a Monday Night.
All things considered a very satisfactory day's entertainment. As Richard has since remarked "I think this is the way forward".
What, spending the whole day wargaming?
He may have a point.
Wow! What a game-filled day! Enjoyed all of your BatReps.
ReplyDeleteIn the AMW game, what about flanked elephants requires closer scrutiny and will you be posting Will's WSS rules?
Interesting stuff!
JF: In response to your questions
Delete1) Do elephants have a flank? And should cavalry have an advantage for attacking it?
2) The rules are Richard's, not Will's. I don't know his views on publication. I shall be working on a set in parallel based on what we used and may post those in the future.
Otherwise it was a super day. Almost worth not having a job.
Trebian