THE WARGAMING SITE

Over the hill - alternative roads for wargaming

2012-02-13T23:29:00.001Z

This shows a common problem with some wargames scenery. Resin roads look great on the flat but put one on a hill and you've got a ramp that leads to mid-air.

So how do you get a road to follow the contours of a hill? I've come across the webbed stuff that you use to stop stuff sliding off your car dashboard. It comes in a long roll and can be picked up for £1 or so in discount shops.

Cut into strips then paint brown then add a lighter strip in the middle. Flock the edges and voila! A flexible road (that also works on hex terrain).

You can also use the same method for rivers (substitute blue for the lighter brown).

Maybe not as realistic as the resin roads, but they follow the contours and look fine from a couple of feet away. And doesn't create ski jumps on the battlefield!

Inspired commanders in FOG.

2012-02-13T16:57:00.001Z

If I've learned one thing from playing FOG, its the value of an Inspired commander. Sure, they cost a lot in points (80 compared to 50 for a Field Commander) but the extra edge they give you makes it worthwhile paying the extra points.

Take Hannibal (above) for example. This bad boy gives you +2 on the Initiative roll at the start of the battle - meaning that your opponent will usually have to lay out his BG's before you do. Then simply line up the troops with your POA's in mind (e.g. line up your elephants against his cavalry or swordsmen) and you're already on your way to victory.

But it doesn't stop there. He adds +1 to all CMT tests within 12" of his position (provided he is in line of command) - which can make a big difference to your troop movements.

Attach him to a Battle Group though and you get a whopping +2 on a CMT roll - enough to get Gauls marching in step and contracting and expanding like an accordion!

The Inspired Commander also makes his presence felt in Cohesion tests. Place him in the centre of your battle line and watch him him influence Cohesion Tests with +2 on the roll (so a failed '6' becomes a passed '8'). Time and again I've seen Hannibal work wonders on the Carthaginian morale as my Republican Romans have chopped them to bits but rarely have they dropped cohesion levels with Hannibal behind them.

If a valuable BG goes Broken, you can attach him (if you dare) and get +2 on the Cohesion Test to stop the rout and (hopefully) get them from Fragmented to Dirsrupted to Steady - but this means he won't be around to influence anything else for a bit. But having such a wide (12") influence means you can afford to attach another Commander to a Broken unit and have your IC use his influence to cover for the other commanders' absence.

So if you can - and if your army list permits it - try an Inspired Commander on for size. You won't regret it!

Mini-dice tower OR more than one way to skin a cat!

2012-02-12T20:42:00.000Z

While scouring E-Bay for assorted goodies (more German WW2 6mm armour - Gawd help me! - and MDF bases for my new Imperial and Republican Romans) I was looking at dice. Because you can't have too many dice. Especially when the ones you currently have let you down so badly.

Anyway, I also looked at dice towers and was put off by the price (except for an acrylic one from Hong Kong which cost £3.95....plus postage). Then I saw this. Its called Blackout - the family dice game. Not that I give a jot about the game itself. What interested me was the fact that the game comes with its own mini dice tower (see picture). It even folds in on itself to form a closed unit when not in use.

Cost? £1.75 plus £1.50 postage. So call it just over £3. For a fully portable dice tower and a version of dice bingo! Which i'll never play.

I just need to steam off the unsightly stickers and will be the envy of the Thursday Night games crowd*.

* This is, of course, not true. The general impression of me as a Coke-swigging, photo taking, dice-cursing lunatic will not be altered by me using a cheap plastic dice tower.

Making your own dice Tower - another go!

2012-02-12T14:13:00.000Z

I've decided to have another bash at making a dice tower - but this time it will be constructed from 3mm MDF and will be designed to be taken apart after each use.

I've looked at some acrylic and wooden designs and it looks like the best way to build it will be as follows.

1) 4 rectangles of 3mm MDF - one shorter than the rest.

2) Cut 3 to 4 slots in the two sides and 3 diagonal slots

3) Cut slight crenelations (?) into the front and back (the front being the shorter piece)

4) Create three tumblers - two with one short edge, one with two long edges (the exit ramp). The short edge ones allow the dice to pass from one level to the other. The exit ramp runs the dice onto the table.

The picture below hopefully helps you envisage the idea.

3mm MDF is on order. Watch this space.

Change of blog format and my views increase fivefold!

2012-02-12T11:36:00.000Z

Interesting. I was making some changes to the blog design and changed it to the 'Flipbook' format (as you can see) to make more of my posts 'visible' (rather than in boring list format).

It seems to have worked as my page views over the last few days have increased by over 500%!!!!

I suppose people see other images or blog titles and click to look (rather than just reading the one article that brought them to the blog in the first place).

So for the time being I'll stick with this format as it seems to work well.

Thaks also to all of you who regularly visit the blog - your interest is very much appreciated.

Phil

Wargaming Bugbears #6 : brushes

2012-02-11T11:14:00.001Z

If you paint your troops, you need brushes. Lots of brushes. Some become your friends - your favourite brushes that you turn to again and again. Until they inevitably fray, fall apart and are consigned to either the dustbin of history...or become drybrushes.

But there are other brushes that look good on the shelf, look good in the bag, look good as you dip them into the paintpot - and then splay apart on first contact with your lead figures.

I know this because I made the massive error of buying two Games Workshop brushes the other day. These are laughingly called 'Detail' and 'Fine Detail'. I used the Detail one first. Within a minute the bristles started to splay (making detail work on a 10mm figure a bit tricky) - and stayed splayed. I rinsed it, used thinner to remove any paint and tried again. Instant splay.

The 'Fine Detail' was not much better and it has barely lasted a day. Now I have nylon brushes that have lasted months with no problems so clearly there is something not right here.

Never mind the cost of this horror (£3.20) but the fact that it couldn't last 10 minutes defies belief. I feel sorry for kids who buy this dross in good faith (not knowing any different) and wonder why they find painting so hard as they're effectively trying to paint with a miniature toilet brush. At least I have plenty of brushes to fall back on but you'd have thought Games Workshop would have found a decent supplier of brushes.

I'm also willing to bet that GW's staff don't use these crappy brushes to paint their figures so well!

So a word or warning. Don't try these at home!

Battle report - Successors vs Persians

2012-02-11T00:25:00.002Z

You could say another wargaming bugbear is having to write a battle report after you've lost. Heavily. It's easy when you've won - you're happy to provide every little detail of your genius. When you lose, you just want to give the bare bones about how unlucky you were and how lucky your opponent was. But to be fair to Russ, this was more to do with his good play as much as my bad.

So I think the above image sums up my feelings after last night pretty well. I was trying out the Successors against Russ's Persians so there were some troop types I was unsure of - and so it proved.

All the scenery we rolled seemed to end up on Russ' side of the table and as I'd won the initiative, Russ placed his troops first. For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to stick a plantation in the middle of the battlefield. It has also been so long since I last played FOG that I'd clearly forgotten a lot of the rules - which didn't help the cause one little bit.

The Plan - not that I really had one - was to take on Russ' cavalry as the Thracians went down the inside right to jump out to either attack the cavalry or Persian spears. Russ had placed horses on a steep hill - meaning they would be severely disordered and move at 1" a go.

Basically though my troop deployment sucked. The idea I suppose was to get my good cavalry in while the majority of the Persian horse were stuck on the hill and then get around the back while my medium foot skirted through the woods as the pike advanced and so could threaten the Persian spears or horses on the hill.

Persian deployment - horses on the hill.

My deployment - garbage

Little did I know that the majority of Russ' cavalry were Superior or Elite and could also shoot arrows. As my cavalry (lancers) charged the nearest Persian horse they evaded (as they were only 1 base deep - something else I'd forgotten)

View from the pike block.

To cut a long battle report short, as my cavalry charged the bow-armed Persians they tried to evade and had to stop at the hill.

Therefore at Impact I was hitting them at ++ POA - and got 7 hits from 8 dice. All was clear for a decisive horsey victory.

Except that Russ then threw 5 hits with his 8 dice - and two 1's which he re-rolled for another two hits. Unbelievably it was a draw! The vagaries of FOG had struck again. We both had to make death rolls and I managed to not lose a base (on a 6) and Russ did lose a base.

So we get to the melee. I had 4 dice to his 3 on a +POA.

And lost the melee.

And threw double 1 on the cohesion test for instant Fragmented.

At that point I should have jacked the whole thing in. If the dice are not going to work for you when you have every advantage then they won't work when you don't. I remembered another battle (MRR vs Carthaginians) where a similar thing happened and it led to an easy Carthaginian victory.

The same pretty much happened here as well. I think my heart just went out of the battle at that point. Instead of punching a hole through the flank, a couple of bad dice rolls meant that my flank was the one in danger. So hoplites had to be moved over to protect the flank rather than attack the centre - weakening the overall position.

To make things worse, my Thessalian cavalry had to move to protect the lancers, got shot at and dropped a cohesion level as well. So the flank was a mess before we'd even got started.

We also got into a lot of page turning in the rule book as we had to check on who was allowed to charge when, how the shooting worked etc. Russ' horses on the hill should have been marked as Severe Disorder and a whole host of other bitty crap got in the way of the battle. An example was where Russ' other cavalry on the hill wanted to charge my Fragmented cavalry. I didn't think they could charge if they were Severe Disordered (and I'm still not sure) but they did and my cavalry automatically broke.

It was all downhill from there. My hoplites reached the hill eventually and I thought they'd be OK in fighting Severe Disordered horses. But as they were on the hill, Russ claimed uphill advantage and that my own troops were now Disordered (as they were touching the hill). I suppose its one of those things - if I'd known / remembered that then I'd just have kept the hoplites just off the hill and the cavalry could not have moved (as they'd fight at --POA).

As it was I managed to get them Disrupted but apparently as they were already Severe Disordered this affected them not one jot - not even making cohesion tests more difficult which I found hard to comprehend. But there you are.

In the middle - a sideshow to be fair - the Persian spears came forward. My troops went in piecemeal thanks to the hoplites having to cover the flank. The Thracian heavy weapons should have given a good account of themselves but a combination of rubbish dice by me and Russ re-rolling 1's and 2's down the line made a huge difference. If I learnt anything from the battle, its upgrade your troops to Superior or Elite whenever you can. Re-rolling is a much better option.

The hoplites doing all they can - which turns out to be a lot less than I thought it would be.

Another point of contention was that his spears declared a charge on the Thracians. By doing so, some stepped forward into some Light Foot of mine. I said that I'd evade but was told I couldn't as I hadn't declared an evade when charged. But I wasn't given the option as the Light Foot weren't the target of the charge. Light Foot have to make a CMT to stand in the face of a charge - which they passed - so I assumed thay could do as they liked (i.e. stand OR evade as they saw fit). Russ called this as they had to stand as the CMT had been passed. This didn't seem right to me but as everything else had gone against me I wasn't that bothered and let it stand. The result was that the Light Foot were soon reduced to Fragmented.

Hoplites charge the Thracians, step forward into the Successor light foot - who aren't allowed to evade. Game Over.

As my remaining cavalry were also Fragmented and my hoplites were doing nothing as they were touching the hill the Persian cavalry were on (and so were doubly penalised) I just gave up.

Not much more to add really. It wasn't a particularly enjoyable battle. The scenery had much more impact than I thought it would and - as it was all on Russ' side and I was attacking - meant that I had to go in to win. There was also too much rule-book thumbing as we came across so many issues that we (I) wanted to check. I've certainly got rusty with FOG!

Looking at it, the deployment was wrong for me and my foot were torn between two objectives. I probably should have chosen more cavalry instead of the Thracians (who did nothing) to try and offset the superiority in numbers and quality. I certainly need to think about how to combat the bow armed cavalry (massed horses I suppose to lessen the effect) and aim to at least match the quality (i.e. Superior).

I may look at elephants or scythed chariots as well to see if they add a different dimension.

So well done to Russ - but (and I suppose this is the problem with FOG) - just a couple of bad rolls lost this battle. Russ threw an incredible set of dice to draw the impact when logic said he should have lost it. He'd got himself into a bad position and I should have benefitted but one good roll by Russ (to draw), one bad dice roll (the melee) and then a double 1 (for Fragmented) meant the result of the battle was already decided. We've both been victims in the past of such a result but I'm struggling to think of any other rule set where just a couple of rolls can win or lose a battle in this way.

A 20 in POW can ruin your day but is rarely catastrophic. Other rules require a succession of bad rolls to tip the balance. But in FOG if a unit drops immediately to Fragmented thanks to a double 1, then it is usually irretrievable, the unit is lost and the balance shifts dramatically to the other side. If I could change one thing in FOG, it would be to remove that rule and say that a unit can only drop one cohesion level per combat.

Nuff said.

How do people react when you tell them you're a wargamer?

2012-02-09T11:41:00.002Z

I've found that it becomes hard to admitting to other people - even people you know well - that I'm a wargamer. After all, it doesn't lend itself as a gambit for normal conversation - preferring to stick to the normal stuff that is weather, football, the traffic etc.

"The A34 was terrible tonight"
"What about that Arsenal game last night?"
"Do you think this rain will turn to snow overnight?"
"I'm painting Parthian cataphracts for FOG at the moment"

At least its a guaranteed conversation stopper!

Before I was made redundant before Christmas (thanks for that!) my colleague asked what I was doing that night and I told him - going down to the wargaming club. His reaction was - to be fair - quite good. He asked a few questions and said that it was something he'd always wanted to do but never had the chance. He seemed genuinely interested and eager to find out more.

Then one of the sales guys came in and his reaction was somewhat different - essentially ridicule and laughter (when I mentioned "6mm" he had tears coursing down his cheeks and had difficulty breathing). He made it a constant source of fun for himself from then on ("Not playing with your toy soldiers tonight?") - this from a man who follows Kiss and has a full collection of Kiss dolls (action figures?), posters and a full sized model of Gene Simmonds in full regalia in his bedroom!

Of course my relatives know - as every birthday and Christmas yields requests for 10mm Sarmatians or 6mm Prussian artillery - but I'm concious that I rarely tell other people about my hobby (despite the hours and hours I spend doing it or writing about it). It's almost like it carries its own stigma - like admitting that you collect Nazi memorabilia or pull the wings off insects.

Are you open about your hobby - or is it the dark-kept secret that only the nearest and dearest are aware of? And what's been the reaction of those that have found out?

Pendraken's new Carthaginians

2012-02-07T20:13:00.000Z

Curse you Pendraken! No sooner do I splurge on both MR Romans and EI Romans from Pendraken that they come out with a new range - Carthaginians.

Now I'm not going to spring for a FOG Cartho army as Russ has one already BUT I am tempted to try some of these out (especially the Iberians that I can add to my Spanish army) and the great looking elephants.

The sculpts are definitely getting better and I'm looking forward to the next range they release.

Anyway, link to Pendraken is here.

iPads in wargaming

2012-02-06T17:51:00.000Z

A discussion during Saturday's epic Age of Sail game got us thinking about how iPads and similar devices could be used for wargaming.

I have used a laptop for the DBA campaign but its quite clunky and has a very short battery life. I use it to refer to the campaign rules. But John used his Kindle for Saturday as he'd downloaded a pdf of the Age of Sail rules and could refer to them simply without having to thumb through sheafs of paper.

iPads should offer the same ability (and it would mean that rule books and army lists wouldn't have to carted down - and players would have all rule sets and army lists in one place (after all, its so frustrating to get to the club and find you've left a book at home).

But it could go one better. Mark thinks there's some software that allows you to make your own barcodes. So you can attach a barcode to a unit (say in POW or Grand Armee where bookeeping on individual bases is required) and as a battle unfolds the players roll and the referee scans the barcodes of the units in action and he alone keeps tabs on the battlefield casualties and morale.

Thus the iPad can keep track of damage and morale of every unit - e.g the referee can keep tabs on all that's going on. This would add a certain degree of realism to the battle as generals would have only the scantiest idea of how much damage a regiment / squad / vehicle has taken. Players might become less (or more) prone to throwing units into the breach if they don't really know the strength each unit has (and could have a shock as a few of his units turn and flee at a crucual time).

Certainly the iPad can be used for bookeeping by players in the normal way - ticking off damage as inflicted (and I'm sure that D&D players can also see the benefits of such a system for managing player stats).

And there is also the opportunity for instant blogging as the battle unfolds (and it can take pictures as well!).

The not so glorious 1st of June (Age of Sail AAR)

2012-02-05T11:52:00.001Z

Avast there! We played the last of our Age of Sail campaign games today - the climax that is the Glorious 1st of June.

John was running late (he came up with some cock and bull about tractors, red lights and weather - all to cover the fact he overslept) so we tucked into bacon baps and cups of coffee while we were waiting and discussing the merits of using iPads for wargaming (I'll do a post about this soon).

Somehow, Mark managed to break Ian's posh coffee machine simply by looking at it (that's cowboy electricians for you) and we had to resort to instant coffee - a shock to us boys who are used to the finer things in life.

Mark also quoth the immortal "I'm just thinking about what Waterloo is" to which the instant reply was "A battle in 1815 between the British and French - or a railway station".

Ships lined up (British closer and with the weather gage)

Eventually John turned up and set up so we could begin the battle in earnest.

Ian and myself drew the French - meaning the resident attack dogs that are Russ and Mark drew the British.

The British with the rules. Russ studies them intently. Mark makes a paper aeroplane.

For those (like me) who know very little about 18th century naval battles, the battle took place in 1794 when the harvest in Revolutionary France had failed. France needed grain or the new republic was doomed. They therefore organised a grain convoy from America. The British were determined to destroy the convoy and bring France to her knees - the French to get the convoy through. As it was, the French lost 7 ships to none but the convoy got through. Both sides claimed victory.

Not today though!

The victory conditions required the British to knock out 7 more ships than the French and / or break through the line to get at the convoy with enough ships in good condition for a major victory. The French basically had to avoid losing too many ships or stop the British breaking through to claim a strategic victory.

Ian and myself - the brave French (with a cunning plan).

Mark and Russ left the room to create a plan. Which means Mark made a plan and Russ went along for the ride. I have no idea what the plan was but if it was to create an absolute mess and lose heavily then it worked like a dream!

Ian and myself however had a good plan. As the British had the wind to their advantage, we decided to shoot high (to damage rigging and so slow the British down), turn 180 degrees (to get the benefit of the wind and put distance between us) and keep shooting as they tried to close.

Russ finds a view of the hedge more interesting than Mark's dialogue

Russ then hides under the table to escape Mark's jabbering.

Russ was delighted to find that there was a HMS Russell on his roster - to which Mark said "I'll shoot that myself". "Not with your dice throwing you won't".

Both sides moved ahead and the French opened up. Mark kept on trying to knock our shooting down by one ("Over ten inches!!!!") to be repeatedly shouted down ("First broadside!") as British rigging turned to string. Broken string. HMS Russell alone took 4 hits and lost a mast. Boo-yah!

Unfortunately the British crews were a bit better than ours and we took a hard pounding back. The Juste had its cable ties snapped and it started to drift across the French line.

The French open up down the line.

Russ comes back from under the table to start rolling 6's.

We used some cotton wool sprayed with black for gunsmoke, thereby explaining John's cryptic comment "It works with the little puffs".

Ian managed to collide two of his ships, but this paled into insignificance as Mark collided no less than three times! We could hear the chopping of axes and the snapping of cables above the cannon's roar. But the turn was underway as the British continued straight. This was the key of the battle (though we didn't know it at the time). We almost forgot to return fire but managed to get some more rigging hits in and crucially put distance between the fleets.

There were also accusations of trickery on both sides - from nefarious pre-measuring ("I was seeing how wide the 15" pizzas are"), nudging of ships in and out of range with clumsy tape measures (or just knocking them over like I did), claiming to be hitting a ship as a bent mast brought it into range and other underhand skulduggery (like me accidentally measuring 17" rather than 15") - led to John's classic line that "Britannia is waiving the rules".

More cannon fire was exchanged which was better for the British who were making their better crews and runs of 6's pay dividends. Especially on the 'Juste' ("That's Juste in range ha ha ha ha...I'll get me coat") which was catching most of the British fire and suffered 2 Criticals! Our 1's in return (when I say 'ours' I mean 'mine') meant we were once again hostages to the dice.

Russ claims a hit courtesy of a bent mast.

As we were not allowed to communicate directly, the British had planned a semaphore system to allow them to co-ordinate actions. We shall see the effects of this later....

The British employ a flag system for communication.
This means "I have knackered the coffee machine and our chances of winning".

As we were turning away and had put distance between the fleets we could only get one shot off. Russ at this point mentioned that he was not happy with the plan - Mark's Plan - but this didn't stop them dismasting the Jemmappes which drifted through the French line.

In order to catch the French, some of the British then went up to plain sail (which could result in double damage to rigging with any high shots that connected). We were happy with the French plan and we were turning to get the wind on our side. Importantly, we were also maintaining a solid battle line.

Ian kindly informed the British where they had gone wrong (should have turned into the French immediately, should have cut off the back of our line when they had the wind and we didn't etc.). I think the British really appreciated these constructive comments.

The Jemmappes drifts through the French line.

Ian tells the British where they messed up.

More cannon balls flew across the open water. One brief moment of levity for the French was when the Jemmappes was shot at. I had the ships boats in the water trying to turn it around to bring the guns to bear - Russ got another Critical on the Jemmappes and it said that the top deck was splintered and the ships boats were wrecked. But as they were in the water, John allowed us to waive the loss of the boats. Huzzah!

The British were now having to turn themselves. Mark asked the question when two ships were touching "Does that collide" which was answered by a simultaneous "YES!" by myself, Ian and John. He also tried to get full shots in from ships that had just changed sail. Shocking!

All is well on the French side as the plan comes together

Signs of dissention on the British side. "I'm going that way" "Well I'm going that way"

The next round, Ian cunningly said "I'll let you go first" - with good reason. We wanted to see if the British ships turning towards us were in range - and so we didn't waste our first Starboard broadside. He's a cunning dude.

We finally got our first Critical of the day as Russ went out to put the pizzas on for lunch. I'd thought that he'd already done this as I could smell burning - which turned out to be Ian's open fire. It's a bit sad that I associate the smell of burning with cooking! Says a lot about the wife's culinary skills.

This was followed by a '1' ("More of that please!" quoth Russ and "So its not just Phil that rolls '1's" from Mark). There was then a moral victory as the wind dropped and changed direction - that'll teach them. This meant it would take a lot longer for them to close within the necessary distance and also caused the British to start moving their squadrons into each other, which gave us the classic line...

"You'll be shooting up my arse on double-bubble".

I hope they were talking about the battle.

Mark's tape measure seemed to have a life of its own and he was given the moniker 'Add An Inch' - and "Does the wife know you add an inch?".

However, there was a disaster unfolding as the semaphore system broke down and Russ' and Mark's squadrons both began converging on the same point on the map.

The first signal is missed as Russ is distracted by Ian cracking his 7th terrible joke of the day.

A demented ship's monkey takes over communications

Russ cowers in fear from the flurry of signals.

Ian loving the mess that is the British battle line.

This of course did not stop the quality of British rolls - another three 6's came our way in quick succession and caused a fire on a French ship (luckily in the rigging). Even Mark rolled a 6 - his last one for some time as his gunnery would turn to mush after lunch.

Pizzas were served and we enjoyed the spectacle of Ian's gardeners lopping branches off trees in the cold, wet garden as we stood in a nice warm kitchen. We were kind enough to toss pizza crusts to the labourers through the back door and were rewarded by "Thankee zur!" and touching of forelocks. Ian told us off for this "Don't spoil them - they're used to being paid in mouldy potatoes". Labour is a lot cheaper in Wales...

So back to the table and French shooting - still aiming high to reduce British speed and manouverability. More flag signals followed which we think said "Church parade at 10" and "Send three and fourpence" as an absolute mess appeared on the British side.

Rigging fire on a French ship

Mark tries to work out why British ships are all over the shop. Russ contemplates the disaster and has his excuses ready - "it was Mark's plan!"

Russ takes some Dutch Courage and explains in detail the flaws in Mark's plan.

British ships on collision course.

A couple of our ships were closer to the British than the rest and took an absolute hammering - but meant that most French ships were relatively undamaged. The Jemmappes was one of these and finally struck as the hull was reduced to matchwood.

We then switched fire to 'low' to reduce gunnery and hull integrity on the British ships. This had an immediate result as the Marlborough hull caught fire ("Someone's lit a Marlboro").

Quoth Mark "I think I know what the problem is". Quoth Ian "We know what the problem is". As did Russ. "What a cock-hole you've made of this". Much hilarity on the French side.

The Marlborough's hull took an absolute battering from massed French guns and the fire did the rest. It blew up and set fire to the Bellepheron (aka the Billy Ruffian or - on our table - the Blowuperon). Ian's dice were behaving as - for a change - were mine. Mark's squadron's however couldn't hit a cow's backside with a banjo and he suffered 4 rounds of appalling shooting.

"We've messed up here" said Mark.

"We?" answered Russ.

Communications completely broke down and Russ declared "I shall sail as I wish" and changed sail to catch us up and thus sail even faster into Mark's ships.

"You know you'll take double damage on your sails"
"He knows - he did the same thing last week!"

Nice neat French battle line vs ships all over the place and afire.

Caption competition : What is Russ thinking at this moment?

John pretending to use his Kindle to read the rules when he's actually reading a Mills & Boon hospital romance "Love on Ward 3B".

The lines (if you can call the British formation a line) were getting closer but the majority of British ships were coming in head on against a solid wall of French timber. To make it worse, some of the British best ships were stuck in the middle where they couldn't get any shots in.

Our low shots were counting as Russ' damage was coming down and his dice started to misbehave.

"The Russell has done bugger all!"
"Which one?"

Mark tried Russ' new dice tower to change his luck. It worked, as his dice rolling got even worse. The bickering between the British also got worse.

"Stop using the bleeding dice tower!"
"Just relax"...then he throws three '1's.

"You came up with this stupid idea"
"That's because you had no idea".

"That's my ship! Fire your own bleedin' cannons"

"That wasn't a good round for me"
"Just like the last two"

Meanwhile, all was peace and tranquility on the French side. We were enjoying the confusion and unfolding disaster and Ian had already claimed victory as we'd knocked out a couple of capital ships and few British ships were undamaged. We'd kept a close eye on the victory conditions and felt that the British had not inflicted enough damage on us and we'd kept the convoy safe.

The British going in two different directions and coming head on into massed French guns

If not singing, the fat lady was definitely clearing her throat. But the British could still attempt to cut the line so we aimed to close up and I turned my squadrons to continue to fire into Mark's.

But the British were desperate for any sign of success. As Russ hit one of Ian's ships he cried "That's got to be crippled!" "You've only hit it twice" responded the French admiral.

"I see what's gone wrong - you let us shoot first" said Mark.
"I think we all know where you went wrong" said Ian.

Another round of bad firing from Mark led to finger-pointing ("That was the ship's monkey firing the guns").

Russ writes down what he thinks of Mark, his plan and his gunnery skills for future reference.

Admiral Mark receives new orders from the Admiralty - "Join the French Navy"

Textbook sailing by the French.

As the French, we were sitting pretty. We'd essentially traded ships (although the British had lost bigger and better ships) and it was looking bleak for them. At this point, Ian's wife returned

"Save us Ness! Throw us out now!" squeaked Mark. But nothing could save them now. Russ had already thrown in the towel and the tin hat was put on by an absolute awesome French round of shooting. Ian threw six 6's for criticals for his 12 ships and all hit Russ' ships.

I asked Russ how many hull points were left on HMS Gorgonzola (as it was full of holes) and he held up two fingers in response. I think he meant two hull points...

The captain of the Royal Sovereign also had wet feet as his ship was dismantled around him.

"Should I abandon the ship?"
"No need, the ship is abandoning us!"

I also finally steamed into Mark with three critical of my own. The consequence was that we decided to call it at that point (as sleet was smacking into the windows and the gardeners had turned blue).

Russ contemplates defeat.

Trying to keep up with the damage the French are inflicting.

At the start of the day - neat lines and joyful confidence

The end of the day - a car crash, crushed spirits and despair.

John had one look at the table and called it both a tactical and strategic victory for France.

Vive le Revolution!

DBA Ancients Campaign - off to a good start

2012-02-03T11:36:00.002Z

After all the preparation, dry runs and talking, we finally got down to brass tacks and kicked off the DBA Ancients Campaign last night.

The campaign board - notice the ships, gold and food around the table!

All 4 Empire Cards were placed face down and the players threw 3d6 with the highest score choosing first and the lowest having no choice but the last card. As Ian was running late I rolled and chose for him.

Russ was highest and chose the Selucids, Mark got Carthage, Ian got Macedonia and John got Rome.
They were then given their notebooks containing details of the army they controlled and the territories they owned.

Ho Chi Minh considers how to mess up his attack of Mauretania

Each then drew a Territory card, then rolled on the table for the event for each territory. This had positive effects immediately as Russ got 2 stands of free volunteers to bolster his army and Carthage had the Gods smile upon them with a bumper crop of Food and Gold.

The rolls for Ports also produced happy results for most with extra goodies coming the way of all players. We initially wasted time by me counting out all the gold and food for each player - then them counting it all back to me straight afterwards. We changed this the next turn so each player worked out what their cities and territories produced, the 'costs' in food and gold for cities and troops - then either paid me the difference or received the difference from me. This was much quicker and easier and we'll use this system from now on.

The first battle underway - Ian defends Mauretania with two giant Coke cans.

Mark and John both had copies of the rules with them (John had them downloaded onto his Kindle!) which also helped move things along.

Treaties were rapidly engaged into - Macedonia immediately getting into a Treaty with the Selucids and Rome and Egypt (me) also entered into one with Carthage.

Then began the Trade cycle. This was a bit hit and miss for the players. Ian lost half his fleet to storms (after fighting off hordes of pirates). Russ had a great trip and didn't lose a ship, unlike John who lost 75% of his! Mark also had a successful trading run but the Egyptians also lost two ships. With the increase in the cost of ships and the need to have troops on board to keep the pirates away, this has made trade much riskier. However, with Food becoming the key resource (especially with no Food being produced in winter) then it may force players to risk ships to build up stocks while they can.

More Coke cans brought in for defence and attack

A couple of spying missions were also undertaken....

The Empires then had the opportunity to begin expansion by invading other territories. This really threw up a number of interesting results. Russ had spied on Cappadocia and so knew what to expect when he invaded and managed to win the territory after a hard fought battle (with John running the Cappadocian army).

The beauty of DBA for campaigns - simultaneous battles side by side so results can be achieved quicker - then back to the campaign table for more empire building. Note John thinks he can beat Russ with his eyes shut.

John (Rome) however didn't spy on his target (Etruria) and got a real shock to find an army that far outnumbered the measly 6 bases he'd committed to the cause. As a result he decided to retreat - losing 1 stand of his slowest units (Spears) in the process.

Ian's Macedonia invaded Illyria and won with probably the shortest true battle of the night as the Illyrian general was cut down by the Macedonian cavalry almost immediately - thereby the battle was instantly won.

The speed was rivalled by Egypt's foray into Sinai. Taking a full 12 stand army in, it outnumbered the defenders by 2:1 and the campaign rules stated that the smaller army would run away BUT 2 stands would appear on the troop roster of a neighbouring territory. We diced and found that Petra had gained the extra bases - making it one of the most formidable territories on the map.

Ian tries a fast one by having his light horse hang off the side of the battlefield

But it wasn't all good news for the players. Mark's foray into Mauretania with his Carthaginians was bloodily repulsed and he lost not only 4 bases but also his pride. This also saw the combat between Ian's frantic hand-rubbing and Mark's goatee stroking. The hands won, hands down!

John had also had a foray (with his second army) into Venetia - which Mark decided to defend. It was a desperately tight affair which saw both sides reach the 25% mark in the same bound. So we did a countback based on points value and they still drew. So the decider was % of the army lost, which John won by around 4%! So he at least had a positive on the Territory front by the narrowest of margins.

So lessons learned quite quickly were a) do your reconnaissance and b) go in with as many troops as you can.

Selucids - food rich but cash poor.

Then came Summer. Rome got a great 'double bubble' event roll which gave John a great crop of Gold and Food. He was spotted counting his ill-gotten gains like Scrooge - putting his gold coins in neat piles and chuckling to himself.

The events threw up Unrest in Damascus and Alexandria - luckily both me and Russ had armies already in these territories to quell the rebels - otherwise we'd have had a tough time financially. Ian was lucky in another sense as he'd just moved his army out of Macedonia when the card was drawn and a Desertion roll was made (meaning his army strength could have reduced by up to 4 bases!).

Trade was again brutal - Mark losing 3 ships (including one he'd tried to protect by sacrifices to the gods) and Ian lost 2. All mine were safe in and out for a tidy 40 Food profit. But Russ - without the benefit of Auxilia guarding his ships - lost all 4 ships. That's the equivalent of 120 gold! Ouchy!

Russ takes the loss of his entire fleet quite well, considering

The players then nominated their next targets before we called it a night. Macedonia aim to take on the might of Vindebona. The Selucids are taking on both Sinope (good luck with that!) and the dusty desert of Arabia. Rome has moved on Ravenna to secure its borders and Carthage has to have another crack at Mauretania.

Initial Thoughts
The campaign rules seem to work well. The players all got a couple of battles each in during the night and all got hold of the rules fairly well. Trade has become tougher and the need to protect from pirates means a steady stream of Auxilia is required by all Empires. But if the dice are with you, it can make the difference between expansion and contraction.

Food has already become the key consideration of all players. All went for food producing territories and that's what is required. No food means cities and armies die out - opening the Empire up to attack by other Empires.

Mayhem as the Selucids try to take Cappadocia

I like the idea that everyone has to fight across the map rather than waltzing wherever they want to. To get to grips with another Empire, you have to do a lot of scrapping to get there - but by choosing your enemies wisely you can chart an easier route if you use your Spies well (such as encouraging the opponents bases to desert before you invade or having a good idea about what you're facing before you get stuck in). But it reflects a reality - that empires had to be carved out and won through hard fighting.

No-one has yet used ships to attack the islands or to cross the seas - yet. The pay-off is that the first to garner a large, strong fleet can pick up and hold territories that are difficult for others to take off them. I expect that the players will see the benefit of this and convert their gold surpluses into ships - which will then be burned by opposing Spies! The temptation may also be that as Empires move their armies about, they leave the home front exposed - and an Empire with a big fleet can attack anywhere they choose!

Campaign map at the close. Note that Macedonia and the Selucids are wandering far from home...if only I had a fleet of ships.

The rule that means an easy walkover (like Egypt in Sinai) means a tougher next opponent also seems to be a winner and could create some real tough nuggets on the campaign map.

Time is the problem. There is no way we'll get a full 20 years out of the campaign in the next month but - as John suggested - we can always come back to it as a later date. A sign, I hope, that the players enjoyed the experience and are happy to continue with it.

But as a start, it seems to have gone well.

Wargaming Bugbears #6 : websites

2012-02-01T21:43:00.001Z

Not all websites obviously. Not even just all wargaming websites.
-
No - my gripe is with wargames companies whose websites are just not up to snuff. These clearly do not realise that their websites are often the ONLY way prospective customers will view their products. It is their window to the world - and how disappointing many of those windows are.

Lets start with the basics. Easy navigation should come as standard - so you can find what you want fairly quickly. Some sites are quite lazy with this, expecting you to trawl page after page until you (luckily) find what you're looking for.

Once you've found it, the next 'basic' is the most important - and the one where many manufacturers fall down. You need a LARGE picture of the figure / vehicle / whatever and that figure should be painted to a good standard. I reiterate LARGE. Little thumbnails are useless. Show us what you've got in its best state and in a large picture. I always say that Tridente Bologna do this so well - each figure is photographed from a number of angles and expertly painted, making them look fantastic.

Ordering too should be easy and straightforward. Click on what you want, and when you get to your checkout, be very clear about the true cost (so don't try to hide the VAT or postage costs).

And when you place your order, you should get an e-mail acknowledgement straight away so you know someone's picked it up and is doing something with it. Pendraken....I'm still waiting!!!

Ironically, one of my favourite manufacturers (Heroics & Ros) break every one of these rules - no photos, you have to trawl through a pdf to find the product you want and have to complete a form and fax (fax!!!) back to them with your card details on clear display. They're lucky they produce such good metalwork because otherwise they'd really struggle.

One day, one day maybe they'll get it. But until then, I'll keep bitching.

Dystopian Wars

2012-02-01T12:32:00.001Z

http://anatolisgameroom.blogspot.com/2012/02/pictures-from-dystopian-wars-game.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AnatolisGameRoom+%28Anatoli%27s+Game+Room%29

An interesting blog from Anatoli's Game Room (linky above). I know Mark is VERY interested in getting Dystopian Wars underway and it looks like a lot of fun.

I don't know how the idea of steam-driven Japanese metal squids will go down with Ian though...

DBA Ancients campaign starts Thursday

2012-01-31T21:45:00.002Z

Kick-off is fast approaching. I've got the boards, armies, scenery, food, gold, ships map and markers all ready. Rules are printed off and all necessary elements are in an Excel folder.

Its the last chance for the boys to read the rules and get an idea as to how to proceed.

Let the mayhem begin!

Wargaming Bugbears #5 - waiting for a package

2012-01-30T17:48:00.001Z

This is relevant at this particular time as I'm waiting for a particular manufacturer to send me a host of Republican Romans and Imperial Romans so I can a) e-Bay my existing MRR army and replace with a better looking one and b) crush Russ' early Britons like beetles.

But I can't.

Because I'm still waiting for the package to turn up.

I know it says 'allow 28 days for delivery' but that's just flannel, isn't it? I mean, how long does it take you to shovel a bit of lead into a box and stick a stamp on it? After all, they've had a wodge of my cash in their till for 3 weeks - so why no sign of the goods themselves? It wouldn't work in McDonalds, would it? Pay for your McChicken sandwich and McFlurry and then be told to come back in 3 days when they might be ready.

Now this particular manufacturer is a favourite of mine. We've done business in the past - lots of it - and I know they're a bit busy at present. But Russ ordered his British, from Italy and after I placed my order and his have turned up already and he's started painting them (look out for a blog note on them soon). Meanwhile I'm still waiting for the e-mail to let me know its on its way - never mind them actually turning up on the doorstep.

The anticipation of getting them in your paws, the desire to get them on the table and simply the frustration at not getting them straight away creates an empty feeling inside. Which soon becomes the red mist of anger when what you've ordered hasn't arrived within a a week.

It is quite annoying.

When I say 'quite' I mean 'very'. And when I say 'annoying' I mean 'GIVE ME MY FECKING FIGURES YOU B£$%^&^!!!!

Trying new Field of Glory ancients armies

2012-01-30T13:57:00.001Z

As I've finished a few more bases of different troop types I can extend the FOG experience by trying some new and different ancient armies. Starting with the Rise of Rome book, lets see what we can now do...

a) Late Republican Roman
The logical step up from my Mid-Republican Roman. Looking at the basic starter army its seems you get less foot (only 4BG's of Legionaires at 4 bases each) which doesn't seem to be compensated for by the addition of 1BG of 8 bases of Illyrian foot (Average, Protected Undrilled Spearmen...yuk!).

Compare to the MRR Romans - 4BG of Hastati / Principes plus 2BG of the awesome Triarii and 1BG of the Italian Allied Foot (Average Protected, Drilled - Light Spear / Swordsmen).

So you get 5BG of foot (24 bases) compared to 7BG (30 bases).

They also swap out 2BG of Velites (always great in a skirmisher melee with 8 bases in total) for 1BG of crappy Slingers (only 6 bases).

I suppose this is compensated by the horse troops. But the MRR have 2BG of cavalry (which have usually held their own against superior opposition) wheras the LRR have 1 BG of Heavy Cavalry (albeit Superior to the MRR Average) and 2BG of Light Horse (which tends to be ineffectual against any other horse OR anything spear-armed).

So they don't look as tough as their predecessors - on 600 points anyway.

b) Gauls

When I finish them, of course! But they look like fun to play. A whopping 5BG of 8 bases of Warriors (40 bases before we start) of Impact Foot - but Undrilled (so no fancy manouevers) and only Protected (so will suffer in most melees).

Of more interest is the cavalry - of Superior Armoured and 2BG of Superior Protected. That's a lot of horse-power to resist.

And 1BG of 8 bases of javelinmen. Those extra bases mean they can dish out more punishment and receive more than a 6 base BG - and armed with light spear can murder other types of skirmishers.

c) Pyrric

Now here's something different - almost Carthaginian in its make up of disparate troop types.

1BG of xystophoroi (Superior, Armoured, Drilled Lancers / Swordsmen) - OUCH! Send them into the opposing cavalry and wacth the mayhem unfold, especially if supported by the 1BG of javelin-armed Heavy Cavalry (also Armoured and Drilled Light Spear / Swordmen). This lot could certainly give most opposition cavalry a very bad day.

Then the Tarantine Light Horse - useless, but helpful for a dash for the camp once the opposition cavalry are tied down.

1BG of elephants - great for punching a hole in the opposition line, especially as they also have 2BG of 8 bases of phalanx pike. That lot coming in 4 ranks plus the elephant is a lot of hitting power in a small frontage.

They also come with 8 bases of javelinmen and 6 bases of slingers. So plenty to scare off the opposing skirmishers.

The only worry here would be lack of width but if the centre pushes through and the cavalry do their job then this will be less problematic. Ideal for a tight battle with little space.

d) Illyrian

I don't think so! Average protected (or unprotected) crap. They may have numbers but they have virtually no cavalry and a lot of skirmishers who will do nothing against tougher opposition. Guaranteed disaster.

I know - they're Samnites but you get the idea. These guys couldn't stop a taxi

e) Attalid Pergamene

Another mixed-bag army. As with the Pyrric army they come with some really tough cavalry and the obligatory Light Horse option. They also have 3BG of 6 bases of Thureophoroi (but only Average Protected) and Galatian Foot (2BG of 6 bases).

Skirmishing is provided by Cretan Archers and Trallian Slingers (6 and 8 bases and the Cretans are Superior). So you'd expect them to do well in a skirmisher battle but the centre looks a little weak (albeit numerous). A risky proposition but definitely worth a try (as I have got a load of Thureophoroi in the Greek box that are still unused in battle).

f) Numidians

Don't laugh! Have a closer look. Lots of numerous light horse and 2BG of 8 bases of javelinmen. Your skirmishing woes are over! With so many light horse you can pull opposing cavalry out of the way as your 24 bases of Imitation Legionaires and your Elephants run down the middle.

Who am I kidding! Most are Protected at best and you will certainly win the skirmish battle but that may not be enough against tougher infantry. But they have numbers, speed and the ability to inflict multiple casualties with lots of skirmishers just before their Impact Foot and Elephants arrive on the scene. But they do look trick to play...

g) Later Seleucids

What's not to like? Cataphracts, horse archers AND elephants together with 3 BG of pike (one of which
is Superior) AND some Thurephoroi and 2BG of 8 bases of archers and javelins. Definitely a tough propostion and one to cause a few headaches on the opponents side of the table.

They also have an extensive Optional Troops list which is like a general's sweety shop. Scythed chariots, Galatian Foot, Camels, Bolt-shooters, Heavy Weapon Thracians, Scythian Cavalry (with bow and sword) - the possibilities are endless. Definitely giving these bad boys a couple of run-outs.

h) Later Ptolemaic
Pretty much as above but you can mix in Romanised Infantry - 2BG of 6 bases of Armoured Drilled Impact Foot Swords. Sacrifice your horse archers for 2BG of xystophoroi (armoured lancers / swordsmen) and chuck in some elephants for flank protection or hole-punching. Yummy!

i) Pontic
Another mix-and-match army. Pontic Heavy Cavalry (Armoured, LS / Swordsmen) are complemented by Sarmatian Cavalry (Superior Armoured lancers / swordsmen). So you don't have much to fear in the horse stakes. In the middle, 3BG of Imitation Legionaires (all 6 bases), the Thureophoroi and - much more fun - Bastarnae (Superior Heavy Weapon - thereby no bonus for better armour for the opposition). Not much in the way of skirmishing but what a challenge playing these!?

Their optional troops also look fun - Sarmatian and Skythian cavalry and Galatian Foot for added impact.
You can also get some pike on the field as well. 'Ave it!

j) Armenian / Parthian

These armies are so similar as to be interchangable. Essentially these are horse armies. Cataphracts to smash the opposing cavalry and horse archers to inflict damage from all sides - and some foot to do what they can to assist.

The Armenians are more foot-oriented (4 BG of skirmishers) wheras the Parthians are almost exclusively horse borne. I've nearly finished the Parthians so I'm itching to give them a try. They look like they'll be frustrating to play against but I wonder how they'll prevent a determined charge up the middle? Only one way to find out....

k) Later Jewish

Looks a bit weak. 3 BG of skirmishers and 5BG of Average Protected Thureophoroi does not look like the toughest opposition. Cavalry is also light horse centric. Probably not.

l) Bosporan
An interesting mix. Lancers and horse archers alongside hoplites, Thracian sworsdsmen and a sprinkling of skirmishers. Definitely worht a look although other armies look more promising.

More Baggage Train German WW2 Bunkers

2012-01-29T22:49:00.001Z

Ronseal. More pics of Steve's latest offerings from www.the-baggagetrain.co.uk. The 88mm bunker includes garage doors at the back for trucks pulling the gun to reverse into. The other is an observation tower. Loverly!

Age of Sail battle report. Russ, sod all and the bash.

2012-01-28T15:07:00.001Z

John put on the second of three AoS battles last night (we're finishing with the Glorious First of June next Saturday - a 30 ship extravaganza!).

As you can tell from the title, Russ did not do too well last night. A combination of going into battle at full sail, throwing the largest collection of '1's in wargaming history and Mark's blatant 'trying it on' meant that the British not only failed to stop the grain convoy getting through but also lost three 74's in the process.

Spanish convoy

Russ goes in on full sail...not a good idea

It started quite promisingly. The British (myself and Russ) had to stop the grain convoy reaching Toulouse ("If you fail to stop them, you two lose ha ha ha ha ha....I'll get my coat"). We could come in at either side but both had to come from the same side. The victory conditions were to scare off the Spanish escorts OR to board or cause to strike the grain ships.

I close the route to Tolouse

If you don't want to know the score, look away now.

The British lost.

"How?" I hear you cry.

What didn't help was the rolls for crew quality. I got two average and one good crew, Russ got one average and two poor crew and Mark got 2 veteran, one good and one average. This meant that he got plusses while Russ was on minuses. Not good.

Russ was nearer than me (I was simply planning to sit across the line of advance to Toulouse and blat anything that came into range). Mark's ships were in a box formation (4 escorts surrounding the 2 grain ships) and Russ made the schoolboy error of getting into range while under full sail. This meant that and shots from the opposition do triple damage to rigging.

Sure enough, Mark's opening salvo (From the San Miguel) ripped Russ's rigging to shreds.

He then helpfully suggested "You don't need to drop your sails as you haven't got any left" which prompted a "S***head' response from Russ. The verbal sniping would continue all night.

As it lost its sails, the John Smith got left behind as Russ' two other ships pressed on and got some licks in himself. Mark however threw two 6's and started hitting the hull. Russ then announced he had 15 gunnery on his sheet - so we discovered Mark had picked up the wrong ships and sheets and was playing with the British ships and Russ had Spanish ships on the table. Rather than start again though we carried on - and Russ' dice throwing represented Spanish crews from here on in.

Russ' British / Spanish ships - apparently under attack from giant jellyfish (actually smoke markers)

Mark's 6's had ripped most of the rigging from Russ' other ships (as he hadn't reduced sail). While the conversation was going on Mark made the staggering claim that Nelson wasn't at Trafalgar! He claimed he was mistranslated.

Meanwhile everyone was dropping sails to prevent damage - except for John who was in control of the grain ships who was in the act of turning around and getting out of Dodge. This was prompted by me trying our the double-shot rule. Essentially this means that if you hold your fire and get within 6" you can inflict double damage. As ther grain ships were made from balsa wood John decided that discretion and all that and turned away. As did the cowardly Mark.

Double shotted guns ready Cap'n.

More naval talk came and went.

Mark : "Have you seen Captain and Commander?"

Me : "No - but I have seen Master and Commander".

Russ' shooting was awful with another '1'. "Serves you right for using Spanish ships" quoth Mark.

Mark shot back inflicting loads of damage, a salvo leading to the classic line from Mark "Half of 15 is 8" which Russ was quick to pounce on.

Russ had to be stoic here, as his ships were pretty much immobile, he was being shot to pieces and couldn't hit back as the dice continued to throw up 1 after 1 and Mark pounded his ships with double shots and dismasted one.

Russ - suffering but keeping his chin up

His ship is dismasted and his others aren't much better.

At least he passes all his crew morale checks. They are Jolly Jack Tars after all.

Mark had got his ships in close for the extra damage - which meant the Marines could shoot at each other. Russ' 5 dice yielded 0 hits while Mark hit using just 3 dice.

I decided the time had come to get involved (but in hindsight should have stayed where I was) and moved using fighting sail (which is not very fast). Mark decided to keep moving away from me and towards Russ' crippled ships.

Despite doing well, Mark couldn't help trying it on - such as his classic 'move-turn-move-turn' sequence as apparently his 74 had turned into a speedboat.

The verbal sniping continued, such as "I haven't taken any damage as your dice are so sh*t" which was guaranteed to wind Russ up. He decided to shoot first this time - and rolled another 1 to Mark's obvious delight.

John runs away

Everyone running away from my ships.

The wind decided to shift at this point and Mark's ships were becalmed. Luckily for him he'd put enough distance between us that I couldn't punish him. Russ was close but I said "You're OK, its Russ. He'll throw a 1"

And he did!

Mark said "The last time I saw dice this bad, Phil was throwing them". He's not wrong!

Especially as he then threw another 1. Countered with Mark throwing another 6. This set the tone for the rest of the battle.

Mark was blatting away and Russ couldn't his a barn door. The Santa Claus came in with a whopping 14 hits and nothing came back the other way. Russ was rapidly losing crew, guns and hope. He wandered off at one stage, coming back clutching a pint, so he'd clearly turned to drink to console himself.

Mark however continued to try it on. This included moving a ship an extra inch (and being pulled up for it) then claimed that he wouldn't have collided with his own ship (without actually measuring it) - "Noooo, that's OK".

The Try It On master

The non-colliding ships. Note no tape measure in sight...

This drove Russ to a bit of Try It On of his own, claiming to be with 4" when he wasn't. Not that it mattered as he rolled two more 1's.

So it all continued. Russ' ships drifting with the wind, being shot to pieces while John scooted round the back to avoid my oncoming ships. The hulks somehow managed to keep fire coming out, and many quotes from Russ along the theme of 'half of 9 is 8' but his throws were appalling.

The battle of the hulks, as I slowly try to get to grips.

Mark's Try It On session was still not finished as he tried to move a ship sideways "It's like Dancing on Ice here" said Russ. Mark was piling on the damage though with multiple hits and double-bubble damage. Russ managed to get a shot within 4" as one of Mark's ships had a bent spinnaker and got 5 hits and a critical.

In return Mark shot back and threw high dice (meaning shooting away whatever Russ' rigging was left hanging onto the masts - which were also matchwood). "I need 1's - here, Russ, throw my dice for me" quipped the Welshy - "Of course, normally I'd ask Phil" he laughed.

He wasn't laughing later when he found four flat tyres on his van.

We also noticed at this stage that the Spanish ships were getting further and further way from Tolouse.

Russ fighting impossible odds as John looks on impassively.

Russ then had to leave and so handed over his play sheets to me - they looked like bingo cards!

"Take it from here, mate". His last roll - a '1'. What a shock!" He then undertook The Scooch and made off for the car park.

Russ' ships sheet - not a lot left!

This meant standing there and taking another 14+ hits from Mark the Gloater.

We were going to call it a day as my ships finally got into range. One of Mark's ships was dismasted and my double-shotted guns blatted it into oblivion with a stern rake and it struck immediately. My only shot of the game.

But the grain ships were out of range and I was never going to catch them (although it was likely that I could revenge British Pride by getting into the damaged Spanish warships if nothing else). So a good Spanish win.

It was a great battle and thanks to John for getting it on. I'm finding that these months of one rule set works well and we quickly get the hang of each set of rules.

Great fun, a good night - and will Russ ever roll 1's again like he did the other night? I hope so if we're playing FOG soon!

Wargaming Bugbears #4 - the never-ending army

2012-01-26T16:26:00.001Z

This of course refers to painting rather than putting a billion troops on the field. Some armies (usually those with a standard uniform or colour scheme) seem to take no time at all. Some seem to take longer than others. And then there's the Gauls.

I have been painting my Gauls for what seems like 20 years and I am still some way off completing them. Unlike their Roman counterparts (which can be painted in production line style) Gallic bases require a) different posed figures on each one b) different colour schemes for each one and c) non-matching clothing on each one (i.e. the trousers, tunic, footwear etc. are all different colours.

For this reason it takes me about 5x longer to do a base of Gauls than Romans or Spartans.

Then you realise that as Gauls are Gauls, you need a bazillion of them to meet your BG rota (1BG = 8 bases of 4 different foot clothed and equipped differently).

In the end I had to change processes to try and speed it up - but its still interminable.

And this is in 10mm! How people manage to do 28mm Gauls or similar is beyond me - they must have the patience of saints.

This also leads to Gallic-aversion. They look at me in their half-finished state as I pick up a lolly stick with a few Imperial Romans on it. Drybrush the chainmail, bit of red trim and leather trim, flesh on the face and arms, gunmetal the sword and paint the shield red. Job done. So much more appealing to actually complete a BG in an evening rather than get to finish painting the tunics of half as many Gauls. So they get left aside again and again as more attractive options are chosen.

A similar army are the Parthians with their multi-coloured horse archers (and you've got to paint the horses as well!). One day I will have to knuckle down and get them done - but I bet my Roman army will be completed well before then!

I want to give them a go, really I do. I've completed nearly all my heavy foot, my skirmishers and some chariots. But there's still loads of medium foot and all the cavalry still to do.....will it never end!!??!!

Instant boards for DBA

2012-01-25T18:08:00.000Z

One of the final elements required for the DBA campaign is an 'official' sized table (2' square). But I didn't feel like carting a 2' square board everywhere and - anyway - chances are we'll need at least 2 as battles may take simultaneously.

So I had two brainwaves. One was to buy some robust material and cut it to size. That way we can use the normal club game tables and have an instant 'correct sized' area to hold the battles on. So I went to Calico Laine and they cut me two pieces of acrylic fabris (one green for normal battles, one sandy coloured for desert battles).

But I also saw (in Poundland while buying more birdseed and fat balls for the sparrows who live in our hedge) some adhesive backed floor tiles. These are exactly 1' square - so 4 make up the required area. Cutting the material to size and sticking them to the back of the tiles, I have an easily portable DBA gaming area for the campaign.

The original 2' square area and a 1' square floor time (25p each)

Tile with material attached to the sticky side

4 tiles together create the perfect 2' square gaming area. Simples!

Parthians / Sarmatians / Whateverans

2012-01-25T14:15:00.001Z

I've finally got around to knocking some Parthians off for my 'eastern' 10mm FOG armies. These guys will not only represent their own country but may well pop up as Saka, Skythians. Bactrians, Sarmatians, Sassanids and any other group that hung around that corner of the world and rode horses. These are a mixture of Steve Barber and Pendraken.

Sassanid Persians.

Commanders

Armoured lancers / kataphracts

Parthian semi-armoured lancers

Horse archers - with added Parthian shot.

I've completed all BG's I need for the heavily armoured kataphract-types. I still have to knock out a full 5BG of horse archers (20 bases / 40 figures) but a lot of these are already on the production line.

The Parthians seem very light on the foot soldiers - these are nearly completed so I can wrap up the army and take on Russ' Persians or Indians to see if all that horse archer firepower actually works.

Upcoming stuff
Next will be the Gallic medium foot and cavalry (so I can finally get a Gaul army on the table), then the remaining Greek hoplites, Cretan Archers and Thracian Peltasts (to complete the Greek army).

After that, the Imperial Roman army to whup the Early British that Russ is pulling together.

The remaining box of unpainted metal (as far as ancients is concerned) is running quite low. I've got the new Republican Romans coming from Pendraken (allowing me to then sell my old Republican Romans which never looked right). So - with my Marian legionaires I'll pretty much have

Then we look at new options. I need some camelry for the DBA campaign so a Moorish / Arab army might come next (useful as these guys can be used from 400BC to around 1200AD!). This will allow us to investigate the Dark Ages (or maybe the Crusades) as the next big thing. But that's a long way down the road. As it is, I think we'll soon have all the troops to construct most of the armies in Rise of Rome, Immortal Fire and Legions Triumphant.

Which is nice.

Wargaming Bugbears #3 : The 'Expert'

2012-01-25T00:18:00.000Z

Now I like my history. I like to get things right where I can. And I like to share some knowledge or nugget of information during a game (like "They were called 'welites' but its spelt 'velites').

But there are some gamers who seem to feel that a gaming room is in fact a lecture room, where they can corner their captive audience and then disgorge (unasked, mind you) a veritable smorgasbord of mind-numbing trivia about the troops you have displayed on the field.

So you are gathered around the table trying to focus on your next move when - unbidden and unwelcome - the Expert appears. This sometimes involves the Expert hovering over your shoulder for a while and then (usually just after you've failed a crucial morale test) he will begin.

He will explain what your troops would have done historically, why your paint scheme is wrong, where you went wrong tactically on that move and what he would have done differently. Then we move to what they typically had for breakfast, how much the equipment they carried actually weighed and the outcome of the battle you're playing out (with a slide show and PA system if they could get away with it).

But this is not to impart information really. Oh no, this is to belittle you for your ignorance of not knowing (among other things) the colour of buttons sported by the 14th Hussars of the French army of 1812 or the insignia and colour of mudguards of the truck towing a Pak 75 into battle on the Eastern Front in 1943. The Expert automatically claims a form of superiority over you because they know something that you don't. In fact, several hundred things that you don't.

These guys have an encyclopedic knowledge of (it appears) every period in history. I say appears because you don't really know if they are actually telling the truth or just making it up as they go along. So if he says that the Carthaginian African Spears had gold trim on their jockstraps, then I have to admit that I wouldn't have a clue if that was BS or not.

And it is the level of detail that appalls me. The piffling nonsense that a certain type of nut was used to hold the turret together on a Cromwell tank, or that French cannon were made from bronze supplied by Pierre L'escargot of Dieppe. And its imparted in a way that suggests that you should bow and scrape in supplication to his genius as he has just explained the meaning to life, the universe and everything (rather than just bored you rigid with some turgid fact that no-one apart from the Expert cares about).

And that is the issue really. For me, it doesn't matter if my shade of green on my Russian tanks isn't 'quite right'. I know they're Russian - so it doesn't matter. Nor do I care if my Republican Romans sport the wrong colour shield. It doesn't matter. No-one will die if I paint a Parthian horse archer the wrong colour. The world will not end if I paint a unit of British Line infantry the wrong shade of red. Indeed, it can be fun getting something spectacularly wrong just to see their eyes light up in anticipation of giving you the equivalent of a kick in the seat of your pants for your schoolboy error ("So Tiger tanks weren't painted bright pink? Are you sure?")

As most gamers, I'll just smile, nod and try to block out the droning. After all, you can't walk away from the table (although claiming an urgent toilet break is a polite way of getting out of the line of fire but this is a one-shot option. After all, he'll probably still be there when you get back - then you have no more cards to play).

But there is one bright spot - when two 'Experts' clash and try to find each other out in a duel of military trivia, scoring points off each other in a battle of obscure knowledge every bit as ferocious as two lions fighting over a dead gazelle in a fight to the death. A fight which no-one else is remotely interested in as they finally have some peace and quiet to get on with the fun bit of gaming - namely swearing at terrible dice rolls.

Wargaming Bugbears #2 - the dice let you down

2012-01-23T20:11:00.000Z

How many times has it happened? Your plan has come together, your best troops are in contact with your opponents' worst and you just need the dice to.....WHAT THE HELL!!!! DOUBLE 1????? ARE YOU *~@$%of &* KIDDING ME???!!!!

Its happened to me more times than I care to remember - especially the dreaded 20 in Principles of War. I once had my fresh cavalry lined up to smash the mauled foot facing them. Anything but a 20 and I sweep them from the field and claim victory. Anything but a.....AAARRRRRGGGHHHH!!! WHY ME????

Lets call it the wrong roll at the wrong time.

It's the most frustrating element of wargaming (except when it happens to your opponent) but when you've done everything in your power to get the desired result, you've manouvered your troops with consumate skill, led your opponent into a trap of your devious design and given yourself a major advantage and then a little hunk of plastic lands on the wrong side and it all falls apart.

Like our recent Age of Sail battle where my ships could turn their French counterparts into matchwood on any roll but a '1'. Cue a succession of '1's that kill a few fish and seagulls but inflict nary a splintered bulwark

upon our French cousins.

Of course, real warfare is laden with stories of the winning side withdrawing without reason, surrounded troops winning against all odds and other anomalies but - come on! - why is it that I constantly throw the wrong result at precisely the wrong time. The Double 1 in FOG for instant Fragmented? The 1 for damage and 20 for Morale in POW. The '1' in Spearhead for 'Missed, Yank!'.

I suppose that's the fortune of war. So why don't my opponents suffer from it?

Wargaming Bugbears #1

2012-01-22T18:22:00.000Z

Over the next few days I'll aim to list all the major and minor irritations that the hobby throws up and see if you agree with any of them!

Wargaming Bugbear #1 - spilled paint
Only because I did this yesterday (trying to paint some Parthian cataphracts).

Some paints never spill thanks to the container design (take your hat off, Vallajo paints!). Some seem destined to topple over and deposit their entire contents over the desk in a blink of an eye (Games Workshop paints always seemed to do this to me - and also those lids that meant that after shaking a large blob would fall down behind the hinge or onto the rim of the paint pot - invariably causing a mess and getting on your paws). I managed to knock over a Blood Red over the desk (and me) a couple of weeks ago. After mopping up I went to wash my hands - it looked liked I'd slashed my wrists! Who'd have though such a little pot would have so much in it?

Today the culprit was a pot of Tamiya I was using to paint the horses. I thought I'd screwed the lid down (thought....) but as I was moving the large kitchen tile I use to mix my paints on (easier to use and easy to clean) the said Tamiya rolled onto its side, off the desk and - splat - brown paint all over the carpet!

AAAAAARRRRGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

DBA Campaign - regional variations

2012-01-21T21:58:00.000Z

Part of the campaign requires specifying for the players which territories are worth going for (either for Gold, Food or Troops).

So for the players, here is the 'target' list. Make a note! This is an amalgamation of Gold and Food from each one. Troops available to follow.

Arabia	Poor
Nabatea	Poor
Sahara	Poor
Sinai	Poor
Bayuda	Poor
Corsica	Poor
Marmarica	Poor
Phazania	Poor
Venetia	Poor
Armenia	Average
Bithynia	Average
Cappadocia	Average
Etruria	Average
Isauria	Average
Lusitania	Average
Maurentania	Average
Terraconensis	Average
Apulia	Average
Galatia	Average
Illyria	Average
Rhaetia	Average
Tyre	Average
Cyrene	Above Average
Dacia	Above Average
Epirus	Above Average
Leptis	Above Average
Numidia	Above Average
Sarmatia	Above Average
Balearis	Above Average
Gaul	Above Average
Sardinia	Above Average
Vindebona	Above Average
Jerusalem	Wealthy
Massilia	Wealthy
Petra	Wealthy
Saguntum	Wealthy
Sinope	Wealthy
Crete	Rich
Cyprus	Rich
Dalmatia	Rich
Miletus	Rich
Byzantium	Rich
Chersonesus	Rich
Sicilia	Rich

DBA / FOG etc. ancient timelines

2012-01-21T13:44:00.000Z

Reading army lists its hard to get a feel for who was around when and who could they fight. All those 234-275BC and 234-266BC references are hard to match up.

So being an Excel whizz (lol!) I decided to do a simple set-up (using the DBA army lists as a guide) to create a more visual representation of what was going on when in the ancient world. So you can see how long empires and tribes lasted and who can realistically fight someone else.

I'm going to find a way to host this online so you can download if you're interested.

More WW2 bunkers from the Baggage Train

2012-01-20T16:18:00.000Z

Yes - fresh castings just off the press. The Baggage Train website is here.

DBA Ancients - revised campaign rules

2012-01-20T14:57:00.001Z

After the playtesting and player comments, the simpler rules are now complete.

I'll add Territory descriptions, Army compositions etc. over the weekend.

Click here to see the new rules : http://philbancients.blogspot.com/p/dba-campaign-rules.html

DBA Ancients campaign - dry run

2012-01-20T11:13:00.001Z

We had a 'dry run' of the DBA Ancients campaign last night. It didn't start well as the memory stick I had the rules on 'died' so I had to do it all from memory. But we got some great battles in including Ian taking Mauretania against overwhelming odds and Russ and Mark suffering defeats. Russ was called for hiding his general all the way through his battle. Mark's taunting finally got Russ to commit his leader - and promptly killed him to win!

To keep everyone interested the idea is that if a player invades a territory, the other players take the opposing army. After all, they have the incentive to win!

Each player is provided with 100 Gold and Food at the start, together with notebooks to keep track of their armies and territories (as what the costs of each are so they can manage their resources better). They were also given small notepads to pass messages to me (e.g. Spying missions) but can also be used to pass messages to each other. Such as Russ (after Mark suffered a Famine in his territory) sending him a note asking if he could borrow some Gold - with Mark holding his last 4 coins in his hand.

Trading underway. Mark loses more ships to pirates!

A typical battle - Mark getting whupped by Warband.

Zeus makes an appearance and is about to smite the opposing cavalry

One of my new elephants makes an appearance in an all-out scrap for ownership of Mauretania

An ideal set up - campaign map to one side, battlefield to the other. That what makes DBA so good for a campaign.

Lessons learned
1. The rules are too complex. I don't think all the idea of lending troops etc. will work and I'll just junk all that. They need to be cut down a lot (a couple of pages) to cover the basics.

2. The random events work well but I think a dice roll rather than cards for the events will work better (with the more serious events being less likely to occur). Mark got hit with a Famine card on Turn 1 which mullered him completely.

3. The economics need tweaking. Having to pay for the cities and armies pretty much wiped everyone out (except Ian who'd had a good trading session - unlike Mark who lost 3 ships and made only 30 Gold). So I need to take down the food cost of cities and armies or boost the Food production from each territory. What did happen though was - as envisaged - the players soon grasped that a rush for territory which produced food was vital. So tweaking rather than overhaul is the answer here.

4. Trade became very popular. Ian did a little hop to Neapolis and back from Carthage and netted a whopping 80 Gold profit. Mark (in Sparta) found that he was undertaking higher risk journeys for less reward. So we decided that trade benefits should reflect the risk - the further you travel, the more you make (5 Gold per sea entered per ship) BUT the ships must get back home again to pay up. Giving it more thought, I also think that players can choose whether they bring back Gold or Food from their trading (see below). I also think that ships should be ordered in one season but delivered in the following season.

5. Food became a big issue after the first turn. I allowed the players to trade Gold for Food to meet the shortfall but actually this was a fudge. People can't eat Gold! So for the rules this will change. After the 'tweaking' players must pay their Food requirements with Food. If they don't have enough then they have two options. Simply trade Gold for Food with other players OR let armies / cities die. This will encourage stockpiling and may limit army growth.

6. Recruitment - I limited players to just recruiting 2 bases from each territory or city they own per season. This means that cash rich players can't suddenly buy 3-4 large armies (as they'd have to be trained and armed which takes time). But the more territories you own, the more troops you can field.

7. I need to balance up the Food / Gold allocation for each unclaimed Territory with the troops defending it. As rule of thumb, poor areas (e.g. Sahara) will have less troops defending it (say 4 + d4) while larger, richer territories will offer more goodies (Gold and Food) but will as a consequence have more troops defending (say 8 + d6). So players will know that they will have a fight on their hands if they want the best territories on the map. We debated whether players should know where the best places are. I wanted to keep this secret (to encourage spying etc.) but in hindsight it makes sense that the Empires would know what was worth going for and what wasn't. It will also encourage a race to the better territories (which may mean having to buy fleets to get the troops there quickly rather than having to fight through 3-4 territories to get there...but which means no trading while the ships are in use AND that if the army loses they have to be shipped home with another chance of losing ships and men.

8. DBA is certainly ideal for fighting battles for this campaign. We got 3 battles in of an evening and (without a lot of faffing about by me) could have got a couple more in. What I do need to do is have the defending army of each territory pre-rolled and ready. In addition, rather than looking through 10 boxes of figures for the 'right' units we'll have a stock box of spears, pike, blades etc. that are used for both armies so we can set up a battle immediately.

9. To facilitate this, each territory will have its terrain pre-designated so once battle is joined we have the right scenery to hand to plonk down and get it on.

10. I also realise we'll never get 80 turns out in the following month. To speed things up I'll need players to move simultaneously and then address conflicts as they arise. The 3:1 rule I will adapt to 2:1 (so if a player takes 12 units into a territory defended by 6, then they will automatically take the territory and (instead of the previous rule where all defending units retreat) I will make it that d6 units will retire into a random attached unclaimed territory. If they can't retire into an unclaimed territory, they are assumed to surrender.

11. Talking of tribes moving, I will add into the Random Events the possibility of invasion from an adjoining unclaimed territory. So there is always the possibility that a large army can come steaming in from an unexpected source and cause havoc (as did happen). As mentioned above, I think we'll use 3d6 to roll for an event. The Big Events will happen on rolls like 3, 4, 5 and 16,17,18 and the minor ones in between. This means that minor events are more likely to occur than the major ones, but the majors will be troblesome to say the least.

12. Mark used the Plague ship rule and managed to inflict Plague on Carthage (until we realised that he wasn't suffering from plague at all!). But its a fun rule and we'll keep it in.

13. In terms of invading territories, the Spy rule worked well for Russ (except that he lost the battle). But we're going to create a rule that players have the option to withdraw from battle without fighting if they turn up with less troops or an unsuitable army. We discussed the penalty (such as losing 1d4 units) but this meant that you might as well fight the battle anyway. So I think we'll go with losing 1 of the slowest moving elements in the army (i.e. to simulate the invaders being run-down). So if you go in with Light Horse, Cavalry and Spears, you'll lose 1 base of Spears if you withdraw.

14. Given that we'll have variable army sizes, we will work to the 1/3 and General rule. As soon as an army loses 1/3 of its strength OR the General dies, the battle is over.

The guys were kind enough to say that this can work well - with the tweaks mentioned. So 'll re-do the rules over the weekend and we'll be in good shape for February.

A message from Tridente Bologna

2012-01-20T09:39:00.000Z

As mentioned recently, Russ has ordered his ancient Britons from Tridente Bologna.

Fabio (from Tridente) sent him this message back. I love that he wants Russ to kick my ass with his new army and that Fabio himself had got a great sense of humour. I am therefore duty bound to get some figures from our Italian friends and will promise to download the Anticamente rules if only to keep Fabio happy! Ciao!

You can find out more about Tridente Bologna here. And about Anticamente here.

Hi Russ,

I know that you discover my site. Please, with this miniatures break the Phil’s bones ;- )

You, Phil, Mark and so on, basically tested almost all Rules of the ancient period. Could I hope that sooner or later you will test even Anticamente? You have hexagon, have miniatures, you can dowload the Rules free... what is the problem Eh? Eh?

If the next time you ask me miniatures you haven't test Anticamente, the price doubles.

Ok, the cost of the material you order is 80,16€, and the postage are 13,00€ (916gr.) for a total of 90,00€

I hope you realized that I like to joke ;-)

Ciao

Fabio G. Farneti

What a difference a base makes...

2012-01-19T16:06:00.001Z

How do I base my miniatures? Read on and find out.

The bases themselves I cut from card. Not as durable as MDF bases but cheap and quite long lasting. I simply cut to size and stick a magnetic strip underneath (for added strength and storage as all my figures are in file boxes with steel paper bases).

I start off painting the bases a uniform brown. In my case I use Wilkinson's emulsion test pots (just 50p a pot at the moment) which means enough to cover around 1,000 bases. The brown colour is a good background for the chunky brown talus I use.

I also paint the metal bases of each model the same colour - so the match the base. I then use Hobbycraft Tacky Glue to attach the figures to the base. Stronger than normal PVA but not as strong as normal contact adhesive. So easier to prise off bases should you need to.

A blob per figure is required.

I then dip them in talus to collect around the figure base and help cover it up.

Then I use a thinner PVA for the rest of the talus. Asda's own is dirt cheap and quite good.

This is squirted into a glass tealight holder and painted onto the base. I then sprinkle on some larger 'rocks' before dipping the rest in the talus.

I leave these for a while (1-2 hours) until the PVA has set. Then I drybrush a light brown then a cream colour (both Wilkinson match pots) over the talus. I always use the same colours as this ensures all my bases are consistent. However, for some (e.g. desert warfare or Northern Europe) then different schemes are required (e.g. darker green grass for Northern Europe, sandy colours and very little scrubby vegetaion for deserts).

You can see the dusty, pebbly effect here quite well.

Now for the flock. A few drops of PVA which are then painted into the cracks, onto the figure bases etc. I use the flock sparingly so some earth can be seen underneath. It's also great for covering up the flat figure bases that don't match the 'pebbly' effect of the base. I keep the figures in the flock tub then sprinkle it through my fingers onto the bases below (so any which drops off is caught directly in the tub itself - keeping waste and mess to a minimum).

The finished pieces - with the 'before' picture for comparison.

Playing Favourites

2012-01-19T15:39:00.001Z

Picked this up from a couple of blogs and thought Id join in. Basically, list a number of subjects (normally wargames related) and explain why they are your favourite. Simples.

Wargames Period
Straight away I have a conflict here. Ancients is probably my favourite but I am getting much more into Renaissance (especially ECW) and 18th Century. Then I have a penchant for WW2 (as evidenced by my enormous Russian and Allied armies for Spearhead). But if you're going to push me I'd say Ancients - especially the time of the Punic Wars as there was so much going on and tons of battles to fight. Interestingly I was properly introduced to wargaming via Napoleonics but that has slipped down the pecking order.

Scale
Again a slight conflict but a matter of 4mm. All my WW2 stuff is 6mm (as are my Naps) but all my ancient armies are 10mm - which is probably my favourite scale. Enough detail to provide interest but not so much that it takes hours to produce a couple of units. 6mm can be a strain on the old eyes but gives a great effect and allows proper battles to take place on the table. It's hard to do real flanking etc. using 28mm / 15mm - the scale just doesn't allow it. 10mm provides the same advantages of 6mm in terms of battle sizes and space on the field - and are also easier to paint.

Rules
Oh - so many to choose from! FOG for ancients, closely followed by DBA for when time is short. Principles of War for Renaissance, 18C, 19C but not for Napoleonics (where we use Grand Armee which is a little simplistic but allows the big battles to be fought). Spearhead for WW2.

Boardgame
Not a big wargame fan but I'd like to give Space hulk a go! I suppose Risk is the safe choice, as is Carcasonne.

Rant
Still my #1 bugbear is model manufacturers who still can't grasp that if you're buying stuff off the web, you need to have a really good idea what they're going to look like. This means a photo that you can expand that shows the figure (or tank or whatever) - preferably painted up so you know what you're getting.

Amazingly I still buy from Heroics and Ros despite working off a pdf of a price list. They are the exception to the rule. Pendraken are getting there but they also insist of close ups of unpainted metal which looks unattractive. There are loads of other companies who use thumbnail pictures which don't expand (so you have to squint or use a magnifying glass to see what they're selling). Others don't bother at all or show badly painted miniatures that actually put you off.

Figure manufacturer
Heroics and Ros for 6mm WW2. No-one does it better - especially for the price.

10mm ancients fall between Pendraken and Magister Militum. With a new sculptor on board, Pendraken may have taken the edge here and they are certainly cheaper. Steve Barber does excellent 10mm but the range is still quite small - but he does lovely Parthians and Early Germans. I've heard that Kallistra are great for 100YW and Dark Ages but I'm a way off that yet - maybe later in the year.

Napoleonics - I use Baccus. A bit chunky compared to H&R but easy to paint.

Opponent
Regular readers will know that I usually play against the same crew each time, and each has his strengths and weaknesses. I always enjoy playing Russ - he plays in the right spirit and despite losing countless times with his Carthaginians always came back for more. Mark is just hilarious - the most aggressive player I've known. He literally is a 'damn the torpedoes' type of player and can often get into a sticky patch by being keen to get stuck in but similarly is a player who can fight his way out again. Russ and Mark on the same side is a recipe for a massed charge with battle cries and snorting beasts.

John is a 'cup half full' player - get some early blows in and the head will drop - but he is tenacious and (if things are going well) he's a great man to have on your side. A bit like Ian, he will plan his moves ahead and seek to get the most advantage out of a situation. He's not the guy you want to play if you make a mistake!

Ian is the Jedi Master (or maybe the Chess master) - quiet, contemplative but can quickly turn a situation around. You know he's thinking a couple of turns ahead and he will play to get the maximum out of any rules (but will always play within them). Beat Ian and you know you've done well. Which is why I very rarely do!

Book
Anything by Anthony Beevor. I must have read Stalingrad ten times by now. Max Hastings is also great value (check out Armageddon of you can). I love the Hornblower books - so I have no idea why I'm so crap at Age of Sail! The Sharpe books are also great fun. But I am such an avid reader of so many different types of book that no single one stands out.

Films
Again - so many to choose from! The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Swedish original) was stunning - indeed I notice that the Hollywood remakes of European films are pale shadows of the originals. Ones I've watched recently include the Duellists (great stuff) and Attack on Leningrad (toilet). In terms of series though I suppose Band of Brothers takes some beating. Shawshank, LOTR and The Way Back are all up there as well.

I do love Amelie - a great feelgood movie - as well.

I did like Star Wars - until the truly horrific prequels came out. As soon as the Ewoks appeared it was going downhill but after that....bleurgh. If you want a laugh, check out the Red Letter critique of the Star Wars prequels on You Tube (just ignore the serial killer nonsense if you can). He takes the entire fabric of the films apart with surgical precision - and you find yourself agreeing with every single point he makes.

Art
In terms of wargaming, Angus McBride in unequalled in bringing history to life. The man is a genius.

Forums
I go on the Football 365 Forum a lot. I am a member of the Pendraken and FOG forums but rarely go on them.

Blogs
So many to choose from. My reading list should give most of them away. Always a fan of the Angry Lurker, The Man Cave, Big Lee, etc. but lots of different blogs give me pleasure for different reasons.

Paints
Vallejo for me but the occasional 'miss' where it comes out like gloop or a runny mess. Coat d'Arms I use a lot. All my Games Workshop stuff dried in the pots (grrrr) so I never use them now. Never tried Foundry and yet heard good things about them.

PC games
Call of Duty series - just finished MW3. I have also wasted many, many hours on the Dawn of War series (including the Epic DOW II which is just superb). And of course any of the Total War (especially Rome and Medieval).

Favourite other hobby
Astronomy. Not easy when you live in a place where there is a permanent orange glow in the sky!

100k

2012-01-19T09:35:00.001Z

Yes - its that milestone! 100,000 page views.

Thanks to everyone who follows the blog and for making the effort worthwhile.

Keep following!

Phil

Ancient Britons and Principate Romans for FOG

2012-01-18T10:16:00.000Z

Russ has decided he wants to create a new FOG / Impetus army and has plumped for Ancient Britons. He's got the army list already (a whopping 850 points!) and will be buying his figures from the most excellent Tridente Bologna (http://www.tridentebologna.it/) - of which some pictures below.

So his army consists of 3BG's of light chariots, 2BG of light horse, 4BG of Warriors (all 8 bases each), 2BG of Elite Warriors (8 bases each - eek!), 3 BG of slingers (6BG each) and a fortified camp.

So how to combat this horde? Well the Roman army I've come up with consists of no less than 6 BG of Auxiliary Foot and 5BG of Legionaires (with attached Bow) and 2BG of Symmachiarii (medium impact foot). For cavalry I'll have 1BG of Auxiliary cavalry and 2BG of equites sagitarii. Not enough to even dent the massed chariots but enough to take on the Britons' light horse. The foot will have to deal with the chariots as best they can.

So that's 13BG of foot to face off against 9BG of foot / light foot. The weakness appears to be the lack of skirmishing - but note that the legionaires come with attached bow (6" range). Slingers will have to come within bow shot range to get their shots in (against armoured opponents which pretty much negates them) and the danger of being charged and caught by the Symmachiarii (who as impact foot will eat slingers for breakfast)

The big danger is lack of cavalry. But if we can get to grips with the infantry quick enough then it shouldn't matter. I'll have armoured, drilled troops all down the line to combat the larger numbers and as long as I can get the Superior Legionaires into the Elite warriors then the armour and skilled swordsman status will more than overcome the difference in class. I hope.

Word verification

2012-01-18T09:54:00.002Z

Bloggers will be aware of word verification - to prevent blogs being hacked and to prove there is a human being trying to leave a comment, not a malevolent artificial intelligence.

I assume the 'words' are created randomly - or are they? I only ask because I was commenting on someone's blog the other day and the word that came up for verification was 'NONCE'. For non-UK readers, I should explain that 'nonce' means :-

a deviant, a sex offender;
from acronym NONCE, UK prison classification for prisoners deemed at risk from attack from other 'regular' prisoners because of the sexual nature of their crimes

I showed it to the wife and she said 'sounds like they know you well'.

Thanks, love!

German bunkers from the Baggage Train

2012-01-15T20:02:00.000Z

Part of our plans for 2012 include doing D-Day on Sword Beach (together with the attack on Pegasus Bridge). With this in mind we're looking at some terrain pieces - specifically German emplacements.

We know Steve at the Baggage Train and he's got some 6mm WW2 stuff that suits us down to the ground.

Battle of Safi - WW2 Spearhead

2012-01-15T15:17:00.002Z

The overall battlefield

An interesting battle, where green US troops engaged Vichy French to gain the port of Safi. Interesting that the French let the Germans land unopposed down the coast, yet put up a tremendous resistance against the Americans.

Not much of a battle report to be fair. What essentially happened was that my dice were so spectacularly bad for most of the battle - and Ian became a dicing god with a succession of 6's. The plan was sound - kill the big gun, take the harbour, get many troops ashore somewhere else.

As it was, my battleship failed to kill the gun so I had to get the destroyer to do it (meaning fire support was lacking at a crucial stage), my town attack failed despite having multiple advantages (mainly due to rubbish dice) and my air support had to fly off just as it was going to take out Ian's tank (which then decimated my troops).

A solid win for the French and ignomy for the Yanks.

Anyway, much nicer are the pictures of Ian's scenery.

Enjoy!

Cliffs with the big gun which 6 fire missions from a battleship failed to hit.

Harbour section and Safi town

Landing to the left of the harbour.

French vehicles leave the barracks to polish off the recent landing

Air support flies back to refuel

Another landing further to the left. Not enough to make a difference though

My reserve move in, but the damage is done already.

Marston Moor battle report aka how to mess up without even trying

2012-01-15T14:58:00.001Z

There are many reasons a tabletop battle is won or lost. A bad roll at the wrong time, the wrong decision, the wrong plan or simply your opponent does everything right. This battle had all of that and more. I jokingly said that Mark would get the blame for our failures today but honestly all three of us have to hold our hand up and say that - yes - it was his fault.

Only joking. Although he did provide some dodgy advice for me and Russ (combined with useful advice for our opponent Ian) which led to some disasters on the field, the main contributions to us failing to batter the smaller and less well-equipped Royalist army was a poor plan (which left my troops on the left wing isolated), horrendous dice rolling by myself and Mark (in charge of both flanks) and Ian having a good plan, excellent manouvering and dice rolling that suggested that souls had been sold to Beelzebub.

The battle
Ian took the whole Royalist army. Russ took the Scottish contingent, I took the Eastern Association (including Cromwell) and Mark took Fernando on the right.

Before we moved - Royalists defending the ditch and hedge at the top, the three armies of Parliament at the bottom.

Local village

Rules were POW Renaissance with a couple of tweaks

Our forces were scattered all over the place so for the sake of command and control we decided to issue an attack order for both flanks with support orders for the infantry. This was to harm us straight away. A little tip here - use the attack order for your infantry (who will take time to get there and so will ensure they have support) not your cavalry (who will arrive quickly then realise they are all alone with no support at all).

The Eastern Association heads for the road - their target

Map and additional info.

Mark and Russ face off against Ian. Mark is already contemplating how to mess up the attack on the right.

My troops get closer to the target but the foot and cannon are awfully slow

The Royalist welcoming committee for my brave horsemen

My horse reached the road then had to stop to await new orders. The Royalists had also reached the road and managed to pour fire into my static horse (I had some commanded foot but they were shooting into the hedgerows at a disadvantage and as a consequence Cromwell was shot and wounded (which took 1 PIP off any rolls) and which was at least historically accurate. I was in for a rough wooing, that's for sure!

My dragoons had moved to the flank to get some firepower into the cavalry facing them, but were shot themselves. A comment from Captain Obvious (aka Mark) - "You need to get them Dragoons out of there". I rolled for morale and got a 20! Great! They Routed - leaving my whole flank exposed. And the other Parliamentarians were nowhere near their objectives. So a dice roll at a crucial time makes a huge difference.

The Dragoons rout - leaving the flank open

So my cavalry were being shot at as the foot slowly moved forward and Mark was picking his way through the rough terrain on the right. We managed to get a shot off ourselves and had the chance to shoot the general facing us but just missed ("You shot his cockade off!).

In the heat of battle there is always time for conversation, which somehow led to a discussion regarding Voldemort's snake which Mark called Zucchini and Mankini (rather than Nagini) which generated general hilarity.

The hilarity didn't last as the next round of firing shot Cromwell dead. I needed a change of orders from Russ - who was rolling a succession of 1's on a d4 which meant nothing was happening fast. And when the messenger did arrive, we found that Russ hadn't written any orders (so the messenger had arrived with an empty piece of paper) so we had to start all over again.

Russ was also helping on other ways as I was again shot at. "You need him to roll anything but a 5" - so Ian of course rolled a 5. Which was par for the course as this battle saw him roll an incredible number of 6's for hits and 1's for morale tests as opposed to our 1's for hits and 20's for morale.

Mark happily contemplates the battlefield as my forces take a battering

Ian was shooting really well - Cromwell's replacement was shot at and more casualties were being taken. Mark had finally got to grips on the right flank as my orders finally arrived and I charged in - and one of Ian's cavalry units were Shaken before contact.

Unfortunately my dice meant that only 2 units charged in (the one that failed was supposed to charge the Shaken unit). I managed to then lose the subsequent melee and my morale rolls were 0 (Rout) and 7 (Shaken). Not for the first - and certainly not the last - the phrase "For F***'s Sake!!" rang around the room. Ian then rubbed salt in the wound by rolling another 6 which killed one of our two cannons. Mark (on the right flank) also lost a melee, rolled a 0 for morale (Retire Shaken) and lost another base charged in the flank then another charged in the rear.

We were rapidly learning the getting troops on your flank was lethal and Ian was capable of throwing 6's for fun.

Ian's troops pop over the hedge to kill one of our cannons

Orders arrive and my cavalry charge in. Yet I contrive to lose from this position!

A typical combat throw from me.

The Royalist battle line - notice the Scots infantry still nowhere near as my troops get chopped to bits.

At this stage I felt like I was fighting on my own. It reminded me of the Normandy landings with me as the British holding the left and waiting for the swinging right to come into play - and it not coming. Still, with Russ rolling 1 for PIP's each time, this was to be expected. Our plan was rapidly turning into a shambles.

Where have all my cavalry gone?

The subsequent melees saw my cavalry cut to pieces. The only bright point was that Royalist cavalry (being less disciplined than their Parliamentarian opponents) were open to Pursuit - i.e. if they broke a unit they had to pursue until brought back by an order. This meant that opposition cavalry could run off in the direction of pursuit. One (charging and routing my cavalry unit in the flank) pursued down the road into the waiting arms of my remaining units - who polished them off. But trading 3 bases for 1 did not seem to be a sustainable approach.

Ian was also dishing out punishment to Mark on the other flank. He rolled two 6's in succession to inflict damage on Mark - who then rolled another 0 for morale (hence another Rout). Ian (in pursuit) then hit another of Mark's units in the flank and routed another one. Ian did manage to Rout his own unit after shooting, but took another of Mark's bases in the process. It was a competition between me and Mark as to who could lose the quickest!

Russ had finally (bear in mind this was around halfway through the battle) got his troops within touching distance of the enemy. Namely the foot who'd popped over the hedge to kill our cannon. His Scottish horse (which we later discovered to be armed with pointy sticks and riding Shetland ponies when they came up against half-decent cavalry) hit Ian's foot on the flank and managed a bit of Routing back. This created a huge hole between Ian's main line and his right flank - which we thought the Scottish horse could exploit.

Our sole successful attack at this stage - Scots cavalry get a flank attack in.

Mark as ever was full of advice and telling myself and Russ what to do - which usually resulted in making things worse. As Russ said "What you're saying is 'I've killed all my men - now let me kill yours!'". This included the incident where Russ' Scottish horse reached the hedge after driving off the Commanded Foot. Prudence told him to get his troops over en masse but Mark (the little devil on his shoulder) encouraged him to go for a flank attack with just one unit and a supporting unit on its left. Ian rolled a 1 (what a shock!)so was not Shaken, polished off the attacking unit and the supporting unit (being on the left) was also open to shooting from the attacked units and was promptly shot to bits.

Scottish horse charge the flank. Note the supporting unit that gets shot to ribbons as they're to the defender's front. Cheers, Mark!

So at this stage it was looking terrible for us. We'd thrown away a numerical advantage, were getting pounded on both flanks and (worringly) the Scottish infantry would arrive at the ditch outnumbered and the opposition would have cover bonuses from the hedge. Oh dear.

Mark making a complete hash of the right wing as the Scottish infantry finally arrive

The Royalist cavalry chop away at the Parliamentarians.

We were looking for a miracle at this stage. Mark had already tried his 'carpe diem' approach with his own and Russ's troops and again was the devil on Russ' shoulder compared to my angel on his other shoulder suggesting caution - encouraging Russ to go ploughing in. This was not helped by his comment "If you pull your finger out and roll decent dice we can still win this".

We were long way from Mark's original comment "I'm going to smack him here and roll up his line". This now seemed highly unlikely as he'd already lost half his command.

But when Russ rolled a 5 for hits, Ian would roll a 6. Indeed, once the Scots infantry had piled in and started causing morale checks on the Royalist line, Ian delivered rolls of 3,4,4,4 on a d4 to remove all Shaken markers. Mark checked for a pentangle and sacrificed goat under Ian's chair. I suggested he'd had the dice in the oven as well as the pizza as more 6's were delivered in quick succession.

Even more to our chagrin were Mark's helpful suggestions to our opponent like "Why isn't your general in the front line" - which was gratefully received and (in the subsequent melee) used to kill another of Mark's generals. "When you give us advice our troops die, and when you give him advice our troops die!" quoth Russ. He was also bemoaning the quality of his Scottish horse who seemed to crumble as soon as they contacted any enemy. At least twice he'd hit one on the flank, and both times had lost.

But the darkest hour comes before the dawn. My foot support finally arrived on the left flank - as did the Scottish dragoons - and not before time. My left flank now consisted of Lancaster, one cannon one horse unit and one Commanded Foot. They quickly helped stabilise the left flank and started pressuring Ian's right.

In the centre, the Scottish foot closed (mostly) to the hedge and made their frame guns count. After several volleys it was clear that Russ was pouring more fire in than he was receiving and (as most of his units were butted up against the hedge) were getting the same cover bonuses.

Finally the Scots infantry arrive and start banging away.

My foot arrive (as do the Scots dragoons) and immediately make a difference as the Scottish horse leap the hedge .

It didn't feel like it but the tide was turning. Mark's foot had also got up into battle and were providing some stability (although some units of Royalist horse were running around in our rear on pursuit. But the weight of fire in the centre (especially Russ making better morale rolls than Ian - for a change) was making a difference. But not just Russ. In an unprecedented move, Lancaster (to prevent being charged in the flank) had to charge Prince Rupert and somehow held on. In the subsequent move the last remaining Commanded Shot charged and Routed a Royalist gun then went on to charge Rupert in the rear forcing him to retire Shaken as a Scottish horse charged and routed a Royalist horse unit of its own. Suddenly the left was looking rosier, especially as the Scottish dragoons managed to charge their counterparts and forced them to retire.

Commanded Shot charge Rupert in the rear.

Scottish dragoons charge in.

Shaken markers abound as the main lines clash

A messenger speeds towards the Royalist cavalry as do the Parliamentarians.

As my foot swung around we contacted more enemy units. Rupert (while running away) issued an attack order for the remaining Royalists on our left but it remained to be seen if there would be any left by the time the order arrived. We simply aimed to get to grips as quickly as possible and get our Scottish dragoons in.

The Royalists charge and face a determined enemy.

The order did arrive but only the general managed to charge in. Only to lose and bounce from the dragoons with shooting accounting for the other cavalry.

Aftermath - general in retreat and another unit lost.

In all the chaos our lone cannon had been banging away at a Royalist unit that had foolishly exposed its flank to it. Subsequently the gun reduced the strength of the unit each turn and forced it to go Shaken nearly every turn as well. So the cannons did make some form of difference.

Away on the right, a desperate melee was underway with Mark's general and foot engaging Ian's general and cavalry. Ian managed some outrageous saves and kept his general in the fight AND inflicting damage despite fighting at a major disadvantage.

The left wing is finally secured

The left wing now clear (as Russ' cavalry did a bit of mopping up and Rupert made for the centre) we now had to wait for orders from the C in C to now engage the centre. Time was getting on however - in the battle and real life.

More pounding in the centre - surely something must give soon?

We thought it would be 5 or so turns until the left wing reached the centre - and the centre conflict itself would be resolved before that. Russ had been pouring in (thanks to frame guns) roughly twice the firepower and it was telling. Ian was only just making Morale rolls and any big rolls threatened Routs. But he was still strong on his left (our right) so the result was inconclusive. We'd certainly lost more but we also had at least 4 foot units undamaged and some cavalry on the left that could get in behind. Similarly, Ian had inflicted whopping casualties on us but (with his right open) he was looking to be in a parlous position. But he'd also killed off around 5 generals (including Cromwell).

As a consequence and given that it was approaching 9pm in the battle clock, we thought it likely that the Royalists could retire in the dusk before our left could engage their centre and assuming the Scottish centre would find it hard to pursue as they'd have to cross the hedge and ditch.

Aftermath
The post-mortem decreed that Ian had managed his resources very well but our general rustiness with POW had meant that we'd made some basic mistakes. Leading with the infantry on the flanks with supporting cavalry would have led to a completely different battle. The Royalist horse would have been reluctant to attack pike and shot in a direct charge - and would leave their flanks exposed should this happen. Therefore we could have expected to bash in the flanks. Once this occurred, Ian would have had to strip his centre to protect his flanks - and Russ' superior firepower and numbers would have told there.

A crucial roll was losing my dragoons on a 20 in the first morale test. My flank would have been more secure and my cavalry more intact than they otherwise were.

We were also rash in making charges with unsupported troops. If we learnt anything here it was a) keep your flanks secure and b) don't let your troops get isolated.

I certainly need more POW experience but making stupid mistakes is often the best way to learn. And boy, did we make some stupid mistakes.

Pendraken 10mm Ancients new additions

2012-01-11T20:05:00.000Z

I quite like Pendraken's 10mm figures (mainly for the price but they do have some units that look good). But a lot of their ranges have left a lot to be desired and usually come in just one pose (not ideal for 'realistic' battle lines).

However, I suspect they have a new sculptor on board as their new range of 10mm mid-Republican Romans look much better - and they now offer a variety of poses in each set.

I've ordered some (notably the Italian allies that can double as opponents for early Roman expansion in the DBA campaign) but also to buy some hastati and principes as they look so much better than my original Pendraken ones.

Principes (or possibly hastati)

Triarii

Cavalry with Tribune (or possibly Consul)

Anyway, if you like 10mm ancients (who doesn't!) check them out here.

Elephants, chariots and scythes, oh my!

2012-01-11T19:50:00.002Z

As a lead up to the Ancients DBA campaign, I'm rapidly getting through the necessary forces required for the battles (if any) that occur. As at least two empires will have access to the grey juggernauts and at least one will have access to heavy chariots, I finally got around to finishing off the unpainted units that have sat in a box for at least 2 years!

So here they are. The bases are yet to be completed and I need to finish off the drivers, mahouts and javelinmen / archers for the elephants but you get the idea.

I decided to do each in a different colour - to add variety to the field and prevent confusion in DBA as to who owns what.

As they're done, I also thought I'd have a quick look at the FOG army lists to see how these bad boys stack up on the field (to see if they're worth using in my FOG Macedonian / Seleucid / Successor etc. armies.

Macedonian elephants are Average, Undrilled and come 2 bases to a BG. They cost a whopping 25 points per base so a BG weighs in at 50 points. For the same currency, you can have 8 bases of Average, Protected Drilled pike (8 bases x 6 points) so the equivalent of a pike BG. But throw in that they get + POA against virtually everything, are great for scaring off cavalry and non-spear foot then they're certainly worth a try. Given that I only have 3 so far I may have to invest in another set of 3 from Magister Militum to

Scythed chariots are Average, Undrilled and come in at 15 points a base (so 60 points for a standard BG). They are tempting as they are literally a 'fire and forget' weapon. Line them up, point them at the opponents battle line and let 'em go! They are expected to be lost so don't count against you in terms of Victory Points. They get a + POA at impact AND melee against most units (except Steady spear / pike) so they can be used against against warbands, hastati and opposing cavalry etc. with impunity - but only in open terrain. So if you're facing scythed chariots then making the use of any terrain to block their progress into your main troops would be advised. They're certainly worth a trial but would probably prefer a block of pike or hoplites (or cavalry) for the points value.

How to play Field of Glory AND a battle report!

2012-01-08T14:00:00.000Z

I once tried to do a guide to playing FOG but found it difficult to illustrate each section of the battle process.

But as we were setting up for a battle last night it struck me that the best way to show how to play FOG is to show a battle from start to finish.

So here it is. We used the army lists from Immortal Fire. Ian and myself were the Greek hoplite army and Mark and Russ took on the Late Persians.

Initiative
Both armies had Troop Commanders as their generals so we both rolled a d6 with no modifier (an Inspired commander like Hannibal would add +2 to the roll). The Persians rolled 5, the Greeks 6 so we won the initiative.

Rolling for Terrain
As we won the initiative we got to choose the terrain. We went for Agricultural so we could limit the impact of the Persian cavalry.

Referring to the army lists (Persians).

We chose vineyards, plantations and enclosed fields for this purpose (which would slow any except light foot) and aimed to have these on the flanks of the army. Terrain deployment is random (using d6 to see where to compulsory and selected pieces actually end up - and the opposition have the opportunity to move or remove the pieces depending on the dice roll).

For our scenery, one piece was removed (a lucky 6 on the dice) and the Persians managed to get some open spaces on their left flank and a road down the middle (which no-one used!). The keys to the battle can be seen below - the gentle hill and vineyard on the left of the battlefield which proved crucial.

The battlefield after deployment.

Initial setup
As the Persians lost the initiative they had to place the first third of their army on the field (light troops no more than 15 inches from their back edge, mediums and heavy troops no more than 10 inches from the rear edge). This gave the Greeks an edge as we could align our troops more effectively and plan better for their approach to the battle. This also led to the Persians placing their cavalry at the rear so they could choose the flank which they could attack from.

So we both laid out our thirds of armies in turn. As the Greek army is made up of three contingents (Spartans, Corinthians and Athenians) we set up each contingent in turn.

The Persians had an advantage here. The Greek generals had to stay with their own troops and could not influence other contingents. Persian generals could be moved freely from unit to unit and could influence any Persian unit. As use of generals is crucial for playing FOG, this did give the Persians a slight edge.

Persian setup. Light troops at the front, spears in the middle , cavalry (unusually) at the rear.

Greek setup. A long line of hoplites, no cavalry and three lots of light troops in front.

Opening moves
As with any battle, you need a plan (preferably before or during setup based on your army's strengths and weaknesses - and of course your opponents strengths and weaknesses). You need to see where your troops Points of Advantage (POA's) will count against your opponents. In our case, the best troops we had were our Spartan Citizens - we had to get them in against their spears

Our main fear was the massed (and meaty) Persian cavalry so we'd decided to put the Corinthians on the left to protect that flank while the Athenians were to hold the right. Apart from at Impact cavalry don't do well against spears so (unless they were swamped) we hoped that our long line would restrict their freedom of movement (as we had nothing that could chase cavalry around should they get behind us).

This would leave our Superior, Armoured Spartans to contest the middle with the less well armed Persian spears and mercenary hoplites.

The other problem we had was that heavy foot only move at 3" which means they take a long time to get anywhere. To combat this we had the skirmishers go out in front and attached commanders to each battle line to allow the hoplites to move twice each turn (as they were outside of 6" range of the opposition). This meant we could close to the Persians hopefully before the cavalry could emerge from the rear of their ranks).

As we'd won the initiative, the Greeks moved forward in lines - the Corinthians aiming to crest the gentle hill and take ownership of the vineyard mentioned above with the light troops and holding the flank with their hoplites.

In return, the Persian skirmishers and spears moved forward and the Persian cavalry decided to move to their right flank. This is not as easy as it sounds. They first had to turn as individual Battle Groups (BG's), then create a battle line to allow them to move as a group. The Persians had the same idea as us and attached a general to allow double movement as they too were outside 6" of our troops).

The Persians get their cavalry on the move.

The Greeks continued to move forward in order to close the gap to the Persian line with double moves. We also closed the gap between our skirmisher BG's (Spartan and Athenian) so they could provide mutual support.

A point to note here - the Greek skirmishers (apart from the Athenian archers) were in BG's of 8 bases compared to the Persian BG's of 6 bases. When shooting at each other, the Greeks had a major advantage as they got more shooting dice than the Persians and were harder to reduce in cohesion levels. The Greeks only need 2 hits from 4 dice to force a test - the Persians need 3 hits from 3 dice to do the same.

The Corinthians on the far side get in position to rush the vineyard as the rest of the Greeks push forward.

The Persian cavalry move did mean that a large proportion of their army was going to be out of the battle for a bit - all the more incentive to get the Spartans and Athenians stuck in (the Athenians being free to attack as the Persian cavalry was clearly going to the other flank). This meant that potentially we could get 7-8 BG of hoplites into just 3BG of Persian spears and hoplites. Getting more BG's than your opponent into the battle gives a crucial advantage - more dice for melee and any hits against you are spread across multiple BG's. This means you are much more likely to win a melee, force cohesion tests and kill bases.

Mark tries to get out of Dodge as he sees the massed Greeks making straight for him as the
Persian Light horse enter the vineyard.

Seeing the huge mass of hoplites coming his way he decided to try to refuse his flank and bend the line away from them. Not as easy as it sounds. All he could do was turn the line 180 degrees and wheel away (leaving his skirmishers to screen them as they did),

Russ meanwhile moved his light horse into the vineyard to deny it to the Corinthian skirmishers. But by doing so they became Severely Disordered (putting them at a huge disadvantage should any combat take place). Any troops except for Light Foot suffer in most terrain - especially those making going difficult - like a vineyard.

In the subsequent turn, the first combat takes place. The Athenian archers get a couple of hits on the Persian slingers and as the nearest general is a Troop Commander, attached to the battle line and over 4" away he can't influence their cohesion test - which they fail and go Disrupted. This makes them a prime target for charging as any BG in combat with them fights at an advantage. This is the way to use skirmishers - get hits to lower cohesion then charge the disrupted unit.

Disrupted slingers - and the Greek skirmishers get ready to charge.

Both Athenian archers and Spartan javelinmen are allowed to charge the Persian slingers - and do so. The slingers evade (throwing a 6 for their Complex Move Test) and so evading 7". As this takes them into the Persian line they are allowed a further 2" to get clear and line up behind the mercenary hoplites. The charging skirmishers also have to make a CMT move. The archers make a normal move but the javelins roll a 1 and only move 3" - so they fail to move far enough to impact the Persian archers on the other side.

A classic evade. The Persian slingers end up behind their battle line and variable CMT's mean the Greek skirmish line is broken up.

The battle so far - the Greeks press forward as the Persian cavalry forms a horsey-train and has to wind around the vineyard - which means it will be a long time before they can get round the back of the Greeks.

To save the slingers, Mark attached a general to them in the Joint Action Phase with a view to bolstering them and getting them back in the fray. This left the Persian archers on their own - and these were charged again by the Spartan javelinmen. The archers evaded in turn - leaving the Greek skirmishers free to have a pop at the Persian line. At the same time the Athenians were running out of room and started having to wheel to threaten the Persian line.

The Greek skirmishers can act without hindrance as the Athenians bend towards the Persians.

On the other side of the battlefield the battle for the vineyard was ongoing. Ian had moved his skirmishers slightly to the side which gave us the added advantage that the Persian cavalry had to go even further to get around them and also meant that as the skirmishers were within 6" of the cavalry they could not move twice this turn. Which was nice.

Skirmishers forcing massed cavalry to swerve.

But the main action was in the centre. The hoplites had reached the rear of their own skirmishers so we had to decide what to do with the light troops. We could evade them out of the way or let them have another pop at the Persian line - which is what we decided to do. The Corinthian skirmishers meanwhile - ignoring the huge block of cavalry next to them - jumped into the vineyard to attack the Severely Disordered light horse. Outnumbering them 2:1, they had a great chance to damage them. The Persians agreed and evaded them out - leaving the Corinthians owners of their very own vineyard. Which meant that the cavalry still had to keep their distance to get a double move. We could see that our battle lines were likely to converge before the cavalry got into our rear - and if we could get in quick it could all be over before they did.

Cointhians skirmishers challenge for the vineyard as their hoplites arrive at last.

The Persians also decided to move their archers back to stop the javelins having free throws at the Persian Crescent Shields by the vineyard. They were just charged again and ran away again!

Persian archers make another brief appearance before running off...

There they go! As do the Persian light horse.

The Athenian line was in danger of getting in the way of the Spartans so we contracted both BG's so they'd have the space to attack the Persian line. Meanwhile the Greek skirmishers were again sending in uncontested shots - but were also preventing the Greek foot from getting stuck in. Meanwhile the Corinthians (being undrilled foot) were finding it hard to turn one of their BG's to face the oncoming cavalry as the other ploughed on beyond the vineyard to take on the Crescent Shields.

Athenians contract BG's to get to grips

The Greek line is now well within charge distance - but their own skirmishers are in the way.

The skirmishers being there was enough to force tests along the Persian line to stop them charging the skirmishers. One failed and went for the javelinmen (who promptly scarpered behind their own line) and meant that they unfortunately (for them) impacted two Greek hoplite BG's. This was in a staggered line (as they came in at the same angle as the skirmishers they were chasing (sorry, no photo as I was so focused on the action!). As they hit at an angle each base had to step forward 2" meaning they pretty much all impacted.

The Persians lost the impact but passed the cohesion test and the death roll. So it got down to the melee. Here they did less well, Fighting two BG's - one of which was Armoured Superior Spartan Citizens - they were fighting at a -- POA (which means they needed 5 or 6 to hit while the hoplites facing them needed just 3 or more to hit. The result was 6 to 2 in the Greeks favour - meaning that the Persians lost a base and needed a cohesion test at lots of minuses (more hits than received, more than 1 hit per 2 bases from close combat, more than 1 reason to test etc). Mark didn't disappoint and threw a double 1 - meaning they dropped a whopping two cohesion levels and went straight to Fragmented.

The lines conform after impact.

A lost base, Fragmented - and facing the Spartans. Your basic Persian nightmare.

This in terms of the battle had pretty much sealed the deal - although there was still a lot of fighting to do. But with the centre of the Persian line in disarray (as is often the case in FOG) there was little hope for the remaining Persian foot because a unit breaking will not only force cohesion tests on nearby troops but also means the possibility of being burst through by retreating troops (forcing more cohesion tests).

We also took the opportunity to charge our Corinthians into the Persian Crescent Shields. Mark had considered charging the Spartans earlier but risked impacting two BG's again. This way he got charged but as the Spartans were tied up with the Fragmented Persians and so couldn't break off. So the Persians would be fighting (albeit briefly) at an advantage here as they had an overlap in any melee which would take place.

Ian also moved the skirmishers in the vineyard to threaten the Crescent Shields flank while his remaining Corinthian hoplites moved to protect the flank against the massed Persian cavalry. They just needed to hold them up as the Spartans finished off the centre.

The Corinthians are a small army but make a huge difference. Holding the flank against twice their number!

The Corinthians lost the impact, made the cohesion test but lost a base. This wasn't too bad as Ian had stacked the BG up in 3 base depth. Offensive spears (and indeed most spear armed troops) get a bonus for being in 2 or more base depth. Being in 3 ranks meant that they still retained the 2 base depth despite losing a base. On the other flank the Athenians ignored the ineffectual fire from the Persian archers in front of them (much to Mark's chagrin) and continued to plough forward with the Persian hoplites at the back as their target. The Persian cavalry moved forward around the Corinthians - but the Greeks had done the job. The Persians only hope now was to get their cavalry into the rear of the Spartans and Athenians. But they had a long way to go (thanks to the Corinthians) and unless the Persian line could hold the Greeks, the cavalry (unlike in the Westerns) wouldn't get there in time.

Athenians line up the mercenary hoplites as the Spartans chop up the others.

One point to note here - the mercenary hoplites were fighting at a --POA in the melee and one base fought without rear support. As they were Fragmented as well this meant that the mercenaries lost one dice in two (rounded up) so they had 4 dice to fight the 10 dice of the Spartans and all at --POA (meaning the Spartans needed 3+ to hit, the mercenaries 5+). And the Spartan Citizens could also re-roll 1's as they were Superior. The Persians decided to commit their 4 dice to the centre meaning that the Average Spartans on both sides got free hits on the mercenaries. Indeed, they had an extra addvantage over the single base (as it had no rear rank) but no POA can exceed ++.

The massed Persian cavalty - and the lone Corinthians make them go the long way around. Ian also moved the skirmishers in the vineyard around to threaten the light horse.

The Persian hoplites crumble - another base lost in close combat.

The Persian hoplites lost another base in close combat and needed a miracle to survive. It wasn't forthcoming and they went Broken. This was very bad news for the Persians in general as the Spartans could now push forward to support the Corinthians to tackle the Crescent Shields as well as the Athenians against the mercenary hoplites.

Mercenary hoplites go Broken - meaning the Spartans can push through en masse.

The Hoplites fall back Broken and the Spartans pursue but fail to catch them. As the General was attached to the mercenaries in an attempt to bolster them, he has to go with the Broken troops.

The Broken hoplites caused a cohesion test on the Crescent Shields (as they were within 3" of them when they broke) and failed - dropping them to Disrupted (not good as the Spartans could now charge them). The only good thing for the Persians was that the Broken troops just failed to reach them in their rout - so they were not (yet) burst through and dropped in cohesion.

The Corinthians and Spartans start bullying the Crescent Shields.

The Spartans did indeed charge in and inflicted more hits on the Crescent Shields. The consequence was that in the Cohesion test they needed a whopping 11 to avoid dropping to Fragmented. So Mark through a 12! Much celebration on the Persian side!

Voldemort celebrates his double 6.

Double six! Mark's deal with the Devil pays dividends.

Then came the melee. This was crucial because if the Crescent Shields could be seen off, then the Persians only had 1 BG of spears and an undefended camp against 6 BG of offensive spears.

Therefore the Persians chucked their General into the front line to raise the average Crescent Shields up to Superior. In turn, Ian put his General in - raising the Corinthians to Superior as well. But it was still two BG to 1 the Greeks favour.

Generals in the front rank to raise troop quality.

The danger of placing generals in the front rank is that you run the risk of losing them. If you lose the combat you need a 12 on 2d6 to kill the opposition general (which Mark didn't) but as we won we needed only 11+ to kill theirs. Cue me throwing double 6 and cutting him down where he stood!

Right back at you! Say goodbye to the general.

The Crescent Shields also lose the melee - oh dear.

Losing the melee and their general was bad news. Although the Corinthians had lost two bases, the Spartans made the difference and were slowly overwhelming the Crescent Shields. It was only a matter of time. But where was the Persian cavalry? Still trying to get around the Corinthian hoplites (as the Spartan javelinmen also moved to create another buffer between the cavalry and the main Greek line. The Crescent Shields were making this academic though as they went Fragmented and were likely to go Broken next turn.

All over in the middle. The Crescent Shields are now Fragmented against two BG's. Game over man, game over!

Time caught up with us but it was clear the way this was going to end. The last line of Persian spears now faced 7 BG of Offensive Spears and the camp was open. There were 2 BG of skirmishers around but these were unlikely to stop the forces facing them. The cavalry were miles away and had to negotiate a couple of BG's to get involved.

So a solid Greek win beckoned.

Aftermath

Mark bemoaned the fact that their skirmishers were ineffective given their BG base numbers and the number of skirmishers did not reflect a typical Persian army. However, were were working off 600 points each and the resulting forces had to reflect the make up of the armies. Our view was that the cavalry starting from the rear meant (as happened) that they would take time to get involved. Splitting the cavalry onto both flanks would have meant us committing more troops to the flanks and the fight in the centre would have been a lot closer.

Mark also suggested that the light horse and skirmishers were ineffective. To be fair, he was right with 6 base BG's against 8 base - the advantage is always with the bigger BG's. But light horse can be very effective at tying up other cavalry and also riding around the back and capturing camps (which the Persians could have) or harrying troops with missile fire - especially against a slow army like the Greeks.

Anyway - there you have it. Hope it makes FOG novices understand the rules a bit better.

FOG battle report - Ancient Spanish vs Carthage

2012-01-02T14:24:00.001Z

Just found the photos to this so decided to do a quick battle report.

Mark and Russ took the Carthos, I took the Spanish. As Russ had adjusted his army list I needed every single unit of Spanish to make up the 690 points, and the battlefield looked very crowded as a result.

The last time I'd used the Spanish I'd just rushed Russ' lines with massed skirmishers then scutari which had overwhelmed his lines and led to a fast, major victory.

This time I decided to play a cagier game and used the flexibility and mobility to what I thought might be my advantage. But having lots of undrilled troop on the field often means failed CMT's - and so it proved for me.

This was Mark's 2nd game of FOG and he rightly told us off for playing too quickly (i.e. running through the phases of play without explaining why certain things were happening). We'll try to do better next time.

So to the battle. We rolled for terrain and I managed to adjust the pieces to put lots of tricky terrain between me and the Carthos (like vineyards and steep hills) that would negate his elephants and African spears. I decided to place skirmishers in any tricky terrain so they could dash in and out then be protected from any counter attacks.

Spanish lines - most of my cavalry on the left with hordes of skirmishers and scutari in the middle and right.

Carthos - cavalry and African spears in the middle, skirmishers holding the cultivated land on their right.

Mark played a trump card by having his cavalry in the middle - allowing them to choose which side to strike on. My idea was to have most of my cavalry on my left to attack the Cartho flanks if they came forward. But they decided to just stay where they were - taking most of the battle to move the African spears around the rear of their lines (from left to right flank). Meaning I'd have to be the agressive party.

The massed Spanish ranks press forward over rough terrain as the Carthaginians just wait to see what happens.

My massed ranks therefore pressed forward and looked to gain as much rough terrain as possible.

Slingers jump into an enclosed field for protection as the light horse stream past to harry the Cartho left flank.

The Carthos look to move their African spears to their right flank - so I decide to harry the elephants with my caetrati.

As my cavalry were massed on my left, the Carthos decided to move their African spears from their left flank to their right. Had I been in position this would have been a great time to attack as the scutari are impact foot and could have pushed the Cartho front line back into the slow moving spears. However, only my caetrati were close enough and I had them have a go at the elephants instead.

Spanish cavalry threaten the flanks.

As the African spears were moving across, my cavalry were rushing forward but had to negotiate a field - making the journey longer and giving the Carthos time to get organised. Mark make good use of his commanders - getting double moves in while screened to get the spears in position. But it did mean that I was forcing him to move around and so keeping the initiative with the Spanish on both flanks.

My light horse try to get in on the act - forcing the Carthos to bring their cavalry out.

What I hadn't done was have my troops in position to exploit this advantage - my medium foot were still coming over the hill and between the tricky terrain in the middle of the battlefield. Had I been able to hit them from all sides at this point, it could have been carnage. As it was (mainly me failing CMT's) the Carthos got themselves sorted out before I could exploit.

General overview - the African spears are still manouvering but only half my skirmishers are anywhere near and the medium foot are way back (you can see some coming over the hill). The Carthos have committed some cavalry to chase off my light horse so I have to move some medium foot to the right to protect the flank.

My caetrati managed to get some shots in on the elephants but were threatened in turn by the Cartho cavalry . At the bottom you can see some medium foot moving to protect the flanks as yet more stream forward over the hill.

Close up of my right flank. Some medium foot in position and more skirmishers pour forward to support the javelins attacking the elephants. I just hope weight of numbers makes the Carthos think before committing the cavalry.

On my left flank, more medium foot move forward to swing around and attack the Cartho right flank (as skirmishers aim to use the fields and trees as cover to make shoot and scoot attacks.

The first real combat - my skirmishers take on the Cartho skirmishers in a number of charges with the aim of decimating their skirmishing line. One is already disrupted from receiving missile fire.

On the right wing, all kinds of chaos as my light horse are scared off but supporting units aim to get close enough to count.

On my left - the plan unfolds (badly). I moved the cavalry too close to the spears - otherwise my medium foot could have hit them on the flank. Otherwise its a good position as my skirmishers are forcing the mercenary scutari - who are shock troops - to charge them (with my medium troops ready to hit them when they enter the terrain).

In the middle, my massed troops break a number of skirmishing units who run for the hills. The Carthos commit some generals to bringing them back - so an ideal time for another scrap! We try to kill the elephants and tempt the Gauls into a charge (thereby allowing my medium foot to charge in turn).

On the left, the elephants are in trouble as a consequence of massed missile fire and are ready for the coup de grace. Medium foot (in the middle of the picture) look to swing round and hit the cavalry chasing my light horse in the flank.

Meanwhile my slingers got caught outside of their protective field and got mushed.

The battle continued until time caught up with us. The spears were allowed to charge my cavalry who were allowed to break off after the initial combat. Looking across the battlefield we could see that the Spanish had routed three units of Carthos in return for 1 Spanish so we called it a minor Spanish victory. But it was a bit clunky and next time I might just rush them all in at the same time rather than use the fancy moves I tried before.

Still, as always it was a lot of fun and Mark got some more FOG experience - which is always good for you!

Hoplites : Spartans completed

2012-01-02T13:58:00.000Z

As part of the run up to the ancients campaign I'm trying to get all my unpainted 10mm ancient armies painted up. First up should have been the Gauls but I fancied knocking out some Greeks first as these would for the basis of at least two warring empires armies.

So I decided to do 20 bases of Spartan hoplites first (as these will also form the core of any FOG Greek army I need to face off Russ' Persians.

They were pretty easy to do - the shield designs for the Athenian and other Greek states will prove a little bit trickier I'm sure. I've tried transfers but don't like the effect that much and prefer doing my own. The Athenians and other states (Corinthians?) will have their own general with entourage - here the Spartan general is in bright red to match his troops core colour.

Anyway - here they are...

Battle Report - Battle of Hastings

2012-01-01T23:19:00.001Z

Ian put on a small battle for the boys between Christmas and New Year - which turned out to be the Battle of Hastings. It looked a very simple and drab affair - but proved to be anything but.

No photos I'm afraid. Not only did my son borrow the camera and not recharge the batteries, he also managed to delete the one photo I'd taken of the battlefield. Kids!

Anyway, myself and John took the Saxons and Mark and Russ took the Normans. It was using a set of house rules that focused on disordering units - as disorder increased, units became less able to fight or indeed do anything else, and also became a magnet for non-disordered units to charge them. It was also a timed battle (each order and fight added 5 minutes and this soon added up!). We decided that by 7pm it would be too dark to carry on fighting and it was the Normans job to clear the hill by that time.

The Normans made judicious use of archers and cavalry to create a hole in our right flank on the hill and only throwing in our reserves prevented the line from collapsing, Units would charge in at an advantage but soon find themselves increasingly disordered and get battered in their turn. Much of the Norman cavalry (including a general) were lost this way, at a high cost in huscarls.

Eventually the pressure told and the Normans got through on the right flank in numbers. It looked like they'd easily roll down the flank so we decided to make a charge of our own - with the left flank of Saxons charging the rightmost Normans and archers and inflicting plenty of damage in our turn.

This was matched by a brave Saxon charge - led by Harold himself - to clear the hill of Normans. This was quite successful - William had to get involved to save the day and we came within an ace of killing him. But the charge also resulted in many huscarls stuck in the woods and disordered. We had the chance of getting Harold out of the way into the same woods but left him on top of the hill where he was charged by every Norman unit in range. He fought bravely but was cut down with victory in sight.

There was still much to do as the clock ticked down. With the Normans disordered another charge off the hill was called for and it resulted in killing most of the Norman infantry - and then rushed back up the hill to create a defensive line. We only had one general left but he could still keep the troops together and the Normans realised they did not have enough time to make any major impact.

Result

Ian as ref called it as a minor Saxon victory. Historically there were reinforcements on the way and as long as there were Saxons still around it was felt that the Normans could not have pushed on to London without claiming the day. We had more units on the table than the Normans (albeit many were in the woods) and as we still held the wood, the day was ours.

A great little battle and I'd love to have a crack at doing the Normans next time. The lads have played this a couple of times and it seems the result is different every time.

Thanks for Ian for hosting - and no mention of the fun we had actually trying to find his new house (with the sat nav taking us to a farmyard 300 yards away!).

A Merry Christmas? Not with a teenager in the house...

2011-12-24T15:32:00.002Z

I'm currently using Christmas Eve to paint some Greeks and keep from my temper as my teenage son is displaying all the usual traits of his kind - being stroppy, argumentative, bullying his younger brother (and claiming not to have done anything when challenged), being rude me and his mother, being lazy and generally making life as hard as possible for everyone else. No doubt tomorrow he will be briefly happy while receiving his Christmas loot then revert to type as soon as the last present is unwrapped.

They say we were all the same when we were his age - but I don't think so. It may be me but today's teenagers seem to be constantly demanding - of money, things and 'respect' - yet seem to give very little if anything in return.

You can say 'blame the parents' but we've aimed to bring him up the right way and be strict and kind in equal measure - and get nothing but grief in return.

Maybe Christmas Day will be different - but I doubt it.

Anyway, hope yours will be more fun that ours! Have a good one, everyone!

How to alienate your neighbours

2011-12-21T00:14:00.000Z

Not a wargames story but I suppose amusing.

To set the scene. We live in a semi-detached house with two (unconnected) brick walls separating our property. Over these walls a huge block of ivy has been allowed to grow (from the neighbour's side). This has found its way into our shed (which backs onto the wall) and pulled up some of the roofing felt.

Mrs B asked me to replace said felt. To fold it over I had to push back some of the ivy overhanging our shed roof. As I did so I heard the unmistakable sound of bricks falling onto concrete. I immediately stopped and popped next door to advise them of impending doom. This done I returned to the shed to attach the felt to the roof.

No sooner had I done so that a creaking sound was heard as the weight of ivy won against the old rickety fence attached to the wall. It fell away - and took down half of the neighbour's wall with it! Once the dust had settled I surveyed the damage and concluded that it was a disaster waiting to happen. The ivy had pushed into the gap between the walls and was both pulling the wall down yet holding it up at the same time. The push back from the shed was simply the merest catalyst to set the whole thing tumbling.

We now have a much better view of the neighbour's garden, a brighter back garden of our own - and no doubt an angry neighbour bent on revenge!

Ho hum!

Macedonians vs Indians! FOG battle report

2011-12-21T00:03:00.001Z

Russ came over this evening for a FOG bash before unleashing the rules on the guys on Thursday. We seem to be getting to grips with the rules as we got a result within a couple of hours.

Russ brought his Classical Indians so I took on the standard Alexandrian Macedonian army. Unusually Alexander lost the initiative and Russ set out the terrain with the aim of having a nice open area. With my slow moving pike and spears I was looking for a busy battlefield with lots of chunky terrain. I was the luckier of the two.

I had to set up first and had my pike nestle between two vineyards. Russ countered with his elephants leading the charge with his archers bringing up the rear in an experimental set up.

His chariots came down his right flank and cavalry down the left. My Companion cavalry countered his chariots and I also loaded up my Thessalian heavy cavalry on my left as well leaving the light horse to take on his cavalry on the right).

View from Russ' side of the table.

My massed cavalry have the chariots in their sights. So Russ did a 90 degree turn and took them out of harms way.

The Macedonian skirmishers rush forward to take on the elephants. Note Russ's right wing moving to counter my cavalry (otherwise his flanks are exposed.

The chariots move towards the main battle with the Macedonian cavalry turning in pursuit on the other side of the vineyard.

And there they are! The chariots soon execute a 180 degree turn to face the right way as the foot move in support.

The elephants scare off the Macedonian skirmishers. The pike, hoplites and hypaspists all try to charge at the same time but two 1's mean that two BG's fail to make the distance! Ah crap!

Luckily the elephants' charge is blunted and comes in piecemeal and the massed spears manage to inflict cohesion tests on the elephants. Russ angles his archers on his right to get them in a position to shoot at my hoplites on my right.

The problem with Average elephants. A failed death roll sees one BG break, and the archers behind failed their cohesion test. The surviving elephant breaks through the Disrupted archers and they go Fragmented. Then the pursuing hoplites manage to contact them and they go Broken. Two BG's lost in as many minutes.

On the other side its looking better for Russ. The Hypaspists are fighting elephants and swordsmen and lose an epic melee 6 hits to 5! They drop a level despite Alexander fighting right next to them.

But the elephants are losing numbers fast. Another unlucky death roll from Russ sees another Elephant BG break - and causes a chain-reaction of cohesion tests all down the line. This is where FOG gets brutal. Lost cohesion soon results in desperate situations.

More and more Indian BG's go broken - and the elephants make it worse by bursting through already Disrupted BG's (dropping to Fragnmented) - which are then contacted by charging pike and spears making them go Broken. The battle is won at this point. Russ has lost all three elephant BG's and two lots of Archers are broken. The rest is a mere formality as the Indian centre is crushed. To add insult to injury, Alexander bolsters the Hypaspists after they somehow won a melee against Elephants and Swordsmen while being Disrupted and a base down. Russ' dice let him down badly here.

The overhead view - the elephant shaped holes are easy to see. One lot of Indian archers has already lost 2 bases and is running for the hills. Another is broken and about to be charged by steady Pike. The Indian swords are now disrupted and facing steady Hypaspists with Alexander alongside them.

Elsewhere, the chariots and light spear had managed to hold up the Macedonian heavy cavalry but it was only a matter of time before they could clear the roadblock. On the other flank the Macedonian light horse were just holding on (and drew a couple of melees) while the Macedonian slingers were popping in hits in support.

Regardless though, the battle was already won.

We discussed tactics afterwards. We both agreed that the chariots were the stars of the show and worth investing in more in the future. The elephants power was affected by going in piecemeal. Perhaps if the archers had led the line it may have been different but the consensus was that the Macedonians are a tough prospect. Plenty of mobility with 3 lots of cavalry and a lot of central punching power with the pike. Not easy to fight against and - this time - the Indians proved this to be the case.

Thanks to Russ for coming over and being such a good sport. And its been great to get some more FOG in!

DBR Renaissance - ECW battle

2011-12-18T20:39:00.003Z

I'm lucky to have a next door neighbour, Mark, who also wargames (how rare a creature is that?). We were planning a FOG Renaissance battle but he put on a DBR one instead.

Not much to report - we were the Royalists, Russ and Paul the Parliamentarians. Not much to report on the battle - there was much luck and pluck on both sides and a final, desperate charge by my dragoons secured the victory by 1 point! Huzzah!

Anyway, some pretty pictures of the battle...

General overview - we're on the left.

My brave dragoons. I lost far too many by getting caught out of position by a flank attack.

Troops being spurred on with judiciously chosen words from The Good Book (Jamie Oliver's Christmas Cookbook)

It gets tasty as the lines converge.

We spot a gap between their ranks and line up the desperate charge.

Grand Armee - aka how to ruin Russ and John's evening

2011-12-18T20:29:00.000Z

Mark put on a little Grand Armee bash last Thursday - Poles trying to hold up the Austrians in a famous delaying action whose name I forgot instantly but involved myself and Mark trying to hold on against overwhelming odds.

The battlefield was dominated by the key feature - the river - which had only 2 crossing points (causeways more than bridges) and 2" either side was mud and slow going. Luckily we didn't have to play this historically (where the Poles started on the Austrians' side of the river then had to try and cross to safety before the Austrians mashed them up. Instead, using all our military strategic powers (when I say 'our', I mean 'mine' as Mark left deployment to me) we simply split the forces in two with a mobile reserve in the middle, cannons pointing down the causeways and infantry and cavalry poised to strike at anything daring to cross.

The plan worked like a dream. As the Austrians pushed forward on our right Mark transpired to roll 1,2,2 - which meant 'run away'. Luckily our mobile reserve rushed forward (with the C in C leading it by the nose) to close the causeway Mark had left open. Had the Austrians got across then it could have been the shortest Grand Armee battle in living memory. Luckily we held them up and Mark's troops sheepishly returned to their positions.

On our left my very fragile command structure was put to the test and one of my commands managed to go on the attack - then ran back when the Austrian cavalry showed up. We simply lined up the cannons on opposing banks and our superior shooting made their guns retire. This meant that Russ could either charge the causeway or continue to have his strength chipped away. He chose the former but running cavalry into grapeshot is not ideal and his numbers were whittled down - then the Polish cavalry attacked in turn. After much pushing and shoving the Austrian cavalry retired out of range - which suited me.

Russ and John found our disposition damned unsporting (a bit like Arsene Wenger complaining about teams who defended too deep thus preventing his team from playing pretty football). Historically it may have played differently (i.e. the Austrians could have caught us as we were trying to cross the river) - but given free disposition we did the sensible thing - as Russ and John would have had the boot been on the other foot.

John continued to pound away at Mark so we kept the C in C on his side of the battlefield to provide close control at the key point of the battle. Our strength was getting run down, but the opposition were suffering more and they eventually retired, leaving the Poles battered but unbowed.

For me and Mark - a happy victory. For Russ and John - a deeply frustrating one.

Our deployment - come and get it!

Mark showing off his new iPhone.

Russ and John. Look at their happy, smiley faces! How they're enjoying this experience!

The Austrians make their first foray on our right...

...and promptly scare off all Mark's troops! The brigade by the town is my reserve coming to the rescue by closing the bridge before the Austrians can cross.

In the nick of time we shut the door and the Austrians have to do it the hard way.

Which basically means dying in their hundreds in Polish mud as cannister and grape punch huge holes in their ranks. This is apparently how the battle ended up once the Poles had crossed to safety. Of course, if I'd been in charge...

The Happy General - I love it when a plan comes together!

The final push on our right. They just can't get through and jack it in.

DBA Campaign - some more components

2011-12-18T19:59:00.001Z

I thought we needed more 'tactile' elements to represent gold and food. And I also needed to create some ships to simulate waterborne invasions and trade.

I found some Pirate Gold Coins on the interweb and decided to use glass beads for food. No particular reason for the latter except they're easier to handle and count out than the pink pebbles.

The ships are hand made. Lolly sticks, rubber sheeting and matchsticks = ancient fleet!

2012 - the plans are finalised

2011-12-17T08:11:00.001Z

January : John to put on an Age of Sail campaign - culminating in the Glorious First of June. Plus Ian to put on a POW session.

February : Myself to run the DBA ancients campaign (gold coins already in place and Russ to organise an A2 ancients map).

March : Mark to organise a Spearhead campaign, andd another POW extravanganza to be staged by Ian.

April : Mark to stage a Grand Armee campaign - and a POW session.

May : Ian and John to stage a Victory at Sea campaign - with some POW on Saturdays.

June : Russ to stage some FOG battles - either Dark Ages or 100YW. And some POW.

We then spend some time in June planning the second half of the year - including planning for Gauntlet which could involve a POW game and something spectacular for Spearhead (like D-Day at Sword Beach).

Let the games begin!

Escape From Colditz

2011-12-17T07:58:00.001Z

As it was Christmas Night at Deeside Defenders, we not only discussed plans for next year but also had a go at Russ' Escape from Coldditz (£40 on Ebay).

I remembere this game from my early youth and wasn't looking forward to it much. But I was pleasantly suprised. I was the Poles, Jon the French, Mark the Dutch and Ian the plucky Brits.

We all grabbed our escape kit components then the serious business of planning began. I was the first to get a man out by rolling an outrageous 3 doubles on the trot and a high 4th roll giving me a whopping 37 moves. Using rope and wire cutters borrowed from Mark andd John, my man was down the wall and through the wire and well clear before Russ could get to shoot (and miss). Switzerland, here I come.

Russ' patrols led to full cells and an empty courtyard. Mark and John were busy on their tunnels while I was planning a daring foray through the front gate. It was John who went next though - running through his tunnel and away - but in his haste managed to collapse the tunnel which meant it couldn't be used again.

Mark also had his tunnel open - so I planned to use it to make a winning break for freedom. A total of 17 meant I could get clear unless Russ was incredibly lucky on the dice rolls. I poppedd to the loo - confident of victoty - and found on my return that Russ HAD been incredibly lucky. A double 6 and another good roll found my escapee in the cells and Mark desperately trying to get his own men out of the discovered tunnel before Russ bagged them all.

With both tunnels discovered we had to resort to starting new strategies. John played his Staff Car card - giving him 7 rolls of the dice from a point on the board - but three rolls of 5 meant he stopped just 3 spaces from victory. Ho ho ho.

But Colditz has 'Do or Die' cards (handed out and unseen by the players) which you play if you want to make a desperate run for it. As time was getting on I decided to play it - and found I hadd the best one in the deck (7 rolls). The first three rolls included a double 4 - so I was well clear in just 3 rolls and claimed the second 'Home Run' of the night.

It was a load of fun and nothing like my childhood memories. Thanks to Russ for playing the dastardly Germans and all the boys for making it a good night.

2012 - the plans

2011-12-05T12:29:00.001Z

During the DBMM debacle we spent a lot of time discussing plans for next year.

We all want to 'own' a month with our own campaign - for me it will be the DBA ancients, Russ is likely to do something either 100YW or Classical Indian based (possibly FOG as he has stated that Warmaster Ancients has the same effect on him that garlic has for out pointy-toothed Twilight friends). Ian will probably put on an ECW campaign (or a SYW or 30YW or .... well, it will be good, whatever it is).

Mark I don't know yet but he's clearly itching to put on a Spearhead (possibly Leningrad or the War in the Desert).

But there's so much more to look at. Grand Armee (with the potential for Ligny, Quatre Bras and Waterloo). Victory at Sea (Midway? Coral Sea? Or potentially a North Atlantic bash - such as hunt the Bismark). We also need to think about something big and brash for Gauntlet - such as Sword Beach at D-Day!

The great debate / horse trading starts next week. As long as I get the DBA campaign in early (February?) then I'm happy. If the campaign runs well, the aim may be to transfer the idea over to another milieu (so we could try a 100YW campaign with the aim of taking territory in France from each other, for example). As for the rest, I'm willing to try anything but especially Spearhead in Russia and Grand Armee around Waterloo.

DBMM - oh dear, oh dear, oh dear...

2011-12-05T12:12:00.001Z

Russ put on an introductory game of DBMM on Thursday. Introductory being the operative word as he was as un au fait with the rules as we were.

We set up a simple battle - no scenery - between Macedonians and Classical Indians. All seemed well until we started getting some blows in. At this point the evening took a decidedly bookish turn as we flicked through the rules trying to find out how combat resolution worked based on the different (and more complex) types of troops.

Some outcomes were easy - as when the pikes got a 6 to the loin-cloth Indian swordsmen's 1 ("They're dead. Don't bother with the rules. They're dead!"). But every other combat saw much headscratching, debate ("They just bounce, don't they?") and general confusion.

The same was for classification - the Macedonian cavalry were worth a fortune in points, and yet appeared to have no bonuses at all against the decidely cheaper Indian chariots. Only Alexander fighting alongside them swung the battle their way - when logically they should have churned the Indian chariots into matchwood.

So I've played DBA and had a bash at DBMM and for me DBA is a better game. I've yet to try DBM and maybe I should but basically, DBA gives you a good, quick, fun battle. Not the most complex rules but none the worse for that. I think the guys who wrote the rules then thought "We need to make this more complex - it just looks too simple" - and as a result took ages adding layer upon layer of complexity and (in my opinion) added a more accurate level of detail to the huge detriment of gameplay.

Now I'm not dure if this is down to the rules themselves or just the terrible layout of the rules. Knock FOG if you like, but the addition of pretty pictures and diagrams makes it a much more accessible set of rules. DBMM on the other hand has been created almost as if the secrets of gameplay must be hidden in text alone - allowing only the most dedicated and (to be frank) people with more time on their hands than me to unlock the rules. I passed the combat resolution table 6 times in flicking through the book - surely rules can be presented in a better manner than that!

I'm sure there are loads of people out there who love DBMM. I clearly need to spend some time with someone who knows how to play them to make it worthwhile. But I've got to question if its worht the effort!

Grand Armee pictures

2011-12-01T10:38:00.001Z

Pictures from our recent Grand Armee battle. British on the hill, French on the plain. Photos by Mark on his fancy iPhone.

British on the hill - a strong defensive position.

The French manouvre for position - and expose their column's flank (top right)

The British sweep down the hill and after much brutal fighting the French surrender the field.

DBA campaign - gold, food, ships and other stuff

2011-11-28T09:29:00.001Z

I've been looking at items that we can use for the DBA Ancients campaign next year. Gold and Food tokens were proving tricky - until I popped into Hobbycraft and saw (in the Candles section, can you believe) small pebbles painted gold (for Gold) and some pink glass chunks (which can represent meat - hence Food). Each one will represent 5 of each unit (to keep counting to a minimum).

I also bought some cheap black plastic boxes that the players can keep their reserves of gold and food in (and keep secret from other players).

So this left me with one problem - building ships. I've looked on the internet and can't find anything that is small and cheap enough for the 200+ ships required - so I'm having to build my own.

I've got small coloured lolly sticks from Wilkinson for £1 - and some small square coloured beads for the same amount. These will be stuck amidships of a cropped lolly stick, with a piece of thin dowel making the mast. Each Empire will have about 20 ships each (if they can afford them) - in their own nations colour (so we can keep track easier).

I've now got to work out the economics of the entire region to ensure it is balanced (i.e. there is enough Food and Gold available to fund activities) which means play testing by myself - that will amuse the wife.

Russ said he'll get a large scale map printed if I can create a good enough image. It needs to be about A2 sized to allow space to play.

After that, we're good to go!

Wargaming Afflictions #5

2011-11-25T16:31:00.001Z

One of my favourites, I suppose. I refer to the collection of rules on my bookshelf. Many I have played once (some - like Flames of War - I have never played), while others get barely a look.

But its not just rules sets. Its the assorted stuff that comes with them. Field of Glory comes to mind. Now I like FOG. I bought the Rise of Rome book and - if I'm honest - not even scratched the surface of that period (unless you count the 20 odd Punic Wars battles I've had with Russ).

So what prompted me to then buy the expansion packs for the Greeks (I only have the Macedonian army at present), Imperial Rome (no Imperial Roman army at all), Oath of Fealty (no armies at all), Storm of Arrows (nope), Wolves from the Sea (ditto)....

Flames of War is another one. I like Spearhead and thought FOW would provide for a faster Thursday night game. I'm sure it will, but I've yet to even read the introduction. Which maked the purchase of three (yes, three) expansion booklets even more unfathomable. Especially as I have yet to paint and base my troops for Spearhead.

I do have POW Napoleonics somewhere - we tried and didn't like. But then bought the Polemos rules - re-based all my Napoleonice to fit the new rule set (never, ever again) - then found we didn't particularly like them. So had to re-base again for Grand Armee.

Some rules we play quite often (like POW 18C and Renaissance) so I bought the rules - but never felt the need to open the books (as the guys I play with are so up with them). So they too are unused.

Maybe its that quest for the ideal rules for each period that makes us do it.

Grand Armee bash - a solid British victory

2011-11-25T13:18:00.001Z

Our first go at Grand Armee for quite some time took place last night. Mark put on a historic scenario (I don't know which one as I was too busy eating my Big Tasty from Macdonalds) - but it involved the British during the Peninsula War hiding in the hills - with the Light Division defending a nearby town as the French army approached.

Russ had apparently played this scenario as the British before - so I was the British this time and he was the dastardly French.

We were very rusty with the rules and Mark was free with helpful advice.

As play started I tried to extract the Light Division and bring it back to the hills (without exposing its rear). Russ' pips were a problem and he found it hard to get moving initially.

As the ponderous French advance came forward I did a bit of shuffling behind the hilltop but it became clear that Russ was putting most of his strength on my right (where the Light Division was retreating) so I decided to turn my leftmost brigade around and move it to the right.

As I did so, Russ then started moving his right columns onto my left - so I had to turn the leftmost Brigade around again - and saw a big French fist swinging round on my right.

Old Big Nose was running around - trying to save the Light Division from the French fist and also to be on hand should the French make the mistake of attacking the heights.

Then the big event. Russ had his right flank move in column to attack my left (on Mark's shady advice about stretching the defence). As it was, his troops were flank on to the Guards and some other hefty divisions on the hill. To paraphrase the Duke of Wellington, I qouthed 'By Jove, that't it!', snapped the telescope shut and rampaged the full line (about 8 units including cannon) to swamp the unfortunate French.

An unholy tussle ensued (in which the Guards died bravely to a man) but the attack took out 4 French units. The rest ran off in disarray and were caught and killed in turn (including forcing one to surrender). The one Division that didn't come down the hill were the ones who'd done a 180 degree manouvre previously. Old Big Nose grabbed them and led them to support the flank of the Divisions holding the right side of the hill (being threatened by the Fist). This left no gap to exploit and meant Russ faced a really hard fight at a disadvantage.

On my fragile right flank, Russ' hefty cavalry arm threatened the Light Division - but Russ' dice again let him down and his attack bogged down. Rather than take on the Light Division, he aimed to get them throuh a narrow gap and into the space behind the hill. Unfortunately the rest of his infantry failed to move fast enough and the cavalry became isolated. As a consequence the Light Division pounced and managed to trap the cavalry. Damage was inflicted and it looked terrible for France.

The break point was 8 units. Russ had already lost 6 1/2 and it looked like a couple more may be lost from his cavalry. The British left could now swing unopposed around the hill to hit the Fist in the flank in any event - and the French were bound to lose more trying to take the hill.

Russ sportingly conceded defeat.

It was a really good evening. The size of battle was just right (completed in 2 1/2 hours) and got us back into the Grand Armee swing. We both learned a lot and - hopefully - a month of Grand Armee campaigns will see us much more proficient.

It was a rule set I wasn't sure about but I feel a lot happier about them now.

Wargamer Afflictions #4

2011-11-22T22:15:00.001Z

Unpainted metal. Despite having enough unpainted lead to cover a church roof, I always keep an eye out for other figures - and then buy it. Why? I have unpainted Romans, Gauls, Parthians, Greeks, Dacians, Thracians - as well as two HOTT armies. Then the Napoleonics - unpainted Prussians, British and French.

Then there's the WW2 armour. Entire Divisions of US, Russian, German and British trucks, armour, troops. I think I've got more Russian armour than Stalin had.

So logically I'd avoid buying any more figures until I'd made a dent in the backlog, But no! See something you like and immediately the twitch starts. I saw some Vikings and Saxons in 6mm on E-bay and was bidding for them before I'd even considered if a) I'd get around to painting them b) if I'd ever get them on the battlefield and c) the wife would mind me spending another £20+ on stuff I don't even need.

Please make it stop!

Campaigns and planning for next year

2011-11-22T22:04:00.001Z

Spoke to Mark tonight and we touched on planning for next year.

Rather than playing 'one-off' battles using different rule sets, the idea will be to run monthly campaigns using different rule sets - allowing us all to get more used to each main rule set and to give more reason for playing through the month.

So we'll be having a month of Grand Armee (Napoleonics), DBA (my Rise of Rome campaign), Spearhead (either desert warfare OR the race to Leningrad OR the race to Berlin...), POW Renaissance (English Civil War), POW 18th C (hopefully more Clive in India), Victory at Sea (probably the Pacific but possibly sinking the Bismark), FOG (maybe a War of the Roses campaign), a Watch Your 6 campaign based on the USAAF bombing Germany - plus a few one-offs as well.

We've all got plans so the horse trading will begin next week.

Grand Armee this week

2011-11-22T21:57:00.001Z

It feels like a decade since we last played Napoleonics so Mark is putting on a smallish Grand Armee bash this week. This will be a precursor to putting on Waterloo (with added Ligny and Quatre Bras for good measure) at some time around Christmas.

I've completely forgotten the rules so it will be good to catch up. Something about being uphill and getting on the flanks, as I recall.

Prolonged absence

2011-11-21T11:21:00.001Z

Should have explained why I haven't blogged for so long.

Simple really...

a) new job means no time during the day (except today, ironically)
b) have to commute to new job meaning getting home knackered and not in the mood
c) wife also has new job so we are both knackered AND take it in turns to do the cooking
d) spilled coffee on the laptop keyboard which killed it for 2 months
e) holiday in Greece
f) wargaming slackened off a bit anyway
g) those battle reports put me off for a bit. A lot of time and effort with little in the way of reward.

I've learned from others that the better way is to say less more often. Which is what I'll do from now on.

Wargamers Afflictions #3

2011-11-21T11:17:00.001Z

Tape measures. I must have at least 8 around the house and a couple in the car. Why? One 5m tape measure is enough for any use in the house or on the games table - maybe a spare in case your opponents have failed to bring one). But 8!? OK, a couple are small compact ones that slip but I have 4 which are essentially exactly the same - 5m tape, black outer.

Perhaps one day I'll be involved in an 8 way battle where everyone else has forgotten their tape measure and I can save the day.

Otherwise....

DBA / DBMM

2011-11-21T11:09:00.001Z

I've heard DBA being described as the rules that you should hate - but can't. The first time I played them I thought they were too simplistic (an awful lot of 'bouncing' going on) but for a quick bash on a club night they can't be beaten.

I'm now looking at DBMM as a more complex alternative but for a campaign tool DBA is probably the best system. Knock out a 1/4 of the opposition, kill their general or grab the camp and that's it! Result obtained - move on to the next one. This means for an ancients campaign we're planning for next year we can squeeze 3-4 battles into a night (rather than just one with Warmaster Ancients) meaning that the campaign keeps flowing and everyone feels involved.

The fact that you can create an army from a few stands means that its relatively cheap to build the necessary armies and they can be painted quickly as well. I'm still ploughing through my Gauls for FOG but already have enough for a substantial Gallic army for DBA.

DBA Campaign Rules

2011-11-21T10:54:00.001Z

I've worked on a set of rules for DBA (but could work for FOG or any ancients rules - provided that the base numbers are manageable). We did run a campaign using Warmaster Ancients which was fun but the battles took hours to complete which affected the campaign running time.

These rules are designed to last for 80 turns (or Seasons) but you can amend length as you like. Note that I have not stated how much Gold and Food each Territory produces - you can make up your own mind as to what is manageable but bear in mind that forcing Players to make choices due to limited resources produces a better campaign where they are unlimited in what they can do.

You'll find a page dedicated to the rules here : http://philbancients.blogspot.com/p/dba-campaign-rules.html.

Hope you enjoy them!